Haines community members fundraise for personal, legal expenses of fired manager

Borough Manager Bill Seward and Mayor Jan Hill. (Photo Emily Files/KHNS)
Borough Manager Bill Seward, left, is pursuing legal advice after the Haines Borough Assembly terminated his contract. Mayor Jan Hill sits to his left. (Photo by Emily Files/KHNS)

Last week, Haines Borough Assembly fired borough manager Bill Seward in a 4-2 vote.

Now, some members of the community are fighting back against his termination.

“I feel that I was wrongly terminated,” Seward said. “In regards to a lawsuit, the attorney’s still reviewing the case and we haven’t really determined the best way forward.”

Former Assembly member Diana Lapham created a Go Fund Me page to “hold (the) borough assembly accountable” for the firing of manager Seward.

Her goal is to raise $35,000. In two days, the page has collected $3,140.

“I wanted to help out,” Lapham said. “I knew legally and otherwise, bill-wise, they may need some help. As far as I was concerned it was a wrongful termination.”

Seward’s contract was terminated during his six-month evaluation by the Assembly, a review that is written into his contract.

The discussion was public rather than being held in executive session at Seward’s request.

“Mr. Seward, in my opinion, has made continuous missteps that reflect his judgment and diligence are not at the caliber required to do this job effectively,” Assemblyman Tom Morphet said during that conversation. “Moreover, I do not believe these skills can be taught.”

Other members of the assembly also criticized Seward’s performance.

Morphet made the motion to terminate Seward for cause.

The motion passed in a 4-2 vote.

Seward would have received severance pay if he had been fired without cause. In this case, he will not.

Morphet believes some of the complaints brought about Seward’s behavior reflected adversely on his position and the borough.

That’s one of the actions that constitutes cause in Seward’s contract.

“I don’t want to just give away $35,000 if we meet cause,” Morphet said. The $35,000 he’s referring to would be Seward’s severance pay.

Lapham wants to help alleviate some of Seward’s financial stress.

“I’m really, really saddened by all of this,” Lapham said. “The Seward’s want to make Haines their home and I give them my best. But right now their financial situation maybe could be in trouble and I just feel compelled to help them out.”

On the Go Fund Me page, she lists Seward’s past employment history and credentials, including his career in the U.S. Army and Coast Guard.

“Mr. Seward is so credentialed with degrees and otherwise in his professional career,” Lapham said. “For him not to be able to learn how to be a manager in Haines, Alaska, that to me is almost laughable.”

Lapham writes that beyond “personal living expenses caused by the job loss,” funds raised “will go towards costs of hiring an attorney (and) prosecuting the case.”

Seward said he is working with an attorney, Anchorage-based lawyer Isaac Zorea.

Zorea has been reviewing records to determine whether there was something unlawful about the firing. He said there are several things that make it seem like that is the case, but he has not yet made the final determination of whether a wrongful termination lawsuit is warranted.

Seward said he’s grateful for the members of the community who have supported the fundraising page.

“I was very humbled and flattered when I saw the Go Fund Me page,” Seward said. “I can’t thank folks enough for the support, the donations.”

The funds will “help level the playing field” going forward, he said.

One of his online supporters is the wife of Police Chief Heath Scott, who donated $1,000 to the cause.

That’s the largest single donation made so far.

Scott, who is employed by the borough, said it’s his wife’s donation and he supports his wife. He said Seward is his friend and he thinks the donation speaks for itself.

After Seward’s termination, community members raised the possibility of recalling Morphet, who was elected to the assembly in October, as well as other members of the assembly that voted in favor of his motion.

Borough clerk and acting manager Julie Cozzi says so far she’s received no applications for recall petitions.

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