In spite of everything, 2015 will be remembered as a good year in Sitka. It’s the year that the community’s faith, grit, and forward-thinking principles were put to the test. (KCAW photo/Emily Kwong)

In spite of everything, 2015 will be remembered as a good year in Sitka. It’s the year that the community’s faith, grit, and forward-thinking principles were put to the test. It’s the year that Sitkans forged tragedy, loss, and crisis into a renewed sense of purpose. It’s the year than many of us decided to try and lead better lives, for ourselves and others.

KCAW’s Robert Woolsey has this look back at 2015.

Downloadable audio.

If you think I’m going to exaggerate the significance of 2015 you should think about this: The top story of 2014 was the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Sitka’s school board takes the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Yup. You had forgotten all about that.

Sitka’s 2015 will be memorable because our biggest stories were clustered together in a year that was already sprinkled with interesting news stories, like the state’s closing all its parks here, its goal-line stand against an invasive marine species called D-vex, the school district outsourcing Community Schools, the Sitka Softball team winning its 5th state championship in 6 years, or the Cross Country  and Girls Basketball teams winning its first titles — ever. Go Wolves!

The Lady Wolves made it 5 out of 6 in Softball in 2015. (Facebook photo)

The epic news began on Monday August 17, when the Electric Department notified media that 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel had leaked from a storage tank at the Jarvis St. generator plant. Much of it had been recovered in a concrete containment structure designed for just this emergency. But an unknown amount — possibly as much as 7,000 gallons — had drained into a storm sewer that emptied into Jamestown Bay. (Note: This figure was subsequently revised down to 2,500 gallons.)

The state and city set up an incident command center to manage the situation, which would prove to be provident. The very next morning, Tuesday August 18, a sopping-wet storm system dropped down the outer coast and soaked Sitka with as much as 5 inches of rain in under six hours.

The deluge triggered 7 landslides on the Sitka road system, one of them sweeping through a new development on Kramer Avenue, destroying a house and killing two workers inside, the brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz, age 24 and 25, and also taking the life of 62-year old William Stortz, Sitka’s building official.

City engineer David Longtin performing recovery work at the landslide that nearly overtook him. Longtin was not totally at ease — “I’m keeping my eye on it,” he said. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Municipal engineer David Longtin and an excavator operator, Jerome Mahoskey, escaped. Longtin said they had very little time to react.

“We heard a rumbling. It didn’t immediately dawn on us what it was. We looked at each other with puzzled expressions and looked at the hill, and saw these 200-foot trees falling like dominoes — boom, boom, boom, one after another.”

The next day, Gov. Bill Walker flew to Sitka to personally assess the scene.

Gov. Bill Walker (right) and Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell visited the site of the Kramer Avenue landslide on Wednesday, August 19. (Rachel Waldholz, KCAW)

“I’ve been governor about nine months now and I’ve prided myself by saying I’ve never had a bad day. Well, I can’t say that anymore. This is a really tough day.”

And it would get tougher. Volunteers flooded the firehall with offers of assistance, but the threat of more rain forced officials to keep most everyone off the slope. And it soon became clear that there would be no rescue. Grace Harbor Church transformed into a 24-hour care center, for recovery workers, for families evacuated from the surrounding neighborhoods. Working in shifts, coaches and friends from their former high school baseball team found the bodies of Elmer and Ulises about 3 days after the slide. William’s body was finally found a week after, on August 25.

Seattle Fire Battalion Chief Thomas Richardson flew to Sitka to advise. His department had managed the slide in Oso, Washington, in March 2014, which claimed 43 lives.

“Yeah, it’s very similar. In fact it’s déjà vu.”

The video of the arrest of 18-year-old Franklin Hoogendorn will be examined by the FBI< along with Sitka’s police procedures. (YouTube image capture)

Then came the video. Over Halloween weekend a Sitka middle school teacher, Alexander Allison, posted a pair of videos on social media. One, of his own arrest as a bystander watching a DUI investigation, and a second showing then 18-year old Franklin Hoogendorn, a Mt. Edgecumbe High School student, being taken into custody by Sitka police, and being tasered multiple times as three officers subdued him in the local jail. The Hoogendorn video went viral.

Police chief Sheldon Schmitt said the video only told part of the story.

“What you’re seeing on the video is the culmination of a longer contact.”

Schmitt maintains that Hoogendorn was resisting — since the moment officers confronted him earlier in the evening outside a Sitka bar — and that the use of the taser conformed to police policies in place at the time of the arrest in September 2014.

Since the video went public, Hoogendorn has obtained legal counsel. His attorney, Myron Angstman, says the video tells its own story.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think the tape says, or what you think the tape says, or what the police chief thinks the tape says, or what the city manager thinks the tape says — because the jury has the final decision as to what that tape says.”

The conduct of the Sitka police officers is being reviewed by the FBI. The Sitka Tribe sent a letter formally asking the bureau to investigate possible racial bias in Sitka’s police department. At the request of media, Sitka released its police operating procedures manual, but the 342-page document doesn’t spell out guidelines for use of a taser. Top officers in the department held a town hall meeting with Tribal citizens to discuss concerns and ease tensions, but could not directly address the Hoogendorn incident since it appears headed to court.

The rest of the news in 2015 was lighter, but no less important. For example, the CEO of Sitka Community Hospital bolted. Well, technically Jeff Comer skipped town in 2014, but the news became public when he failed to show up for a meeting with the assembly on January 2.

Comer had been working in Sitka for less than three months. His abrupt departure, paired with a bizarre story of being attacked by an unidentified couple on a Sitka trail, left people more amused than worried.

The hospital classroom was packed for the first board meeting following the disappearance of Jeff Comer. Staffers urged transparency as the board moves forward. “A lot of what’s happened has been a mystery to us,” said one. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Municipal attorney Robin Koutchak assured the hospital board that Comer would not be coming back.

“Ann, I think he’s gone. (Laughter) Elvis left the building.”

Sitka businessman Rob Allen later took the job of CEO, stabilizing the hospital’s finances, and possibly restoring sanity.

Sitka wrapped up the largest public works project in its history in 2015 – the $157-million Blue Lake Hydro expansion.
Electrical department engineer Dean Orbison was boosterish about the project for the two years it took to raise the dam and build a new powerhouse. But when he cut the ribbon in May, he didn’t seem to upset too take off his hard hat once and for all.

Project Manager Dean Orbison (left) and Mayor Mim McConnell smashed a bottle of champagne against one of the new, blue turbines. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

“This particular project, this success, and working together with this team is by far the pinnacle of my career. Which ends today!”

Another significant departure this year was John Straley’s. The former writer laureate of Alaska retired from a three-decade career as a criminal investigator, most recently for the Public Defender’s Office in Sitka. Straley drew on his work experience to write nine novels, which he says, had far more “moral certainty” than real life.

“Reality is always so much more complicated, with so much more gray area. And in stories, you always make it work out faster.”

John Straley, in his office at the Sitka Public Defender. With up to 50 cases in play at any given time, Straley says the work “can be rewarding, but also heartbreaking.” (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

As if to illustrate Straley’s point, the family of Lael Grant in June asked the state to issue her death certificate. The 33-year old mother of two went missing in 2012, with no ID in her possession, and no other means to travel off-island.

Her sister, Erika Burkhouse, believed Grant’s disappearance was connected to her involvement with Sitka’s drug culture. She didn’t want to give up hope, but the family needed to move on.

“I think she just got too far in, you know. She was in a really bad place after my dad passed away. So I would like to think so. She was a strong person, she really was. Those boys meant the world to her, and despite what was happening to her, and her unhealthy lifestyle, she still somehow managed to be a good mom.”

The state ruled Grant’s death a likely homicide. The case remains open and unsolved.

The 80-foot tender Kupreanof slips beneath the waves just seconds after the last crew member was hoisted aboard an Air Station Sitka helicopter. (USCG image)

And life also made headlines in 2015. Early in the morning on June 10, the 80-foot fishing tender Kupreanof began taking on water offshore of Lituya Bay. An Air Station Sitka helicopter arrived on scene and found the Kupreanof about half-submerged in rough seas, with four men on board.

The helicopter commander, Chris Stoeckler, asked the crew to get in their life raft, but the Kupreanof radioed back, with a problem.

“I’ve got one man that’s pretty old and can’t swim.”

A rescue swimmer was lowered to assist all four men into a raft, and all were safely hoisted to the helicopter, just as the Kupreanof slipped under the waves. There is a video of this rescue available online that is more real than any reality television you’ll ever see, though it plays like another day at the office for the cool heads flying the helicopter.

Simeon Swetsov, Jr., left, the mayor of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands, choked up as he testified before the NPFMC advisory panel. Beside him is Mateo Paz-Soldan. (Rachel Waldholz/KCAW)

Sitka hosted two major fisheries meetings this year, the State Board of Fisheries, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The meetings were filled with intense issues, but none more so than the Council’s deliberations over wasted halibut — or bycatch. The stakes are enormous for small-boat fishermen in the villages of Western Alaska. Member Duncan Fields was aggrieved when the rest of the council adopted bycatch limits favoring larger commercial interests.

“I acknowledge on a personal basis my identity with the folks living in Western Alaska, and their loss of economic opportunity, personal identity, and cultural legacy. I get it.”

On three separate occasions this fall young vandals tipped over headstones in the Russian Orthodox Cemetery. (KCAW photo/Emily Kwong)

Cultural legacy came into play in other news stories as well. This fall, Sitka’s Orthodox Cemetery was struck by three separate episodes of vandalism, where numerous headstones were tipped over. Bob Sam is the caretaker of the 200-year old cemetery, which holds the remains of mostly Alaska Natives.

“When you’re washing a headstone, it’s no different than washing somebody’s feet. You experience a kind of humility.”

Sam was nearing despair over the repeated vandalism, but help from the police department and cadets at the Sitka Trooper Academy helped restore his faith. After each incident, law enforcement personnel returned to the cemetery to raise the stones, some weighing hundreds of pounds. Sitka police later caught the culprits, a group of 8-10 year old children.

Another cultural rift was mended when the Alaska Day Committee was called out on its use of the name “Slave Auction” for an annual fundraiser at the Pioneer Bar. Pressure to drop the name came from the NAACP in Anchorage, in a press release issued on Alaska Day. In the auction, business owners agree to provide a service to a high bidder.
Event organizers felt that the otherwise benign, 31-year old event had been unfairly targeted. This is Mary Magnuson.

“This controversy frankly offends me a little bit, that people who know nothing about my community are pointing fingers and acting like we’re racist.”

The Sitka Tribe endorsed the NAACP’s position, saying “slave auction” was insensitive. The committee changed the name to “Alaska Day Auction,” and suggested that they would have welcomed a phone call from the NAACP, rather than a limelight.

There is cultural rift, and then there’s just culture.

Music: Cantina Band from Star Wars

On December 17, in Sitka and just about everywhere, fans flocked to the premiere of Episode VII of Star Wars. The intergalactic odyssey proved inter-generational, as parents stood in a line reaching toward St. Michael’s Cathedral to watch a film with their children, that they first saw as children themselves.

“This is probably the most important night of my life since I was 5 years old on Christmas Eve and watched Star Wars for the first time,” said one movie-goer.

Mike Romine stands in front of his home on Wachusetts Street. He even provided a low-power FM signal so viewers could listen to holiday music in their vehicles. (KCAW photo/Brielle Schaeffer)

And afterwards, on that evening and many others, Sitkans would get in their cars to drive to the corner of Kimsham and Wachusetts streets, to the home of Mike Romine, a Christmas light enthusiast and — for one month at least –probably Sitka’s best electrical customer.

Romine’s show has evolved over the past decade into something worthy of Vegas, but it isn’t heavy handed. As programmed lights climb a tower, they merge to form the words August 18, Elmer, Ulises, and Bill — the three Sitkans who perished in the landslide.

“I just knew that there were a lot of people that it affected. People just came together, it was a pretty big deal. And because I was thinking of them, most of Sitka probably was too. I think the families have appreciated it.”

Music: Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again.

And it’s been gestures like Mike Romine’s, large and small, bright and not so visible — too many to count, really — that turn a difficult year into a good one.

Let’s meet again in 2016. Happy New Year.

Sitka Community Hospital has its eye on a clinic for sale – once the Moore Clinic – to relocate administrative operations and eventually expand the hospital. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

At the Assembly meeting on Tuesday (12-08-15), CEO Rob Allen delivered a report on the state of Sitka Community Hospital. The presentation comes one year after a major shake-up at the hospital  – that saw the departure of then-CEO Jeff Comer, a $1 million loan from the City, and the dissolution of the board.

Before beginning his presentation, Allen said, “A couple of months ago when I was in an all-staff meeting, I made a promise that we wanted this December to be very boring. Especially compared to last December, which all of you remember was not so boring.“

Allen told the Assembly that SCH is in a much better financial place than it was last year, when the hospital’s severe cash flow came to light (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

Last December was when the hospital’s severe cash shortage came to light. Now, the hospital just completed an audit, introducing a new electronic billing system, and is sitting pretty cash wise – with $2.6 million in the bank. “A year ago, we had 6 or 7 days of cash on hand and now we are up over 40 days,” Allen said.

To grow that cash flow, Allen wants to find a way to bring more patients into the hospital and for that, he has his eye on the building next door. Once called the Moore Clinic, it’s now owned by Dr. John Totten, who retired a few years ago. Totten wants to sell it to the hospital for $950,000, which is about half of its appraisal value.

Steve Hartford, the hospital’s operations director, explained why the building is desirable in the short term. “The purchase would allow the hospital to relocate it’s private administrative offices from the ground floor of the hospital, which would free up much needed space to direct patient care.”

And in the long term, the hospital wants to use the land as the bedrock for a state of the art clinic, that would combine Mountainside Family Healthcare and Oceanside Therapy into a single 3-story building. Allen said, “That would then allow us to tear down the Totten building and then go in that spot with some type of long term facility – and geriatric care – which would allow us to move it outside of the hospital.“

It’s a long term vision, with the Totten building as a catalyst. Since the building rests on city land, the sale must be approved by the Assembly. At the end of the presentation, Assembly asked for time and a work session to review the idea more carefully.

In other news, the Assembly approved the consent agenda in one fell swoop, which included awarding a contract to DOWL to analyze the site of a proposed seaplane base on Japonski Island. The old facility is rapidly deteriorating.

In new business, the Assembly also directed Administrator Mark Gorman to obtain bulk water export permits for Green Lake water. And right before wrapping up for the night, the Assembly appointed Clara Gray to the Health Needs and Human Services Commission and Liz McKenzie to the Tree and Landscape Commission.

“I’m constantly getting articles and books from senior staff,” said Rob Allen, who has recently accepted the board’s invitation to stay on as the CEO of the financially ailing Sitka Community Hospital. Allen was considered for the position last year and was brought in after the former hire abruptly quit. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

After six weeks on the job, Rob Allen – the interim CEO of Sitka Community Hospital – agreed to take on the position permanently. He announced his decision during the hospital board’s last meeting in February (2-26-15) and expects to negotiate for a contract soon.

Hospital management is a new chapter for Allen, who grew up as boat captain in one of Southeast’s most prominent maritime families. He said the hospital’s financial panic has subsided, thanks in large part to the staff members who rode the wave.

Downloadable audio.

While Rob Allen feels good about his decision, he is the first to say he has some serious reading to do. When he met with KCAW last Wednesday (3-4-15), he was preparing to fly out to Maine to see his daughter. “I’ve got a book about this thick I’m going to be reading on the plane about the medical health care world and operating it as a business,” he said.

Allen was born in Kodiak, but he’s really a son of Sitka. He was raised here and was president of Allen Marine Tours for nearly two decades. When he and his wife moved to Massachusetts in 2008, Allen knew he’d orchestrate a way to come back. His intention was the operate a newly bought charter vessel for the summer, called the Midsummer Dream. Allen said, “My plan was to be one the boat all summer. Instead I’m in my windowless office. (Laughs). That’s the hard part.”

The hospital has found ways to cut cost internally, by cutting overtime pay and enforcing a low census policy, whereby nurses leave work early if there aren’t a lot of patients that day. “You can really see the difference in our bottom line,” said Allen. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

We’re seated in that windowless, basement office – there’s an open door policy – and though he’s missing a CEO name tag, Allen said he’s become more comfortable with the role since he took office (1-19-15). He has a better grasp of the financial picture, a good rapport with staff, and has made inroads with the Alaska Hospital Association. Last week, Allen went to one of their meetings in Juneau.

Allen: It was a good chance to meet other hospital CEOs and start talking to them. They’re a great resource.
KCAW: Did they know about what happened? Did they ask you?
Allen: Everrrrybody knows what happened. Yes. (Laughs)
KCAW: What did they say?
Allen: Oh they just… most of them were happy to see there was somebody that would step in and take it on.

Allen applied for the CEO job last year, but lost out to Jeff Comer, who had extensive experience in hospital management elsewhere in the country. Some of that experience was of short duration, however, and that would prove to be the case in Sitka. Barely three months into the job, with the hospital in financial disarray, Comer abruptly resigned and around the same time, filed a police report alleging that he was assaulted by an unidentified couple while hiking on a trail.

Chief Nurse Raine Clarke, who served as interim CEO before Allen was brought in, said the circumstances created not just confusion among the staff, but some outright panic.

Clarke reflected on that time, saying, “A little, I mean I can’t even say a little…People were afraid. They were afraid the hospital was going to go under. People were afraid for their jobs. We were trying to make it so that staff could come in and still just feel like they were doing their job and that’s all they had to do. That they didn’t have to deal with everything else that was going on out there.”

“It was tough there for a while, for about a month,” said Patrick Williams, the Program Coordinator. In the wake of the crisis, he said that members of the administrative team would stay until 8 o’clock, sometimes 9 o’clock, at night to come up with ways to put the hospital back together.

Williams motioned to his name tag, where a red button was affixed to the front. He explained that former obstetrics coordinator Ruth Watson took it upon herself to walk around the hospital one day and hand out bright red buttons that said things like “SCH Team. Williams added, “There’s also a little button…I actually don’t have that one on right now…that says SCH will survive.”

To boost morale, Ruth Watson, the former OB coordinator, passed out buttons to staff members like Angela McGraw with messages like “SCH Will Survive” and “SCH Team.” Amid discovery of financial losses and the transition to a new CEO, the hospital staff is determined to move forward. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

(McGraw: Okay, so you’re ready? We’re going to start right here. We’re at the main entrance of the hospital right now.)

I’m walking down the hallways with Public Relations Coordinator Angela McGraw. She said, “I think we’re coming out on the other side of it okay.” Everywhere we go, from the radiology room to IT, people said the same thing: ‘We’re surviving. We’re doing okay.’

(Kilkeary talking to McGraw)

Daniel Kilkeary began work the same month the hospital announced its financial troubles. He said that, despite the crisis, he wasn’t all that worried. “My wife works over in medical records – she does the billing and coding over there – and she always felt like the hospital was sound and it’s just a matter of catching up,” Kilkeary said.

Catching up by cashing in. Allen says that the debt collector they hired brought in $560,000 in January. To cut cost internally, the hospital began enforcing it’s low census policy by sending staff home when the patient count was low.

Census numbers have been low, but throughout the winter, fluctuated as usual. According to Clarke, the hospital provided 83 days of acute care in February, admitted 24 patients through long term care and 159 patients through the Emergency Room. In January, those numbers were 155 days, 25 admissions, and 130 ER patients. In December, they were 129 days, 25 admissions, and 131 ER patients.

So far, there’s been no need to ask for additional loans from the city.

And as the hospital approaches a new budget cycle, Allen plans to open up the strategic planning process to the public through focus groups and two town hall meetings this spring.

Of the decision to make the planning public, Allen said, “It’s kind of credibility issue for me. We want to be able to show the community that we have gone through a good planning process that has credibility.”

When asked if the hospital would ever merge with SEARHC, Allen said he’d at the very least like to explore streamlining services. He talked about the duplicate services offered at both hospitals, saying, “Two emergency rooms. Two OBs. There might be ways we could cooperate or share resources, so there is not so much overlap.”

Allen also wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong in the first place. For that, he hired interim CFO Cynthia Brandt of the Anchorage-based firm WaineBrandt through April. Though it was a perfect storm of problems, blame is shifting largely to the electronic medical system that the hospital implemented last May, called Centric.

“All the systems ground to a halt,” said Allen, “So there was a real slowdown in getting bills out. The decision to pick the system was made a couple of years ago, so I haven’t even found any documents about how evaluation was done or why this one was chosen.”

In such cash-strapped times, it doesn’t seem likely the hospital will expand into a regional healthcare hub, as envisioned by Jeff Comer. Right now, it’s enough to just treat patients who come in and collect the money they’re owed. Allen offered the following analogy from his boat tour days to staff, which Clarke said she appreciated.

“Allen was talking about Allen Marine and said, ‘It’s really nice to take a tour out and have customers pay when it’s beautiful out there and there is a lot of wildlife. But the days you have to take people out on the boat and it’s windy and raining and there is no wildlife, the bottom line is you still have paying customers.’ And so I think that having that mindset can kind of come over to healthcare. Nobody wants to be in a hospital. Nobody wants to have to come and be sick. We just need to focus on our patients.”

A task that’s become a lot easier, Clarke said, with a steady hand at the wheel.

Rob Allen was hired as interim CEO at Sitka Community Hospital in January. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Sitka Community Hospital has a new CEO, and a new CFO; about a million dollars on hand; and no plans to ask for more money from the city.

Two months after a financial crisis forced it to request an emergency loan from the Sitka Assembly, an event followed by the abrupt departure of its CEO, Sitka’s city-owned hospital is taking stock and moving forward.

Downloadable audio

When Rob Allen signed on as interim CEO of Sitka Community Hospital last month, he says his first goal was to move the organization from “crisis mode to urgent mode.”

“What really helped was getting that million-dollar line of credit,” Allen said. “It really kind of gave us a cushion and stabilized us.”

That was the $1-millon loan from the City of Sitka, approved by the Assembly on December 23, after former CEO Jeff Comer, on the job for barely three months, discovered the hospital didn’t have enough cash to meet its short-term expenses.

So far, Allen said, the loan has given the hospital the breathing room it needed —  and he hopes he won’t have to return to the Assembly for more.

One of his first moves as CEO was to hire a CFO – Chief Financial Officer. The hospital’s longtime finance chief, Lee Bennett, resigned on December 3, just as the financial crisis came to light.

In early February (2-2-15), Allen hired Cynthia Brandt for that role. Based in Anchorage, Brandt will work onsite at the hospital Mondays through Thursdays, through the end of April.

Allen said that for both him and Brandt, goal number one is to stabilize the hospital’s finances. Goal number two is to figure out what went wrong.

“And hopefully we’ll have a much clearer story that we can tell about the past couple years,” Allen said. “Because if you look at past years’ financials, you know, four or five years ago, the hospital was in pretty strong shape.”

But for the moment, Allen said, he’s concentrating on the present.

In the first six months of this fiscal year, from July 1 to December 31, 2014, the hospital lost $1.13-million. In December alone, the last month for which there are complete numbers, the hospital saw a net loss of $143,578.

Some of the problems are clear: the long-term care unit, which provides much of the hospital’s operating revenue, had just nine residents in December,  down from the budgeted 12. There were also fewer acute care patients.

And Allen says the hospital’s billing system is a mess. That may be in part because of the switch to electronic medical records in 2014. He says it was not a smooth transition.

“My speculation is there was a real problem there with billing for, I think, a few months, when they were doing the change-over to electronic medical records,” he said. “There was a real problem getting the bills out the door, and that eventually meant that there was no cash coming in. And now we’re just trying to get caught up.”

“That’s why our accounts receivables…is almost $6-million , which is really high,” he said.

That’s the amount the hospital is owed but hasn’t yet collected, whether from insurance companies, patients, or federal programs like Medicare or Medicaid.

And then, there’s the credentialing issue. In order to bill Medicare or Medicaid, providers at the hospital must be credentialed with those programs. But several of the hospital’s provider credentials had lapsed, an administrative snafu that could cost the hospital hundred of thousands of dollars in bills it must either pay back or write off.

Allen says there are a few bright spots. The hospital has contracted with an outside collector to follow up on bills over 60 days old. That money is expected to start coming in this month.

And in the meantime, the hospital is tightening its belt. There have been no layoffs, and so far, none are planned, Allen says.

But positions that open up due to retirements are not being filled. On low-census days, when there are few or no patients, staff that is not completely necessary – including administrative staff – are sent home without pay. The hospital normally gives benefited staff three floating holidays each year; those have been cut. And purchases are on hold unless they are absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile, the hospital is searching for a new CEO.

It has several options: The recruiting firm B.E. Smith, which found Jeff Comer, has a clause in its contract that if a CEO leaves within two years, it will conduct another search without charging its fee.

The hospital is also exploring the idea of a management contract with a company like Providence Health & Services, which could provide a CEO.

A third option is Allen himself. His contract runs through April 17: three months, at a salary of $12,500 a month. But he said he might be open to staying longer.

That will depend in part on his other obligations. When he was hired, he was in the midst of launching a new charter business, R&R Marine, and he’d have to find someone to run it.

But also, he said, he wants to make sure he’s the right man for the job.

“I wanted to make sure that I can do this job,” he said. “I don’t have the medical background, that was my weakness. I think that’s why I was the second choice candidate last summer, because I don’t have that medical experience running any kind of medical operation. So it’s a very steep learning curve…I wanted to make sure it’s a good fit.”

Allen was the runner-up for the CEO position last summer. His family owns the local shipbuilding and tour company, Allen Marine, though he sold his share several years ago. Born and raised in Sitka — and a former Sitka Assembly member — he now splits his time between Southeast Alaska and Massachusetts.

And despite the hospital’s many woes, he’s confident this crisis will pass.

“We’re going to move forward,” he said. “I’m confident the hospital is going to be here. And you know, we’ll work hard on coming up with a credible plan for the community, and see where that process leads us.

For now, that plan remains in the future. You “have to figure out where you are and how you got there before you can figure out where [you’re] going,” Allen said.

Allen, who currently lives in Deerfield, Massachusetts, is still considering the offer. He originally applied for the position when it became open last summer, and was the second choice behind Jeff Comer.

He’s since launched a seasonal charter business, so he regards the hospital board’s offer as temporary.

“Well, it’s strictly as an interim. I’m starting a new business this summer. So I’m only available until April. Basically, I’m looking to help out as much as I can during that period.”

Allen was born and raised in Sitka, attended Harvard University, and has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government.

He sold his share in his family business, Allen Marine, several years ago, and has been managing his investments, along with serving on the board of Trustees of Sheldon Jackson College, and on the board of the Sitka Sound Science Center.

Allen also served one full term on the Sitka Assembly in the late 90s.

The hospital board voted 5-1 to offer the interim position to Allen in a special meeting Wednesday (1-7-15).

The hospital classroom fills for the board’s noon meeting. Staffers urged transparency as the board moves forward. “A lot of what’s happened has been a mystery to us,” said one. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Sitka Community Hospital has an interim CEO. The hospital board named Chief Nursing Officer Raine Clarke to the post at a special meeting on Monday (1-5-15). The term of Clarke’s service is not known at the moment. What is known, however, is that former CEO Jeff Comer will not be receiving anything more than his paycheck for his work through last Friday, as Sitka’s embattled hospital struggles to balance its books and find direction.

Downloadable audio.

Raine Clarke is at the top of the duty roster to serve as CEO when the regular hospital CEO is absent — regardless of whether it’s a planned absence. This is by-the-book hospital policy.

Municipal attorney Robin Koutchak nevertheless urged the hospital board to give Clarke the nod formally, even if it was on a very short-term basis. The hospital board also liked the idea of rotating other members of the hospital administration into the CEO role, as has been standard practice.

Koutchak said that right now a team really couldn’t serve as CEO .

“My caution is: You really need somebody in charge of the ship.”

So the board settled on Clarke, and there was some comfort in following established procedures to arrive at that decision.

This is board chair Celeste Tydingco.

“We’ve already got policies in place. This isn’t a huge emergency right now. We do have things that we’ve already established that are working. But let’s meet real soon. Let’s get a plan together very, very quickly and make a good plan, and not just a knee-jerk plan.”

To help, the city of Sitka is providing the support of municipal administrator Mark Gorman, chief administrative officer Jay Sweeney, and municipal attorney Robin Koutchak. Member Lori Hart thought that between the hospital board, hospital staff, and municipal staff, some kind of transition plan could be developed in about three weeks.

The transition will not involve Jeff Comer, who became CEO of Sitka Community Hospital in October, and handed in his resignation around New Year’s. Comer vacated his hospital-owned apartment on Sunday, January 4, turned in his keys, rental car, and laptop, and departed Sitka for Phoenix, Arizona, according to Koutchak.

Sitka’s attorney wanted to clear up any misconception about whether Comer would entitled to a severance package worth two months of his $185,000 salary.

She read from an email Comer sent to board members the day before the meeting.

“He says: Per Section 7a of my Employment Agreement the Board must pay me for 60 days. That’s not what that section says in his contract. So if you all could look at his contract, and go to that section. 7a states that he is to give 60 days notice. It doesn’t say we’re to pay him. It says he’s to give us 60 days notice.”

In his email, Comer agrees to remain available to work telephonically from Arizona to support the hospital during the transition. Koutchak felt that didn’t fulfill his employment contract. Furthermore, there’s the alleged assault.

Comer failed to appear for a scheduled meeting with the assembly on January 2, saying — through a statement — that he had been attacked and beaten on a local trail that afternoon, and feared for his safety.

Koutchak felt it was best to move on.

“He gave us his resignation letter dated December 30, and then on Friday he really, really let everyone know by way of the assembly meeting that he was gone, and Sunday he was on a plane. So I think we’re really safe in saying Friday was his last day. Pay him up through Friday, let it go.”

But members Hans von Rekowski and Ann Wilkinson were unsure. Von Rekowski expressed concern about contracts and other work that Comer had in progress, and which might be difficult for someone else to pick up. Wilkinson wondered if the board should postpone accepting Comer’s resignation until they were satisfied that he had left things in order.

Koutchak thought that was unrealistic.

“Ann, I think he’s gone. Elvis has left the building!” (Laughter…)

During public testimony, the hospital board felt some heat — both real and figurative — from the 60 staff and members of the public packed into the hospital’s classroom space. There was sentiment that the board was too dependent on the services of the headhunting firm B.E. Smith in hiring Comer, when a simple Google search would have shown that Comer had jumped often between jobs.

Physician Richard Wien was clearly disappointed in Comer. He urged the board toward accountability and action.

“Real, material damage has been caused to this hospital. How is that so? Well just a couple of examples: I hear nurses are applying to SEARHC. Do you know how hard nurses are to get? I heard that the two mid-levels (physicians) who were coming here were not going to come here or sign contracts because they heard of the financial issues related to this hospital. And it goes on and on and on. When a professional has a job to do, they roll their sleeves up and do it!”

Wien recommended putting a physician on the board. That idea was seconded by member of the public Owen Kindig, who wanted the board to look beyond traditional models of hospital governance. “This is a watershed moment for Sitka,” he said.

There was also a sense of community in the room, and a willingness to work toward a solution. Members of the hospital finance department said that an audit would show that the numbers may not be as bad as Comer had indicated. The mood compelled assembly member Ben Miyasato to step forward and remind hospital staffers that they will come out the other side. “You will weather this,” he said.

Note: Sitka police are soliciting the public’s help regarding the alleged assault of Jeff Comer, which reportedly occurred last Friday at about 1 PM near the bridge on the lower part of Herring Cove Trail. Anyone with helpful information about Comer’s assailants — reportedly a man and a woman — are asked to call police at 747-3245.

A scheduled discussion on hospital issues with CEO Jeff Comer was sidetracked when Comer didn’t appear. Instead, he sent hospital board president Celeste Tydingco to read a statement.

I regret that I cannot be here in person tonight. But, as many of you may have heard, I was physically assaulted, and further attacked as I was injured on the ground. As a result, I am still quite shaken up and do not feel safe coming to this meeting in person.

Listen to Jeff Comer’s complete statement to the assembly here. Read it here.

Jeff Comer speaking to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce in November 2013, prior to disclosures about the hospital’s financial straits. (KCAW Photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Sitka police chief Sheldon Schmitt confirms that Comer called dispatch Friday afternoon to report an assault, and an officer was sent to take his statement. Comer alleges that he was approached by a man and a woman on a hiking trail near Sitka around 1 PM, and knocked down and kicked after being recognized as the hospital CEO.

Chief Schmitt says police are attempting to follow-up with Comer, to get a better description of his alleged assailants.

Comer required neither treatment or hospitalization for his injuries. And he was apparently well enough to travel.

Again, this is Celeste Tydingco reading from Comer’s statement.

Given the physical assault I endured today, I can no longer remain in Sitka, and will be leaving this weekend. Even with this, I am still willing to be available to help the city and hospital as needed, but it will now have to be from Arizona.

Comer took over as CEO of Sitka Community Hospital just three months ago. In remarks to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce in November, he outlined broad plans to regionalize services at the hospital, especially through the use of telemedicine. In early December, however, Comer disclosed that the hospital was in financial jeopardy, and required a $1-million loan to stay afloat. The assembly approved that loan on December 23. Comer subsequently tendered his resignation.

The board of the city-owned hospital will meet at noon Monday, January 5th in the first-floor classroom of the hospital to consider Comer’s resignation. Both Mayor Mim McConnell and municipal administrator Mark Gorman plan on attending. Gorman, who has long experience as a healthcare administrator at SEARHC, told the assembly that time was of the essence.

“The critical thing is identifying a transition team during this period. An actual team that’s moving quite quickly to ensure that there is confidence and stability at the hospital in all patient care functions. And what is the plan.”

Gorman suggested that the transition team answer to the assembly during the crisis, but that ultimately, “the hospital board is responsible for recruiting and hiring a new CEO.”

Jeff Comer speaking to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce in November 2013, prior to disclosures about the hospital’s financial straits. (KCAW Photo/Rachel Waldholz)

The Sitka Hospital Board will meet in special session 12 PM Monday, January 5, 2015 to “decide the proposed resignation of the CEO.” Jeff Comer took over as CEO of Sitka Community Hospital in October after an extensive search, but reportedly inherited an organization in serious financial jeopardy. The meeting will take place in the hospital classroom on the lower level. The public is welcome to attend.

Read previous reporting about Jeff Comer’s vision for the hospital, the hospital’s financial troubles, and how the health care landscape may change in Sitka.

Sitka School Board members Jen Robinson, Tim Fulton, Lon Garrison, Cass Pook, superintendent Mary Wegner, and Tonia Rioux take a dunking for ALS. In turn, the board challenged the Kodiak school board, former Sitka superintendent Steve Bradshaw, and the Sitka Native Education Program. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

2014 in Sitka will be remembered for water: Water piling up behind a brand new dam, the most expensive project in Sitka’s history; water falling from the sky that brought down a mountainside, made a major highway construction project nearly impassable, and tested the limits of a high-tech temporary filtration system. And if that wasn’t enough, there was something about ice buckets.

Here’s a look back at our wet, weird year.

Downloadable audio.

The Blue Lake Dam, as it looked in September, 2014. Work finished ahead of schedule, and, thanks to heavy rains, the plant began providing Sitka with power almost immediately.

Although there were several public tours during construction, most Sitkans probably don’t appreciate the size of the Blue Lake hydro expansion — and won’t, until they drive up there next spring and see it for themselves.

Contractors erected the largest construction crane in the state to span the gorge, and raised the existing Blue Lake dam 83 feet — literally building a huge, new dam on top of the old.

Representatives from McMillen LLC, Barnard Construction, and the city cut the ribbon, including (l to r) Andrew Pharis, Dean Orbison, Mim McConnell, Mark Gorman, and Jessica Stockel (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo).

Project engineer Dean Orbison came out of retirement to oversee the two-year endeavor. At the November ribbon cutting, his over-the-top enthusiasm was infectious as ever.

Now that this plant is expanded and it’s bigger, and it’s higher, we can make more electricity from the Blue Lake plant than we can from Green Lake.

For consumers, the project had little direct impact on our lives — except maybe on our taste buds and our scalps. Budgeted into the $157-million for Blue Lake was a temporary filtration plant on the Indian River, to supply Sitka with water during the final stage of construction. While a technological marvel, the plant produced water with a bit more chlorine than the town was used to, and there were plenty of complaints about taste and dry skin. The large numbers of spawning and dying pink salmon in the river didn’t contribute to the water’s appeal. But once the new penstock was installed, the $4-million plant rolled away almost overnight, and Sitka was again awash in some of the best water anywhere.

But awash isn’t always a good thing. Heavy rains in August delayed construction of Halibut Point Road into September. The exposed roadbed wasn’t up to the deluge, and traffic was brought to a near-standstill by the ruts.

The main area of the slide encompasses an area of roughly 100 acres. (USFS photo)

Yet, things could have been worse.

And it wasn’t until we actually climbed through the initial front of the slide that we saw the magnitude of it.

That’s Forest Service hydrologist Marty Becker talking about a 100-acre slide in the Starrigavan Valley. If this slide had occurred anywhere involving human habitation, it might have ranked as an epic disaster. Yet, like the Blue Lake Dam, most people have not seen it.

Over history, we have had our share of human disaster. In March, Sitkans — along with the rest of the state — reflected on the 50th anniversary of the Good Friday Earthquake, the largest earthquake in North America, and the second-largest in recorded history.

Dennis Girardot (left) with his brother John Reitz (right) at the Knik River Bridge in Palmer. Girardot was five year old when he and his family survived the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Girardot).

KCAW produced a four-part series sharing some of these stories of Sitkans who experienced the quake — each tale more amazing than the last. This is Dennis Girardot.

My mother was in the kitchen preparing a pot of chili and this beautiful cake, birthday cake for my brother in a shape of a guitar. He was a Beatles wanna be at that time. I remember hearing her scream and the chili just went all over the kitchen. All over the cake. A door fell open to the closet and my brother’s presents birthday presents flew out of the closet so he got to see what he was going to get.

2014 was also the 40th anniversary of Porky Bickar’s legendary April Fools prank, the Eruption of Mt. Edgecumbe. Like the Great Quake, Porky’s story will be passed on indefinitely.

2014 was a year of big transitions in Sitka. Both school systems got new superintendents: J. Thayne at Mt. Edgecumbe, and Mary Wegner at Sitka High. Wegner was the first to make headlines, from a highly-placed shout-out this fall.

President Obama addresses educators at the ConnectED conference in Washington, DC.

President Obama – And then you’ve got Mary Wegner, the superintendent of the Sitka, Alaska, School District. Where’s Mary? She came a long way. There she is. Give her a hand for coming from Alaska….

When she was not receiving presidential accolades for adopting new technology, Wegner and the school district were dealing with a simmering gender-equity dispute over the use of Sitka’s new ballfield. Although an initial Title IX complaint was settled amicably, the federal Office of Civil Rights may have more work to do in Sitka next year.

In the Forest Service, Perry Edwards took over as District Ranger, the first biologist to hold that post in recent memory. Lawrence Spottedbird became the new General Manager of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Don Kluting passed on his carabiners to trooper Lance Ewers as head of Sitka’s fabled Mountain Rescue team.

David Mahaffey, the new Bishop of Sitka and Alaska at his installation ceremony in Sitka. (KCAW photo/Emily Forman)

And in October, Jeff Comer took the job as CEO of Sitka Community Hospital, and quickly recognized that he had inherited an organization in critical condition. Comer appealed to the assembly for $1-million in life support at its last meeting. The future of Sitka’s local hospital, however, may be a bigger story in 2015.

On a more spiritual note, the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska got a new bishop. Fr. David Mahaffey was invested in a ceremony last February at St. Michael’s Cathedral.

“A bishop is to be a papa. And that’s what he brings to us. Someone who loves us.”

Lt. Lance Leone, right, hugs Darryl Penn, a La Push resident who helped rescue him from a helicopter crash. Leone visited La Push at the fourth anniversary of the July 7, 2010 crash. (Photo: Ed Ronco/KPLU)

Some transitions in Sitka this past year fall squarely into either triumph or loss. Coast Guard helicopter pilot Lance Leone survived a 2010 crash that killed his commander and two crewmates; this summer he revisited the scene outside La Push, Washington, to thank his rescuers, and then quietly prepared to leave the service after being permanently denied promotion.

Listen to an investigative report about the crash of Air Station Sitka helicopter 6017 and how it — and other high-profile accidents — have affected accountability in the Coast Guard.

David Wilcox (l.), Brett Wilcox, Olivia Wilcox, and Kris Wilcox are greeted on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, as they wrap up their 6-month, 3,000 mile run. (RunningTheCountry.com photo)

Meanwhile, the father-son team of Brett and David Wilcox were attempting to run across the country to raise awareness about genetically-modified food labeling. They made it, averaging around 20 miles a day for six months supported by mom Kris and sister Olivia. The entire Wilcox family team arrived in Ocean City, New Jersey, on July 19.

Heidi Horner Raffaele fills out the application. She and Karla traded traditional Irish wedding rings — called Claddagh rings — depicting a crowned heart cupped in a pair of hands. (KCAW photo/Emily Kwong)

In October, a federal judge struck down Alaska’s same-sex marriage ban. Teachers Heidi Raffaele and Karla Horner went to the Sitka courthouse the next morning to tie the knot, but learned that their legal marriage in California in 2008 was now recognized. Raffaele says their long partnership got off to a slow start.

Yeah. She did not notice me in the least. But it’s been kismet ever since. 19 years.

There was more joy in Sitka when the Wolves took the state high school baseball championship, during a home-field deluge in June. Later in the fall, the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves took the state 3A volleyball title, in a warm, dry gym.

Kettleson’s collection of Alaskana, and the C.L. Andrews collection, are right at home in Stratton. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

And speaking of warm and dry, Sitka’s Kettleson Library up and moved in August, into temporary quarters in the former Stratton Library. Stratton had been buttoned up since the closure of the Sheldon Jackson College in 2007. The Kettleson move returned more than just heat and electricity to the now state-owned building, according to librarian Brooke Schafer.

That’s kind of the soul of the library, of this place. It’s not that there are books here, but there are people who have come here to spend time thinking and reading and being together quietly in this space.

There were tough times, too. In May, Sitka endured the week-long trial of Joe Robidou. The former middle school principal was acquitted of sexual assault, but his defense painted an unflattering portrait of the social and professional culture of Blatchley that Sitkans may find difficult to forget, much less to forgive.

The Sitka Assembly prepares to be doused in the Ice Bucket Challenge (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

And can you ever forgive someone who pours a bucket of ice over your head? Many Sitkans explored that question, as ALS insanity swept through the community, including the assembly, who then challenged the school board.

Lon Garrison – One, two, three! (Lots of screaming.)

As weird as it was, the viral phenomenon raised over $90-million for research into Lou Gehrig’s Disease — the most successful fundraiser in the history of the ALS Foundation, and possibly in the history of all non-profits ever.

Uncommonly good journalism: The Daily Sitka Sentinel is independently owned and published by Sandy and Thad Poulson. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

And finally, the story behind Sitka’s stories: The Daily Sitka Sentinel turned 75 years old in 2014. The fact that you pick it up every day is a testament to its solid, intelligent writing; its profound editorials; and its often-breathtaking photos. We’re all aware that much of what passes for media now is an attempt just to get our attention, however briefly. That this little newspaper after 75 years surges ahead on principles of thorough, ethical journalism really is big news.

A long-term solution for the hospital’s cash woes is still on the horizon.

Downloadable audio.

Hospital staffers participate in the Alaska Day Parade. (SCH photo)

There was no public opposition at all during the assembly’s last regular meeting of 2014 to increasing Sitka Community Hospital’s line of credit.

Assembly member Matt Hunter said there really was only one choice.

“If we don’t pay this, the hospital cannot exist. They need the money. They’re not going to be able to keep the doors open or make payroll if they don’t get $1-million soon. And let’s say for some reason we decided not to do it. We still have to pay $1-million, and we have no chance of raising additional revenues. We’re going to drop services and jobs. This is a no-brainer to extend this.”

During public testimony, the hospital’s director of outpatient services, Kay Turner, and board chair Celeste Tydingco, read a prepared statement describing the long decades of service provided by the hospital. “We’ve been there when you needed us,” they said. “Now we need you.”

Marilyn Coruzzi is a physician. The crisis didn’t add up for her.

“We’re working 10-12 hour days and being encouraged to work even harder. Accounts receivable is this phenomenal number. We really don’t understand how we got where we are.”

Physical therapist Bridget Hitchcock said she trusted new CEO Jeff Comer, who took the post in October.

“I feel like Jeff has the skills to help us figure out a new plan. Whether that’s collaboration with SEARHC, figuring out what we do well — I don’t know what it’s going to look like. But I’m committed to this process, and I’m committed to and supporting the leadership in this process. And that includes you guys.”

Jeff Comer appeared via teleconference. He told the assembly that the hospital had deferred $650,000 in obligations last week. The expenses include health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, and payments to vendors. He said the $1-million would create “breathing room” to work toward a long-term solution, which he anticipated to be 6-9 months out.

The city’s chief administrative officer, Jay Sweeney, has been working mornings at the hospital to help assess finances there. His conclusion wasn’t any brighter.

“By January 10, $960,000 of the $1-million will be expended, assuming no revenues come in.”

But revenues are expected to come in. Municipal administrator Mark Gorman said the hospital should have a plan in place within the next 4 weeks to control the damage, and to prevent a repeat of this request in the near future.

The assembly voted unanimously to support the $1-million loan. Before he signed off, Comer said “It’s going to be a rough couple of months for us.”