FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
All Seven Assembly Candidates Agree: Keep Community Hospital
By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER
Sentinel Staff Writer
All of the candidates for Sitka Assembly expressed support for keeping Sitka Community Hospital separate from the Southeast Alaska Regional Healthcare Consortium Wednesday, at a Chamber of Commerce forum.
Sitka Assembly candidates sit at the Assembly table as they answer questions during the Sitka Chamber of Commerce candidates forum at Centennial Hall Wednesday afternoon. From left are, Ben Miyasato, Sheila Finkenbinder, Richard Wein, Kitty Sopow, Jaime Ackley, Steven Eisenbeisz and Sonya Smith. The municipal election will be held October 3. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Seven hopefuls are vying for three open seats in this year’s Oct. 3 general election. They are incumbent Steven Eisenbeisz, Richard Wein, Jaime Ackley, Sonya L. Smith, Benjamin Miyasato, Sheila Finkenbinder and write-in candidate Kitty Sopow.
The noontime forum was the program for the weekly Chamber luncheon, and was held in the Assembly chambers at Centennial Hall to accommodate the larger than usual turnout. Travis Vaughan was the moderator.
The community hospital has been a big topic the past several months as the Assembly has brainstormed ways to make it more financially viable. A consultant study funded by SEARHC and the city recommended a merger of the two entities and SEARHC has made an offer to purchase the Sitka hospital.
“There are a lot of consequences going whatever direction we do with the hospital,” said Eisenbeisz, who owns sporting goods store Russell’s.
He said he has come full circle on the hospital.
“I believe Sitka Community Hospital needs to remain a separate entity from SEARHC,” he said. But, he added, “I don’t believe it will ever be financially viable on its own.”
Ackley, U.S. Army veteran and business manager, also said she stands behind keeping two different hospitals.
“We need to offer patients a choice in their own health care,” she said. “Selling Sitka Community Hospital isn’t keeping the community’s best interest at heart.”
Other candidates advocated eliminating duplicated services at the medical facilities.
“We need to look at what each hospital does best,” said Sopow, a trained anthropologist. She also advocated for more long-term elder care to keep people in the community.
Miyasato, a retired banker, veteran and former Assembly member, said he against a merger but wants to cut duplicated services.
Wein, a surgeon who has been employed by both SEARHC and Sitka Community, said he thinks the Assembly’s process of investigating a merger needs to get wrapped up. The whole process has harmed the hospital, he said.
“Sitka Community Hospital is a gem and has been a gem for 57 years,” he said.
Finkenbinder, a short-term rental business owner, also wants to move on from merger talks.
“I’d like to see some solutions and answers brought about as soon as possible,” she said.
She supports keeping the hospital under the city’s control but wants to consider contracting with a health care management organization to run it.
Smith, a mental health professional, was upset that the city was even considering merging or selling the hospital.
“Health care and politics are two different things and should be treated as such,” she said.
Candidates also talked business, budget and city planning during the forum.
From increasing recycling, promoting entrepreneurship and marketing Sitka as a place for creative thinkers, candidates had many different ideas to make the community more business-friendly.
“To me it’s important to get the message out about Sitka,” Wein said. “Brand it and they will come. More work has to be done for Sitka on a national level.”
He said Sitka should be branded not just as a tourist destination but as a place for what he calls the “intelligence industry,” he said.
“Make Sitka a place where people can come think and create,” Wein said.
Sopow pushed the idea of a business incubator to help people create new startups. Research shows entrepreneurship can be a saving grace in hard times, she said.
“Government could play a role to make sure entrepreneurs have what they need,” Sopow said.
Ackley was all about increasing recycling abilities to turn that into a business opportunity for Sitka and all of Southeast Alaska. More jobs attract younger families, she said.
Others said the Assembly needs to do more to encourage businesses, keep taxes low, keep costs affordable, and create business property tax breaks.
“Making this a business-friendly community is really what my platform is,” Finkenbinder said.
The Assembly needs to encourage locals and help people from out of town to start ventures, she said.
“We need to say ‘yes’ more often,” she said.
Smith said she doesn’t believe more spending and increased taxes are the way to make Sitka more business-friendly.
“Taxes are scaring people away,” she said. “We cannot have stability without infrastructure, without infrastructure we don’t have jobs, and without jobs we don’t have hope for the future.”
Miyasato said the key to more business development is avoiding increases in the cost of living.
“If you want to make it more business friendly you have to make it more affordable,” he said. “I think we could do better to attract more businesses here.”
Eisenbeisz said he thinks Sitka is already welcoming to business with not many taxes and easy permitting.
“As a business owner I find the city and borough to be very business-friendly,” he said. “The city, in my opinion, has really worked with businesses here.”
But, he said, it could encourage new businesses with a property tax incentive on business personal property.
In terms of budget, Vaughan asked the candidates what they would do to generate more revenues to help close the city’s fiscal gap.
Eisenbeisz also espoused property tax incentives to attract more people, and subsequently money, to the community. Good news this year, he said, is that the increased number of cruise ships will bring in more sales tax revenue.
Sopow continued to promote the idea of a business accelerator and incubator to generate more revenue.
“It’s worth trying,” she said. “The concept of incubation would be finding quality seeds and matching it with quality soil to promote growth,” she said.
Smith said bulk water contracts and attracting consumers from villages also could bring in more money for the city.
“Villages like to come here to shop and they like to shop in bulk,” she said.
Ackley wants the city to take advantage of other real estate opportunities. She said the city could take advantage of waterfront resources for house boats and float homes.
Miyasato said collaborating with tribal governments could help attract new businesses. He also favored a boat haulout and bulk water contracts as municipal money makers.
Wein had other ideas. He thinks making Sitka Community Hospital more viable would help the city have more money. He said he also has ideas for solid waste management, but did not offer details.
“I have a plan but you’re going to have to elect me to find out,” he said.
Finkenbinder reiterated her pro-business platform. The city needs to be business friendly to attract businesses, which, in turn, would bring more money into the economy to increase revenue.
The candidates also tackled questions on whether the city should declare bankruptcy because of the Blue Lake Dam costs; property right infringements in the new comprehensive plan; and how the city could fund a new police station.
All of them were against bankruptcy; in favor of maintaining property rights; and supportive of improving the police station in whatever way possible.
Two of the seats to be filled on the Assembly are for three-year terms, and the third is for a one-year position. Aaron Swanson was appointed to a one-year term last year after Matt Hunter was elected mayor, with the remaining one year of Hunter’s Assembly term to be filled in this fall’s election. The candidate who places third in the election for Assembly will get the one-year term.
The Chamber of Commerce will hold a forum next week with Sitka School Board candidates Dionne Brady-Howard and Elias Erickson. They are unopposed for election to the two three-year seats on the board that will be filled in the election.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....