AMHS to hold community engagement meetings for fiscal challenges

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS), a branch of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, released a schedule Thursday for its community engagement meetings over the next several weeks.

The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the fiscal challenges of the AMHS. All of the state agencies are collaborating to decrease their operating budgets because of low oil prices. These changes will affect every mode of transportation in the state. Those most directly related will be local Alaska residents who use the ferry system.

The meetings will provide Alaskans with a chance to hear explanations from various officials from various departments. They can also suggest possible solutions for both short- and- long-term operating answers for the agency.

The meetings are located throughout coastal Alaska. There have been six meetings in total scheduled. The first will be held on Nov. 24, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., at the Sealing Cove Business Center in Sitka. There will also be meetings held in Ketchikan (Dec. 2), Cordova (Dec. 7), Kodiak (Dec. 8), Juneau (Dec. 15) and Haines (Dec. 16).

All of the meetings will also have a teleconference option available so that people can listen in if they can’t attend in person. The teleconference line will open five minutes before the meeting is scheduled to begin.