Three candidates are in the running for Sitka mayor this October. Lisa Lane filed to run for the assembly’s top job last week (8-6-26).

Lane moved to Sitka nearly 40 years ago, and is now semi-retired. She currently works part-time greeting guests and offering information at the cruise ship terminal, and volunteers cutting hair for residents at the Pioneer Home. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Lane on Thursday (8-13-26) to discuss her bid for the seat and what she hopes to accomplish, if elected. 

TRANSCRIPT:

LANE: I arrived here in 1988 as an entertainer. I have lived here since that time. I bought my first home in 1991. I have three fine sons that all graduated from Sitka High School, and I’ve been part of the community as a small business owner, a vacation rental owner, a long-term rental person. I’ve worked for other people as well. I worked for a video production company for several years. Part of that time, we filmed the assembly meetings, and I became real familiar with the process and the people, and very interested in it at the time. At the time, I felt with three kids and three jobs, I probably didn’t have the time to focus on what needed to be done in order to do that job. Now I have time for the research and the process.

KCAW: And so you’re running for the mayor’s seat against two current assembly members. Tell me a bit about that decision.

LANE: Well, as I just said, I became interested when I was working for a video production company, and we were filming the assembly meetings. At the time, Bert Stedman was on. Thor [Christianson] had just been elected, and so I’ve watched the process for a long time. I’m very proud of how our community works together as a community. I think it’s real important that everyone is inclusive. I don’t want to see us be something like Skagway, where we’re only a community during the tourist season. I like that we’re a real community. We have a lot of things going. I want to see those options continue. I had a couple of conversations that concerned me that made me think that maybe now was the time for me to run for mayor, as my children have all grown up and I’ve retired. Even though we sold the city hospital and the property, I think it’s still important that as a community we have a voice as to what is being offered at SEARHC. It’s a beautiful, brand new, shiny building. I’d like to see it have content that was stable, so we’re not just dealing with travelers or different travelers randomly. I think we need a mental health department. It distresses me that when people are in their largest form of need, they have to be shipped to Bartlett [Regional Hospital] or Anchorage. Same with dialysis. It seems that we could be able to offer those services here in such a beautiful facility, and acquire people that could come on a regular basis, even if they couldn’t live here full time.

KCAW: Yeah, and you’re touching on some of these issues that are important to you. What do you see as some of the other large issues facing Sitkans right now, and if elected as mayor, how would you address those?

LANE: Of course, the largest issue is probably housing. We have to be able to facilitate for everyone, and we have to be concerned that everyone is taken care of. Can’t leave anything out just for easy access. It’s important that everyone has water. I’ve talked to some people who actually get their water from a hose out of the creek. I want to make sure that everyone has water and sewer and all the basic facilities that happen. [I] want to see the harbors be safe. I think it’s important that we address some of the issues when we do have large boats and stuff. I’d like to see something happen, so the tourists are herded to the crosswalk instead of yelled at. No one’s listening when you get yelled at, and the distance between Lincoln Street and the bridge and accessing the airport and the hospital, I think that’s important that they’re actually herded to the crosswalk, which sounds a little frivolous, but I do think that’s important. Major issues: taxes are an issue, always an issue. I want to make sure that property taxes — there’s got to be some way that when you buy a property and you maintain the property, you’re not punished just because your neighbor sells at a very much higher rate, especially for people with fixed incomes and stuff, we have to really examine that. I understand we need the money in the infrastructure. I also know that when people have made something their home for a long time, you don’t want to punish them because they’ve done the repairs that are necessary to keep it standing.

KCAW: Can you tell me a bit about any past civic engagement? For example, have you served on any commissions or boards either in Sitka or somewhere else?

LANE: No, I haven’t. As I said, I had three kids and three jobs, so I felt like it was important that my focus was raising a family that made the paper in a positive manner, not a negative manner. As a hairdresser, I’ve done hair at the Pioneer Home as necessitated before my last child was born, and now that I’ve returned, I also visit people who are unable to get out and do their hair if it’s necessary. [I] try to be available if people are need me. I’m not necessarily someone who — I don’t look for boards and stuff. I will listen to anyone and everyone, and I will try to do my research and make any kind of judgments that are needed from me in a thoughtful manner.

KCAW: Why should Sitkans vote for you?

LANE: Well, I think that’s subjective. I don’t know that you should necessarily vote for me or anyone else. I do know that you should vote. It’s very important that you maintain your right to vote and you maintain your voice as a citizen. It’s very important that you read and make sure you understand what’s being said, and sometimes that is a little confusing. For instance, I was discussing the fact that it grieved me that we lost facilities like Raven’s Way because I think it’s important that when we’re trying to help the people that are in distress for whatever reason, we have more to offer than just methadone. I think we need to offer hope and education. I think that’s the real key to keeping younger people here, and keeping families together and stable, and keeping them safe.

A new report commissioned by the cruise industry outlines the financial boost cruise ship visitors have had on Sitka’s economy. 

The report was prepared by global advisory firm Oxford Economics for CLIA — the Cruise Lines International Association, and was published last week. 

Sitka Tourism Manager Judson Rusk told the Sitka Assembly on Tuesday (8-11-26) the study is part of a larger project launched in 2024 that looks at 10 different cruise ports across Europe and the Pacific Northwest. 

“The goal was to create a consistent framework for understanding cruise activity at the individual port level, and then ultimately what that activity means economically for that destination,” he said.

The 40-page report breaks down economic impact on Sitka into three categories: direct impact — meaning the money spent in town by cruise passengers; indirect impact — meaning the money businesses spend to purchase goods and services to help their operations; and induced impact — meaning what employees of those businesses then go spend their wages on in town. 

“So a visitor spends money at a business. That business spends money with suppliers and pays their employees. Those employees spend some of their earnings elsewhere,” Rusk said.

The cruise industry yielded $105 million in direct spending in Sitka in 2024, according to the report. And every cruise passenger, on average, spent $136 during their visit. 

Sitka cruise activity directly supported 569 jobs, according to the report, and indirectly supported an additional 185 jobs, for a total of 754 jobs supported across Alaska.

The report says cruise demand in Alaska grew by 40% between 2019 and 2024 — more than double the global rate. But it projects demand will slow down moving forward.

“It shows that Alaska holds a very strong position as being a premium and in-demand cruise market, but that there is also reasonable and sustainable projected stability in the foreseeable future, which I think is a very good news for a community like ours,” Rusk said.

In other business…

The assembly gave final approval on a fee waiver program for large groups planning winter-time events at the city’s convention center on Tuesday. Assembly members also approved an updated agreement between the city and Sitka Recreation Foundation regarding the development of a parks and recreation master plan, and held an executive session to discuss municipal administrator candidates.

The Sitka Assembly voted to postpone a conversation concerning a major overhaul of the city’s commercial transportation code on Tuesday (8-12-26) after several community members spoke out against the proposed changes. 

Sitka’s current taxi code has remained largely unchanged for nearly three decades. At assembly meeting, Municipal Administrator John Leach said the city has been working for several years to update it to more accurately reflect the community’s current transportation landscape. 

“The chapter in place has remained largely unchanged since the late 1990s,” he said. “The existing chapter regulates only taxis. It does not account for tours, shuttles, limousines, human-powered vehicles such as pedicabs, all of which operate in Sitka today.” 

The updated code city staff developed would introduce an endorsement system divided into three classes, folding in the updated transportation methods. It would not allow taxi operators to hold any other endorsements, a change Leach says is intended to ensure dedicated public taxi service. The new code would also update the existing fare structure to a flat-rate system based on pick-up and drop off zones, rather than a metered one. 

“Under the current chapter, a person who believes they’re hiring a taxi at a regulated rate can find that the trip is billed as a tour or a sightseeing service at a rate the city does not regulate,” Leach said. “That’s a hard position for a passenger who has no way to know the difference, and it’s not fair to the operators who do charge the published rate.”

Leach said changing the city’s taxi code is contentious. The “painful process” began with community conversations in 2023, but the city’s efforts were stalled after a taxi company sued the former police chief over his interpretation of the taxi code. The case was settled last summer, allowing the city to revisit the issue.

“Nobody’s touched this in 27 years because every time we try to touch it, this is what happens,” he said. “And most people have said, ‘This is not worth my time and energy.’”

Even though a few years have passed, the issue still got pushback at Tuesday’s meeting, where several community stakeholders said they don’t support the proposed updates, and that if approved, it will hurt business. 

Elias Carroll works for Tidal Taxi and Tours. He said taxi demand has decreased in recent years, as hotels, fishing lodges, and cruise terminals have started to provide their own shuttle service. He said a few local calls and walkups a day isn’t enough to maintain the cost of running a taxi business. 

“As regulations on taxis increase, drivers will soon not be able to survive in Sitka’s high costs of living,” he said.

Sig Rutter agreed. He said throughout his tenure as a cab driver in Sitka, he’s sold taxi, tour, and shuttle services, and he wants to keep it that way. 

“I believe it’s completely inappropriate for the assembly, or chief of police, or the administrator to try to force us to choose whether we’re going to be a taxi, tour or a shuttle,” Rutter said. “I’m entitled to continue doing business the way I have for the last 16 years.”

Assembly Member Scott Saline said he wants more public engagement before voting on the code update, and suggested postponing the issue until later this year. 

“I’m just afraid we’re going to end up with like a haulout that can’t haul out boats, and we’re going to end up with cabs that can’t pick people up,” he said.

Assembly Member Katie Riley agreed with the postponement. She said balancing the affordability needs of residents with the needs of providers to make a living is a tough line to walk.

“I would love a little bit of thought to go into this process because it has been talked about for 27 years, and there keep being impediments,” Riley said. “So there needs to be some dedication to getting a comprehensive look at what all the comments are on this proposal, where all the little rub points are, and then what can we do about that.”

Ultimately, the assembly voted unanimously to move the issue to its meeting on Nov. 24.

The Sitka Fire Department tamped out a woodland fire late last week. 

On Friday (8-7-26), around 10:30 a.m., a 911 caller reported smoke coming from a tree near the Indian River trailhead. 

Interim Fire Chief Brian McLaughlin said one engine and five firefighters responded to the scene, where they found a fire brewing under the exposed root system of a Sitka spruce. He said responders didn’t find anything obvious that started the fire. 

“But what our guess is, just due to the nature of the fire and where it was located, and it was really kind of in the the peat moss of the ground, that probably something like a cigarette butt or a firework that had gone off several days prior, or even a day prior, had started a small burn that just kept getting hotter and hotter and hotter until it started smoldering and creating enough of a smolder to smoke up before it actually caught the tree itself on fire,” he said.

McLaughlin said the crew pushed water directly into the ground for about an hour, saturating the area to avoid any reignition. The overall response took less than two hours. 

He said living in a rainforest won’t necessarily prevent fires from happening, and Sitkans should be cautious, especially with the recent sunny, dry weather. 

“It doesn’t take that long for our rainforest flora to dry out enough to be a little bit more easily combustible,” he said. “It just takes the right conditions and the right baseline fuel, air, and heat to make it happen.”

Quick action also prevented a fire at a DeGroff Street home on Sunday from spiraling out of control.

McLaughlin said it appears a homemade wooden smoker was the source of the blaze. It caught the side of a lean-to garage and porch on fire. 

“It just so happens one of our off-duty firefighters was walking by, saw the smoke, [and] called it into us right then, and helped the tenant start putting water on the fire with the tenant’s garden hose,” he said. “And we were there shortly thereafter with a couple fire trucks.”

10 firefighters, two engines, and an ambulance arrived on scene around 1:45 p.m. and put out the fire quickly. McLaughlin said there was some damage to the structure, but nothing “catastrophic.” The total response and investigation took about an hour and a half. 

McLaughlin reminds Sitkans to not hesitate to call 911.

“If you think you need us, just give us a call,” he said.  

Local business owner Sherri Blankenship filed to run for a seat on the Sitka Assembly last week (8-5-26). 

Blankenship is a nutritionist and owner of Highliner Coffee. She ran for an assembly seat last year, narrowly losing to incumbent Thor Christianson. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Blankenship on Monday (8-10-26) to discuss her bid for a seat and what her priorities would be, if elected.

TRANSCRIPT:

KCAW: This is your second time running for the assembly. Tell me a bit about that decision.

BLANKENSHIP: Well, I have the same desire to run for assembly this year that I did last year. I have the same goals, and I was pretty close last time, within just a handful of votes. It was disappointing, but at the same time, I felt like that was a growing experience because I went the route that mentors told me to do, which is join commissions, be more involved, and that’s what I did all this year, is I grew.

KCAW: So tell me a little bit about how you’ve been more involved.

BLANKENSHIP: I joined the tourism commission. I feel like I have an indirect-facing business to tourism, but it affects my business in some ways. But I have a neutral position in a lot of ways because I know what tourism does for our town, but I also represent everyone, and I want it to be comfortable at the same time. So I don’t want it to be the only industry that we focus on.

KCAW: There are a lot of issues facing Sitkans right now. What do you see as some of the biggest? And if elected to the assembly seat, how would you help solve those?

BLANKENSHIP: I really haven’t seen the needle move much from last year. I really think that all of those issues that we concentrated on last year are still remaining. We’re still dealing with them, and I don’t really expect that we would have them solved by now. But I would really like to see that needle move a little faster. I do believe that we also need to focus on wellness in general for our community. Mental health is really important, and I would like to see better programs, or the programs that are existing to be more bolstered, more supported, and [not only] supported by business, but supported by our city as well. So that is one of the areas that I want to concentrate on.

KCAW: You mentioned some of these issues that have been affecting Sitkans for a long time, including last year. For those who might not have been in the loop last year during election time, or are new to town, can you expand on some of those issues that you’re talking about?

BLANKENSHIP: Well, we’ve always had a housing issue, but the issues that we’ve been dealing with as a community is housing, economics, as far as being economically healthy, supporting local industry, making sure that they’re all supported the way that they need to be, and also [that] small businesses have the support that they need. But the cost of living is another issue that we’re dealing with, and that one’s a hard one because that’s not something that we can change necessarily on the assembly. You know, that is something that we have to be empathetic to our residents and know what they’re dealing with, and try to come up with more ways to bring money into our community so that in the end, it can bring down the cost of living.

KCAW: And as you mentioned, last year, you just narrowly lost in the election. Why should Sitkans vote for you this year?

BLANKENSHIP: I know that I represent a larger demographic here in Sitka. I have four children that have gone through, two that remain in the school district, two grown children, and I also own a business. I’ve also not owned a business while I lived in this town, so I’ve seen all levels and phases of living here. I’ve lived here for 22 years, actually almost 23, and I can say that I think that I represent that middle ground where I still am young enough to represent the younger crowd, and I’m old enough to know what those struggles were and survive them, but I’m also not too old to be out of touch.

KCAW: Is there anything else that you think Sitkans should know about you before the municipal election this October?

BLANKENSHIP: I’ve grown a lot, I think. I think in this last year, I took a lot of direction to heart. I’ve learned to listen a lot more, and I think that is really important when being on the assembly. Being able to listen closer to the larger group and see what those needs are, and be able to change your mind if you get new information that would validate a change. And I believe that’s a metric that has definitely changed with me, and I’ve seen that growth, and I think reflection is really important.

Darrell Windsor filed to run for a seat on the Sitka Assembly on Wednesday. Windsor owns Sitka Appliance Repair and is a long-time member of the Sitka Planning Commission.

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Windsor on Friday (8-7-26) to talk to him about his bid for an assembly seat, and what he hopes to address, if elected. 

WINDSOR: Well, I’ve been in Sitka for 32 years. [I’ve] seen a lot of changes in 32 years. And I’ve been on the Planning Commission for 15 years. So, on the Planning Commission, we make recommendations to the Assembly. So, I thought I’d like to be on the other end for once, get the recommendations given to me.

KCAW: Yeah. So, I was going to ask you about that. You are a long-serving member on the Planning Commission, you’re the current chair as well, but this is your first time running for a seat on the Sitka Assembly. Why now? What are the issues affecting Sitkans that are making you want to to run?

WINDSOR: Of course, the biggest one is housing and the tourism. Those are two really hot items that we have to figure something out. I mean, I understand this is a tourist town, and that’s our main business. But it seems like half the population doesn’t want it, and the other half does. 

KCAW: Do you have specific policies you have in mind for how to address those issues?

WINDSOR: I do on the housing, but I really don’t want to say right now. But yeah, I’ve got an idea.

KCAW: So, why should Sitkans vote for you?

WINDSOR: I think Sitkans should vote for me because I’m level-headed. I like to hear both sides and try to make an intelligent decision. I just don’t jump off the bat because I feel this way or that way. I like to hear it all. So, I think if you want a balanced somebody to make a decision, I’d be good for that.

KCAW: What else should people know about you? We know that you’ve served on the Planning Commission for a long time, but what should people know about you before they vote in the municipal election this fall?

WINDSOR: Well, I think a lot of people know me. I do appliance repair, so I’ve met probably at least 40% of the population of Sitka, so they understand that I don’t jump in. You know, I try to think things through and I try to apply that with the same thing I do on my job with troubleshooting: figure out the problem, then try to fix the problem. I feel I’ll be the same way on the assembly.

KCAW: And so you mentioned these big issues of housing and tourism affecting Sitkans right now, and I know you don’t want to go into all the details. But if elected, how do you propose to address those longstanding challenges here in Sitka?

WINDSOR: Well, like I said, I’ve got an idea. I really don’t want to say it right here. [Find] a way to get some property out to people, and an affordable way of getting property out to people.

It’s just after 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning in late July, and fishermen are unloading their gear onto the shores at Redoubt Falls after the 15-mile boat ride from downtown Sitka. The sound of rushing water drowns out their chatter as they begin to dip their large nets into the rapids, trying to catch their allotment of sockeye. Time and again, they lean toward the water and scoop from the thousands of red salmon returning to the lake above.

Redoubt is an important area for many Sitkans. It’s a former Lingít village site, and it’s the largest, and closest, sockeye salmon fishery in the area. Every summer, subsistence, sport, and commercial fishermen flock there to fill their freezers.

Subsistence fishermen are currently allowed to catch 25 sockeye per household, with an annual limit of 100. But that wasn’t always the case. 

“In the early ‘80s, the runs at Redoubt were significantly depressed. I think there were around 800 sockeye returning at the time,” said Jeff Feldpausch, director of the Resource Protection Department at Sitka Tribe of Alaska. 

He said the Tribe, U.S. Forest Service, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game stepped in to develop a management plan that helped the fishery rebound.

The salmon weir at the top of Redoubt Falls was essential to that effort. Every summer, technicians from the Forest Service and Tribe would hand count each fish one-by-one as they funneled through the hole in the long fence-like barrier that stretches across the outflows of the lake. During a low return, the State might reduce catch limits or even close the fishery for the year. During higher returns, they might open it up for a larger harvest.

“We have a commercial fishery that’s now taking place that wouldn’t if the weir wasn’t in place,” Feldpausch said. “The Tribe is able to utilize its community harvest permit. We would not be able to do that if the weir was not in place and that data wasn’t being collected. And right now, harvesters can get up to 100 sockeye a year, up from 50 — that would not happen without the weir being in place.”

But in recent years, Feldpausch said, funding has lapsed. As the fish rebounded at Redoubt, the Forest Service and Tribe weren’t able to get as much grant money to collect escapement data. 

“The system is not broken. That’s the problem [when] going after grant funds,” he said. “There’s lots of money out there to fix and monitor broken systems, but there’s no regular funding out there for this side of it: for a system that isn’t broken.”

So now the Tribe is trying something a bit different. They got a grant, and last summer started testing out a new artificial intelligence system from the British Columbia-based company SalmonVision that Feldspausch says saves both money and time. 

Techs from the Forest Service and Tribe still go out to Redoubt periodically to collect biological data from the sockeye, he said, like weight, age, length and sex.

“We are the first entity, as far as I know, in the state of Alaska that is using the AI video system,” Feldspausch said. “There’s several of them down in BC, but we’re the first ones in Alaska.”

Feldspausch describes the system as a white polyethylene plastic chute with a video camera on the side. As the fish swim through the chamber, the system is able to draw a rectangle around each fish to pick out identifying features and assign what species it is. A float in the lagoon has battery packs, solar panels, and a Starlink system, and the data is immediately uploaded online and accessible from the Tribe’s office in town.

AI is being used in other ways across the state. He said there are remote video shoots operated by the Forest Service at other weirs, but someone still needs to review the footage and count each individual fish, in contrast to the Redoubt weir that provides data in real time.

Researchers in Bristol Bay also started exploring new AI and drone technology this summer to improve escapement data in the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery. And there’s a pilot project at the Chignik River weir where the department is providing weir images to a company that is evaluating the utility of AI to count and ID salmon, according to ADF&G, but they are not using it to generate in-season counts.

The goal, Feldspausch said, is to keep the Redoubt weir counting fish so Sitkans can have full access to the increased returns coming back to the lake. He said he thinks the AI weir data triggered the increased harvest access this summer.

“The computer itself has actually learned how to count sockeye, and the data we have provided the program has gotten up to about a 95% confidence interval on counting sockeye through the system,” he said.

But, he added, the system has created several unintended challenges as well. 

Under the old manual counting system, when techs weren’t working, the weir was closed. The closures would cause a pool just below the weir to fill up with salmon, allowing both harvesters and bears access to large quantities of the fish. But with the AI video shoot constantly at work, those fish aren’t building up behind the weir anymore.

“The bears don’t have the ability to fish in that weir pool away from where people are fishing down in the saltwater, so we’re starting to see some conflicts between human-bear interactions that may not have been in there in the past because there was a different pool of fish for them to fish out of,” Feldspausch said.

The Tribe and Forest Service issued a warning to Sitkans in late July, urging them to practice bear safety in the area after several brown bears, including two sows with cubs, were seen frequenting the lake’s weir. 

Feldspausch said while the new AI system might take some getting used to, without a way to keep monitoring escapement at Redoubt, Sitkans would end up with a restricted harvest. 

“I know there’s been some concern about AI taking away jobs, and the reality is, there’s no funding for the weir right now,” he said. “We have looked high and low for different grant sources, and all of them deal with systems that need some sort of remediation. They’re a damaged system. This system isn’t damaged. It is blowing the doors off of it. This is about maximizing access to a resource, and it would be a real shame to have it go underutilized and not have the commercial fishery or subsistence harvesters catching those fish.”

Long-time Sitka Assembly Member Thor Christianson filed to run for mayor Friday afternoon (7-31-26). 

Christianson is a resource manager at Southeast Region Emergency Medical Services — a local organization that aims to strengthen emergency care in remote areas of the state. He is currently serving his sixth term on the assembly, and is the longest-serving assembly member in Sitka history. 

Christianson is the second candidate to throw his hat in the ring for the mayor’s seat. Assembly Member Kevin Mosher filed earlier this month. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Christianson to talk about his priorities, if elected.

TRANSCRIPT:

CHRISTIANSON: I’ve been doing this a long time. Somehow or another, I wound up being the longest-serving member of the assembly in the history of Sitka. So I think I know the job, and plus there are a number of projects, large and small, that I really want to see done. And I think that I will be able to facilitate that a bit better as mayor.

KCAW: You’ve seen a lot. You’ve served on the assembly on and off since the ’90s. Like you said, you’re the longest-serving assembly member in Sitka history. What are some of the biggest issues facing Sitkans right now? And if elected as mayor, how do you propose to address them?

CHRISTIANSON: Well, I think they all boil down to affordability, at this juncture, and quality of life, which are related but not exactly the same. Unfortunately, we’re limited in our ability to affect a lot of the issues of affordability. However, there are some things that the assembly can help with. One of the biggest, I think, is going to be getting city land on the market in the right way in such a fashion that it provides housing that is not crazy expensive, and we’ve got a few parcels of land that are in the works right now. One of them is a piece of land that we got from the Alaska Pulp [Corporation] that’s pretty good sized, and it has utilities nearby, roads nearby, but it’s going to take some real work to get that to the market. And working on getting utilities and things, and hopefully with some help from the feds or the state, so that we can get them to people at a reasonable amount. And it’s just going to take a lot of work, a lot of pushing and being creative, and collaborating, and it’s not going to happen tomorrow. But we have to keep working at it. We’ve got other things — obviously the childcare initiative we’re working on. We’ve got some other smaller things that we’re working on to get more economic activity in the winter, and those all are just going to require time and energy. And it’s kind of funny, but in the last few years, I’ve been re-energized. I have more energy now on the assembly than I did back 10 years ago, 15 years ago, mainly because I think I understand the job better, and that’s part of the reason I’m running for mayor because I believe I understand the things that a mayor can do to facilitate those conversations and facilitate those projects, bringing people together, getting divergent viewpoints, if not agreeing, at least agreeing to disagree, and making sure that everybody is heard, so that even if you don’t get exactly what you wanted, you know you got heard. I’ve learned a lot from other assembly members, other mayors, so I think I can bring to the table a lot of that together on my own. And I can say I run a lot of meetings, both professionally and at the assembly, and I think I can do good meetings and make sure I get everybody heard.

KCAW: What are some of the decisions you are most proud of during your time on the assembly?

CHRISTIANSON: Big and small. Way back [during] my first term, I worked to get the hoist put in down at the seawall, and at the time, I was kind of not laughed at, but they were like, “Okay, please shut up about this, and we’ll get it put in.” And I think it’s proved, you know, that’s a smaller one, but it’s proven useful. I think getting and supporting the schools over the years. We have a very school-supporting assembly right now, but it hasn’t always been that way. And I’m very proud of the fact that both of my girls were in the school or are in the school district, as was I. And so that’s a big one. Working right now on the childcare initiative. I don’t know if that’s going to go, but you won’t be able to say we didn’t try. Securing funding for SAFV was a big one, and that was, gosh, a while back. Although we still continue to do it. And honestly, this is going to sound funny, but I get phone calls sometimes late at night, and people want to talk about something, and I feel very comfortable doing that. And being able to talk to somebody, [I] may or may not be able to help or fix their problem, but making sure that they get heard and maybe sometimes helping them. I mean, I get off one of those phone calls and I feel even if I wasn’t able to make them happy, I feel good about the job I’m doing, and that’s one of the things I feel good about.

KCAW: What else should people know about you before they vote in the municipal election this October?

CHRISTIANSON: It’s kind of funny because at least people who pay attention to city stuff probably know me pretty well already. They should know that I’m willing to try things. You can’t be too afraid of failure to try and do something that’s a little bit different. So you know that I’d be willing to do that. You should know that I will listen to you, I may or may not agree with you, but if not, I’ll make sure that you know why. You’ll know that I’m going to be here. I know Sitka’s history, both politically and just in Sitka, because I’ve lived my whole life here — on again, off again when I was younger — But again, I’m no stranger to Sitka, and most people know me, and they should know that I will give everything I can to make Sitka work in all the different ways that means.

Three seats on the Sitka School Board, two Sitka Assembly seats, and the mayor’s chair are up for grabs this year. The deadline to file to run for local office is Friday, August 7. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday, October 6.

Update on 7-31-26 at 11 p.m.
Police ask that Sitkans call the temporary backup line 907-623-0911 for all emergencies and non-emergencies until ACS service is restored.

Original report:

Sitkans’ ability to contact emergency services was impacted Friday (7-31-26) after a vehicle hit a utility line at the intersection of Jarvis Street and Sawmill Creek Road. 

The Sitka Police Department responded to the crash around 11:30 a.m., according to a city press release. The accident caused a telecommunications outage for Alaska Communications (ACS). Crews are actively working on the issue, but the city said it could be as late as Monday or Tuesday until service is restored. 

The press release said that during the outage Sitkans could experience difficulty reaching 911 or other emergency services. If that happens, the release suggested using a landline or calling again from a different provider or location. 

Sitka Assembly members grappled with how to use a recently-awarded multimillion-dollar state grant at their meeting Tuesday night (7-28-26), and ultimately landed on Lincoln Street upgrades. 

The Alaska Department of Commerce awarded Sitka $4.5 million in mid-July. The money comes from $37.5 million in unspent cruise ship passenger tax funds. Sitka is one of 16 communities to receive a portion, along with Juneau, Ketchikan, and Hoonah. 

The state gave the city just 30 days to pick a single project for the money, with limitations. Head tax dollars can only be used “for projects to repair, maintain and upgrade port facilities and harbor infrastructure, enhance passenger safety and provide services to vessels and passengers,” under state law. 

On Tuesday, the assembly discussed the possibilities for the funding, including the rehabilitation of the seawall at the city’s cold storage facility on Katlian Street, the installation of an electric bus charging station under the O’Connell Bridge, and even a passenger ferry that would taxi tourists from the cruise ship dock to downtown.

After some lengthy discussion, Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz was frustrated. 

“I came into this discussion excited for four and a half [million dollars], and I’m leaving here kind of discouraged, honestly,” he said. “I don’t want to do this, but I want to tell John [Leach] to just give it back. You know, turn this letter into a paper airplane and send it back with Bert [Stedman].”

Ultimately, Eisenbeisz suggested that the assembly ask Municipal Administrator John Leach to move forward with submitting the downtown Lincoln Street project. Plans to renovate the city’s downtown thoroughfare have been in the works for years. He said for several reasons, he thinks it would be the best fit for the grant. 

“We’ve been told time and time again that Lincoln Street is one of the tension points with visitation,” Eisenbeisz said. “Whether it is bathrooms in places where people don’t want them, or if it’s streets that are open or closed when people don’t want them, it brings a lot of contention to our visitor industry. It’s been this body’s goal to get that taken care of, so that we can ease congestion downtown and allow visitors to flow more freely and allow locals their space that they need as well.”

Leach said the most recent estimate to complete the Lincoln Street upgrades is $15.5 million, but that he wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be more than that. The city has already earmarked about $6.5 million for the renovation.

“We still have a funding shortfall of about $9 million to get that project completed,” Leach said.

The assembly decided to move forward with the Lincoln Street request, but said the city can still decide not to accept the money. 

The city has to submit its plan to the state by mid-August. If the proposal is approved and the city accepts the money, it will have five years to spend it.