KIB Assembly and Kodiak City Council Talk Fisheries Analyst

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The Kodiak City Council and Kodiak Island Borough Assembly held a work session last night and shared their thoughts on their joint fisheries analyst, Heather McCarty, whose contract the council and assembly had previously disagreed on extending.

The council had spoken for a minimum one year extension while the assembly agreed on a six month extension. One assemblyman, Mel Stephens, remained against extending the contract at all, and said McCarty had not fulfilled parts of her contract.

“Such as quarterly reports, and she didn’t deliver them. Such as rpesentations to the joint work sessions. She didn’t deliver those.”

Following a meeting with council and assembly representatives who sit on the Kodiak Fisheries Work Group, Assemblywoman Rebecca Skinner wrote up a few contract additions the work group members had suggested. Among the three categories were a biannual performance review and the disclosure of McCarty’s other clients.

City Councilman Charlie Davidson took issue with the disclosure requirement.

“That’s like questioning her professional integrity, and I would be affronted if I were Heather. Lawyers aren’t asked to put out a list of their clients on an issue with someone else. Or if there is a problem, it’s in the contract, 13.1, 70.2, thirty days either party can cancel this.”

Assemblyman Dan Rohrer disagreed with Davidson on the issue of disclosure.

“I don’t think that questions her professionalism. I don’t think she would take it that way. I think that’s just prudent for us because of the nature of the topic, we need to make sure that if she does choose to start representing somebody else that appears to have a conflict with let’s say with one of the user groups in Kodiak, that we can make sure that that’s out there, that it’s not this conspiracy, that it doesn’t get blown out of proportion.”

Assemblyman Larry LeDoux said they’ve already heard that McCarty has been given direction that’s contrary to the terms of the contract.

“Now, that’s normal in contract management. They’re living documents. There’s a certain amount of room to make them work. And that’s been going on. So these are again, look at these three changes. They’re minor. They’re semantical. We can get past them. We need to get onto bigger issues.”

One bigger issue is that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting in Kodiak this June, and the Kodiak Fisheries Work Group will need McCarty’s assistance to prepare.
Other people at the table also said they thought it was time to move on.

At the end of the night, the council and assembly agreed McCarty would meet with both managers and come up with an amended contract. The fisheries work group would then review that contract and it would go to both the council and assembly.