Childcare is filled with contradictions: It’s an expensive service, but a low-paid profession. Childcare centers are full, with long waitlists, but struggle to meet costs. It is a community problem, borne mostly by working parents who have to scramble to find options that fit.
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The city is increasing its contribution to Sitka’s public schools this year. When the Sitka Assembly met with the school board Thursday, it approved a $7.6 million dollar contribution. That’s an increase of more than $333,293 from last year.
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Childcare is costly and limited in Sitka. The town’s two biggest centers are both at capacity -- and have waitlists -- but the market for childcare is complicated. Even with increased fees, the centers struggle to stay afloat, and can’t afford to pay staff enough to curb high turnover.
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In part one of our three-part series on childcare in Sitka, KCAW Reporter Katherine Rose talks to three mothers about how they’re handling the affordability and availability of local childcare.
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The lowest paid department head at city hall could be getting a pay bump. When the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday (1-28-20) it voted to raise the salary of the library director position from $71,000 to $82,000.
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An effort to make room for more affordable housing in Sitka was put on pause Tuesday (1-28-20) night, when the Sitka Assembly postponed voting on a proposal that would bring tiny houses under Sitka’s residential zoning code.
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The future of Sitka’s smallest dwellings will be up for discussion when the assembly meets tonight. The group will consider updating city code to make space for tiny homes.
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The Sitka Assembly is considering recommendations from city staff to raise the salary of the library director, to add an assistant fire chief position, and to not rehire engineering positions in the public works and electric departments.
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At its regular meeting Tuesday evening (1-14-20), the Sitka Assembly took a hard look at gift cards -- how and when to tax them -- and other less-than-clearcut sales, such as pizza boxes and coffee cups.
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Sitka’s nearly 50-year old city seal is showing its age. Depicting a Russian cannon aimed over Sitka Sound at something that looks like a Tlingit fort, the seal evokes a painful past for many in the community. Now, the Sitka Assembly is getting behind a proposal to redesign it.
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