Haines Faces Last Week as Councilman

Jay Barrett/KMXT

Thursday will be the last meeting for Kodiak City Councilman Terry Haines. A commercial fisherman, Haines felt he might miss too many meetings because of work and become a burden to his fellow councilmen.

“It’s always a problem with fishermen. Your schedule is always going to be in flux. And of course the folks that I fish with have really helped me out when it was possible to change a day or two of timing and then they’ve allowed me to go and do my duties as a city council member, too, at times,” Haines said. “But there are just times when you have to make those meetings. You know it doesn’t matter how caught up you are in the issues or even if you went to the work sessions, you to to be there at that meeting to cast that vote. It’s a very essential part of the job.”

Haines says modern technology is making it easier for council members to obtain meeting packets, even while at sea, and he’d like to see the opportunity to attend meetings remotely.

“It would be nice if you could attend these meetings from afar. You know, telecommunicate in some way. I think that would make it helpful for a lot of people who tend to be out of town,” he said. “You know that’s one thing about living on an island – you fly away. You’re not even close to the darn meeting. You know, that’s the one thing I’ve heard people talk about the most.”

Haines says he will miss serving on the council.

“The more you know about what’s happening in the city and the more you know about the issues and concerns and it’s ever-evolving and always changing. It’s like a story that you’re able to participate in,” he said. “And I think serving on a body like the Kodiak City Council is very rewarding, because the people I’ve had the pleasure of serving with have had the city’s best interest in mind, have been people who are able to express their own opinion, but yet listen to other people. And in the end, we’ve always been able to put the business of the people first and our own concerns second.”

There are two years left on Haines’ current term, which will be filled by Laura Arboleda, who ran unopposed during the October 6th municipal election.