Stakeholders of the Alaska Marine Highway System expressed frustration with the recommendations laid out in a report released Thursday by a reshaping work group established earlier this year.<\/p>\n
“It was a little disappointing,” said Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, in a phone interview with the Empire. “There’s some good stuff in the report, but it didn’t go far enough in a number of areas.”<\/p>\n
Stutes was one of two state lawmakers on the nine-person work group and represents coastal communities dependent on the ferry system. The report’s recommendation of a nine-member board to oversee AMHS was a good start, she said, but feels the report doesn’t give the body enough teeth.<\/p>\n
“They need to be in a position where they direct (Department of Transportation and Public Facilities) in relation to AMHS rather than advise them,” Stutes said. “Otherwise we end up with another board (Marine Transportation Advisory Board), which is not very effective.”<\/p>\n
The report suggests the governor create the board through executive order, but Stutes suggested the board should be backed up in statute which would give the board a clearly defined and actionable role. She was critical of MTAB’s effectiveness, which she said was like “advising into a black hole.”<\/p>\n
The report is similarly critical of the board’s effectiveness, saying while staffed with capable individuals, the board is not structured to effectively address AMHS’ issues.<\/p>\n
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office did not immediately respond to comment.<\/p>\n
Admiral Tom Barrett, who chaired the work group, told the Empire in an interview Friday the recommendations in the report are notional and merely provided a framework to follow.<\/p>\n
“One of the things we took away, there’s not really long-term planning,” Barrett said. “This says ‘here’s a thought process.’ It’s going to be up to the state and the Legislature.”<\/p>\n
The report recommends creating an operations board that would have the ability to advise DOT in the way a board of directors does a company. With the new board, MTAB would be dissolved or merged into the new structure, the report says, but the board itself would not have decision-making power over AMHS.<\/p>\n
[Long-awaited ferry reshaping report released<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n “Although authority remains with the governor and DOT&PF Commissioner, ability to influence fundamental decisions would come from the quality and credibility of its members and recommendations,” the report says.<\/p>\n The report also recommends raising revenue for the ferry by raising rates, dynamic pricing and cutting costs, partially by renegotiating union contracts. Ben Goldrich, Juneau representative for the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association and the work group’s representative for organized labor declined to comment on the recommendations and said MEBA leadership would be reviewing the report over the weekend.<\/p>\n Robb Arnold, vice chair of the Inland Boatman’s Union of the Pacific, said he felt the report misrepresented the share of labor’s costs in running the ferry. The report states personnel costs make up 70% of vessel operating costs, but Arnold said that number comes from a Northern Economics report of AMHS released earlier this year that was criticized by local lawmakers for a one-sided approach to analyzing the ferry system.<\/p>\n “We don’t have a guaranteed minimum income,” Arnold told the Empire Friday. “When they want to talk about flexibility; if we work we get paid. We don’t have guaranteed income. I think our union is the most flexible.”<\/p>\n