A permanent Sitka Tourism Commission came a step closer to reality Tuesday night, but it’s not expected to simply be a continuation of the recently-concluded tourism task force.

At its regular meeting last night, the four members of the Sitka Assembly present approved the creation of the new commission on first reading, but held off on finalizing its duties until all members were present. 

The assembly established the tourism task force last year, and the group was tasked with helping the city develop its response to rapid growth in cruise tourism. After a year, the group presented the assembly with 32 recommendations, including establishing a permanent commission.

But as Assembly member JJ Carlson explained, the commission will not be an extension of the old task force. Its scope of work will be different- focused on the annual review cycle for the city’s tourism operations and management plan.


“The Tourism Commission [is] to annually look at in their duties, what the city can do with with funding, and kind of management of the entire visitors industry,” Carlson said. “So this is not a continuation of the task force. The task force was just for kind of day visitors, cruise travel-oriented.”

Only one of the seven seats on the commission is designated for a representative from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The rest of the seats are “at-large.” Assembly member Thor Christianson said that’s a new approach, and it’s intentional. 

“And in the past, we’ve often had to shoehorn people into into the various types we want for these commissions,” Christianson said. “It’s possible you could wind up with a stacked commission [but] I think this assembly and future assemblies will be very aware of that, and it will have the ability to try and maintain a balance and a representation of the community, and that’s the goal here.”

With several absent assembly members, Christianson said he expected the assembly to have a more robust discussion about the commission when it considered it on final reading.

The assembly approved the commission on a 4-0 vote. It will come before the assembly for a final reading at the next regular meeting on August 27.