The city will pay a regional nonprofit $25,000 to conduct a childcare needs study as part of an effort to address the growing issue in Sitka.
At the Sitka Assembly meeting Tuesday night (1-13-26), several members of the public said it was an important step toward solving Sitka’s childcare shortage.
Annette Evans sits on the Health Needs and Human Services Commission, and co-authored a report last year that outlines a community-driven strategy to improve childcare access.
“Sitka’s childcare availability, affordability and even quality remains in a time of intense difficulty and important decisions must be made,” Evans said. “Collaboration is necessary.”
Childcare is a top priority in the city’s strategic plan. Last fall, assembly members Tim Pike, Kevin Mosher, and Thor Christianson began a deep dive on the issue. In a memo, they said they met directly with local childcare providers and other stakeholders to better understand what providers believed would “meaningfully address capacity, staffing, and affordability concerns.”
They concluded that the childcare issue is complex, and can’t be fully addressed using city money and staff time alone. So they decided to get outside support from the Juneau-based Southeast Childhood Collective, which will be doing the study.
“The two biggest issues in Sitka is housing and childcare,” Mosher said Tuesday. “How many times have we heard that people have been offered a job for this or that, and they can’t come here because, one, they can’t get a place to live. And then two, they don’t have a place to put their kids. I think making childcare available through these methods — and of course, this is just a study — will have a very big positive effect on this.”
Assembly Member JJ Carlson said condensing all available information into a study that says what will work best for Sitka is what the community needs.
“We don’t have that next town over to help us with things,” she said. “We don’t have that group that can form in a valley or in a regional area to assist us with needs in this area. We are on an island on the outer coast, we have to do it for ourselves. We can learn from others, but we can’t really lean on others, [like] a lot of other towns can. We see that this is a problem throughout the state, throughout the nation, throughout the world, but finding the solutions that fit us is really imperative.”
The Southeast Childhood Collective’s proposal aims to provide Sitka with a clear understanding of the current childcare landscape and a set of program options that can “strengthen provider stability, support higher wages, improve workforce retention, and promote sustainable growth without increasing costs for families.”
The assembly unanimously approved the $25,000 study, which will be paid for with reserves from the city’s general fund. Sponsors said they anticipate delivery of the report by the end of March.
In other business, the assembly pushed Municipal Administrator John Leach’s resignation date from May to December to allow for more time to hire a qualified candidate for the top role. Leach announced his intention to resign in late October after six years on the job.
The assembly negotiated an annual salary of $230,000 with Leach. Most recently, he was making $170,000.
