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BETHEL — Gov. Bill Walker and more than a dozen top aides traveled to the Southwestern Alaska hub of Bethel on Tuesday to get closer to the community.
He signed a bill to continue funding for job training through the Alaska Workforce Investment Board, held a closed-door meeting of his Cabinet — department commissioners and other key advisers — and chatted with locals.
The group flew commercially for a trip intended to connect state government's top officials with residents in Alaska's biggest rural hub, said communications director Grace Jang.
In a brief interview with reporters, Walker spoke about rural justice, the state's budget crisis and the challenges it brings to rural Alaska along with the rest of the state.
He was asked in particular about rural communities, which are struggling to feel safe. Some are banishing residents who they say pose threats. In Aniak, a man faces multiple charges, including murder, after a shooting spree over the weekend that Alaska State Troopers say left one dead and others hurt. Only one trooper was in the village to respond.
A balanced budget — with new revenue — is part of the answer, he said.
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"We've had to close 40 facilities across the state. We've had to end 80 programs across the state as a result of our fiscal situation. We've done some tough stuff, some really unpleasant stuff," Walker said.
As state spending declines, what if anything should be done to sustain life in village Alaska, Walker was asked.
The state is examining how to boost village economies through contracts with tribal governments for work such as state airport maintenance, the governor answered.
"So that local folks living there can perform those services rather than us fly people in to perform those services," Walker said. "What do we spend as the state of Alaska in rural Alaska that perhaps would better be spent if we contract with the tribes to do that for us."
His administration for the last year has been looking at what types of work could be done by tribes, he said.
An immediate figure on what the day trip cost wasn't available, Jang said.
Walker, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, several state commissioners and other top aides were hosted for dinner at the home of Ana Hoffman, president and CEO of Bethel Native Corp. They enjoyed salmon stew, moose tacos, blueberry pie and other subsistence foods, Jang said.