 By Samuel Bergeron May 18, 2009
Effective 5-18-09, I reluctantly resign my seat on the Ketchikan City Council. I do so with a heavy heart. When I left on work assignment in Kazakhstan, I was supposed to be working in the large metropolitan areas that had good high speed internet service. Due to a change in my work assignment, I will not be able to continue participating without impacting my work. My current assignment is in a location that does not have internet and is remote. I said before I left that if it became impractical for me to continue to participate, I would resign. The circumstance has arisen that makes it impossible for me to continue. I continue to support the use of today's technology to stay involved while a council member has to be away. I believe it is important for Council member to travel and be exposed to new places and ideas that can then help them form a vision of the future for Ketchikan. It is a miraculous thing to be able to download my packet, call in via Skype and be a part of our local government. There have been some challenges using this technology, but we have finally worked them out. During a test call we moved the microphone from the public address system to a stand-alone microphone. That fixed the audio problems I had been experiencing from the start. I was born in Ketchikan when Alaska was still a territory and I have lived most of my life there. My family and home is in Ketchikan and I will more likely than not spend my end days here as well. My plans are to continue working overseas until this opportunity no longer presents itself. If for some reason, I'm in Ketchikan and no longer working overseas I will hope to be involved in City government again. Thanks to those of you I have worked with on the Council and those who supported me in the last election. Your vote meant so very much to me and I'm grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and our community. God Bless you. Samuel Bergeron
Received May 18, 2008 - Published May 18, 2009 Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:
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