By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 12, 2026 – The North Pole City Council voted unanimously to recommend Barbara Haney, Ph.D. for a long-vacant seat on the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s Economic Development Commission, but the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly ultimately rejected the appointment.
Haney, former board member of the North Pole Chamber of Commerce and current member, was nominated by Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins to fill the North Pole seat, which has remained unfilled for years, leaving the community without representation on the commission. The Economic Development Commission serves as an advisory body on economic policy, including tax policy, financial programs, and revenue-related issues, and works with the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation.
During the Assembly meeting, member Tammie Wilson noted the ongoing difficulty in recruiting North Pole residents to serve on borough commissions and emphasized that the City Council had requested action on the appointment some time ago.
The nomination initially appeared on the consent agenda but was pulled for a separate vote by Garrett Armstrong, who cited concerns about Haney’s past litigation with the borough and questioned whether she could work collaboratively. Assembly members David Guttenberg and Liz Reeves joined in opposing the Haney appointment.
The vote was 4–3 in favor, but with Assemblymembers Scott Crass and Kristen Kelly absent, the motion failed to reach the five votes required for confirmation.
Haney’s prior censure by the Assembly in 2024 was raised during discussion. The censure stemmed from a letter to the editor she wrote to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner regarding school safety issues tied to a property tax special election. The cited violation involved a missing disclaimer, despite the borough’s Ethics Board recommending no penalty. Haney appealed the censure, a right provided under state law, as noted during the meeting by member Brett Rotermund.
The Assembly had approved a separate appointment to the same commission from the City of Fairbanks the previous week without similar objections or discussion.
Haney holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Finance from the University of Notre Dame and previously served on both the Assembly and the Economic Development Commission. She is a member of the North Pole Economic Committee and formerly served as faculty at the University of Alaska in the 1990s. She has also written extensively on fiscal issues.
Mayor Hopkins told the News-Miner he was surprised by the rejection and said he would work with North Pole officials on next steps. Haney told the News-Miner she had anticipated opposition related to her appeal of the censure and described the decision as a direct insult to the North Pole City Council.
Haney has indicated she is reviewing whether comments made during the meeting may have violated the borough’s ethics code or constituted retaliation.
Borough code prohibits retaliation against individuals for participating in proceedings under the ethics code, including filing complaints, and bars denial of benefits as a form of retaliation. Alaska statute also prohibits discrimination in municipal appointments based on political opinions or affiliations. Federal law under the First Amendment protects the right to petition government for redress of grievances, and legal precedent allows for claims of unlawful retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in certain circumstances.
The North Pole seat on the Economic Development Commission remains vacant.
4 thoughts on “North Pole’s unanimous pick for economic commission rejected by Borough Assembly in split vote”
She is not a Democrat. Fairbanks/Northpole? you are Anchorage and controlled by Democrats. Your Democrats have the upper hand now where Democrats are like controlling the interior 60 of Democrat control to 40% of Republican control and declining. Democrats are not defending but increasing political territory while Republicans are losing ground. This is just another incident that the Republicans are losing ground.
Its not a big gap for Republicans to regain territory of the interior. they just need unity and work harder. yes. if they have kids disenroll them from the public schools for homeschool or out of state online education because those kids are the next wave of interior adults.
Of Wasilla-Palmer Republican dismount from their high horse, they’ll recognize they dont have long until you all are being mopped across the floor (four years to go before Democrats of the matsu control it 50/50) unless republicans roll up their sleeves, unify, and work hard without stopping (while Kenai-sodotna following closing behind Matsu Republicans decline
North Pole City Council members should file multiple ethics code violations against the FNSB Assembly members who voted not to confirm Haney. The grounds are: retaliation. Just because a few bent over lefty radicals on the Assembly don’t personally like Haney, their blind hatred should not usurp the will of the NP City Council. Democrats are such hateful people!
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BTW, the Democrats favorite left-wing radical, Savannah Fletcher, was convicted and punished with censure three times by the Assembly. Why doesn’t her name come up as a flawed personality? She made it on the Alaska Judicial Council without a vote by her peer attorneys, after her censure.
Getting mad is not going to help Republicans of the interior the frustration and anger just makes them more panicky like a sports team losing dominance or like Iran losing ground and going crazy and Shooting missies at everyone