Point Hope City Council elects new mayor

The Point Hope City Council elected Henry Nashookpuk as the new mayor last week.

Point Hope is a second-class city, and after residents voted for city council candidates in October, the council hosted a reorganization meeting last week where they elected the mayor and filled other leadership positions within the city, said City Clerk Margaret Oktollik.

Sharyll Nashookpuk was elected as the new vice mayor, Oktollik said. Robert Omnik was appointed as the sergeant in arms, Kristi Frankson became the new treasurer and Phyllis Frankson was elected as the new secretary. Sally Killigvuk and Luke Conley are council members.

In September, just a few weeks before the election, the city council voted to remove the former mayor, Tariek Oviok. The decision followed allegations that Oviok misused public funds and withheld financial information from the city council and the public.

[Point Hope City Council unanimously votes to remove mayor from office]

Following Oviok’s removal, the City Council voted to make Henry Nashookpuk acting city mayor.Then Nashookpuk, who is also a Public Works supervisor, decided to run in the October election “to help get everything back to normal” at the city and was re-elected to his seat. The council then voted him in as the new mayor.

“I am gonna do the best I can to help get this turned around,” Henry Nashookpuk said. “My biggest concern right now is just trying to get this audit taken care of and get the investigation going” into the city’s financial situation and the former mayor’s actions.

Nashookpuk said the city plans to complete the audit for the city as soon as possible, preferably within the next month.

Completing the audit will allow the city access the Economic Impact Assistance Program funds that the North Slope Borough allocated to Point Hope for the current year, as well as funds they will allocate in December for the next year, Nashookpuk said.

“We’ll be able to get two years‘ worth, and that’ll really get us back on our feet because we’ve lost so much money,” Nashookpuk said.

In recent weeks, city leadership restored their access to the city’s financial account, Nashookpuk said. A tech support crew was scheduled to visit the city office this week to help staff and council members get the computer system in order, he said. The city also planned to hire a city manager in the next couple of weeks, he said.

As for the city council, three seats opened up in October, and a total of 10 candidates put in their names in the election.

In the race for Seat B, Sharyll Nashookpuk won over Caroline Cannon, 49 to 46 votes. She declined to comment on her victory.

Omnik won Seat F, the most contested seat in the city election that had seven candidates. In the first round of the race, Omnik received 28 votes, Lauren Kowunna received 25 and Sarah Stone had 18. Omnik and Kowunna had a runoff election in which Omnik won 48 to 28.

“I am grateful, thankful and honored to be voted into office by my people,” Omnik said. “I had been moved away for 10 years, and I was hearing my people tell me it’s time to come home, time to come to lead in my hometown, so I listened and here I am humbly today. Hats off to the other candidate and respect for wanting to be put in that position to contribute also. The calendar year is almost over, and we have an opportunity to start a new year and new opportunities within the city government to benefit our community.”

Omnik is the village liaison at Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and the village’s point of contact for ICAS emergency management. He has also been a board member of Tikigaq Corp. and the ICAS regional council. He said he decided to run for city council to mend the relationships of the organizations within the community and advance projects such as building an evacuation road and site.

Omnik said he felt comfortable with the role of a sergeant in arms, assigned to him by the council to be responsible for security.

“It’s familiar, I’ve been serving in that role for ICAS for the last three years. Having the voice to keep the meetings in line and on point was a learning experience, I was taught to not interrupt people older than me,” he said. “It’s the role within the council that I have to do respectfully.”

The next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 4, Oktollik said.