Wrangell to host public classes on Open Meetings Act

The Borough Assembly has agreed to pay for two attorneys to travel to Wrangell next month to lead classes on the Open Meetings Act.

At its regular bi-monthly meeting Tuesday night, Assembly members voted in favor to pay Michael Gatti, an attorney in Anchorage, and Krista Stearns, an attorney for the City of Kenai, to teach the classes.

Tentative class dates have been scheduled for Feb. 2 and 3, and will be open to the community at no charge.

Months ago, it was requested such classes be offered to help train city boards and committees. Tuesday, Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson said the attorneys are “highly qualified” to teach the Open Meeting Act courses.

“This is what they do, they know all the legalities,” Jamieson said.

Assemblyman Bill Privett said, because Wrangell has so many boards and committees, this course would be helpful for those volunteers to learn proper protocol.

Assemblyman Michael Symons agreed.

“I would hope that anybody and everybody would take advantage and come to this,” he said.

Borough Mayor Jeremy Maxand said he is impressed with how transparent the Borough is and how Jamieson has taken the initiative to offer such a class to the people of Wrangell.

“It instills a lot of confidence in the organization when the public knows they have immediate access to whatever information they need,” Maxand said.

The Assembly voted unanimously to cover the cost of the attorney’s travel expenses to Wrangell, including airfare, hotel and food. Gatti is also charging $1,000 for the class instruction. Stearns is not charging the Borough for the class. Jamieson said this is because Gatti is a private attorney, while Stearns is a public attorney.

Also at the meeting, Borough Manager Tim Rooney announced the new Wrangell website is up and running.

“We still have a little more work to do before it’s finalize, but, [it’s] very impressive,” he said.

The Assembly also discussed the vacant position on the Wrangell Convention and Visitors Bureau (WVCB) —a position that has been vacant for over six months. Jamieson said Tuesday there have not been any letters of interest to fill that position.

Privett suggested possibly reducing the seven-member WCVB board to a five-member board.

“It seems to me, that if there is no interest, then we should revise it and cut it down and make it more reasonable,” Privett said.

Maxand agreed.

“I think are a lot of boards and a lot of commissions that a lot of the same folks end up on,” he said. “People get spread pretty thin.”

Assemblyman Don McConachie said the problem may lie in the length of the board members' three-year terms.

"Maybe that is just too long,” McConachie said, and suggested reducing the terms to last two years.

Assemblyman Don McConachie commended the Borough’s snow-plowers for their efforts over the past week removing snow from city streets.

“I would just like to compliment them on the job that they do and the strange hours they put in,” McConachie said.

The next Assembly meeting is scheduled for Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.