SITKA, ALASKA
Municipal Attorney Theresa Hillhouse and Municipal Administrator Jim Dinley both get annual evaluations from the Assembly. Normally, those evaluations don’t garner a lot of public attention.
But this year, the evaluations happened to take place just four days after the city’s finance director abruptly resigned. Dave Wolff had worked in city finance for 18 years, and his departure on Friday came right before the city enters its annual budgeting process.
Wolff has not offered a public explanation as to why he stepped down, nor has Dinley. And that brought some members of the public to city hall on Tuesday night. Former Assembly member Jay Stelzenmuller asked for time to speak, even though no public comment period was listed on the evening’s agenda. He said he’s dissatisfied that Wolff stepped down.
“And I would hope that you in your wisdom as an Assembly could do something to alleviate the problem and try to keep Mr. Wolff in our employ,” Stelzenmuller said. “In personal conversations with him, he would like to continue employment with the city.”
Sitka resident Ken Creamer said Dinley’s evaluation was premature until more was known about Wolff’s resignation.
As a department head, Wolff answered to Dinley, and Assembly members typically defer to the administrator on staffing decisions. But former Assembly member Reber Stein, the third and final person to testify Tuesday, said there’s a role for Assembly members in this case.
“If as Assembly members you feel it’s not your role to be involved in a staffing decision that you consider it’s the Assembly’s role to approve department heads,” Stein said, “and I think it is the Assembly’s role to pay attention to what happens to department heads, especially on their departure. I hope you keep that in consideration.”
And with that, the public left and the door was closed. Under Alaska law, closed-door meetings – or executive sessions – are allowed to discuss personnel matters. The individuals being discussed have the right to make the meetings open, but neither Dinley nor Hillhouse exercised that right.
Assembly member Thor Christianson voted against going behind closed doors. Larry Crews and Terry Blake were absent.
Hillhouse’s evaluation took about an hour, and then the Assembly turned to Dinley. Dinley was out of the room for about an hour and a half while the Assembly talked, and then Assembly members brought him in for another hour of conversation. The door opened, and Mayor Cheryl Westover offered a short recap:
“We’ve talked about Mr. Dinley’s job performance,” Westover said. “We covered a few areas of concern, but he has our support and we look forward to working with Mr. Dinley into the future.”
Afterward, Assembly members confirmed that Wolff’s resignation came up in the conversation about Dinley’s evaluation, but they offered few other details. Phyllis Hackett said Wolff’s resignation is “a real loss.”
“We’re really sorry to lose him, and he voluntarily resigned. We will move forward.” Hackett said her understanding “is that he’s resigned, and that’s what he’s sticking to.”
Hackett says she hasn’t had any conversations with Wolff, nor had Mim McConnell when asked on her way out of the meeting. Westover deferred to Dinley.
“It’s a personnel issue, and anything that is discussed can be done with the administrator,” Westover said. “He’s the boss, and we just appreciate what Dave’s done over the years, and we hope he has a good retirement, and we wish him well, and other than that, I’m going to let you talk to the head boss.”
On Tuesday night, Dinley declined to comment on Wolff’s resignation. Westover, meanwhile, added that the draft budget – prepared annually for the Assembly by Wolff and Dinley – has been submitted, and that the Assembly is ready to get to work on it. That begins April 28. The next regular Assembly meeting is April 26.
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