(Courtesy of Zac Schasteen)

This week, KUCB is profiling candidates running in the October 2 municipal election. Today’s profile focuses on Zac Schasteen, who is running for a second full term on city council. All the candidates will appear live on KUCB and Channel 8 on Wednesday at 7 pm to answer your questions.

Zac Schasteen measures Unalaska city council’s success in public trust.

Since Schasteen was elected to council in 2009, he’s found himself at the center of multiple debates over government transparency. He’s pointed out instances when he felt like council was cutting corners, and stepping around its bylaws.

While Schasteen admits that his criticisms are nitpicky at times, he believes it’s a crucial part of the public process.

"What I stand for is following the procedures that are in place, and ensuring that when we do create new procedures, that the public confidence is there, and that the public has that opportunity to comment," he says. "Whether it be on the award of a contract or creating an ordinance like we’ve seen recently with the zoning, the community needs an opportunity to comment. And that’s what I’ll continue to fight for."

Schasteen is a former public safety officer and harbor officer. Now, he’s a technician for TelAlaska, but he still volunteers as a firefighter and EMT.

That law enforcement experience has colored Schasteen’s approach to city government, says Katherine McGlashan Labert.

She served on council for three terms, and overlapped with Schasteen. She says his by-the-book approach helped temper debates.

"He really knows the state statutes, the city ordinances, the city resolutions," says McGlashan Labert. "So he’s very educated in that sense. When you’re up on council and you disagree, he explains why he disagrees and he doesn’t take things personal."

McGlashan Labert says there were times she and Schasteen didn’t see eye to eye, but they’ve maintained a friendship even after her term ended: Schasteen was the best man at her wedding this summer.

While he might be a stickler for rules, Schasteen doesn’t see himself as a reformer. His agenda for council is to follow the city’s comprehensive plan, which it adopted last year.

"Recently, we’ve finished construction of the new housing unit for the city, a new boat harbor and reliable power generation," he says. "We have a lot of projects that we need to continue working towards to help our community – to help our community prepare for the growth that’s going to happen in the next few years."

For now, Schasteen says council has to focus on finishing road and airport improvements, and finding a way to defray the cost of expensive upgrades to Unalaska’s utility plants. He supports a sales tax hike to help offset increased utility rates for consumers.

Except for a few months of public safety officer training inSitka, Schasteen’s lived here for his entire life. While he thinks the town’s doing well now, Schasteen says he wants to make Unalaska the kind of town that his six-year-old daughter, Paige, would want to put down roots in.

"I’d like to see us shift some focus from building the infrastructure we need – and we’ll be able to do this in a few years, because our projects will kind of come to a close – to working on making this more of a family hub," he says.

One way to do that in the short term – pave more roads and sidewalks. Looking ahead, Schasteen says he’ll go to local families to build an agenda and figure out what kinds of facilities and services they need.