The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly’s newest member, Caroline Roberts, will remain on the borough assembly until the next municipal election. That’s despite a last minute veto from former Borough Mayor Scott Arndt.
Caroline Roberts was selected by the Borough Assembly to fill a seat left vacant after Ryan Sharratt resigned from the assembly last month, on Sept. 2, due to family reasons. Roberts was one of four applicants who threw their names into the hat for consideration, after initially running in the regular municipal election.
But earlier this month on Oct. 17, outgoing Borough Mayor Scott Arndt vetoed Roberts’ appointment. It was his last act as mayor and the day after Roberts was sworn in by the borough assembly. Arndt said in his memo to the borough that he vetoed her appointment due to Roberts' lack of experience with “governance in Kodiak” and because she received the least amount of votes during this month’s regular election.
Kodiak resident Leanna Harrington expressed similar sentiments during public comments at a special meeting on Monday.
“And the numbers are in black and white. There is a 104 count difference. You had four people, four people who ran for that vacant seat," Harrington said. "A 104 count difference between the bottom and the next one running.”
Rob Lindsey was also one of the applicants who filed to fill the vacant assembly seat. He also ran for the two separate borough assembly seats in this month’s municipal election. Lindsey did not win either seat and received 628 votes during the municipal election while Roberts received 524, the least amount of votes out of all the borough assembly candidates on the ballot.
Monday’s special meeting was called with the sole purpose of discussing what to do about Arndt’s veto. According to the borough attorney, Scott Brandt-Erichsen, outgoing mayor Arndt’s veto was filed the day after Roberts took the oath of office and was sworn in. Therefore it was untimely and invalid.
Not all of the assembly members agreed with the attorney’s written opinion, but none objected to allowing Roberts’ appointment. Additionally, former assembly member Ryan Sharratt, whose vacant seat was filled by Roberts, submitted a letter to the borough assembly endorsing her appointment.
All assembly members were present Monday night, Oct. 27, but the newest member, Caroline Roberts, declared a conflict of interest and excused herself while the other five assembly members discussed the borough attorney’s opinion.
Before adjourning the special meeting, Borough Mayor Jared Griffin ruled that the assembly would follow the attorney’s opinion and that no override vote of the veto was legally necessary.
*For transparency, Griffin is also the general manager at KMXT. He does not have any editorial influence over news stories and he did not review this story before it was aired.
