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Hick Alaska is alive and well in Dillingham, where everybody knows everybody and community governance can quickly descend to the lowest common denominator. Who you are, who you are related to, and your place on the totem pole can result in melodrama when one group decides to divert local government for its own special interests.
It can happen anywhere in the state and nobody should be surprised that a place 350 miles southwest of Anchorage with about 2,250 residents is host to on-going soap opera.
[1] Dillingham Community Profile
Integrity in local government requires adhering to the AK Open Meetings Act. When elected officials have secret meetings, collude to hire their friends into scarce local government jobs regardless of the Merit Principle in the Alaska Constitution, or manipulate allocation of government resources, attorneys start hovering.
Article XII Section 6 Merit Principle
The legislature shall establish a system under which the merit principle will govern the employment of persons by the State.
The State of Alaska’s Open Meetings Act (OMA) (AS 44.62.310-.312) requires that all meetings of a public entity’s governing body be open to the public and that the body provide reasonable notice of its meetings. OMA is intended to ensure that decisions made and actions taken are public knowledge and represent the will of the public that the governing body serves.
[2] AK Division of Community & Regional Affairs Local Government Desk
Whistleblower Under Attack
Former Dillingham City Council Member Aksel Buholm has been out of town for extensive medical treatment and now fears facing a lynch mob led by acting city manager, Dan Decker, upon his return. His wife was notified that papers will be served by the local police and AK State Troopers. There has been bad blood since Decker muscled himself from City Clerk into the Acting City Manager position without the city following normal procedures. Buholm did not run for re-election to the council but has been outspoken about his concerns since leaving. Decker has since been reportedly meeting with a group of council members after regular meetings, and maneuvering people into positions to support his hopeful confirmation in the job–including returning a previously passed over Police Chief to that position.
From a public letter by Buholm:
In February 2024 the Council did not support Kim Johnson as the City Manager and began holding secret meetings between Council Members Kaleb Westfall, Michael Bennett, Steven Carrier and Acting City Manager Dan Decker. Their meetings have been setting the tone for Council Actions that are preplanned with noted and publicly recorded in their meetings with outcomes already determined with who will say what, who will make motions and seconds on such motions and how to sway the other Council Members. It has been reported to me by Kim Johnson that Westfall, Bennett, and Carrier were meeting in the parking lot of city hall well after the City Council meetings were over. She stated that one evening after a late-night visit, she drove past city hall on her way home to see these three in the parking lot of City Hall around 1:00 AM.
My wife was planning director and has had some issues with Decker and his leadership in the past. The Planning Director is part of the Administration. My wife was constructively discharged from her employment with the city in May of 2024.
[3]Tyranny of the Powerful in Rural Alaska, DONN LISTON,10/15/2023
Buholm Alleges Violation of State Laws
Buholm explains: This started back in March 2023 when I was on the City Council when Acting City Manager, Lori Goodell, attempted to appoint Sgt Tracey O’Malley as the Chief of Police for the City of Dillingham. Goodell was terminated from her seat as the Acting City Manager in the early Summer of 2023 and was immediately replaced with Kim Johnson, who gave up her seat as a City Council Member to head the call for assistance. My term as City Council expired in November 2023.
[3] Letter to the community from Aksel Buholm, June 19, 2024.
When I was down there on the council, we had some corruption going on with some of the other officials, explained Boholm. Two years ago, we fired the acting city manager and put Kim Johnson into the position. My wife was working as the planning director.
It was quite hard just to have a regular conversation with my wife about her day, continued Buholm. There was stuff she was privileged to that she couldn’t talk to me about, and stuff I was privileged to that I couldn’t talk to her about. It created tension in the household; she was really good at her job there for two years, with promotions and pay increases and merits and all that good stuff.
Buholm Elected Not to Run Again.
Local News Report:
Dillingham has a new acting city manager. The city council has voted unanimously to appoint former city clerk Daniel Decker after the city’s previous acting city manager, Kimberly Johnson, did not renew her contract, which ended on March 15.
[4] Dillingham City Council appoints Dan Decker as acting city manager, KDLG Radio, March 14, 2024
Buholm Says Johnson was Pushed Out
City clerk Decker got in as acting manager with the help of three of the council members, said Buholm. They were having meetings in violation of code. There was harassment and intimidation toward my wife by Decker.
Once made acting Manager, Decker brought Sgt Omalley back although there had previously been a community outcry in a public meeting against hiring her.
Buholm:
As for the Chief of Police hiring, a special meeting was held on March 29, 2024 just to hire Tracy O’Mally, resolution 2024-21. This meeting sparked a huge crowd draw from the community as at the time, Craig Maines was already the acting chief and had been for the last 2 years. He had real life experience as a supervisor, familiar with the current state of the Police Department, was working to correct issues while implementing changes, and had been attending training to better himself as the chief of police. Many community members were in the audience as well as on-line in as they wanted their voices heard, either for or against this resolution.
Confrontation in the Community
Decker was bullying my wife, explained Buholm. I was out of town on physical therapy for extended amounts of time. I got to come home for about a week just to take a break because I haven’t been home in nine weeks of physical therapy. I seen Decker at the post office, and when I walked by him, I said, “Hey, Dickhead, Dan!”
He turned around immediately and said: “I’ve had about enough of your bullshit.”
At that point, I don’t know what bullshit that was. I was walking away from him. And I turned around. And when he was trying to walk out the door, he grabbed his phone. I asked him, “What are you going to do? Take a video of me?” Then he gets on the phone with somebody and I asked him: “Are you calling your Nazi police chief?” And I go about my business and return to Anchorage. Then I find out there’s restraining orders coming. Today I was served restraining orders from the state troopers, and the city of Dillingham police officer. They violated the law by trespassing onto my native allotment to serve me. When I saw him at the post office I had said that half-jokingly but also, you know, sticking up for my wife a little bit because yeah, she resigned from the city of Dillingham because of his abuse. I believe he’s demonstrated an abuse of power as acting city manager.
Pending Legal Actions
I have also received a piece of paper that states I have used a city computer inappropriately and Chief O’Malley was the investigator, continued Buholm. I do not have access to any city computer and this is an extension of harassment and intimidation against me and my family. I did post items of interest on the social media Facebook, but it was notice of items that I had requested and the city has never gotten back to me on. I believe these charges are huge abuse of power and waste of city resources by both Decker and O’Malley.
Several charges against me state that I am impersonating a Public Official. I was voted in as a City Council Member in the past and was issued a city email account to conduct official business as a council member. After my term was completed and I chose not to run again, it was City Clerk Decker’s responsibility to discontinue that email account; which he failed to do. That email address was on my mobile phone, and if it were discontinued, I would not have had access to it.
These are all retaliatory acts by people who are trying to cover their own violations of law and regulations, according to Buholm.
Under the city code you cannot have a acting city manager more than 365 days, and they have yet to advertise for the vacant position. They’ve also yet to advertise for a city clerk, although they’ve put in two acting clerks since elevating Decker. They’re not following the process. I’ve always been about the process. When you follow code no corners are cut. Nobody gets mad and nobody is harmed by following code.
I’ve talked to the Senate, emailed the ombudsman, the Attorney General, the Economic Development Corporation and this community is now facing a crisis, concluded Buholm.
References:
[1] DillinghamCommunity Profile
https://www.dillinghamak.us/community/page/history-and-facts
[2] AK Division of Community & Regional Affairs Local Government Desk
https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/dcra/LocalGovernmentResourceDesk/LocalGovernmentElectedOfficials/OpenMeetingsAct.aspx#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20Open%20Meetings,their%20opportunity%20to%20be%20heard.
[3] Tyranny of the Powerful in Rural Alaska, DONN LISTON, 10/15/2023
https://donnliston.net/2023/10/tyranny-of-the-powerful-in-rural-alaska/
[4] Letter to the Community, Aksel Buholm, June 19, 2024
[5] Dillingham City Council appoints Dan Decker as acting city manager, KDLG Radio, March 14, 2024
https://www.kdlg.org/politics/2024-03-21/the-dillingham-city-council-appoints-dan-decker-as-acting-city-manager
