Two board members resigned in recent months, passing the torch of stakeholder representation to new board members. Jane Eisemann resigned as the representative of the City of Kodiak and Diane Selanoff resigned as the representative of the Port Graham Corporation.
Eisemann was hired by Alyeska to coordinate Kodiak’s fleet of fishing vessel oil spill responders. Her seat on the council’s board of directors is considered a conflict of interest, so she tendered her resignation.
Eisemann, a commercial fisherman and maritime science educator, had been on the council for nearly 14 years. In her resignation letter to the board, Eisemann talked about the role given to the council by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990: to be a model organization for citizen oversight of the oil industry.
“I don’t think the council is a ‘noble experiment’ any longer. Perhaps it should read ‘noble successful experiment,” said Eisemann. “That’s not to say that there won’t be another disaster – but because of the council and its work – the chances are far less and if a spill event occurs, the outcome will be less devastating.”
During her tenure, Eisemann was elected to serve on the executive committee as treasurer and member-at-large multiple times. In addition, Eisemann served on a number of committees, including: Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System, Information and Education, Finance and Board Governance.
Eisemann will remain on the council’s Information and Education Committee.
Selanoff resigned in November. She represented the Port Graham Corporation since the organization joined the council in early 2010.
The corporation had been part of the council’s sister organization, the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, since that organization’s inception, but was not previously represented on Prince William Sound’s council.
Selanoff was elected to serve on the council’s executive committee as member-at-large in 2012 and 2013. She was also an active volunteer on the Information and Education Committee.
The City of Kodiak has selected Wayne Donaldson to replace Eisemann, and the Port Graham Corporation has chosen Jim LaBelle to replace Selanoff. Both new directors will be seated in January.