The following editorial first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News:
The Alaska Marine Highway System should become — at least in part — a private enterprise.
AMHS has been in business for 50 years; like most businesses, it’s had its problems and it’s even come up with solutions within the realm of possibilities. But, its biggest problem, as many Alaskans have known for some time, is that its ever-changing executive doesn’t make for a consistently charted course.
A new governor means a new state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities commissioner and deputy commissioners for the ferry system — every four to eight years.
This time it’s Gov. Bill Walker and his commissioner and deputy commissioners’ turn. He has inherited an expensive operation during a period when the state has a $4 billion a year budget deficit.
The ferry system operates with a 70-percent subsidy from the state. Addressing the cost and operation of the ferry system is a must on the state’s to-do list if it’s to operate more efficiently.
Gov. Walker has signed a memorandum of understanding with Southeast Conference to start looking at how the two might draft a 25-year plan for a sustainable ferry system. Southeast Conference would hire a consultant to evaluate ferry system leadership, review existing studies and create a proposal to reform the system.
The state will pay for most of the cost of a consultant, but the Southeast Conference intends to raise money as well.
A conference steering committee, consisting of state officials, marine transportation professionals and other stakeholders, such as the communities served by the system, will undertake improving the ferry system.
Bids from consultants will be sought this month. The MOU expires at the end of 2017.
Change is nothing new for the ferry system. It will continue to change in the near future, but stabilizing it for the extended future is imperative.
Shortening distances between communities, i.e. road building, might diminish the need for ferry service or the current format of ferry service. First Things First Alaska Foundation distributed information on a Southeast road-building proposal this week in Ketchikan.
Then, the steering committee might look at Ketchikan Shipyard, which is owned by the state, but operated by private enterprise.
The shipyard model might be a way to stabilize ferry system management, particularly if a board of directors of the same type of expertise that will be seated on the steering committee is appointed. With terms of six to eight years and staggered terms, this approach would add stability to the ferry system.
The model could be tailored to the need of the ferry system as opposed to what a shipyard requires. And, with the state’s deficit and the dramatic decline in the price for its main revenue source — oil — the state might consider other state and private partnerships, too. Without state money, the private sector is the only other possibility. The federal government? It has its own deficit.
Gov. Walker and Southeast Conference are definitely on an appropriate course with this MOU.
