Syndicated

Only three independent candidates are running for the Sealaska Board of Directors this spring. That’s a smaller number than most recent years. Why?

Sealaska is holding community meetings this month in nine Southeast Alaska and Washington state cities.

They’re an opportunity for some of its more than 22,000 shareholders to hear about the regional Native corporation’s business progress. The meetings are also a chance to hear from incumbents and challengers running for Sealaska’s board of directors.

Five of the board’s 13 incumbents are on this year’s ballot. They’re endorsed by the board and run as a slate. Shareholders can cast ballots for them as a group through a process called discretionary voting.

Only three independent candidates are challenging the incumbents. That’s a third to a half of the number in some elections this decade. Shareholders cast ballots for each individual candidate through what’s called directed voting.

Ray Austin of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has run as an independent in several elections. But not this time around.

“What’s been happening in the past years is too many people run, sometimes almost 10. And what happens then is that they dilute the voting power of the shareholders that vote directed,” he said.

Two of the three independent candidates have run before. They are Nicole Hallingstad of Arlington, Virginia, Sealaska’s former corporate secretary; Karen Taug of Juneau, Bartlett Regional Hospital Controller; and Edwell John Jr. of Juneau, a state business analyst.

The incumbents include board president Joe Nelson of Juneau and his predecessor, Albert Kookesh of Angoon. Also running are former lawmaker Bill Thomas of Haines, fisheries business owner Barbara Cadiente-Nelson of Juneau and attorney Tate London of Bothell, Washington.

Nelson, in a prepared statement, said the thin independent slate could be the result of several factors.

One is that two strong independents won board elections over the past three years. Another is that several other incumbents first ran as independents.

Sealaska CEO Anthony Mallott said it also could be due to the corporation’s business success. A recently released annual report showed last year’s earnings triple the amount of the previous year.

“The excitement we have around the financial performance, I would guess, should drive a lot of decision-making for our shareholders in this process. We want to be very clear and transparent that 2017 is a milestone year and there’s more to come,” he said.

In past years, some critics have suggested a coordinated campaign to limit the number of independents.

That happened in 2014, when a group called 4 Shareholders for Sealaska ran its own slate. It succeeded in putting one person on the board.

Candidate Hallingstad said social media postings show there’s still interest in coordination.

“I’ve seen a lot of conversation about shareholders wanting to unite behind one or two qualified candidates to get an independent elected,” she said.

But she, Austin and another former candidate say there’s no coordinated effort this year.

Austin said that’s in part because campaigns begin before the official list of candidates is made public.

“I think that’s always been a disadvantage for any shareholder because you cannot plan a strategy if you don’t know who’s running as an independent,” he said.

Shareholders have been voting online and by mail since early this month.

Election results will be announced at Sealaska’s annual meeting June 23 at the Wrangell High School Gymnasium.

Sealaska is helping its shareholders with burial and cremation costs. The Southeast regional Native corporation’s board voted Monday to offer bereavement benefits of up to $1,000.

Losing a loved one is difficult enough on its own. Add the cost of a funeral, burial or cremation and it can be too much to handle.

A thousand dollars isn’t enough to cover all expenses, which can easily top $10,000. But it can help.

Sealaska Board of Directors Chairman Joe Nelson said the corporation’s increased earnings allow it to offer the benefit.

“This is one that’s been out there for a long time and we haven’t been able to get there. But this year, because of our financial performance and our anticipated continued solid performance, that I think everybody in the company’s just excited that we’re able to move on this one this year,” he said.

Survivors will receive $1,000 when an original shareholder dies. That covers those enrolled in the corporation since it formed in the early 1970s.

Descendants of original shareholders, and those who inherited or were given stock, will receive up to that amount. The corporation said payments will be based on the number of voting shares at the time of the shareholder’s death.

Nelson said the board took action now because it has a new source of revenue.

“It’s a function of being in a healthy financial position and then having the specific carbon project where we want to associate that carbon program to a benefit that all shareholders will feel for generations to come,” he said.

That project allows Sealaska to sell carbon offset credits through a program based in California. It’s complicated, but basically, the corporation keeps some of its forests intact, in exchange for payments from polluters.

Shareholder bereavement benefits began May 7, the day Sealaska’s board of directors approved the new program.

“I think this is fantastic news for shareholders,” said Nicole Hallingstad, a former Sealaska corporate secretary who’s running for the board as an independent candidate.

She’s among other candidates and corporate critics who’ve called for bereavement benefits.

“The most important thing about this announcement is that it just proves that when shareholders are united and are persistent in their voice in raising an issue, that we can actually accomplish the change that we’re asking for,” she said.

Nelson said a recent survey showed the benefit among shareholders’ top priorities. It was outranked by scholarships and dividends.

“Whenever we go out in the communities, just in our regular shareholder engagement, it is a regular theme — that a lot of folks could use help with burial assistance. And it’s also part of our cultural values, especially in Southeast, where we come together and support each other during times when someone passes,” he said.

Some other regional Native corporations already provide a similar benefit.

Nelson said the mechanics of payments are being worked out, but applications will be available sometime in June.

Sealaska estimates around 300 shareholders die every year. The corporation has between 22,000 and 23,000 shareholders.

Almost a year ago, recycling businesses in China announced plans to stop buying mixed paper and some types of plastic containers. That worried Alaska and West Coast businesses that collect, sort and ship those materials overseas.

At least one major wholesaler said it would remove the paper and plastics from its recycling stream and dump it in its landfill. But so far, that’s not happening much.

China began restricting its recycling intake Jan. 1.

Waste Management Communications Manager Jackie Lange said it was a big deal.

“In the broader region and across the country and in fact, around the world, there are a lot of changes that are being driven by what China is doing,” she said.

Waste Management operates about 150 recycling centers around the nation, including Juneau’s. It’s the biggest garbage company in the U.S.

Republic Services is another large recycler and trash collector. It takes reusable materials from Ketchikan, Sitka and Petersburg, along with more than 60 other U.S. cities.

Washington state General Manager Don Tibbets said his company continues to collect and sort the same things it did before Jan. 1. But not all newspapers, magazines, junk mail and other mixed paper is being shipped.

“We’re having to stockpile and store this material until we can find markets that are able to accept all of it,” he said.

Tibbets said Republic found new markets in India, Malaysia and Vietnam. But those nations don’t have as much capacity as China.

“Unfortunately, paper degrades rather fast and rather quickly in the natural environment. So after some time of being stored, it degrades to the point where it’s just no longer marketable,” he said.

Tibbets said about three-quarters of Republic’s mixed paper is being recycled and the rest is being thrown away.

Tibbets said plastics are less of a problem.

“They’re actually a small portion of the recycle stream. So that amount of material, we’re still able to move overseas,” he said.

China still accepts most plastic bottles and containers marked Nos. 1 and 2, but not Nos. 3-7. But few local recycling centers accept that material.

Learn about other garbage issues and solutions in Southeast Alaska through CoastAlaska’s Talking Trash series.

The new restrictions have sent worldwide recycling wholesalers searching for new markets. In some cases, that’s driven prices down.

It’s of concern, especially in the 49th state.

“In Southeast Alaska, recycling is a very financially based enterprise,” said Petersburg Utility Director Karl Hagerman.

He’s also been active in the Southeast Alaska Regional Solid Waste Authority, a regional organization of cities that barge recycling and garbage south.

He said selling recyclables lower the expense.

“If the cost to recycle exceeds the cost to ship as solid waste, then it doesn’t really pencil out financially and we may have to look at doing something differently,” he said.

While the worldwide market has changed, many collection sites have not.

Tibbets of Republic Services said it’s a bad idea to alter recycling habits.

“We don’t advise that because the consumer curve or learning curve can be very steep. So, we don’t want to change any practices. We don’t know if this is going to be a long-term or a short-term market correction,” he said.

Recycling companies and buyers do want to see one change. That’s less food, liquids and non-recyclables mixed into the stream.

Waste Management calls it “WishCycling.” That’s when customers put what they think should be recycled in bins and at collection sites.

The company said the problem means an estimated one-quarter of what its customers recycle has to be thrown out.

Legislation changing the way the Alaska Marine Highway System is run was introduced Friday.

House Bill 412 calls for ferry management and operations to be transferred to a publicly owned corporation. Ships and terminals would remain state property.

Southeast Conference Executive Director Robert Venables worked with legislative staff writing the bill. He said it would take control of the ferry system away from politicians and political appointees.

“It provides an executive board that has deep maritime and business expertise into a model of governance that brings labor and management together working towards common causes and common goals of delivering the best predictable service to the state and the traveling public,” he said.

Southeast Conference pushed for development of the marine highway in the 1950s. It’s continued its strong involvement in the system since then.

The state-funded ferry system has reduced its fleet and sailings over several years due to budget cuts. The age of the fleet also means frequent interruptions in the schedule.

The state Department of Transportation and the Southeast Conference agreed to begin working on the idea about two years ago.

The legislation is based on studies done for what’s called the Alaska Marine Highway Reform Project. Its research includes a review of other ferry systems. It also gathered information from community leaders, passengers and businesses that use the ferries.

“We’ve been talking a lot of concepts lately and this is an opportunity now to have and to hold the actual statutory language that would create the public corporation,” Venables said.

The bill has been assigned to the House Transportation Committee. Co-chairwoman Louise Stutes’ office led the effort to write the measure. She was not immediately available for comment.

No action is expected this year, so the bill will have to be reintroduced for the next legislative session. But backers expect field hearings before then.

Gil Truitt spent 34 years teaching and coaching mostly Alaska Native students at Sitka’s Mount Edgecumbe High School. He’s been called a legend who helped raise a generation of leaders and culture bearers.

Now, he’s received the highest form of recognition given by the state’s largest tribal government.

Gil Truitt was so much a part of life at the public boarding school that he was known as “Mr. Mount Edgecumbe.”

He decided to become a teacher while attending the school in the 1940s. He took some time off, then went to college to study education.

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson picks up the story from there.

“Dr. Truitt returned to his longtime hometown of Sitka, Alaska, to fulfill his dream of giving back to his community, to Mount Edgecumbe High School and students. He not only gave his time to the school, but exemplified courtesy, commitment, sportsmanship, quality and professionalism to the students and his coworkers,” he said.

Peterson presented Truitt with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award during an April 19 ceremony in Juneau. It was part of the organization’s 83rd annual tribal assembly.

Watch the language fundraiser and awards ceremony.

The recognition is one of many Truitt has received during his career and subsequent retirement. He responded with appreciation.

“A person does not become a teacher for recognition, to become rich or to become popular. But believe me, when those recognitions come, it is worth every second, every hour, every year that a dedicated teacher will spend with the young people,” he said.

Truitt was one of eight tribal citizens honored at the President’s Award Banquet. It raised more than $36,000 to support the central council’s language initiatives.

DonnaRae James was named an everyday hero for being a culture bearer and organizing and leading traditional-skills workshops in Northern California.

“For me to use my hands to create in much of the same way as my ancestors did helps to ground me in my life as well as my culture. I’m honored to teach others the skills I have and I feel that it brings our ancestors forward each time I share knowledge,” she said.

Others honored as everyday heroes included emerging leader Eva Rowan, inspiring educator Ronnie Fairbanks, language warrior Ben Young, youth mentor Barbara Dude and Barbara Franks for holding each other up.

Read biographies of the award winners.

Nancy Barnes was recognized as an important tribal ally. She’s a dance leader and longtime legislative staffer who’s been involved in language revitalization and other cultural and political work.

Barnes was named as an ally because she is Tsimshian and Alutiiq, not Tlingit or Haida. But she said all share similar goals.

“As someone once said, we’re all in this canoe together. We have many of the same issues and we should always help each other. We are strong when we come together and lift each other up,” she said.

An Alaska Native corporation will soon provide support services for the U.S. Navy in Guantanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba. Tlingit Haida Tribal Business Corp. won the $18 million contract earlier this month.

It’s another step in the growth of the profit-making arm of the state’s largest tribal government.

Tlingit Haida Tribal Business Corp. is owned by the Juneau-based Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The council lists more than 30,000 tribal members in Southeast, the rest of Alaska and around the nation and the world. Its business operations are separate from those of Native corporations formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Business corporation subsidiary KIRA announced the Guantanamo contract April 12. It will manage maintenance services, port operations and waterfront administration for the base.

The corporation announced a similar, $44 million contract about a week earlier for the U.S. Marine Corps air station in Beaufort, South Carolina.

The contracts are among more than a dozen providing military and other government support services from Florida to Alaska.

CEO Richard Rinehart said the corporation continues to seek more work.

“I look at it as it’s like longlining. We have all these lines out with lots of hooks. And we’re out there fishing and by having more lines in the water, we’re hopeful to bring more home,” he said.

Rinehart and others discussed the business corporation’s progress at the central council’s recent tribal assembly in Juneau.

He said sales were $57.7 million in 2017, close to twice the amount of the previous year. Rinehart projects about 30 percent more sales for the current year.

Net income last year was only $865,000. But it was a third more than the previous year. Rinehart said the amount will increase as startup costs are paid off.

General Manager Bob Hamilton said military and other contracts are due, in part, to the corporation’s 8(a) status. That’s a provision in federal law that gives minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses a bidding preference.

He said the corporation began with janitorial contracts.

“And now we’re in IT, security, aircraft logistics as far as support and services for aircraft and we’re actually in port management. So we’ve really come a long ways,” he said.

Tlingit Haida Tribal Business Corp. officials say it employs about 600 people.

Most of the jobs are in other parts of the country. But the corporation’s hiring policy includes a preference for tribal members.

Tlingit Haida Central Council President Richard Peterson made business development part of his platform when he ran for office four years ago. He told this year’s tribal assembly it’s still a top priority.

“We’re only as sovereign as we can afford to be. We need economic sovereignty. We need to be able to manage ourselves sustainably, not so dependent on the federal government, so that we can exercise true self-determination and do what we see fit for our tribal citizens,” he said.

Peterson was re-elected president at the tribal assembly, which was held April 18-20.