City and Borough Assembly

ASSEMBLY CHAMBERS CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA 330 Harbor Drive Sitka, AK (907)747-1811 Minutes - Final City and Borough Assembly Mayor Gary Paxton Deputy Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz, Vice Deputy Mayor Valorie Nelson, Aaron Bean, Kevin Knox, Dr. Richard Wein, Kevin Mosher Interim Municipal Administrator: Dave Miller Municipal Attorney: Brian Hanson Municipal Clerk: Sara Peterson Thursday, August 22, 2019 6:00 PM Assembly Chambers SPECIAL MEETING I. CALL TO ORDER II. FLAG SALUTE III. ROLL CALL Present: 5 - Knox, Wein, Paxton, Mosher, and Nelson Absent: 1 - Eisenbeisz Telephonic: 1 - Bean IV. CORRESPONDENCE/AGENDA CHANGES V. PERSONS TO BE HEARD None. VI. NEW BUSINESS: A 19-176 Discussion / Direction / Decision to 1) short-list Municipal Administrator candidates for in-person and/or videoconferencing interviews with the Assembly, 2) schedule interview date(s), time(s) and location(s), or, 3) extend the advertisement period, if desired Paxton stated the goal was to develop a short-list of candidates. It was recommended each member state those applicants they would like to interview by Skype. Mosher: John Leach and Alan Lanning Knox: Craig Cugini, Liam Hughes, Alan Lanning, and John Leach CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 1 City and Borough Assembly Minutes - Final August 22, 2019 Paxton: John Leach and Alan Lanning Wein: Jack Ardaugh, Craig Cugini, Marko Dapcevich, Franklin Etheridge, Jade Goroski, Alan Lanning, John Leach, Sheldon Schmitt, and Tonya Miller Nelson: Jack Ardaugh, Marko Dapcevich, Franklin Etheridge, Alan Lanning, John Leach, Sheldon Schmitt, and Tonya Miller Eisenbeisz: Alan Lanning (email provided to Municipal Clerk) Bean: Tonya Miller, Sheldon Schmitt, John Leach, Alan Lanning, and Marko Dapcevich A motion was made by Nelson to exclude applicants from the next round of interviews if their name wasn't mentioned in this round. The motion PASSED by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Paxton, Bean, Knox, Mosher, Wein, and Nelson Absent: 1 - Eisenbeisz Human Resources Assistant Sharon Joseph spoke to the selection process. Public Comment Beth Short-Rhoads urged the Assembly to stick to the criteria that was listed in the qualifications for the position (bachelor's degree in public administration or related field), hire someone who could bring people together and someone with integrity who the citizens could support. Tamy Stevenson stressed the need for someone with public administration experience moving forward and was happy to see Alan Lanning on the list. Assembly Discussion Paxton wondered of eliminating individuals who had received only one or two votes. Bean concurred and suggested moving forward with those applicants who had received three or more votes. Wein reminded the Administrator hire was the single most important decision the Assembly would make and expressed a desire to spend the time and conduct more interviews rather than less. Nelson commented while the job qualifications stated a bachelor's degree in public administration, she reminded there was no amount of schooling that would give an individual common sense or a good sense of economics. A motion was made by Nelson to exclude those applicants with one vote: Jade Goroski and Liam Hughes. The motion PASSED by the following vote. Yes: 6 - Knox, Paxton, Wein, Mosher, Nelson, and Bean Absent: 1 - Eisenbeisz A motion was made by Paxton to eliminate those applicants with two votes: Jack Ardaugh, Craig Cugini, and Franklin Etheridge. The motion FAILED by the following vote. Yes: 2 - Mosher and Paxton CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 2 City and Borough Assembly Minutes - Final August 22, 2019 No: 4 - Bean, Wein, Nelson, and Knox Absent: 1 - Eisenbeisz Wein spoke in opposition to eliminating Ardaugh, Cugini, and Etheridge and stated the applicants were worthy of being interviewed. Bean said he had reviewed applications under a different lens than some may have. He looked at who would understand Sitka, what we needed to do as a community to keep demographics the same, and consider individuals who had contributed to Sitka in the past. Applicants to be interviewed by Skype: Jack Ardaugh (2 votes) Craig Cugini (2 votes) Marko Dapcevich (3 votes) Franklin Etheridge (2 votes) Alan Lanning (7 votes) John Leach (6 votes) Tonya Miller (3 votes) Sheldon Schmitt (3 votes) A motion was made by Mosher to direct the Municipal Administrator to work with Human Resources to schedule Skype interviews within the next two weeks. The motion PASSED by the following vote. Yes: 6 - Wein, Knox, Mosher, Paxton, Nelson, and Bean Absent: 1 - Eisenbeisz VII. PERSONS TO BE HEARD: Chris Brewton commented he was confused by the terms used by the Assembly and said it was a mistake for them to look for someone who was a visionary. He stated that the Assembly should be the visionaries with the Administrator executing. He encouraged the Assembly to focus on hiring an individual to execute and get staff tasked. Shannon Haugland of the Daily Sitka Sentinel noted there had not been much applicant information released and hoped there would be more information available moving forward. VIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION None. IX. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Nelson to ADJOURN. Hearing no objections, the meeting ADJOURNED at 6:45 p.m. ATTEST: _________________________________ Sara Peterson, MMC Municipal Clerk CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 3