City and Borough Assembly - Regular Meeting

Joining us, today assembly. We'll call to order the regularly sched or the special meeting of Wednesday, 04/22/2026. Please join me for a flag salute.

I pledge

The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional first people of Chitka. With gratitude, we proceed on Tlingitani. Sarah, roll call, please.

Mayor Eisenbeis?

Present.

Mister Pike?

Here.

Miss Carlson? Here. Miss Riley? Here. Mister Christensen? Here. Mister Mosier? Here. And mister Saline?

Here.

Thank you. Tonight, we are gathered to do a second round interview, with the candidate Stephen Dahl. He will be joining us on Zoom. We've scheduled a little bit longer this evening to try and get a little bit more in-depth in our questions. I've often seen the first round as kind of a meet and greet.

You know, initially do personalities mesh. Does it look like the person could be a fit for Sitka? So tonight is kind of the opportunity to dig down deeper and figure out, you know, how the the candidates could apply themselves within the municipality and see, you know, if they would not only mesh with you and your constituents, but the the rest of the town as well. So we did have two hours scheduled. If if it appears that we were running out of questions, I'll kinda follow that. And, you know, we don't have to use the full two hours, but it is there and able for us to be used. Josh, do you have anything you need to add to this process this evening?

Good evening, Mayor and Assembly. It'll be a round robin just as last time. Reminder that there should be within your iPads there a list of questions if I didn't print them out again this time, but they're to be there in your email. Also put a sheet in front of everybody, which is the protected categories, prohibited questions. If you in a joking manner, if you had one of these questions on there, make sure you remove it. But it's not an exhaustive list, but if you have anything that was similar to that, make sure not to ask it. And then yes, Mr. Dahl is standing by for me to send him a text and he will join and be ready to go.

Of

we're doing. To And then And then then we'll we'll see yeah, we'll see what which way we we go from there. I don't know if I have an opening question.

How are you?

Yeah, please. Good evening, Steve.

Good evening. Hopefully, you can see me and hear me this time.

Yeah. Yeah. We got you on the screen. So thank you for joining us again on this second round of interviews. As I think you've kind of picked up, this is a little bit more in-depth round where we get to know each other a little bit better and see if this employment opportunity would be mutually beneficial.

So we do have two hours scheduled for this evening. If it looks like the assembly is wrapping up on questions a little earlier than that, we'll let you know. We'll give you some time at the end again to see if you have any questions of us or anything that you might like to know about the municipality and go from there. Anything from you before we get started?

No. I'll go right ahead.

Great. Thank you. So this evening, I'll get started with some questions. I'll have a couple throughout the the evening. But this is just gonna be a follow-up to the question I asked in the first round. You know, I asked what you had had you read our code or charter. So just wondering what additional work you've done to learn about Sitka to prepare for this interview.

Well, I took out a monthly subscription to the, Sitka newspaper. And so I've been reading back copies and stuff about that going on and all the activities in town, and trying to get a feel for what community does and what it, you know, does for fun and what it is excited about and work that process out. I also went through the your oil codes, ordinances, and some of them have been all the, ordinances you've passed over the last couple of years, to get an understanding of where you guys' focus is. Again, rerun the the goals and the, you know, the five year goal plan and the plan in the thirty year the plan that the the major plan that ends in 2030. I can't remember the name of that one off the top of the the city plan for that.

And we're gonna do that again on on that direction. So that's what I did, to help prepare for this interview.

Great. Sounds like you were doing some homework. Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you for giving us your time. My name is Tim Pike, deputy mayor. You know, the city administrator is a face of our city staff and a face of our city in lots of different roles. So what do you consider to be the administrator's role in the community?

Community, and how have you, exhibited that in the past?

What

The administrative role is basically to

be run the city, and it's not necessarily to have any political opinion or political viewpoint on things, but to do what the council wants and explain that the council's decisions and the city ordinances to people when they come in. You know, talking to the citizens is one of the bigger parts of and being available to the citizens is one of the bigger parts of doing this job. For example, in in Grand County, when I was doing economic development, I found that I got a lot more work done when I went to the grocery store on a Saturday morning and went around and talked to people. It took me, like, three hours sometimes to go to that grocery store because every other line, every other, aisle was like, hey, Steve. I've been meaning to talk to you about this, or I've been meaning to ask you this.

And you have that type of opportunity going on. So I can I represent what the council wants to see happen within the city? And also what happens to the, with the staff. My job is to be gave me the liaison between the council and the staff in working with them to do that. The council chose chooses what direction the city wants to go in, and my job is to help them get to do that to the best of their ability, our ability.

But also to bring to the council issues and concerns from the staff that they need to worry about and be concerned about. For example, in Dundee, we were getting really close to running out of money in the water fund. And so we needed to be able to tell the council, hey, we need to increase the water fund and we needed to do this, this, and this. And we've got finally the water, fund, you know, pass, you know, increase to do the water fund. And so that's just part of the process you go through because you because you as a council need to understand what some of the issues are from the people on the ground to do that.

And I like, you know again, you're you're a small community, you know these people, but, again, my job is to help get them focused on what the priorities are and work with that process and be able to be a visible part of the community, be active in the community. And, most of the communities I've lived in, I have been active in different nonprofits or different areas of the community to be seen. But a lot and then I did that basically to, you know, be able to answer questions and make it safe mix it that's the right word. Then make it easy for, people to come up and ask me questions about what the council's doing, what the council what the rules are, what they can do this. And I try to answer them the best I can.

And if I don't know the answer, I, you know, give them my card and say, give me a call at work or send me an email with your question, and I'll answer it usually within twenty four hours, on that day. And so that's kind of where I've you know, the public outbreak the public look of the city is where I'm kinda working on that direction, but I also make sure that any type of political decision or any type of politics, I'm completely out of. Thank you.

Hi, Steven. This is Tor Christiansen. Me see. How's it going? So the city of Sitka has a our city government is significantly more involved than most cities our size since we own all of our own utilities, and it's a large organization with a big budget.

So what I'm wondering is, can you tell me a little bit about your organizational style? I mean, how you would because one of the you're gonna have things coming at you from 20 different directions at once and some big issues and big projects. So tell me how you organize things and how you manage that how you manage that constant flow of decisions and projects and things that have, you know, information.

Okay. I first start actually, one thing that I appreciate about Zika is your five year plan that you've been working through and getting things done on. And, you know, that's the start of the priority list of what we're looking at and how we do things. Also, from what I can tell reading, both the newspaper, you know, your your minutes and everything, you have a really good staff. And so it would be the ultimate of arrogance for me to not to listen to the staff and and push decisions down that they can make and and and get that communication going with them. So I know what's going on. They know what's going on, and they know what the priorities are. I like to sit down and talk to staff and tell them, hey. This is what the priority is here. This is the priority here.

This is what my thought is, what am what am I missing trying to get that type of information from them so I can understand what they're looking for and if they understand what the priorities of the, you know, city are. Now, you always are gonna have more information and more decision making than you have time to really do. And so that's why I I try to really, you know, push, you know, again, the lowest you know, for example, if if someone is having a problem with the water bill, shouldn't be something that you as a council deal with or me. It's something that we should have rules and regulations, and you do, by the way, on giving refunds and and dealing with with the water in in that direction. And so those are the type of things I I look at is like, you know, can the person at front desk help that customer out?

And so it doesn't go up into the system. And so I look for the the managers and stuff to be able to make some of the decisions and be able to understand what the priorities are and help develop that skill. But you guys set the tone and set the direction for the city, and I I wanna make sure that those are priorities that we can meet. And the only time I over override that your priorities or anything in that direction, if there's an emergency you make. And if there's an emergency, then that becomes a high priority in that direction.

But you have to be able to decide between what is an emergency such as the sewer racking up and not working or the electric lines going down and something that's an inconvenience that, you know, can be fixed at a later date or or work through work through another process. And that is when you have the priorities in that direction. But I look for the council and what your written statements are and the and the goals, to be able to say these are what we're gonna work on. That's what we focus on. And if something comes up with this, you know, needs to be addressed, we try to address as much as possible.

Yeah. Thanks, Steve. This is Katie Riley. In relation to that the strategic plan and some of our goals on there, I have a question question about one of them. One of our primary goals is around housing, the nature of our community, the limited road system, the island location makes affordable and attainable housing for year round workforce and families, as well as our seasonal work force, a huge impediment to economic growth and also community vitality. What are your ideas for how the city can support the development of housing that addresses our different needs for year round working families, aging population, and seasonal workers?

Well, I think they're doing one of the ideas I would have suggested already, which is, accessory dwelling units and making it available within different aspects of the, zone to make it work. I'm also, a big believer in, you know, how you know, what I call multi income housing, where you have market rate housing and low income housing or not low income, but, you know, subsidized housing and stuff all within the same thing. I work try to work with different, groups to be able to help make that happen. That's one of the situations, we try to do. That was my idea with, Dundee because it's also facing the same issue is, it's pricing itself out about any any type of workers, any type of, industry.

And so I was talking to the in the deal, was talking to the school superintendent and seeing if we could work a deal where the old school district old school building could be reused and refocused to have a multi income housing. And the city would put money into it. They would move money into it. We were approaching a couple of different, big businesses like the hospital to put some money into it too because they were the ones that need help and and for employees more than anything else. And so we could try to get something where we could have, you know, rent some on that market rate and then rent some of the rooms at a fixed rate or, you know, an interest in the that's the way where new people coming into the community to be able to rent it out that process.

You're also doing a good job, you know, looking at, you know, the land you own and see if you can turn that into, housing and work work that process out. You could also take a look at, you know, cutting some of your, you know, costs of getting, into infrastructure to there. It's being a long term benefit on that process. It's you know, this is an issue in the West. You know, I know a lot of people have had it had trouble with it. And unless you have basically flat land, like, Arizona or Nevada, you're gonna have issues with, finding affordable housing for everybody. But there is no magic bullet that I know that can do that. But those are some of the things I tried in the past, and I think, you know, you guys are doing a lot of what I've done in the past because it makes sense.

Thank you.

Steve, this is Josh. I'm not sure what setup you have on the other side, but we're getting feedback whenever they ask questions.

I don't know

if you've got like a couple of devices running.

I just have one, but I, have a little of a high so that I can low.

You try to

I ask you a question of of Try

to mute yourself while we are asking a question. Mute

and go that direction.

Okay. Hi, Steve. Kevin Moser here.

Yeah. My

question is this. So I hear that you have been looking at the paper and Sitka. And since you've had

That's what we'll try. What

did he say? Can you hear me? Steve, can you hear me?

Raise your hand if you can hear

him. I heard you that time. Give me a second.

Okay.

You're not hearing me right now? Okay. Let me try this again.

Okay. We're hearing you now. Are you ready?

Okay.

Okay. I'm gonna try again. Ask him the question.

Since you for it.

Since you've been looking at Sitka online, had some time to think about it, I was wondering, I had a couple of questions all in one. Basically, big picture, what is your impression after learning a little bit after your research Meaning, what are some of the pressing needs that you see? What are also some any any other issues that you see that are very important to the community? What are your first impressions impressions of of the community as a whole? What's important to this community and what its needs are?

I'm very actually very impressed with, Zico as a whole. I think you have a good sense of community. I see a lot of, organizations and nonprofits and different groups working together to provide entertainment, to provide information, give, you know, people things to do, in that process. Again, you have some of the some of the issues that a lot of cities have. You have, you know, not affordable housing.

You don't have enough housing to, get people to work. Your income is lower in the seasonal, and you, you know, and you need an, if could find an industry that wasn't that was more consistent year round instead of just seasonal, I think that'd be helpful to you in that direction. On the good side, you have, you know, industrial land to to be able to work on and, you know, to people. You have, control over your infrastructure to be able to offer, selective parts on on that. So you have a lot of, you know, positive things in that direction with that.

And so, again, some of the negative kit is is just again, when you have the tourism that you have going on and you get overwhelmed, can hurt a sense of the community and that would is a you can and again, you have a group of people who don't particularly like that and and you have the the different agreements, different, you know, personalities and smaller issues on that that direction. But, you know, overall, you guys are really well, you know, well run. The last city manager was, I I think, probably one of best I've seen, with jobs I've actually looked for, and and I wouldn't have to come in and reinvent everything like I've done the last couple of jobs I've had. And it'd be a good, know, positive in that direction. I think you have a great staff, which is a good thing that even when you have a council that seems to work together and talk to each other.

And so those are all good things to to to look. So, you know, some of these some of the issues you have are great big issues that do not have easy answers. And, I can and I don't and I can't tell you to say that you can do x, x, or y, to fix these things because the people have been looking at these for the last twenty years and they're still, you know, tough answers to to work in. And so but I think overall my impression of sec is that it's very positive. You know, again, another thing I might wanna take a look at, which would not be a high priority, is your ordinances are extremely, detailed.

And some of them, I would question whether or not you actually have the ability to enforce some of them. I can't remember which one one off the top of my head, but I with ordinances and one of the things I look with ordinances is can it be enforceable and can it be as broad as possible because that makes, enforcing it and and making it work a lot easier. But it's not and so those are the that was one of the things I was when I was reading the audience to sit today, and then I was like, you know, I didn't know if all were as enforceable as I thought they could be. That's off the top my head when when I think of Sitka.

Thank you.

Steve, Scotty here. One's gonna take me a minute to get you where I want, but it's kinda like starts with the command structure. Like, you know, in the Bering Sea, I learned on a factory gray cod boat that engineers can always cover up their mistakes. And, you know, not talking about a captain. Right?

But in the aspect of knowing the technical aspects, the hydraulics, electron flow, everything that's working on the boat. But when you come here to Sitka as a manager, like, without having, you know, like, hydroelectric experience, you're gonna be stepping into an environment here where we have precarious transmission lines that we're trying to get replaced to not be in such a vulnerable position, and two hydroelectric dams that are being operated by a real competent kid right now that isn't being paid what he's worth. And when you look at what people should be paid who have the skills to run a utility like Sitka's, we can't afford it. And it won't be long before, like your job, a high turnover rate just from the stress. But you may show up here, and then you gotta pick a new kid that we're not gonna be able to pay what the colleges need for an electrical engineering degree, and then you're gonna have to find somebody that can make the utility run.

And there you go.

Okay. The last place I had a electric utility, which was Drain, one of the things I talked to the school superintendent in Drain about was starting a mentoring program with some of the high school kids that didn't necessarily wanna go to college, but was, you know, smart enough to be able to do some technical training. And I wanted to introduce them, like, so they could work in Oregon, you can do this. I don't know the laws in Alaska, but they have to figure it out. You can take, you know, four hours of classes in the morning, and then you can have four hours of an internship in the afternoon.

And I wanted to be able to start taking these kids that, you know, were interested in working in public works and moving them so they would would go to class and take their English and math and everything they needed to graduate. But then we have them four hours in the afternoon, and we'll repay them to be able to learn the beginning parts of running the system. And so we'd be able to get that type of training in there. So when, you know, they knew what was going on, they could actually be able to step in, you know, and help run the system and help work through that process. And, you know, I know I was gonna lose some, but what actually what I found there, and I think maybe we'd be lucky here, is there's, a lot of times with, you know, engineers or with people working in electric lines, they'll go to, San Francisco or California where they can make, you know, double or triple what I could pay them.

But when they began to, you know, get married, have kids, they wanted to come back to an area they knew. And so, you know, it was creating a, you know, pipeline where, okay, they'd leave for a couple years, but, you know, at a certain time when they've made the money, they wanna be back to their family, and we could start recruit them back in that direction so we can keep track of who these people are and and say, hey. You wanna come back to Sitka and be with your family, do something like that, is a process that we could try to try to work. I didn't get that done because the board school board and, you know, the brain did not wanna go that route. But, and that was one of the things I found when I was working with the electric, you know, people is a lot of times, you know, not all of us.

Some of them were willing to go back to the area where they grew up, where they had, you know, family to come back to. And that was something that I think, know, all the electricity unions, the electric companies run by cities, who use in that direction. It's one thing to try. It's not something that, you know, I I don't have proof of putting in that way, but that's one way to approach it is, you know, get them young and start working them and giving them the ability to grow here. And if you lose half of them, you still have half of coming back, you know, or half of them there, you might have coming back.

But that'd be something to try that direction. But there is no again, you know, Grain had a hard really hard time recruiting people too. And then the only way I was able to, get, you know, people is to contract it out and bring contractors in, and then and but the only person I had full time to do that was actually someone who had family in the area and came back to that area. So that's that's my knowledge of, some of that. And, you know, again, I'm gonna have to trust staff to get all the all the details and, you know, and make sure they're doing the job correctly as long as it works.

And, again, you sometimes you have to hire contractors to bring them in to do specific programs like, you know, changing out the wire wires and stuff like that. It's it's, you know, not necessarily cost effective, but it's better than, know, having everything better.

Very good. I'll catch you next round.

Okay.

Hi, Steve. JJ Carlson. It's been two weeks since we've talked to you and we had about forty five minutes together the last time. In that two weeks, is there anything that you, you know, didn't say or or thought you maybe misspoke about in our last one that you'd wanna have an opportunity to reframe tonight?

Not that, you know, nothing comes quickly to mind that, you know, I really wanna refrain, on on doing that. If anything in the last two weeks, I'm actually more impressed with your city administrator and your staff than I was two weeks ago. And coming in would be you know, I would if I could do half as good as he did and have and be successful on that one, I I I think it'd be very, you know, very successful as a, you know, city administrator for Cisco. I'm really impressed by him more than anything else right now, and I'm impressed by your staff. And, like and I probably didn't say that enough in the last, go around.

Thank you. Yes. Cause, you know, it's important for us all to, you know, reflect and and learn and grow and so much of what administrator or leader does is take from one situation and apply it to the next. And so I think it's important to be able to kind of be in that continuous improvement place. So thank you for that.

Yeah. Well, I mean, the biggest thing from last time is I was really embarrassed that the, system broke down. I could only answer my phone, and it took so long to get through that process. So that was my biggest embarrassment from last from last week. Hopefully, we've corrected that this time.

Well, I'm not looking for someone half as good. At least three quarters. Gotta give me at least that one. Okay. So another question. This one, multiple parts, and there's not a right or wrong answer to this. If you had to choose between delivering a project on time with known quality issues, or delivering it late with everything fixed, and you could not discuss it with anyone or get more information, which would you choose and why?

I would deliver it late because over the long period of time, that's gonna save you money, by being able to deliver it. Well, I mean, I guess the true answer is it would depend on how important the project and tie and required timeline if it, you know, the city would shut down if it didn't happen on time with the mistakes, then you have to do it that way. But if, again, in a hypothetical situation where it wouldn't make a difference if I did it on time or a little late, maybe a little more money, is I would make sure it was late and project goes completed because by doing that, you're gonna save your time over time because you don't have to go back and redo things when things fail and stuff like that. It will last longer. It goes back to the philosophy is when you do a roadwork, you change the sewer line, you change the water line, and if you get underground, you're the utilities, you do it at the same same time when you open up the street, so you don't have to do it at a separate time.

And so that's kind of the thought process I have with it.

Thank you.

Hi, Steve. It's Tim Pike again. So continuing a little bit on the community theme. Obviously, one of the big problems or one of the big things that you have to deal with are community complaints. Can you describe your process and how much do you involve department heads in the resolution of the issues?

With the department heads, I will take a lot of I go to the department heads, and if I need to, I go to, the staff because they're the ones who do the work. And they're the ones who know the issues of solving, you know, x or y or what the small minutiae is on that. I can sit there and say, okay, this is what we've done in the past. This is what it is. But I look for the department heads who know the area, who know the part, to help me come up with the process.

So if I'm you know, again, if we're sitting there and saying, these are the goals that the city council wants to achieve. One of the things that I've worked with is go to the department and say, okay. The city council wants to wants to do x. How can we help us get x done? What type of information?

What type of, is there a new is there an equipment that doesn't work right now that's gonna help you get x done that we can, buy, you know, buy for you or lease for you or something like that? You know, for example, in, you know, Dundee, one of the issues that we had well, actually, let's go drain. In drain, one of the issues that we had is they didn't have a camera that will would be able to go in and camera a sewer line. And so we were paying, you know, x amount of money, you know, but it was more money than it was worth to have have them come in and do it. So for, like, $8,000, I bought a brand new camera so they could, you know, camera the sewer lines and be able to find those issues, you know, so it wouldn't have an issue in the in the So that was, again, you know, investment in the mic to make it work so they could do that.

I got I learned that from talking to, the hit you know, the department head and from the, staff that this is what their priority was or what they needed to make things work. And so that's where I I I figure out what type of, you know, what type of tools, what type of information do you need, what type of you know, how can I support you so you can be successful? You know, I sum it up this way. You know, when it comes to the staff, my job is to help eliminate problems so they can do their job better, quicker, and faster.

Thank you.

So again, Tore Christensen again. So this is an incredibly complex job, and you only get to see us approximately every two weeks. And I think the administrator gives a report that's ten or fifteen minutes at the end of the meeting. So, obviously, you're not gonna be able to bring everything to us that you're doing, and nor do we want you to. How do you decide how would you decide what needs to come to the assembly and what doesn't? Because you're gonna have to make that call, and it's you know, there's so much going on that there's no way you're gonna be able to tell us everything, every detail.

What I try to do is, bring to the council things that are only they can deal only you have to you you you need to deal with or things that I think can blow up and become a big issue. For example, if I hear two or three people coming in and saying, you know, I'm really concerned about, the street on, you know, 5th Street. It's too it's too icy. We're not getting the snow removal fast enough or something like that. I will be you know, let the council know, probably maybe send out an email, or if you or text if you guys whichever one you prefer that direction saying, hey, I'm hearing from this just to let you know that that's going on, and, you know, in working that process out.

And so it's and but, again, I try to bring you the decisions that only you can make, which are the executive decisions not exactly, but the, the forward thinking decisions that are beyond either my pay, you know, whatever I can approve and what I can, you know, issues that are are in that process. So, you know, you guys know the 10,000 foot level. And so I I will bring to you decisions that you would need to be at the 10,000 foot level or the 5,000 foot or whatever you wanna do that. Then the new shipment details on things I would not necessarily bring to you unless I could I think it's gonna blow up and the system's gonna come to start complaining to you so you have a head heads up in that direction. So that's kinda how I how I think of it.

Is this a directional issue that we need to talk about, or is it some minutia issue? Is it a minutia issue that I can sit there and talk with staff and the on part of it has, and we can we'll try to work it out. And if it's gonna if I think it's gonna blow up, then I can let you guys know as a council. But I'll probably try to get you more information on the, you know, this is what could happen. This is what probably, you know, on the the five to 10,000 foot level where you can helps that direction and tone versus the miniature. Thank you.

Hi, Steve. This is Katie. Can you, mute yourself while I'm speaking to see if that resolves our issues?

I tried that and you guys disappeared. So let me see if we let me try one more thing. Not

the video. Okay. It looks yeah. It looks like you're muted now. Okay. Never mind. That's good. We're gonna roll with it. How do you think about the line between policy and administration, and can you describe a time when that line was tested either by an assembly member stepping into operations, such as you just said, the minutiae and the detail, or a situation where you had to push back on direction from the assembly.

Okay. I'll give you two examples of that. Both of them were in Drain oh, I'll use the, Phoenix example. When I was in Phoenix, I had two counselors call me into their office. They owned a, automotive repair place and basically told me, you come to us and we will tell you whether you can bring this to counsel or not.

But, you know, this is how it works. You you can come to us when you talk to us about something, and we'll tell you whether you like we like it or not, and we we'll work that direction. I was like, no. This is not how it works because, you know, their charter was, you know, the mayor the and council, they make decisions. And so that became an issue that we had to deal with. Also in in Drain, I had a counselor show up as public works at 06:30 in the morning, started telling them what to do when I had to go tell her, no. You can't do that. And then that exploded into, a very negative situation. And so, again, it pushed back. Also in Drain, we had a strip club come in, and the council basically said shut it down.

And I said, no. You can't do that because in the state of Oregon, strip clubs are in you know, stripping is considered a free speech issue. And that, you know and I talked to the insurance company, and they basically said, if you do anything to shut them down directly like that again, we could we tried, you know, the building thing and then a whole bunch of other avenues to do this, just going and shutting down is what people wanted us to do. I basically said no because the insurance company would not cover us if we got sued about that, and then we'd all be personally liable if we did that. And so I kinda refused to do that part also on in that direction.

So, again, part of the job here is sometimes you have to say to the counsel is like, and know what you wanna do isn't legal according to, you know, Oregon law, federal federal law, or something in that direction, then you need to be able to, you know, have a council do that and work that process out. So but, yeah, I'm I'm if there's an issue or something like that, I try to have a conversation privately with council member and say, hey. This is this is the problem here. But, you know, sometimes you need to push back on that.

Yeah. Can you, elaborate a little bit on how you dealt with the, you know, explosion from the councilor at public works or the issues? Did you communicate back why you felt uncomfortable doing that and it was resolved? Like, what was the approach that you took to solve those situations?

Well, the the public works on this, I mean, it basically said with the couple in Phoenix at that meeting, I basically told them that, you know, I understand what you're saying here. You're you're part of the council, but the council is the one that sets the direction. And the council is the one that sets the process here. That's what that's what the, charter says, and that's what we have to do. If you want you know, again, bring it to council if you wanna talk about that stuff. You know? And I okay. Maggie. Sorry. My dog's going, you know, tossing me in the window.

So that's the process that you have to work is basically saying, this is what the code is. This is what the awareness is, and follow that, you know, follow that process with the the with what I basically said, you know, again, I talked to her privately, the person in Drain who showed up, like, the public works and said, okay. You still reset the boundary of what is allowed to do. If you wanna talk to, staff, fine. I don't have any problem talking to staff.

You know, I have an issue when you go to staff and you start demanding information or you start demanding something like that because it's not staff's job to know, you know, you know, what you should you know, with how to spend their time in that direction. It's my job to help them figure out what they need to do and work and assign them the jobs and if there's something that you need to do, in that direction. I'm gonna also try to find out. In Dundee, I had, one of the new counselors show up and ask for five years of wire leaks. And I asked him, okay.

Why do you want this information? And his response was, oh, I want that information because it's just good information to have. And I'm like, well, no offense, but how are you gonna use this information to help make a decision or something like that? And he goes, well, it's just good information. I go, well, is there another way I mean, like, what are you trying to find out? Because it can take twenty hours because we didn't organize a list of it. You know, we we talked about it like, okay. We have a monthly list of what happens, but five years to go through that might take ten hours or something to go through. I don't know how, in that direction, you know, where exactly you have that information in the public work files. I don't have it.

So I was like, okay. We have to go to him. They have to take the job off of it and and and say this. And so if you can't tell me a really good, you know, reason why you need that information, then, you know, I can't I mean, then talk to the council and ask the council for it as a whole, and I'm happy to get you that because the council decided that this is an important information to have. If it's just you as a councilor just wanting information for information sake or something like that, then that's something that, you know, we don't necessarily have to agree on.

The way I I phrase it to all the counselors when they, you know, run and when they get elected is you have all the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of Sitka or a citizen of Drain. It only is when you act as a council, you have the ability to dictate what happens with me and staff. Other than that, it's kind of a request, and try to meet you guys as a request just like I try to meet all the requests of all the citizens in that I work for. But, you know, it's only as acting as a council do you actually get to sit there and say, we want this, we want this, and we want this. And those are the conversations I had. They don't like being told no. So, you know, again, that's part of the issue.

Thank you.

Hi, Steve. Kevin Moser again. My question is a little more generic, guess, but it's an important one. Budget process in Sitka excuse me. Sorry, I had to sneeze. I thought I had to sneeze. The budget process, at least in Sitka, is a month long question the philosophy and process? And logistically, how do you begin and you know, how from beginning to end, how do you manage the budget process?

What I like to do with the budget process is I start off with hopefully having a meeting, like, you know, you should already be in the budget process right now, in my mind, with the staff. Because you can start preparing by, okay, this is what the goals are from the, council they wanna accomplish in the next year. You know, they should have one year goals, five year goals, ten year goals, you know, something along those lines to be able to that to get this. And that's what I went to the bring that to the department and said, so this is what the council wants to achieve. How can we work it with this part in the department?

And then we start talking about, you know, them setting up the priorities and how much they think the priorities are gonna cost and working that to, you know so I'm gonna have the head of public works come up with, you know, being in the draft budget for water and sewer and electric. I'm gonna have, the tourism people come up with a budget for tourism and make suggested cuts with, you know, suggested with the budget. So we have this budget where we can take a look at and say, okay, this is what the suggested budget would be. Now how much money do we need to to do, to, you know, do this? And it could be, you know, twice as much as what we have.

And then we begin to cut down, okay, what's the priority here based on what the council wants? What's the priority here based on what the council wants? And what needs to happen to protect the system? And so we work through that process until we get to the point where we have a, you know, a a working budget. And again, you guys have a, you know, submitted budget, for next year already a couple of times to take a look at right now, in in January, February, to be able to say, okay, we like where this is going.

We don't like this. We don't like this. And in Drain, when I I forgot to this point with with it, I found 300,000, $350,000 in cuts that were gonna hurt. And I thought they were cuts that were more, you know, directional cuts. So we for example, in Drain, they gave $30,000 away to different nonprofits in the in the area. I didn't wanna sit there and make an executive decision to cut that from the budget. So we had a budget meeting with a preview of the budget meeting with the with the council and said, this is what our issue is. We're 350,000 short. These are the suggested ways I can cut the budget. What are you guys comfortable doing?

And so they can make suggestions of where they wanna make the cuts work with it. And so we'll able to be we were able to, you know, make the cuts to get that to the $350,000 and and get what we were gonna expect for the, budget for the next fiscal year. And so that's basically how I try to work the budget. And so by the time, it comes to the the budget committee, we can still make changes to the budget, but we have a balanced budget. We have a budget that, you know, could work. We have a budget that we explain every line and why we're doing every line. And then, you know, can and understand what, again, what the council and and bring it back to what the council programs are and what the council priorities are. And that's what I try to do when I do the budget.

Okay. Thank you. Follow-up question. 19. We we year projects throughout the entire state, hydro, lots of energy plants and schools, everything all over the state.

And then when the money dried up, the state basically gave these projects to the local communities. And now it's thirty, forty, fifty years from time those were built and they're needing to be repaired, maintained with populaces that don't have the tax base to rebuild. CIPCA has And And then And what were your ideas for creative funding to try to maintain your aging infrastructure?

Yeah. This is the same issue I had in Drain. Douglas County is a big forest county and in the seventies and eighties, and they were cutting lots of logs. They had, you know, built roads. They built, you know, gave money to the cities to build infrastructure and work that process out.

And nowadays, you know, we're again, they don't have the money. They can't give us anything, and we're stuck with, not stuck, but we had issues with long term, you know, costs associated with it. What I try to do and, you know, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, is I focus on maintenance. You know, is there is there low cost, you know, ways that we can do something to help make things last longer? For example, if we have to do a road, you know, if the road is alligator, which means it's all broken up in different sections and needs to be repaired, you know, re redone back to the base, then I'm not gonna I'm gonna put off that as long as I possibly can.

If a road is still decent, no no sign of algae here, but the, you know, asphalt's wearing out, then there I could probably make an effort to put in a seal you know, do some story seal on it to make it last longer that direction. And, you know, I can explain that to people when they come in and complain, why are you working on Main Street when 3rd Street over here is all broken up? It's like, well, Main Street can still be saved. 3rd Street needs to be rebuilt from the base, and that's how we can work that direction. So I can try to, you know, set things up to work in the with that process.

I also try to do multiple projects at one time. You know, for example, if we're gonna do 3rd Street and need to repay 3rd Street, how long how long until failure are we gonna have with the water lines there? How long for failure would have the sewer lines there? You know, so is there something that I can get all of them together and combine the, project so they all get done at the same time? And so I'm, you know, using money from water, I'm using money from sewer, and using it from roads to be able to get that project done to the best of our ability.

And sometimes I've had, you know, I've had to borrow money to be able to do that and pay that money back because it was, gonna be cheaper in the long run than it was to, try to save up money to do that because the cost of asphalt, cost of, doing the projects are going up faster than any money we save. And so those are some of the things I've done to help alleviate that, but there's no perfect answer.

Thank you.

Steve Scottie here again. Take you back to the electricity thing, and what Kevin was talking about was Blue Lake Dam, and if you get off this, go to Blue Lake Dam Sitka, and you'll see what we're talking about as far as our hydroelectric plant. But what I was trying to bring you to on that last question was, even though you've never touched a hydroelectric plant, and maybe don't know anything about electricity except plugging it into the wall, running this town. You know, it wasn't like Kevin said where the state funded this dam. The city of Sitka did for the biggest bond in Alaska history for a town of 8,700 people with a 147,000,000 debt that we're paying off by selling kilowatt hours now.

And, you know, that's what I mean with it's not just, you know, running a garage for the city or, you know, the all the harbors, but then generating that power and the stress of that when the wind blows and all of the above and keeping that going. And it just an awareness that's downrange for you of taking this job on. That's all. I just wanted to have you go to that when we're done, and then see see what the apprehension is. And you may not have the skills to to run the cycles out there, but you're gonna have to pick somebody that can, and then that's where, as CEO of the ship, you may hit a rock because, you know, of that extra skill set that we're not paying the people that are doing it now, and then you're gonna have to go through and pick out people that are gonna crush the town in how it is.

So good luck, bro.

Oh, well, that I mean, you know, I talked to Ketchikan, the finalist there, and they had a very similar problem with their electric utility. And, you know, they had an 800 piece of, 800, thousand dollar piece of equipment that hasn't worked for, you know, a couple years. And so I'm like, okay, how much would it cost to, you know, to fix it? And, again, how you wanna approach that is is a way to do it. But I under I understand what you're saying, and, you know, it it's, you know, with input from both the people and from, you know, the council, you try to do the best decision you can make.

And then you, you know you know, if that's if that's the wrong wrong decision, then you try to get out of that wrong decision and and make another decision in that process. You know, and that's the best you can do, and that's the best anyone can do in that in that direction. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you screw up early. Hopefully, win more than you screw up. But, you know, you know it's a problem.

You start looking for people who know how to answer those questions, and a lot of people are a lot smarter than I am when it comes to those things, and you try to get information that way to make a decision. But, again, there's no, you know, there's no guarantee if you hired me that I get that decision right. And but at least we know what's happening, and we can try to make the best decision we can make. How's that for an audience, sir?

Looking good, bro. Thank you.

JJ Carlson here. I'd to hear a bit about, you know, you and your formative years and your education. Education. You know, what first got you interested in public service?

Actually, my dad was in the forest service, and so I learned him. And he was, you know, forest for rain. I mean, he had he held he ran a couple of, ranger stations and was a, I think, GS fifteen in Santa Barbara, California. And I watched him how to work with people and how to work with groups to get things done and being very successful in that direction. And so I learned a lot from him.

And when I was in grad school, studying management, he would call me on the phone, and he would start saying, Steve, I haven't you know, let us there's a high hypothetical situation here. If you had an employee who, you know, claimed to have a back injury, but you couldn't figure out, you know, but the doctor said it wasn't one, and so, you know, he wouldn't he wanted to go home and lie down every time his back hurt. How would you handle that situation? I would come in and say, well, I would probably look at it this way. I, you know, do this. I, you know, you know, do that and see if that would work. And he goes, okay. I'm you know. And then he let me know whether that worked because that was a situation he was dealing with. And so I learned how to manage.

I learned how to manage people in the public sector that way. I spent a lot of time talking to my dad about those things, about what he was facing as a supervisor in a, you know, I think a $100,000,000, not a $20,000,000 no. It's a $100,000,000 in the you know, area. It's outside of Santa Barbara and they had fires and all much other stuff going on. And so I began to learn and and so one thing that I I really came to the conclusion was is your people matter.

And you have to make sure your people are growing, and you have to put the the people in the right positions to be successful. And if someone isn't being successful, you need to find a way to move them into something different, that way they can be successful. Because, again, my assumption is when I work with staff and I work with people is that no one wants to come in and spend forty hour forty hours a week doing nothing. And so it's my job to be able to figure out what they can do and what they need can do and give them the ability to be successful as a worker. And that's being able to get in talking to them, listening to them, and working in that So that's what got me into, you know, public service. That's what got me into, you know, management, and I try to work at that direction.

Thank you. Yeah. I I see a transition here from undergraduate music music to graduate school in management. And then it also looks like you went to law school at the same time as business management. Can you talk on that a little bit?

Actually, I didn't well, I took a couple of classes in law school. What I really in in when I was in grad school, what I really found interesting and I thought it was really effective is alternative dispute resolution. And what alternative dispute resolution is is you learn different ways to solve problems other than just the legal way. You know, for example, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. And so you begin to learn how to work those processes out, and that's what I found in because those processes talk about solving problems solving issues.

And that's what I like to do. I like to be able to come in and help solve an issue or solve a problem within a community or within a group or with you know, and by listening and talking to people. And so you learn to you know, they sort of train you how to listen to people, how to, you know, hear what they're actually saying, and then you can respond to them in that direction. Sometimes you just need to be able to understand that there needs a third party out there that can give each side a real understanding of what's going on. I used this most effectively when I was in the city of Phoenix.

They were putting a $75,000,000, interchange exit off of, Exit 24 and I 5, which was Phoenix. And there were, like, multiple lawsuits associated with that. And, so, basically, I wouldn't talk to the, ODOT who was basically being sued, the city of Phoenix, the couple of the businesses that were in in the suits. And I figured there was some overlap here if they'd actually sit down and talk and we needed someone to help them see that overlap. And so I convinced every party to come in and join join through a mediation, and they got to an agreement.

And, you know, so instead of having to do a multimillion dollar court case or, you know, two years in court to do this, they got to an agreement that was approved within, you know, I think a year and a half of when I was there. And so that's just kinda how, yeah, that's how I used it in the past. But it comes down to fact that we're listening, you know, what's out there and trying to understand what the the processes are. I've also used mediators when I've negotiated union negotiated union contracts when we are at an impasse. So they could sit there and I could tell tell the the mediator, look, this is the most I can do, and this is the reason of the most I can do, and explain it to them in that direction.

And then you can then pass that on to, as a third party and say, hey, this is what they're telling me. This is why they're telling me it, you know, and, you know, do you you know. And so we add some validity and, and say, hey, This is basically, it says we are you know, I'm telling you the truth. You know, most of the times I do that. And usually, after I've had, been there a year or two, I have enough relationship with the, staff.

And then when it gets to union negotiations, they know the truth because I've I've already explained to them how things have worked, the budget process. Because I think the staff needs to know the budget process as well as the, managers do. And so when you get to these union contracts, they know where the money is coming from, they know how much money is there, and they can try, you know, try to work out what's gonna be effective for everybody. And then it comes down to whether the council agrees with that agreement or not. So but that's how I used it in the past, that's why I really, like alternative resolution because, you know, going to court and attorneys very rarely solve anything, it's pretty much an option to solve problems. That's what I did.

Thank you. Thank you. I think application of that may be a little different here. As the municipal attorney, probably be the lead in a lot of that or HR director for the

next question.

Ran some of these, we didn't have

those. Yes.

So I like to try and ask questions that are kind of along the lines of the of the or the previous one. But this is gonna be a complete one eighty. So a little bit of exercise in being nimble. What is Sitka tribe of Alaska and what does it mean to you?

Okay. The question I heard is what is Sikta Tribe of Alaska, and what does it mean to me?

Correct.

Okay. I'm assuming it is the native tribe in that area, originally, with that, which has some legal rights associated with that. And it's something that is a quasi, if not a separate government organization that the city of Sitka has to deal with in in in that process. And it means that it would be a part of government that I have to work with to get a partnership going on so we could work together to help solve the issues, facing, you know, Sitka in that area. You know, I'm If you aren't working with the people around you and creating bonds that work and get stuff done, you're you know, if you can get three people together, even though it may seem longer to get something done than just doing it yourself, but it becomes a better, longer investment in, you know, investing that time, develops that respect, and that you can actually solve problems with this these are things of the past.

And so they're gonna be a partner you have to you know, I get to work with, not have to work with, but get to work with to help, you know, move around. So if I can know what their issues are and they can know what my issues are, and we can work and help solve problems with those issues, then that would be a good way to do that.

Thank you.

Hi, Steve again, Tim Pike. I'm going to not follow Stephen's question closely. But can you tell us about your experience with the management teams, how you've structured them in the past? How you would change them if you had a chance to do it over again? And how are you expecting them to function? What is their role for you? And how do they help you going forward?

What I've tried to do with management teams in the past is get them unsiloed. Because what I have found in the last time when I come into cities, and I don't think it'll be this one here as much, is that they are in silos. Public works just deals with public works and doesn't understand what the fire department's doing and doesn't understand what planning is doing. It doesn't understand, you know and so they don't necessarily work together to help get things done. Now they have their their specialties and work in that process, but what I try to do when I set up a management team in the past is I try to get them to meet on a regular basis, you you know, usually after the council meetings to talk about what happened to the council and get a different perspective that happened in from their perspective, what happened in the council meetings.

And, you know, get them thinking, okay. How can how can the you know, because they might public works might see something that happened that will affect how billing operates that isn't you know, wasn't particularly known or billing didn't see that in connection with that, whatever they were talking about that night. And so by having them having a discussion and work that direction and start working on the partnership as we will get this done, works a lot better. And then and then then again, it gives you support when you end up with, an issue. For example, in, you know, Phoenix, I had an issue in public works that was sort of brought up in a you know, in the meeting afterward the count after after the council meeting with the department heads saying x employee is having a you know, I'm having a really hard time dealing with x employee, and I don't know really what how to approach it.

And so we're we spent, I think, like, you know, twenty minutes talking about that issue, and they could get support that direction and help solve that problem in in that direction. I wasn't able to get that going in, Dundee, because every time I try to begin those meetings and stuff, someone is on vacation, someone is on, you know, x, and someone is y. And so there's always an excuse not to have it, and so we quit having those meetings in that direction. And what I ended up doing, at that time, even though I would would have preferred to do it the other way, is going and meeting them in their office talking about what they were facing up here and what they're facing and, you know, getting some communication with the staff and with them in that in that direction. They're still a little bit more siloed than I liked, but they knew what was going on, and they knew what was going on in different parts of it.

You know, for example, in Dundee, I went and talked to, the fire department staff one time, and they had a lot of questions on planning. And because of how it affected their job and how, you know, how they affected where they were going and all the all the stuff that needed to happen with that. And so I was able to sit there in four or five minutes forty five minutes to explain, you know, the basic planning laws and how you set up a good planning committee committee in that direction in that direction. So that's kinda how I wanna work work work things, and that's where it failed in the past and, you know, where I couldn't really set it up that way. But, you know, I was able to adapt so you can do something that would be effective for everyone in that direction. So I hope that answered your question. If I missed something, let me know.

Well, looking backward in your experience, what what are some things that you would have done differently had you had the opportunity?

One thing no. Two things come in come to mind quickly. One is I had in in Drain, I had a public works director, that I could never really get on my side. And so I think I probably should have been a little bit more, you know, forceful on that direction. And, you know, we're saying, you just need to get this done, and you need to get this done, in that process.

But he had been there for thirty years. He started there working there when he was 18. And so it was just kind of a you know, and he knew all the community. So it was you know, I should have gotten a little bit more, you know, forceful management wise in there, but if I could, like, train him how to think as a manager and stuff, and he never could understand that because in his mind, management was just telling people what to do instead of getting them to think. And so that's why and and after six months, I should've just started telling him what to do versus trying to get him to think on a regular basis.

And that's that's, like, the one thing I really blew in that in that direction with it. The second thing is I, you know, there are times I should have fired people faster. And, you know, in in that process where I didn't like, know, didn't like what's going on, and so they weren't good managers. They weren't doing what I wanted, and I should have gotten them out quicker than I did. And when I got them out, they did a lot of problems solved. So it's not necessary as you know, again, the the size of what I have dealt with is a lot smaller than what you have there. And so, that'd be you know, so I'd have some, you know, learn do some learning to figure out some of the stuff that may work that I've done in the past, that won't work in a small community that would work in, your community.

Thank you.

Hi, this is Tor Christiansen again. I'm actually going to follow-up on Tim's last question, not the one he just did, but the one before that, and talking about complaints. So it's going to happen if you get this job where somebody's gonna come in with a complaint that you can't fix. Whether it's legal or resources or it's just not doable for lots of reasons. And they're gonna be hot on their collar. And whoever the administrator is,

I'm

sure John would tell you, we'll have people come into his office demanding things that you just can't do for whatever reason. So talk to me about how you would deal with that because, you know, there's how you get that person and and understand that sometimes they they might not really listen to what you're trying to say to them. But it's an uncommon situation here.

What I do is anyone who wants to come in and talk to me, I will talk to. I think sometimes you get, you know, people coming in, and they wanna talk to the city administrator, but the city administrator doesn't wanna talk to them per se, and so they just, like, sign them on. So unless I'm in a meeting or a phone call or something along those lines, I will meet you with them, and I will let them talk, and I will listen to what they have to say. And, you know, even though I can't help them or I'll explain why I can't help them, And whether they like it or not, sometimes, you know, they don't. And a lot of times, they don't because I wanna do what they want.

But at least they try I try to get them to understand why I can't do x or why I can't do y. You know, for example, there was a guy in Dundee who, you know, bought a house in this cul de sac, and he didn't understand why the city couldn't go in and prevent people from, know, parking on his driveway, but because, basically, his driveway was the entrance to the cul de sac, and and he wanted the city to enforce that rule. And, basically, he ended up telling him it's, you know, it's private property. The city has no authority on that. And he goes, well, you you have to keep it clear for, you know, fire department.

I go, yeah. But, again, it's not the city the city doesn't have the legal authority to ticket anybody in that process and, you know, find them in in that direction. It's not set up to do that. And we know, and the fire department doesn't have the authority to do that. And, you know, we have contracted police to that part, and contract police isn't isn't gonna come. And so we, you know, help try to help mediate with him and got in with the police and had him explain things, the fire department explained things and and get him to that point. But finally, he got to the point with him, and it's it's like, okay. We've gone through everything we can know. This is what the rules are. This is what we, you know, can and cannot do according to law, and this is what you know, this is the end of the conversation.

So every time you come in after that, when you complain and stuff like that, I go, that's the end of the conversation. We've we've been here before. And, you know, he got mad at me, and he just walked out. But, you know, I know he was he felt he was, like, hurt. He just didn't feel like he was getting a solution made. And so a lot of times what I found is when people are upset, so I get at least you get the chance to be heard about something like that and, you know, and get all the emotion and anger out, a lot of times at that time, they'll listen to what I can and cannot do. Sometimes they'll get mad again, and sometimes they'll leave the office again. But I try to, you know, let that roll off my back and get and sort of concentrate on, this is what we can do. This is what we can't do. This is what the ordinance say.

This is where the or you know, ordinance comes from, and I can show them that part of it. Sometimes And if I don't know the answer, I'll sit there and say, I don't know the answer right now. Let me redo some research it, and I'll give you a callback or I'll contact you or send you an email, whatever you prefer, and try to do a day certain on on that. So, like, you know, 222 on Friday, I'll get you an answer by then, if not before. So that's what I try to do to handle those situations, and most of the time, it works for me. Thank you.

I would like to build on the tourism question that was asked last time. So you've had a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with Sitka and the layout of our island community. You know, we've got about 14 miles of road, maybe a few more in the summer, and the only way on or off the island is by plane or boat. You said last time to deal with the tourism dynamics in town. You wondered how to make it so the people who don't wanna see the tourists don't have to.

That's really hard in a community that is as small as ours and as concentrated as ours. And so I'm wondering how you are actually going to address this tension tension that Tor referenced last time between, you know, preserving our community character and the needs of year round residents while encouraging economic growth in this important sector.

Okay. I made a mistake last time. I didn't, I figured that out more after I studied it this time that my suggestion was stupid and, or, you know, at least illogical and working in that direction. So forgive me on that on that part of it. I guess what I don't know, and I'd have to know a little bit more information on this one, is what exactly it is that people who don't want tourism there, what they really don't like about it.

Is it, you know, more people invading their town, they don't feel like they can go shopping on it on a Saturday or they feel limited about that, or they feel like their their hometown is being invaded, and, you know, and and work that. So I guess from from my vantage point now, you know, a thousand miles away is I wanna know why the people who are against tourism are against it. Because, you know, my response when I worked in, Grass Pass, one of the comments was is no one comes and moves their business to Grass Pass without coming here as a tourist first. And I think that same's, you know, true for Sitka in a lot of ways. So I think it is sort of like, okay, you guys don't like this because of x or y.

I need to understand that part of it before I can come up with a good solution for that. And then if I can understand what the issue is that way, then I can probably maybe we can try to help develop that that theory with that. But, you know, I you know, if you're sending us more, I don't have a good really good, solution for it because, again, you need the tourism in there because they provide you a heck of a of money, and that keeps your business and that keeps your, community alive and running. And without that, you guys would be in, you know, a lot more physical trouble than you would beforehand. And just maybe, you know, sitting out explaining what exactly, you know, they get.

It doesn't make won't make a difference, and maybe they don't like it, but try to work at that angle. But how's that for I'm getting I'm not gonna give an answer, but I don't I don't have a solution for you on that one. I just know that what I told you last time, didn't make sense now, and we'll go that direction.

I guess I'm surprised that that didn't come up in your, in your newspaper research. I think there's been there was a few articles written about it. It was a it's a really significant issue in our community. And, yeah, would just say as as you read things about our community propositions would be another good thing thing to check out. But thanks for that answer.

Hi Steve, Kevin Moser again. Thank you everyone. There's been really good questions here lately. So I'm just going to read out a generic question, and then I'm going to kind of fill out the outline of what I'm thinking. The question officially is, outline your experience effectiveness in dealing with state and federal agencies, the legislature, and the congressional delegation.

And me adding to that is, in Sitka, yes, we have several major industries, healthcare, fishing industry, tourism. Also in addition, federal granting, state granting is not as as much hardly as it used to be, virtually nonexistent. But federal, grants, of course, with the national infrastructure bills that came through congress past couple years has been an abundance of funds, those obviously are not going to continue forever and are slowing down. But granting from the federal agencies has been a lifeline to communities all throughout the state, including Sitka. And you know, in Sitka, we have we do have a lobbyist, and there is a relationship with the, administrator and also the mayor, with the state legislature and the the federal, congressional delegation.

There's also issues like state and federal unfunded mandates. Sitka has had several things where we've had to have, multimillion dollar facilities built because of a simple mandate that was, in our opinion, unnecessary. I could think of the the effluent water, system or whatever it's called. And so those are absolutely crucial, those relationships. And I was wondering if what is your experience and your history with the, towns, you've been with with your state and federal congressional delegations, any lobbying efforts, any teams, granting teams that you have, any type of efforts that you do to prevent and protect your communities from unfunded mandates or mitigate the consequences of those.

Sometimes they can't be avoided, but, sometimes it's important to let, you know, legislatures know the effects that their decisions have on communities because it can have huge implications that they may not even understand. That takes an advanced effort. PR and also relationship building, constant communication, it's very, very crucial. Do that. And

to do

state legislatures. I've gone to, that. Board meetings, especially when I was doing economic development. I would go to, the state of Oregon had had a economic development board that advised that this is Oregon. Part of it, I would go to their quarterly meetings and talk about the needs of small communities.

And, with with that, the direct relationship to that one is the city of Grants Pass got a it developed a a, forgivable loan, program where the city could they would loan the city enough money to build a lift station because that was land we needed to lift station to be able to develop industrial land within the city boundaries. And they would give us $5,000 per job against the loan. So in five years, we'd be interest free for five years, and then company jobs were created off of that would be $5,000. You know, we wouldn't have to pay back when they started the loan, and it would continue until the loan was all all done or, in that process, which is the first time they ever got something like that done, within the city, within the the state because I I was going to those meetings and having those conversations with people and talking to the state legislatures in that direction. In the city as a city manager, I continue a lot of those type of meetings with thing with different legislators in the area and talk to them, not necessarily the legislatures, but the staff.

Just talk to them about what's going on, especially during COVID, especially during, you know, the first, you know, couple months of the cities when when Trump took over and the cancellation of a lot of contracts that were in Oregon. One city there was, halfway through a water treatment plant build that, you know, basically stopped because there's no guarantee they could get the loan to, you know the loan was canceled all of a sudden. They had, you know and the builder wouldn't come in and stuff like that. And I worked with the regional workforce board and regional group to help, solve that issue. What I have found is, as a city manager, I have access to the in communication with the senator's staff or the congressman's staff or the legislative staff.

On a we send them a regular basis. You know, they send me things. I send them things in in that direction. I don't necessarily talk to the, you know, elected official. What I have found is that for the most part, elected officials like to talk to elected officials. And so I encourage staff I actually I'm sorry. I encourage counselors to develop those relationships also. So they only they only hear it from me through the staff, and the staff talks about it. They also talk about it, you know, okay. We need to have this person here, you know, in that direction.

And you can get a lot done that way. In, you know, Dundee, you know, we got an earmark for $350,000 to put in a waterline that was directly related to, both me and the council and, you know, council mayor actually talking to, the local representative and getting him on board with it and understanding why we needed it, and, he was able to get that earmarked in for us. So that gives an idea of what we've been able to do in the past, when I'd have to develop those relationships up there. It's like, I I I guess I I spent you know, if you give me the job, I I envision my first three or four months there just going around and talking to people, getting an understanding of what they are and what their needs are and what they and what we can do as a city to help them out and what they can do as an organization to help us out. And so I'm trying to get an understanding of that.

I can read them papers in that way and getting that process there. So that's kind of my thought process.

Thank you. Steve, Scotty again. Standby. Hey. You give a man a fish and he eats for a day, and you give a man somebody else's fish and he votes for you.

So where I'm going with this one is, you know, when you ask about what's up with tourism and stuff, know, Sitka, before the libor scandal at 2008, 2007, Sitka was number two in America for increasing your home's equity by 33% within eighteen months of buying it. And how that was shaken out was putting four bunks in each bedroom and a freezer in the garage and opening up a charter lodge, and you won't find any other aspect of Sitka's economy that's raised housing prices other than fish harvesting. So this year, people get to harvest twice as many king salmon as last year. So there are species of fish that nobody gets to retain inside inside of our waters. And now there are other species of fish that are being targeted because of the lack of the other species of fish.

And so the issue of commercial harvest, subsistence harvest, and sport are very, very, divided. And there are people that live here and work at the city for less than what they're worth just for the fact they get to stay in this town and look at the mountains and maybe go take a hot tub every once in a while. You get to manage all that. And the non invasive tour aspect with bus pollution and just the sheer numbers of 10,000 people disembarking in town. There's a lot going on.

And however much you bite off, you know, stand by because it's gonna be a ride. Good luck.

The Hot Springs reference was to a town site within the borough south of town that is a recreation site now and has some thermal baths. There's a lot of uniquenesses like that within our borough, we are by size the largest city in The United States because it's the entirety of the island and a couple more. So land management, thank you. That actually ties in very well to my my question. There's quite a bit with zoning and and just our land within our borough, and we don't have that structure of, you know, your local level, your county level, your state level, your federal.

It's the, you know, city and borough combined. So we are, in essence, the county as well. So in any, like, emergency response situation, we we're we're the ones we that we're the only ones out here on on the outer coast. So with your experience kind of being on that I 5 corridor, you're kind of in that interstitial space between the coast and the mountains. We have both right here close by, and so we have the hazards from from those two kind of landforms. What's your experience kind of with that overall kind of land management or or hazard response, instant command, and natural disasters.

Well, let me just comment on the previous, speakers, talk talk about one thing I've learned as being a city manager is that no matter what I do, I'm wrong. And so I've accepted that process for a long period of time. So you just gotta do what you think is right and and get, you know, blamed. So that's that process there. Emergency management.

There are so many things about emergency management that you can talk about, and it's hard to, work with it. I mean, it could get into, you know, if you're supplying, you know, you're supplying the ambulance to poor things and not getting paid, how you maintain that cost is something that we we dealt with in, you know, Drain, you know, and and also in, Dundee. In Dundee, we actually had a light out where we lost electricity and, you know, had to keep the staff going for, you know, almost a week and a half on twenty four seven to get them to help clean up things. And there we got, you know, a lot of a lot of people volunteering to help out and and work in that direction. So and working with them to do that and having our public works director at that time because he knew everybody, was helping direct everybody in to make it more effective in in that direction.

And that was pretty much, you know, for the most part out of that, just handling the, we need this, we need that, and so buying stuff to get things going on on that direction. And then handling the paperwork with FEMA and all this to get some reimbursement for that. So that's my experience. I don't have a overly a lot of doing that, but you have, you know, people who you have 13 employees in the fire department who can answer those questions. You have a police department account, you know, work with that.

I wouldn't necessarily go in and try to interfere with what they can do because they know they have the processes out already. And if you don't have a emergency plan, and I'm sure you do, I just don't remember seeing it, then I've developed emergency plans for different actions that would happen. So if you had earthquake, you had, you know, flooding, you had, you know, more snow and everything in that direction, how we'd handle that through how how would that process work? And so that's that's kinda how I'd work. I with that one, I'd look at the people who do it for a long period of time and specifically trained in it and act as a support mechanism for that to make sure they got the equipment and food that they needed to keep things going.

Thank you. Tsunamis and landslides are our biggest hazards here. Thank you.

Yeah. And if the tsunamis, you have to I mean, I'm sure you have, you know, basically, tsunamis they've solved is that you have you have people to get to, and you have to keep your own speed to do that. I learned that a little bit by studying some of the stuff on coast, but I'm not a big expert on that.

Well, Steve, Kevin kinda took half of one of my last questions for you. And the reason I wanted to talk about state and federal representatives and their your relationship with them is because of the importance that it is in mine and the administrator's role for our community. So I wanna expand on that a little bit and see where else you've used perhaps more social settings to to further our goals. So I was just curious what professional memberships you maintain, what conferences you frequently go to, And then, how do you how you have used them, to gain, resources, back to the towns that you are, that you have managed?

I did a lot with, Oregon Economic Development Association when I did economic development, and I attended a lot of meetings in Salem and basically, with ODOT and some of the programs they had there. They started a infrastructure program for non road or integrating, you know, plane and and and trains and stuff with roads. And so I went to a meeting to talk about that. And so, you know, we had a plan in Grant County how to to get that information and how to apply for those grants a good, you know, two months before they actually did the dog and pony show because I knew about it and I and I was friends with the, head of the airport and we had developed a plan on how to do that. And so we had a plan that was, the number one plan for the region and got funded for that.

And then next year, we had the number the second number one plan that got funded for that in that program, in there. For the city, as city manager, I worked a lot with, the regional, cities association and the national I mean, the state, association of city, which I learned a lot of what was happening within the legislative session on on that process because they would have a weekly call during less sessions talking about, hey. What's going on here? What's going on there? And talking to other city managers and stuff about what they're hearing in in in that process.

And so the regional managers, I would sit there and talk to, hey, this is what's happening. This is what's happening. And then I would talk to the the state. This is the state board, state association of cities, and get an update from there. Again, talking to the elective, you know, the anything that I could get from the the staff about what was happening too and, you know, talking to them on that direction.

So and and again, part of it was just reading The Oregonian and trying to figure out what was happening because not everything was happening at once and working with those. No. And and when I was at we had an association of public electric utilities that dealt specifically with that issue and trying to, you know, get going on there. So I talked to both the elected representatives and the staff and both from the state and national level on those things because that became an issue with some of the stuff that was happening there. So that's those are the associations I've I've been a a part of.

I've never really been a part of the national association because our cities I worked in were, you know, not even rounding areas for them, and, you know, there wasn't much interest in them and the state from that point of view. So I never really got involved in that that part. So those are the ones I worked with on a regular basis, and I thought we're good. But I also worked a lot with the small nonprofits in the communities I worked with to help them find money and get the money for different things that they needed and trying to work that process. So I pretty much try to work with everybody who wants to work with me.

Understood. Thank you.

So Tim Pike again. So the largest component of our budget is public education. Can you tell me what you would see is the relationship between the city and the school district?

I always viewed the school districts as a partner with the city on creating, a wonderful place to live. Because one of the parts processes is is, you know, when you get families moving into the community, having a good school system, a good district is an essential part of having doing, you know, having a a good place to live and a a good community. And so I've always tried to work with partners on with them on on that direction and see how we can help each other out and work together. Is there a way we can, you know, share resources or is there a way we can share money? I don't wanna say money, but, you know, can we, you know so, like, you know, can we like, in Drain, we gave them a place where they can wash their buses where they wouldn't you know, when they had salt on the buses, so they wouldn't contaminate the roads or wouldn't do anything in that process or hurt that.

So we had a place where both them and ODOT could wash their salt trucks and wash the buses so they wouldn't get access on the roads and and help corrupt the roads. So a lot of the time, it's just, you know, working with them as part of it. Second thing is is those are the people not all of them stay, but enough of them stay in the community that they're the future of what's going on. And so they need to be part of the decision making process and understanding what those things are in that direction. And, I'm you know, encouraged, you know, them to come and talk, and I've went and talked to multiple school system, school, classrooms about what what it's like to, you know, run the city and what this is what a sewer looks like.

This is what a, you know, a water filtration plant looks like. Because if we can get one or two kids interested in that at, you know, as young ages and and working in there, then they become something that you desperately need in the West Coast right now, which is train people in public works. And so part of it, you know, it's like, Let's show these kids that wanna come to do this and help make that happen. The second you know, one of the things that we did in Grant's past was we worked at the school district to have, like, a career fair where we brought in all the different businesses in the community saying, this is what we do. This is the education you need.

And so you can start getting people thinking, okay. What, you know, what do I wanna do when I'm a software? Do I wanna go to college or do I wanna, you know, you know, what can I do to get some training so I I don't necessarily go into college? And so we need to be a part of that conversation and help that conversation go far far because if people already live here and they wanna be they wanna remain here for, you know, the reasons of fishing or whatever they wanna do and they need a, you know, family wage job, they need to know what the skills are that they need to be able to do those type of things and help them get to that point with it. But I try to but in in essence, I see them as a partner that I work with, to help create a positive community, And I really like to, use them, you know, as, you know, again, the playgrounds, I I I had people go to the playgrounds all the time, and, you know, I view that as part of the city's job and help make those playgrounds work.

Thank you.

Yes. I don't have a this is Tor again. I don't have a real long question for you, but this job has got a lot of stress and you 're gonna have to manage that to a certain extent. So I guess it's me. So my question is like, what do you do for what what brings you joy? What do you do for fun that will allow you to leave the office behind when you're off duty? And feel free you don't have to get into super detail. I just And what are your dogs what kind of dogs do you have? Yeah.

I have two pugs. I I play with my pugs, and I like to take them for walks. I like to, you know, just be out in nature. I like to walk in in the morning. I like to be active.

I know that you know, if I, you know if I live up there, then when I walk my dogs, people are gonna come up and talk to me. So, I mean, that's part part of it. But I also find places that I can, you know, just exist outside in nature, a little bit. And, you know, that's just you know, I try not to I try not to get how does that sound? They're stressed, and then there's busy, and then there is frustrated and angry.

And I try to not get frustrated and angry, and I try to do mental tricks sometimes to get out of that mindset, in that. And sometimes that's just, you know, having a very loud discussion with my wife about how angry the council's making me or something along those lines. Sometimes that happens too. So, basically, I like to spend time with my dogs, and I like to, you know, go walking in the morning, and that helps clear my head with a lot of the stuff. And it'll go back. But there's no you know, it changes on a on a on a basis on on things, and that's just kinda how how it works. Thank you.

Yeah. So my last question, you know, we've talked a lot about our city being a full service city, carries a lot isolated, you know, community isolated island. We got police, fire, public works, utilities, parks and rec, and more. Something that many large communities in Alaska have had to do recently given the dynamics that Kevin was talking about with decreased state funding, decreased federal funding, and a shrinking tax base due to migration and aging population is tightening of resources and very large deficits. Several communities have closed schools.

We have not had to do that yet, but our our school board is, you know, facing a deficit as well. And so, generally, you know, you've got to evaluate these service level trade offs, and and we have to do that as well when resources are tight. And then also given what you said about involving, you know, the young people in understanding what our community needs, you know, I think that Sitka and and many places in Alaska really take a community approach to these kinds of decisions of, like, how do we reduce or restructure services to meet the resources that we have available. So I'm wondering if you can give us some insight into how you might navigate some of those challenges. Can you give an example of where you recommended reducing or restructuring a service?

And how would you engage the community in those types of decisions?

Yeah. In Drain, we we're having issues with our electric part of our our part. Basically, we couldn't find people to, do to work there on a regular basis. And so we ended up, you know, contracting out our, the work that we needed to do for electric lines. You know, a lot of the maintenance, we contracted out at certain times.

So we come in and have them do the maintenance on the lines and maintenance on some things, and we have one guy that there to help facilitate the process, to know what the issues were, he didn't know what needed the work needed to be done at that time. And that's how we streamlined, the, you know, electric utilities there. You know, again, another thing we, you again, finding out in just doing some of the maintenance processes have also found a way to streamline some of the aspects of water and sewer by, you know, again, concentrating on maintenance, concentrating on, you know, going through the lines and, you know, Cameron and knowing there's an issue here is that we can be proactive in doing that. You know, one thing that I do in Oregon to help, you know, the income out a little bit more that, you know, what we can do here is I replace the water meters to you know, because after twenty years or after ten years, water meters fall mechanical water meters fall on the side of the customer, so we're not getting an accurate reading of what the water they're using. So we're giving a lot of water away when that happens.

And so by doing that, we'd be able to increase, revenue without increasing our costs associated with that once it was the thing was changed in in that direction. That's some of the things I I've done in the past, on on there. A lot of times, we would if there's a specific issue that we wanna talk about, we try to have a public meeting that we work with to get through there. One of the things I did to get public meeting and to get people to attend public meetings is I worked with the, school district, and I offered basically the track team or the football team or whoever wanted it a $100 or $200 towards their, the fund to be able to go and put, place cards on the doors of every person in in town. And it says, hey.

There's a public meeting talking about this, and this is what the issue is. So you help get people out there. And, you know, in Phoenix, when I did that, we had about, you know, 200 people show up at a planning commission meeting talking about the planning aspect of it, and we had, like, 40 people show up and drain talking about parks. So trying to to get them and trying to get people involved in that in that process is is what we really try to do in there. And so you guys have a lot of groups that, you know, you get advice from, and you might you know, that one might be something here is trying to get a new group, you know, to work on that.

I know you just something was sustainability and working through in making that work and and, you know, making looking for the finance part of it is something you you know, not just the budget committee, but also someone, you know, hey. What what are what are some ideas that we can have that? And start having the conversation. You know, again, your master plan ends in, you know, 2030. And right now, one of the things I would probably start, you know, recommend working on is not, you know, this coming year, but next year, start working on developing a new master plan and basically going and making this part of a visioning process for Sitka.

This is what we wanna do. How can we do this? Or what do you what does the community of Sitka want to do? How do they see themselves in twenty years and how to work and how to help them work in that direction? But there isn't a one shot or one thing thing you can do. You can just try to work through that and work with groups of people that that are active in the community and about how to develop that process with them. And so, you know and most people can understand, hey. We've known has a budget, so we had a decision, x or y, then you need to be able to give them to get input on what x or y works.

Thank you.

Alright. Next question. I'm looking at your application here, and there's a lot of, you know, consistency. You've really dedicated your professional life to economic development and being a manager. The last two lines in additional information, I'd like to hear more about that. You've written a children's picture book and curated a local art exhibit?

Sure. I don't know. Twelve, thirteen years ago, I was reading the nativity story, at my sister's house, right before Christmas. And I walked out of the back room, I was reading the nativity story, and I go look at my sister and I say, you know, there wasn't a group of angels singing. There was one angel named Harold having a very bad day.

And the reason for that, at that time, was working for Barnes and Noble as a manager there. And I was looking at all the Christmas books, and they were all about, you know, the night before Christmas, the alligator before Christmas, all, you know, all these secular books. And all the religious books they had talking about, Christmas were these, you know, very boring picture books that had, like, pictures of stained glass in them and and, you know, quotes from the bible, but nothing that a kid, you know, five years old or younger could understand or relate to. And so, I wrote a a kid's book, retelling the nativity, from one angel who was having a very bad day. You know, for example, he was asked to make a reservation at the inn, and he gets he gets down there to make a reservation, and he can't remember the names of the people there.

And so the only thing he can get is a manager behind again and stuff like that. So, it was a way for them for for kids and parents to read the Nativity story in a way that a kid, a young kid, could actually do it. I got a hate letter from one of my friends who had a seven year old girl. Basically, the letter said, I really don't like you right now because I've had to read this book every night for the last year and a half. And so for some people, was work.

Other people haven't liked it, and, you know, and that's fine. But that's what that's basically what the book is. And the other part is, I collect original comic strip art. So, you know, like, Rose is a Rose or, different comic strips, I collected. And, I did a show organized a show, in Grass Pass, highlighting the look highlighting the art and, talking about, you know, the history of it and the development of it.

And I also invited, Janet Elliott, who wrote Stone Soup at the time, and Russell, who actually wrote, writes Grumhilda, who lives in Grants Pass. And there you know, at that time, they were the only two people who had nation nationwide comic strips and papers that lived in Oregon. And it was the first time they ever met, so I brought them together and I had them talk to a group of people about, hey. This is, you know, what it makes me a comic strip artist. This is what I get my inspiration from, and this is what I like.

And we had about three people show up for that. And, the exhibit itself was the most visited exhibit that the Grass Valley Art Museum had in the time I was there. And so, it was it was a good time, and one of the things I did with that is I also had, you know, about a 100 collections of comic strips that I, you know, set up a reading area so kids could come up there and read the comic books and see the art. And after that, I gave all the books to this library too so they can have in their collection. So that's those are those two things.

Great. Thank you.

I think that was a a positive friendly note to kinda end on. That was that was a good one, JJ. Thanks for that. A little less serious question and just kind of a a little bit more insight into yourself there. So that we are getting close to time this evening. As promised earlier, I wanted to give you an opportunity to grill us now since you've been sitting on the burner for quite some time. So if there's anything we can do to answer for you to help you understand Sitka and or the position a little better. If you have anything for us, please.

Okay. What? If there was one issue that you needed solved in the next year, what would that issue be in your mind?

We have seven people sitting at this table. You're gonna get seven different answers on that one, and we're all gonna feel very passionately about that. I have a couple that rise to my mind, but I know that they won't be similar to Scotty's, who has a, you know, very different crowd that he talks to. So, I'm not gonna give you one, but if anyone wants to chime in with one that they're looking at right now.

I think Katie and I will both probably say housing.

Budget meeting on Thursday where we need to figure out how to be balanced for the next year. So that's on on my mind of issue of how to, for the next twelve months, financially stable with providing the services that this community wants at the level that they want and financially prepared for any unexpected situations situations within within that that time time frame. Frame.

I got one for you, Steve. So with everybody coming off a love boat disembarking, the the state charges them a $50 head tax, and then they divvy it out to different towns that are affected by that. And the laws to spend that money in the community are very stringent. And Sitka, we haven't figured out how to get away with building something really for town that looks like we're doing it for the people on the love boat, And I'd like to see that resolved and build something that town could use for what everybody puts up with for four months in the summer.

Childcare?

Yes, thank you. Yes, all these are very good and very important, everything everyone said. And I do agree with the childcare thing. That's something we're working on. I would say big there's so many things.

It's like so many things, housing, childcare, all these issues that we would like to try to tackle. But as far as if you was, you know, we had to say one thing right now, narrow it down, one thing. For me, it would be to maintain the stable budget that we have, continuing to be able to support the school system as much as we have, which just for your information has been historically these past several many years as much as we are legally allowed to. We contribute as much as to the max we are allowed to by state law. And I want to make sure that our finances are strong enough that we're able to continue to do that as well as contributing to our infrastructure fund so that we're able to repair our aging infrastructure that we mentioned And to we're do that.

Public safety, and so many other things, And support for for, community organizations like the nonprofits. There's just so many. So, basically, what my my most important thing is maintaining what we have now. I do passionately want to move forward with other initiatives and I think we should. But right now, the baseline is maintaining what we have given unstable circumstances in the future.

And I would agree, Steve.

Maintaining

revenues and services. And as I'm sure you can imagine, there's a large appetite for one of those and a much smaller appetite for the other.

Yeah I'll just say something comprehensive is addressing out migration of our working families. We've had a huge decrease I think over the past ten years 10% or 15% very significant. This is our tax base. This is our you know vitality of our community going forward. So it's housing, it's childcare, it's keeping our schools open, all those things tie into it but really figuring out what can we do to stop the out migration from our community.

A plethora of answers there.

Yeah. Gives me an idea of what you guys are thinking, though, and I appreciate it. Well, I I think we're almost out of time. Let me just, you know, say thank you very much for taking the time to interview me. The more I studied Sitka, the more I was impressed by what you guys have accomplished and maintained over the last couple of years. I've looked at a lot of cities and, you know, that I thought I could help out and work with. And I think I can help you out, and I can, you know, work with you. But I think you guys are starting off on a higher level than a lot of the cities I've worked with. And, you should take pride in being able to what you've accomplished the last couple years, and I wish you the best if this is the last time I talked to you. Thank you very much for your time.

Yes. Thank you, Steven or Steve. I appreciate your time as well, this evening. Two hour interviews can be a little bit long, but it definitely helps us, gain a much larger knowledge of each other, because I'm a huge believer that, the job has to be mutually beneficial in order for this to succeed. So we appreciate your time this evening. Get your pups out on a walk if it's still daylight there for you.

It's almost done, but I will do that. Thank you very much for your time. Have a great day.

Thank you. Thanks.

And with that, we will take a recess. Well, thank you assembly. A little bit of a long one there in between breaks, but we made it through it. I think we had a very productive session with our candidate. But now we do need to excuse me, we do need to come together and talk about what we saw. So we have already run it by Steven and he is okay with us discussing tonight's interview in executive session.

I move to go into executive session to discuss subjects that may tend to prejudice the reputation and character of the municipal administrator candidate, Steve Dahl, and invite in assistant municipal administrator Josh Branhoover. In addition, I move to exclude the municipal administrator and municipal attorney.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to enter executive session. Is there any public comment?

Sarah?

Alright. Mayor Eisenbeis?

Yes.

Mister Christensen? Yes. Miss Riley? Yes. Mister Mosier?

Yes.

Mister Celine?

Yes.

Miss Carlson? Yes. Mister Pike? Yes. The motion passes seven zero, and we'll be meeting in Room 4.

Motion to reconvene.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I thank you. We are reconvened as the assembly in regular session. We had a good opportunity to discuss the merits of our candidate and we'll be looking forward to our next interview on Friday. Friday. That'll bring us to persons to be heard this evening. This is public participation for any item on or off tonight's agenda not to exceed three minutes for any individual. Seeing none, adjournment please. Motion

to adjourn. Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you all. We are adjourned.