Posted by Maria Dudzak | Aug 2, 2021
Ketchikan residents interested in running for local office: the filing period opened today.
Paperwork is available through the City of Ketchikan and Ketchikan Gateway Borough clerks’ offices.
Open seats in play for the October municipal election include city mayor, now held by Bob Sivertsen. So far one challenger has emerged: Vice-mayor Dave Kiffer who filed papers to run on Monday. Kiffer’s term on the council expires in 2023. Should he be elected mayor, it would create another vacancy on the city council.
There are also two seats open this year on the Ketchikan City Council. The three-year seats currently are held by Sam Bergeron and Janalee Gage. Jai Mahtani, who ran for council last year, is putting his hat in the ring again.
City of Ketchikan Mayor Bob Sivertsen was absent, with Vice Mayor Dave Kiffer presiding.
The council in its June 20, 2019 meeting approved the expenditure of the $20,000 for the program, but it was set aside when the COVID-19 challenges arrived and the money was not spent. The borough, according to information from Borough Planning Director Richard Harney, has approved $80,000 to support the project.
Harney explained the aim of the project during Thursday s meeting.
âIn order for us to be sustainable moving into the future, to try to get our community to be more resilient, we talked about this tourism strategy a few years ago, before the pandemic hit,â he said.