KCAW AI Disclosure
Did you use artificial intelligence (ex. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to complete this questionnaire?
Candidate: No
Name: Thor Christianson
Age: 62
How many years have you lived in Sitka and in Alaska? 62 years
Occupation: EMS Manager
Describe your family:
I’m married to Jessica Christianson and I have two daughters, Rita and Eir.
Community involvement, past and present:
Sitka Assembly, Sitka Fire Dept, Sitka Fine Arts Camp, KCAW, Sitka Barracudas to name a few.
Have you previously run for public office? When and what office?
Sitka Assembly
Previous government or other relevant experience:
16 years on the Assembly
Why are you running for the mayor’s chair this year?
I feel that after 16 years on the Assembly I can do the job well. I understand how the city works and how to get things done. I have been working on a number of projects to make Sitka work better, and as mayor I think I can push them through more effectivly.
What are your top priorities if elected?
Affordability, quality of life and reasonable economic development
Childcare Shortage
A recent report commissioned by the city shows Sitka’s childcare system has the capacity to serve only about half of the young children who need it. The assembly is considering a seasonal sales tax change to fund a $1 million-a-year plan to help address the childcare shortage. Do you agree with this approach? What further steps, if any, should the city take to address the crisis?
While I’m never excited about a new tax, we have to do something to stabilize the childcare situation here in Sitka. Without stable childcare infostructure we cannot have a stable workforce, and without that workforce Sitka stagnates. We cannot count on the state or federal governments to step in so we have to do it ourselves. The seasonal sales tax is least painful way to do that.
Budget:
How do you propose funding city government (including enterprise funds, electricity, water, etc.)?
I would not advocate changing the cities funding structure in a major way. I could however see the city subsidizing some of the enterprise funds on a as needed basis. For instance if there is a large project that needs to be completed by one of the enterprise funds, using some general fund assets to shield the rate payers from a large rise in rates.
Schools:
Do you support funding the Sitka School District to the maximum allowed by state law (a.k.a. the “cap”)? Why or why not?
Yes. Given the current state of the State budget, we have to step up as much as we can to shield our school system from the disfunction in Juneau.
Affordability:
Affording daily life in Sitka is difficult for many, between rising fuel and grocery costs and housing and childcare shortages. According to a 2024 report by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Southeast Alaska’s overall population is projected to drop by about 17% by 2050 — or roughly 12,000 people. That’s about the populations of Sitka and Wrangell combined. As an assembly member, how would you work to address affordability for Sitkans
I would use the metric “does this help make Sitka more affordable?” with just about every decision we have to make. Unfortunately a lot of what makes Sitka expensive is out of the cities control, but everywhere we can we should be working to make Sitka an easier place to live.
I am working on housing initiatives now and one of the reasons I want to be mayor is to push harder on getting more city land usable for housing. It take a lot of work, with a lot of moving parts, but I believe we can positivity effect housing prices in Sitka.
Tourism:
The commercial passenger vessel excise tax – also known as the CPV – is a “head tax” collected by the state and distributed to port cities. The funds are highly restricted, and can only go toward harbor or other infrastructure related to services or facilities used by cruise ships and their passengers. As an assembly member, how would you prioritize spending CPV money, considering the restrictions?
I would look for duel use projects as much as possible. I would also try and look for ways to use it that reduce the impact of tourism on Sitka’s way of life. We need the tourism industry and if we don’t work to coexist with a little friction as possible it will hurt everybody.
The city has expanded its tourism management in recent years, adding a tourism commission and hiring on a new tourism director in response to growth in the sector. From your perspective, what should be the city’s role in tourism moving forward?
We should be looking for ways to encourage conventions and independent travelers in the off season. We should be working on ways to mitigate the negative aspects of large scale tourism. I believe if we can do this it will both benefit the people of Sitka, and improve our visitor’s experience.
Artificial Intelligence:
The use of artificial intelligence has proliferated over the past several years. It’s reshaping how people work, learn, and participate in daily life. What are your thoughts on using AI in your role as an assembly member or to write legislation?
I would be very careful before using AI to write any legislation. While doing research is necessary, and AI can be very good for that, that is as far as I would be willing to go at this point.
Municipal Administrator:
The city has been looking for a new municipal administrator for about a year now. You would likely be part of that hiring decision. What qualities would you look for in a leader?
Someone who is collaborative. Someone who the people of Sitka can trust. Someone that can lead our employees in such a fashion that we have a happy productive workforce. Someone that is comfortable being stopped at the store with questions by member of the public. Obviously they would also have to understand city government, but as we get applications that seems to be common. Much less so is someone who will be a good fit for Sitka’s unique community.
Mayor:
How do you envision your role as mayor will be different from that of an assembly member?
I see the mayor as an advocate for Sitka. The mayor needs to be able to work with other governmental entities. As mayor I would work tirelessly to make sure that Sitka’s concerns are heard by the legislators and Congress. Sitka had done a good job with this in the last few years and we need to continue to see to it that our concerns are heard.
The mayor needs to work to bring people together. As mayor I would work collaboratively with anybody who is interested in an issue. We need to keep talking to each other, and if we do there is nothing we can’t accomplish.
As mayor I would continue to strive to keep our relationship with the Sitka Tribe as respectful and productive as possible. The Tribe is of course it’s own government, so we we have to respect their mandates. I believe that we have a good relationship, but it can always be better. When the two governments work together, everyone in Sitka wins!
The mayor obviously officiates our meetings. I will make sure that everyone is heard and respected at our meetings. I have run a lot of meetings in my life, and I think that I have become good at making sure that everyone in a meeting feels like they have been heard.
Questions from the Daily Sitka Sentinel
A group in Sitka is laying the groundwork for new city recreation facilities, such as an upgraded track and field complex. How do you feel about developing new recreation infrastructure and expanding capacity for recreation in Sitka?
It would be great to have more recreational infrastructure in Sitka. The issue is how do we pay for it. While we did vote to move the excess fund from the tobacco tax to a fund for this, it will be number of years before there is any substantial amount of money in this fund. At this point we need to work on our plans so that if any funds become available from other sources, we have plans as close to “shovel read” as possible. We may also be able to use the limited funds available to us as matching funds.
Do you think the city general fund is at a healthy level? How would you cut or add spending?
While it would always be nice to have more money in our general fund, it is essentially sound right now. We will always have to make choices, but right now we are able to meet our basic needs. I could see using some general fund money utility relief, but not to the point where we have to cut services.
What are your ideas for stemming the decline in Sitka’s population, particularly the loss of young families, and the associated decline in Sitka School District enrollment?
This is something that will take work on many fronts. We need to work on making more housing available. We can do that by making city land available. We also need to keep working in other way such as making ADU’s easier to build and by working with the planning department to remove roadblocks to building. We also need to make sure that childcare is available for young families. We need to make sure that we have schools that parents are proud to send their children to. We need to jump on efforts to encourage economic development that fits our town so that parents can make a living here.
The city has long deferred a project of improvements along Lincoln Street. Should the city prioritize this project, and if so, what changes should be made along Lincoln Street?
It’s time to get this done. Since the State just kicked in about 5 million dollars, we have a chance to make some real progress. It’s not that this is the only project we need to work on, but rather the one that is most ready to take advantage of the money. We have a good argument to use CPV (head tax) money on this project, so it is a good dual use of the money. As for how it should be done, that will be answered during the design process with lots of input from everyone who wants to chime in.
Do you believe that the city should keep Lincoln Street open to vehicle traffic throughout the summer cruise ship season, or close the street to vehicles on some days? Why?
Right now yes. As long as the MOU with the cruise ship folks is working to spread out the traffic, it is busy down there, but not so much that we cannot drive (slowly) through when the tourists are in town. If that changes, we may need to revisit this subject.
How can the city provide adequate restroom facilities for tourists? Do you think the city should continue operating portable restrooms throughout the summer, and if so, where should the portable restrooms be placed?
I think providing restrooms is a good idea. I hope that during the Lincoln St. rebuild project we can identify locations that don’t block off streets. The goal should be restrooms that we can use year-round.
How do you see the role of public safety and policing in keeping our community safe?
The traditional public safety departments (police and fire) are of course vital. They are the ones that answer the call at 3am. I think we are blessed to have dedicated public servants in our public safety community. I think it should be said that public safety goes beyond just police and fire. We have a number of organizations like SAFV, Sitka counseling and others and that do a lot to keep our community safe and we need to support their efforts.
