Sitka Assembly narrows city attorney selection

During a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 10,  City and Borough of Sitka Assembly members debated the merits of 12 applicants for Sitka’s city attorney position and voted on their top picks for follow-up interviews.

The applicant pool includes a mix of local lawyers and attorneys outside Alaska, along with proposals to do the job through a private practice.

Mark Danielson, the city’s director of Human Resources, began by asking the Assembly to list their top choices.

Assembly members expressed an interest in hearing more from Cary R. Gagnon, who is current counsel for a BakerHostetler in Denver, Colorado.

Gagnon’s practice focuses on navigating local and state regulations, largely for the oil and gas industry. All seven Assembly members were interested in her application.

All seven also were interested in another set of names Sitka residents may recognize.

Brian Hanson, who was appointed the city’s interim attorney after the Assembly voted to terminate Robin Schmid in April. The city attorney position was advertised April 28 through June 18.

In his letter, Hanson was not interested in taking on the full-time position with benefits. Rather, he wanted to continue part time as an independent contractor. Hanson is receiving support from the city’s legal assistant Reuben Yerkes and Rachel (Dinardo) Jones, a contract attorney.

Deputy Mayor Matthew Hunter said the current situation seems to be working. “

I’ve heard wonderful things from staff and even some members of the public about our current situation about our interim municipal attorneys and how that’s working,” Hunter said.

Hanson’s proposal to continue part time intrigued with Assembly, but Guevin wanted to consult city staff to see if that arrangement would be tenable long term.

“It’s a big departure from what we’ve done in the past, so I think it requires more discussion than just going through the interview process, as we would for a normal applicant,” Guevin said.

Jones also applied for the position, but through a one-year contract with Williams, Kastner and Gibbs, a private firm based in Seattle.

The firm’s proposal is to hire Jones to provide legal services to the city, with oversight from another WKG attorney, Markos Scheer.

Based on the contract proposal, several Assembly members were uncomfortable hiring for the position through a firm.

“I don’t feel that I directly have an employee at that point,” Steven Eisenbeisz said. “That I have to go through a firm to get to my employee, as opposed to that person directly being with us.”

In the end, the Assembly expressed a desire to interview WKG to explore the contract further, but also asked Jones – who was sitting in the audience – if she’d consider applying for the position separately.

Aside from Gagnon, Hanson and Jones, the other top vote-getters were Eugene F. Hickey, who holds a private practice in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Kevin Carlisle, who serves on the legal affairs team for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.

As the meeting wrapped, Potrzuski complimented Danielson for his making the process a smooth one.

The Assembly plans to conduct the majority of these one-hour interviews on Saturday, Aug. 20, interviewing local attorneys in person and conducting out-of-town interviews through Skype.

The final candidates will have a second in-person interview, along with a community meet-and-greet.

The new attorney could start as early as October 1.

KCAW - Sitka

KCAW is our partner station in Sitka. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications