Seats start to fill on new ferry advisory board

A new state advisory board intended to provide more public input over operations and investment decisions for the Alaska Marine Highway System is starting to gather up its members, with five of the nine positions filled.

None of the board members named so far are from southern Southeast Alaska.

The Legislature this year approved the new panel’s composition and advisory responsibilities to replace a board structure under an 18-year-old law that had been criticized as ineffective and often ignored by state officials.

House Speaker Louise Stutes, of Kodiak, introduced the bill to change the board. The former panel was comprised of members appointed entirely by the governor. The new board has two members each appointed by the House speaker and Senate president, and five named by the governor.

On Nov. 15, Stutes appointed Shirley Marquardt and Wanetta Ayers to six-year terms on the board. Both previously served on the former Marine Transportation Advisory Board.

Marquardt represented Southwest Alaska for nine years on the board. Gov. Mike Dunleavy dismissed her in May 2019. She is a former mayor of Unalaska.

In addition to serving on the previous state ferry advisory panel, Ayers served on a group put together by Dunleavy in 2020 to look at ways to reshape the ferry system to require less state subsidy, while still meeting community needs. She currently serves as executive director of Commonwealth North, a policy research group in Anchorage.

Senate President Peter Micciche, of Soldotna, had not yet announced his appointments as of Monday this week.

The governor has appointed Cynthia Berns, Larry Carson and Alan Austerman to the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board.

Carson, who served on the old board, is a former state trooper. Austerman represented Kodiak in the state House and Senate and served on the board of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Both are designated as public members on the new board.

Berns, who is the vice president of community and external affairs at the Old Harbor Native Corp., is the board's Alaska Native representative.

One spot on the board is reserved for the deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation, which oversees the marine highway system. That position is currently held by Deputy Commissioner Rob Carpenter.

The board also must include a representative, working or retired, of a recognized union for state ferry employees. Dunleavy had not filled the union seat as of Nov. 19.