Mim McConnell served on the Sitka Assembly for three years before she ran for mayor the first time. Now, she’s hoping to serve a second term in the mayor’s seat. McConnell now says it’s about getting it right, and finishing what she started.

Downloadable audio.

McConnell says Alaskans have grown accustomed to state funding -- "spoiled" -- over the last couple of decades, and hard decisions are in our future. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

McConnell says Alaskans have grown accustomed to state funding — “spoiled” — over the last couple of decades, and hard decisions are in our future. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

The first thing a new mayor in Sitka realizes, Mim McConnell says, is that no one hands you a rule book. Every mayor has to sort of figure it out for themselves.

“There truly is no manual. There is no instruction. No training. There’s nothing. Not even Alaska Municipal League. They don’t do any training for mayors.”

McConnell’s three years of assembly service were marked by transition: The recession was drying up municipal revenue, and Sitka brought on a new administrator.

McConnell’s subsequent two years as mayor were also marked by transition: Watching that new administrator develop a strained working relationship with city department heads, and eventually showing him the door.

McConnell says she’s excited about building a working relationship with Sitka’s newest administrator, Mark Gorman, and moving forward.

But she’s careful not to interfere with his job.

“I think it’s really important that assembly members and the mayor not step over that line and micro-manage how the municipality is run. And so, somebody is asking me to do that, my first instinct is: That’s not my job. Go talk to the administrator. But if there’s a serious problem going on, maybe they’re not getting a correct response back, then I might be willing to step in and say, Hey you need to talk with this person. This is a problem I can’t deal with, but I think it’s something you could really help with.”

Sitka’s weak mayor system defines the relationship between the mayor and administrator. The mayor is the voice of the assembly, the policy-making body; the administrator is the manager. It’s not like this in many other places, where the mayor governs and manages. This separation, though, is what allows McConnell to focus on the issues. One of her priorities is affordability.

“This is a special place, and it is a little bit more expensive for people to live in our community. It’s a reality — maybe not everybody can make it here. I don’t know. But it’s important to me to make it as affordable for people as I possibly can. It’s important to me as mayor, as a mother, and as a grandmother. I’m blessed with having all of my children and grandchildren in town. I’d love to have them stay, but they struggle. So I feel it personally. I get it. I really get it.”

McConnell has a double-edged strategy for keeping costs manageable in Sitka: proactive and defensive. Proactive means talking with city staff and officials about ideas for raising revenue or making Sitka more business-friendly. Increasing business activity, and keeping spending local, are two sure-fire ways to improve Sitka, she says.

“Let’s keep the communication going, and let’s make it a better place — a place where you really can start a business and be successful.”

Defensive means belt tightening. McConnell says her first year on the assembly five years ago was the last year of increasing state and federal income into municipal coffers. Since then, local government has had no choice but to trim costs wherever possible.

And she’s not optimistic that things will change.

“Every year we say, Well next year is going to be really tough. And I don’t want to be Chicken Little, but next year could be a harder year for us. I think that the assembly is finally going to be making some hard decisions about how to take care of our roads.”

All the construction currently taking place in Sitka — Halibut Point Road, Harbor Drive, and the recently-completed Sawmill Creek Road are all state-funded highway projects. Many of Sitka’s city streets, like Edgcumbe Drive or Baranof, are deteriorating. Since the city was unable to extract a mere $18-million dollars out of the state legislature for the Blue Lake dam — even as a loan — McConnell thinks counting much more on state grants to fund municipal infrastructure projects is a bit of a pipe dream.

The belt-tightening has had impact outside of the municipal budget: The city no longer funds local schools at the maximum level allowed by state law. McConnell says she’s consistently supported funding for schools — so much so that it’s not an issue between her and her daughter, Jennifer Robinson, who holds a seat on the Sitka School Board.

“Jennifer and I talk about the school-city relationship sometimes a little bit. But really not that much.”

McConnell moved to Southeast Alaska as a 22-year-old in 1975. She’s lived for a few years in Juneau, thirteen years in Port Alexander, and the remainder in Sitka. She’s been involved in civic activities everywhere she’s lived: serving on the Fish & Game Advisory Committee in Port Alexander, the Unit 4 Brown Bear Management Plan, the Southeast Chinook Management Plan, the Port Alexander city council and school board, and on the Sitka Long-Range Economic Planning Commission and Visitor Industry Planning Group.

McConnell is a web and graphic designer by trade, and runs Shelter Cove Publishing. She’s also the part-time director of the Sitka Community Development Corporation, which has recently created a community land trust in Sitka.

Even if McConnell were not mayor, it’s a safe bet she’d stay busy. She’s hooked.

“I really like doing this. It suits my personality. I don’t know…. It’s a good form of service.”

Sitka mayors serve terms of two years, while assembly members serve three. The municipal election is Tuesday, October 7.