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Downtown merchant urges borough to prioritize public restrooms over benches and rain shelters
Summary
Hamilton Gellhar told the assembly the borough should spend tax dollars on downtown restrooms for tourists and merchants rather than benches, bear‑proof garbage cans and a $250,000 rain shelter; no staff rebuttal to accusations about the tourism manager was recorded.
During the public‑comment period, Hamilton Gellhar urged the borough to prioritize downtown restrooms instead of spending public funds on benches, bear‑proof trash cans and a rain shelter designed for cruise‑ship visitors. Gellhar said vendors and property owners have raised the issue repeatedly and called the tourism manager "incompetent," and asked the assembly to redirect proposed spending toward services for homeless people and infrastructure.
“I strongly oppose the city's, grant to get that money… We need a bathroom instead of, 36 more bear proof garbages,” Gellhar said, and later: “It's just crazy that that the reason you can't have nice things in Ketchikan is because there's a few bad homeless people.”
The comment prompted questions but no formal staff rebuttal in the transcript. Assemblymember Thompson and others later raised related concerns in assemblymember comments about exploring temporary restroom options for Creek Street and using CIP funds to provide interim services for the upcoming season.
Next steps: several assemblymembers said they would investigate temporary restroom options and consider CPV/CIP funding for short‑term solutions.
