Sitka’s Municipal Administrator John Leach announced his intention to resign on Wednesday (10-29-25) after six years on the job. He will be leaving at the end of May of next year, hoping to give the city ample time for a smooth transition.
KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Leach on Friday to discuss his time in the role and what’s next.
TRANSCRIPT:
LEACH: What brought me to Sitka was my days in the Coast Guard. I was actually stationed over at Air Station Sitka as the engineering officer from 2015 to 2018. I fell in love with the community. I loved everything about the place. I ended up getting orders to Washington, DC. I made a pretty difficult decision to leave my family here while I went off by myself to Washington, DC — it’s what they call a “geo-bachelor” tour. And with the intent to return to Sitka, I put in my retirement notice while I was at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, DC, and looking for a way to get back here and be in this community, this opportunity popped up, and I applied for the position and got it in late September of 2019, I think, was the official higher time.
KCAW: So you announced this week that you’ll be stepping down from the position at the end of May of next year. Tell me a bit about that decision.
LEACH: Six years, or, I guess, about six-and-a-half years when this comes about next year, it’s a long time to be in a role with this level of intensity. I love the work. I absolutely love and value the people that I work with, but it can take a toll on you. And I never really had an opportunity to take a break, and I think I need that. I’m not leaving the community. I’m still here. I still want to help. I still want to volunteer. I plan on doing the things that I enjoy here in Sitka. That’s the reason why I moved back. But I think it’s just time to step aside a little bit and take a break and then see where else I can get involved after that.
KCAW: So in your six years, it’ll be six-and-a-half years by the time you leave, what are you most proud of during that time as municipal administrator?
LEACH: I think what I’m most proud of is putting systems in place that help us look further into the future. I think we make more calculated decisions now, whether that’s through our strategic planning or asset management. It’s about making good value decisions for what we’re going to do next, instead of just, you know, what’s the biggest fire right now and who’s the loudest person yelling? You know, we’re looking out for the long term interest of the city, and how things are going to happen 20 years from now. So just instilling that long term vision, I think, has been a big win.
KCAW: Can you talk about some of the challenges that you’ve seen over these six years?
LEACH: The biggest challenge, and it’s for everybody, not just me, it’s everybody that works at the city is, as I said, the high intensity, the big demands and the very limited resources. Local government is very personal for people, and you multiply that by a few times since you’re in this small island community. So because you’re making these decisions and doing work that is so personal to people, and then they’re the same people you’re connecting with, sometimes you have to make an unpopular decision and you take it personally if other people take it personally. You know, we really want to serve everybody, but you’re never going to make everybody happy. And that personal connection is really difficult to confront, I guess.
KCAW: So you mentioned staying in the community. What’s next?
LEACH: Well, first and foremost, I’m going to take a break. I want to take a few months of not doing anything, reconnecting with my family. When I got out of the Coast Guard, I didn’t take that leave, that break before taking this job. It was out of the uniform one day, off the plane and stepping into this job the next day. So again, I’d like to reconnect with my family, recharge, and I’ve thought about some consulting work, seeing if I can help other municipalities, or even plug in here somehow through that work. But otherwise, the options, they’re open.
KCAW: Well, thank you. Is there anything else I should have asked you, or you’d like to share?
LEACH: I just want to emphasize that my decision to step down is not rooted in any frustration. I think Sitka is in a really strong position right now, and that’s because of the people who serve it every day. There’s a lot of good people in City Hall that are working on the citizens’ behalf here, and sometimes they go unrecognized. But I talked about local government being deeply personal. You know, these are the same folks that you go to school with, you go to church with, you’re sharing holidays together, and they’re here to serve you, and they work their tails off every day. So I want to thank them, and I want to just remind the folks of Sitka of that fact, that they’re here to work for you, and they also are your friends and neighbors.
