Ketchikan Assembly weighs removal process for appointed board members

An ordinance that would create a process for removing appointed members of Ketchikan Gateway Borough committees, boards and commissions was up for introduction at a special Assembly meeting Monday, Sept. 28.

The agenda names no Assembly sponsor. Borough Attorney Glenn Brown wrote in a memo in the packet that recent comments by an appointed official at a Planning Commission meeting showed the need for "a defined process."

At the commission's Sept. 15 meeting, Commissioner Darlene Dollimont-Svenson said, "How much more do white people have to pay for KIC in this community?" according to an Assembly memo. She added that the question had come from "seven different sources" and "I said I would ask." KIC is the Ketchikan Indian Community, a federally recognized tribe.

The Assembly's Sept. 21 agenda carried a motion to condemn her comments and urge the Planning Commission to censure her. The commission met Tuesday, Sept. 29, with one item of regular business: a resolution censuring Dollimont-Svenson and calling for her resignation. No minutes or action records from the Sept. 28 or Sept. 29 meetings had been posted when this was written.

Under Ordinance 2122, an appointee could be removed "for good cause" by the mayor with Assembly approval or by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly. Good cause would mean "unfitness to hold a position of public trust" or a lack of competency or performance "to the detriment of the public interest." A removed member could appeal, and removal would wait on the Assembly's decision.

Now, the mayor appoints commissioners and the Assembly confirms them each year at its first meeting in March. The ordinance would apply to appointed members of all borough committees, boards and commissions, not only the Planning Commission. The agendas list no date for a public hearing.