Have thoughts about how you want to see public building infrastructure improved? Perhaps you’re curious to learn more how certain policy implementation is funded? All of these fall under a process called asset management planning. Sitka Municipal Administrator John Leach joins KCAW for the Morning Interview to break down what that is and how Sitkans can get involved in the process.

Thousands of Alaska’s public-sector employees have been waiting for their retirement contributions to be processed since a hacking attempt last November pushed state systems offline. The delay has affected teachers and government workers in Sitka and across the state.

In early November, Alaska’s Office of Information Technology identified suspicious activity on Division of Retirement and Benefits servers. The state shut down servers to avoid a data breach. 

Forrest Wolfe is the legislative liaison for the Alaska Department of Administration. He said that the shutdown damaged servers. That damage prompted the division to move all programs and applications to more secure remote servers — a planned transition that was originally scheduled to be complete by June 2024.

“Instead of going through the whole process of trying to rebuild a whole bunch of new servers and stuff, they just decided, hey, we’ll go ahead and move it all over to the cloud, like they had planned to do already,” Wolfe said.

One program, used by 137 agencies around the state to process retirement contributions, stopped working after the transition. 

“It was discovered that there were some issues with the format that [the program] was in prior that needed to be upgraded,” Wolfe said.

That means that employers around the state, including the Sitka School District and City and Borough of Sitka, have not been able to use the program to send employee retirement contributions to the state since early November. 

Mike Vieira is a career and technical education instructor at Sitka High School. He also serves on the Saving Our Alaska Retirement (SOAR) committee, which is associated with the Alaska chapter of the National Education Association. He said $2,300 in contributions has been deducted from his paycheck since November, but that money has not been deposited into his accounts.

“And the big concern about this is that now going on three months, we’ve lost our time in the market on these contributions,” Vieira said.

By the end of January, when the state estimates that systems will be running again, he said that number will be close to $3,500. That’s money that would have been growing over the past three months. For Vieira, who is 12 years from retirement, losing three months of growth now would mean a long-term impact to his retirement savings. 

Vieira said Alaska teachers and public-sector employees already face an uphill battle without defined benefits in retirement. 

“You pile this on top of it, where you’re a whole quarter out of the market with your contributions, it just doesn’t give you much confidence in the state that they’re going to really allow you to retire with security and dignity and be able to live, you know, for the rest of your life,” he said.

It’s unclear whether employees have a remedy. Vieira pointed to a 2023 Alaska statute stating that employees are entitled to lost interest if contributions are not deposited within 15 days. Wolfe said the state is awaiting guidance from the Department of Law and tax consultants on whether that statute will apply to the state. 

Wolfe said that the state has provided employers with a temporary workaround process, which requires both employers and the state to manually enter contributions. As of January 17, 73 of those 137 of those employers had engaged in that process according to state data, although only 30 of those were actively processing contributions.

Melissa Wileman is the Public and Government Relations Director for the City and Borough of Sitka. She said the city is not currently using the state’s temporary process and is holding employee contributions until the program is functioning again. 

“Our representative advised against using the manual system, stating that the city is just too complex,” she said. “Based on our understanding, other communities are using the manual entry system, but it sounds like we are just too complicated for that.”

The Sitka School District is not using the workaround either.  Vieira said the district has struggled to get help from the state to implement the manual system.

The state expects the tool to be fully operational by the end of January, Wolfe said. At that point, employers who have not been using the manual process will have to enter back-logged contributions. 

Federal funding may be coming down the pike for Sitka’s marine haulout project.

In an interview with KCAW, municipal administrator John Leach said that Senator Lisa Murkowski and Representative Mary Peltola have earmarked $5.77 million to help complete the first stage of the project, which is slated to cost $15 million.

Leach said there’s still a long way to go before that funding is secured. 

“It’s headed to the Appropriations Committee next week, and if it passes there, then it’ll go to Congress sometime in July,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll hear a confident answer on that probably until the end of the calendar year.”

If the funding does come through, Leach said the first phase of the project will be fully funded. That will get Sitka a bare-bones haulout. It won’t include restrooms, electrical infrastructure, or a large boatyard. Leach said that staff are continuing to look for grant opportunities to fund phase two, but that he hopes a stripped-down facility can serve Sitkans in the meantime.

“Even if it’s just the the baseline work they can do, if the boat can come out of the water, if they can get washed and painted and put back in the water, that’s a lot more than what we can do now,” he said. 

Sitka has been without a marine haulout since 2022 when the privately owned haulout closed, forcing the fishing fleet to travel to other communities. Later that year, voters approved an initial $8 million dollar appropriation to construct a haulout with funds from the sale of the Sitka Community Hospital building.

Phase one is scheduled to be complete by spring 2025.

Municipal administrator John Leach joined KCAW’s Andrew Hames to share updates on new sources of energy funding for the city and rehabilitation of the Green Lake project. Leach also shared data on how Sitka’s electricity use compares to national averages. Listen to the full interview here:

You can find infographics and other information at cityofsitka.com/scres.

Tribal citizens in Sitka are being squeezed out of Sitka’s housing market, and some are leaving town, according to a new study commissioned by Baranof Island Housing Authority (BIHA), with support from Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA). Now, they are hoping the data – and community input –  will guide them towards solutions. 

Cliff Richter is the Executive Director of BIHA. He said the last tribal housing needs assessment was conducted about five years ago.

“Our data was getting a little stale,” Richter said.

BIHA and STA collected responses from over 300 Alaska Native or Indigenous households in Sitka and nearly 200 households of Sitka Tribe of Alaska tribal citizens outside of Sitka. The survey found that Native residents in Sitka are more likely to rent instead of own, live in older housing such as mobile homes, and rely on friends or family for shelter. The survey also found that tribal citizens are leaving Sitka at a higher rate than other residents. 

Robin Sherman is the Communications Director for Sitka Tribe of Alaska. 

“An astounding number of the people who responded said that they were really interested in living in Sitka, but lack of housing, you know, or affordable housing was a big barrier,” Sherman said.

Richter said the survey data has already influenced decision-making at BIHA – BIHA is now prioritizing higher-density housing and smaller lots in planning a new subdivision on Herb Didrickson Drive. They have other ideas on strategies to expand affordable housing, like weatherization and replacing mobile homes, but Richter said the next step is to involve the community in establishing priorities and solutions. While the survey focused on tribal housing needs, Richter said the issue – and the solutions – are community-wide.

“We’re seeing this as information that’s going to benefit the entire community,” he said.

Baranof Island Housing Authority, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and the City and Borough of Sitka will co-host a community meeting tonight (4-11-24) to share potential strategies for expanding affordable housing in Sitka and solicit ideas from community members. The event takes place at 6 p.m. at the Sheet’ká  Kwáan Naa Kahídi and is open to the entire Sitka community. You can read the full tribal housing needs assessment here.

“Typically, in city government, as you saw in a very long assembly meeting last night, we get up there and we hear about problems and what we’re going to do to address those problems,” Leach said. “But this is an opportunity where we get to say, these are the great things we’ve done over the last year for the community.” 

Leach shared a long list of the goals city staff met in 2023, from the grants they applied for and won, to the new programs they’ve expanded, like Parks and Rec.

View Leach’s full presentation here.

Leach also shared some figures for the audience to mull over, like around $18 million in sales tax the city collected in 2023 (calendar year). Leach said the city brought in over $5 million more than the city remitted in 2019, the last pre-pandemic cruise season.

“It’s clear that our community is becoming a more sought after destination for travelers,” Leach said. “And with this popularity, comes the ability to better fund and maintain our critical infrastructure.” 

Leach shared another figure that illustrated one example of the increased demand tourism growth has placed on the city’s infrastructure and staff. Of the calls received for emergency services during the summer tour season, a sizable chunk came from tourists. 

“Notably during the tourist season 38% of those calls were non-residents placing a significant additional burden on our services,” Leach said. “128 for cruise ship passengers and 53 were non-cruise passengers or non-cruise travelers totaling 181 extra patients. These calls are notably more time consuming,” he said and added, “These figures underscore the immense pressure responsibility shouldered by our first responders.”

Leach also noted that there’s a saturation point for the sales tax benefits – if Sitka is so crowded that visitors are waiting in long lines to eat a meal or buy an item, the sales tax benefits for the city start to level out. However, Leach said because of the steady increase in sales taxes over the last several years, they’d been able to put over $12 million in the public infrastructure sinking fund and chip away at some long standing capital projects.

“As far as the future of the fund and what we’re going to do this year, it’s too early to tell what the balance is going to look like. I can say though, that the visitor industry, love it or hate it, it’s creating a lot of revenue for us to tackle some of these capital leads.” 

Over 1000 Sitkans responded to a cruise tourism survey recently circulated by the city’s tourism task force. When the task force met Thursday night (1-25-24), they reviewed the survey results and continued to grapple with questions about how to “right size” tourism in Sitka.

The survey asked Sitkans to share specific numbers they’d like to see for the 2025 season. The majority of respondents said they want less tourism and support city regulation of that tourism. Most also supported having at least one designated “quiet day” each week, and, on average, supported having about 400,000 cruise ship visitors per season.

In addition to reviewing survey data, the task force wrestled with questions raised in recent town halls on the topic – like whether an increase in tourism could put Sitka’s rural status at risk, and how the city might handle a natural disaster with thousands of visitors in town. Vice-chair Rich McClear said it wasn’t clear that Sitka’s emergency response teams could handle that kind of load.

“The earthquake that we had a few days ago really puts it into focus,” McClear said. “What happens if we have an earthquake and a tsunami, and there are 10,000 people in town plus the local population? That scares me. And that’s the question I really think we need to talk about.”

Task force member Rich McClear is co-general manager of KCAW.

Sitka Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rachel Roy said that understanding the city’s capacity to expand infrastructure like bathrooms and walkways for the 2025 season would also help inform the task force’s recommendations.

“I think one of the things that we’re seeing that is causing a lot of the congestion and the trouble that we hear comments about comes from infrastructure that hasn’t been implemented,” Roy said. “I think of projects like the Lincoln Street project widening the sidewalks that would change the flow of that traffic pattern and maybe solve some of that. Like, what are the things that are kind of in motion already, so that we can kind of weigh whether some of this is going to be solved by these investments?”

City planning director Amy Ainslie noted that the task force didn’t necessarily need to land on a magic number for cruise ship visitors, and that they could pivot to focus on addressing the issues people had identified.

“Instead of focusing on a set, on a specific number, at least getting the things that we think will have good positive impact in terms of overall tolerance level with the cruise ship season,” Ainslie said. “And focus on those factors, not to say that’s the end-all-be-all vision of what the right number is now going into the future but at least, you know, saying these are the issues that rise to the top that we know we want to work on.”

You can find the full survey results here. The task force has been asked to give a recommendation to the Assembly by the end of April.

Note: Opinions expressed in commentaries on Raven Radio are those of the author, and are not necessarily shared by the station’s board, staff, or volunteers.

My name is Martina Kurzer. I have lived in Sitka since 1995. We have heard a lot recently about the question what number of cruise ship passengers would be appropriate to maintain a robust economy in our home town. I presented my thoughts at the tourism task force town hall meeting and was asked to let more people know about them.

If we have to close down Lincoln Street, the numbers are too high.

If we can’t timely get through the Lake and Lincoln intersection, they are too high.

When Grandpa is worried the kid breathes too much exhaust, the numbers are too high.

If the painter gets sick after days of working close to the bus route, the numbers are too high.

If we can’t enjoy our trails because of overcrowding, they are too high.

If we can’t get a cell signal and can’t place emergency calls, they are too high.

If an elder doesn’t get her medicine because a cruise ship visitor just got the last pack, the numbers are too high.

If the emergency doc can’t provide for locals, they are too high.

If an entire community suffers to accommodate the vision of one businessman, the numbers are too high.

If we have to place toilets on main street, they are too high.

If we avoid businesses downtown, they are too high.

If we need to change our lives to accommodate visitors, the numbers are too high.

If we start suffering from anxiety, the numbers are too high.

You are asking us to submit numbers, but numbers don’t reflect our grief. Any number can be taken out of context and be used to justify any action against our way of life.

That’s not community.

That’s not why we live here.

That’s toxic. That’s abuse.

That’s a pattern I know.

That violates my soul.

I resist to accept that this complex issue of quality of live is boiled down to numbers.

Let’s look at the costs these numbers bring us.

Then let’s go back to pre-pandemic levels of cruise visitors that maintain the balance we deserve.

Through my professional experience for the last 18 years I am well acquainted with behavior patterns that lead to unhealthy and dangerous relationships that begin with grooming. That’s when a person showers an often vulnerable person of interest with compliments and gifts to create a false sense of love and care. The victim feels desired and allows the most hideous acts to be committed against them. 

When I see how this city rolls over to the demands of the international cruise ship industry that doesn’t even pay taxes in this country, I see the patterns of abusers who intentionally and strategically plan profits at the expense of their victims. 

I urge the City and Borough of Sitka to not act like a victim in a relationship where the cruise ship industry has power and control over us. We don’t have to sell ourselves to the international cruise ship industry. Let’s remember that our economy is one of strength and diversity, and where individual travelers are really bringing the money.

And if you give in to the demands of the industry, please also consider the physical, emotional, and economic costs all community members have to pay. Don’t only look at the increase in sales taxes.

A memo from assembly members JJ Carlson and Kevin Mosher says that this goal deviates from where the assembly currently stands– at last year’s work session with the Chamber, assembly members indicated that they wanted to maintain, rather than grow, current levels of cruise traffic.  Carlson and Mosher have asked the assembly to carefully consider whether the current scope of the Visit Sitka contract aligns with present day needs.

In other business, the assembly will also consider the city’s legislative priorities for 2025, and discuss the recruitment of a new municipal attorney, and it will discuss the continued closure of the Katlian Street sidewalk. The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.

In other business, the assembly will consider a $5,000 appropriation to send the mayor and city administrator to the Cruise Line International Association’s Pacific Northwest Cruise symposium, and it will consider a supplemental appropriation to fund the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce through the end of the fiscal year. 

The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.