Thor Christianson
Age: 55
How many years have you lived in Sitka and in Alaska? 55
Occupation: EMS Manager
Community involvement, past and present:
I have been on the SFAC board. Spent 20 plus years volunteering for the Sitka Fire Department, volunteered at Sitka Cirque, and served on the board of the Baranof Barracudas. I have also volunteered for community projects around town over the years.
Previous government or other relevant experience:
I have served three terms on the Assembly, from 1998 to 2004 and from 2010 to 2013. I spent 17 years in the seafood industry.
Why are you running for a seat on the Sitka Assembly this year?
Because the impact of the state’s budget cuts will make the next few years very hard for the city. We need experienced, level headed people on the Assembly to hold things together until the state gets its act together. I have been upset by how some of our current assembly members have treated our city staff. If we are going to survive the crisis manufactured by the Governor, we have to work together.
What are your top priorities if elected?
Public safety and schools. Right now everything else is secondary. I would also work to make the assembly more transparent. I would work to improve the morale of the city staff.
Budget
Expecting the worst from the state, the assembly wrote a very tight budget for the year. How would you direct city staff to appropriate any additional funds if they became available, from the state or other revenue sources.
I would first make sure the schools have adequate funding. I would also like to make sure the fire and police budgets are covered. Of course, we would have to look at the entire budget, and circumstances may force the assembly’s hand in other ways, but those two are my top priorities.
The assembly’s role in hiring and firing:
Several leadership positions are currently vacant within municipal government, including the city administrator, human resources director and planning director. What role should the assembly play in hiring and firing city staff?
The assembly has two employees — the city manager and the city attorney. The assembly should not have a direct role in the hiring and firing of any other city employees. The assembly does approve the money for salaries, so it has oversight of the hiring process, but city employees should be shielded from politics as much as possible. We want them to do their jobs as effectively as possible without worrying about changing political winds.
Advocacy and Opposition:
How do you respond when you sense growing public opposition to an ordinance you support? What if you sponsored the ordinance, and feel it’s in the best interest of the public that it pass?
The only thing you can do in that instance is work harder to inform the public. Any major ordinance must have community buy in if it is going to succeed. While there may be times the assembly has to do something because of exigent circumstances, it is much better to get as much community support as possible.
It may be necessary to make changes to said ordinance, often times that makes it better. One does have to be careful though to remember that the folks at a meeting may or may not represent the majority of Sitkans. We have to try and represent all Sitkans and make the best decisions we feel will be best for Sitka and have the most community support.
Attendance and Conduct:
The assembly has had some very tense moments over the past year. Can you describe what appropriate conduct and participation at the assembly table looks like to you?
I believe that good government should be boring. If the assembly and city staff do their jobs well, meetings should anything but entertaining. We should be respectful of everyone in the process, assembly members, members of the public and city staff. We all want a healthy Sitka, and while we may disagree on how to obtain that goal, we should remember that is what everyone wants.
