At its meeting tonight (1-13-26), the Sitka Assembly will consider pushing Municipal Administrator John Leach’s resignation date from May 30 til Dec. 18. Leach announced his intention to resign in late October after six years on the job.
The move to amend the employee agreement with Leach was proposed by Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz and assembly members Tim Pike and Kevin Mosher. In a memo, the sponsors said hiring a new administrator is rarely a speedy process, and looking back at past administrator hirings, the city often employed an interim administrator to cover the needs of the city during lengthy hiring periods. They said Leach agreed to stay on to give the city enough time to hire a quality candidate and bring them up to speed.
In the memo, sponsors said the assembly has negotiated an annual salary of $230,000 with Leach. Most recently, he was making $170,000.
In other business, the assembly will consider approving a contract with Element Agency for the city’s visitor services contract. It will also consider allocating $25,000 towards a childcare needs analysis study.
The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.
