Mayor’s Report

Week of October 11,2004

Rural Justice and Law Enforcement

Last week I attended an organizational meeting for the newly created Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission.  The Commission was created by Congress this year to review federal, state, local and tribal jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters in rural Alaska.  The Commission will then make recommendations to both Congress and the Alaska Legislature regarding ways to improve the quality of justice in rural Alaska.

There are four basic areas on which the Commission will make recommendations.  The first is the potential for creating a unified law enforcement system, court system, and system of laws or ordinances for Alaska Native villages and communities of varying sizes.  We will also look at meeting law enforcement and judicial personnel needs, including possible use of cross deputization to best utilize the present resources of federal, state, local and tribal governments.  Another area of focus will be looking at the need to regulate alcoholic beverages, including the prohibition of the sale, importation, use, or possession of alcohol, and to provide rehabilitative justice for violators of such laws.  Finally, we are assigned the task of addressing domestic violence and child abuse, including treatment options and rehabilitative justice.

The first official meeting of the Commission took place on October 12 and 13 in Anchorage.  There will be a series of hearings and meetings going on throughout the rest of this year that will require my travel to Barrow, Bethel and other rural cities. I will look forward to reporting on the recommendations that are developed because there seems to be a genuine commitment to take action on these issues.

On another front, I felt the Quad Meeting in Kotzebue at the beginning of this month was successful in a variety of ways.  The Borough Assembly, Regional School Board, and Maniilaq and NANA Boards all had the opportunity to exchange information about their goals and activities and share their visions of what our mutual priorities should be.  Our Assembly is preparing its response as to how the Borough will fulfill its role in accomplishing these goals and I will be reporting that result in the weeks ahead.

Finally, it was very disappointing to vote on Tuesday and see that no one had even filed for vacant seats on both the Regional School Board and Borough Assembly.  We need active involvement in these organizations from our residents and I hope to see more candidates for these offices in the future.   However, I would also like to convey my thanks to all those who filed for office.  Congratulations and best wishes to all those who were elected.