Five candidates are running for four seats on Bethel City Council. This week, KYUK is airing interviews with each of the candidates.
Alicia Miner is a first-time candidate for city council. She’s been with the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) for 15 years, and is currently the principal of Bethel Regional High School (BRHS).
Miner spoke with KYUK’s Evan Erickson about her candidacy on KYUK’s morning show, "Coffee at KYUK," on Sept. 25.
Find a transcript of the conversation below. It has been lightly edited for clarity, but may contain transcription errors.
KYUK (Evan Erickson): Thank you for joining us for this third of five candidate ['Coffee at KYUK' shows]. Thanks for calling in this morning. I'm guessing – are you already at work there?
Alicia Miner: Yes I am.
KYUK: All right. Well let's just get right into it. You only had a short time during the candidate forum to talk a little bit about your background and where you're coming from running for council. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Take as long as you need here.
Miner: Yeah. My name is Alicia Miner. I'm originally from Ohio, and I moved up here for teaching about 15 years ago. So I started in the villages, and I spent nine years between Quinhagak, Napakiak, and Kasigluk. And then six years ago I moved to Bethel, and I've been here for six years. I have two children, and a fun fact about my daughter: her name is Quinn. She's named after Quinhagak, as Quinhagak is where I met my husband and we started a family. And as far – I work for LKSD, and I have worked for LKSD, for the past 15 years, and that's pretty much I'm looking forward to running for city council, because I want to get involved. I like Bethel, and I do think I have leadership qualities that would be an asset to city council.
KYUK: And I know you had previously mentioned that kind of you you're running to represent the city of Bethel as kind of separate from your role as principal at BRHS. Is that right?
Miner: Uh, yes, I did want to make sure that the two, they're not connected. It is separate. One of the reasons I am running for city council, though, is because I want to be a positive role model for the youth. Working with our youth is a passion of mine, and really the reason that I'm here in Bethel, and so I want to be a role model and show them that you can do anything that you want to do, and you can be involved if you want to be involved.
KYUK: Yeah, and going a little deeper into what made you want to run for city council, why not last year, the previous city council election, why 2024 for you?
Miner: Well, actually, someone approached me and was like, ‘You should run for city council.’ I've been seeing – and my role can be very busy. So now that I've been in this role for multiple years, I feel like I got the swing of things, and I feel like I have my family support, and I feel like I'm finally ready to give back to the community.
KYUK: Great. And do you have any idea of specific things that you hope to accomplish through council? I know there's a lot of ways you can get involved in council. It's really up to you how much effort you put in, it seems to me, and do you have any idea of what you hope to accomplish?
Miner: Oh, I definitely have some areas that I'm passionate about, and hope that we can work together to look into some of those areas. I also believe there has been some good work already done with this year's city council and past city council. So just continuing to work on those things, I do plan to be involved in committees. I have been on a committee before in previous years. So I plan on giving it my all and being involved however I can.
KYUK: Yeah, and was that your first time answering questions in a forum, kind of being in the hot seat and being asked questions you can't really be expected to have, like, perfect answers to? Was that your first experience doing that?
Miner: Yes. I mean, I've been interviewed before, and so I have experience with asking questions, but that was definitely out of my comfort zone. And people that know me were like, ‘Yeah,’ like, I was just trying to be honest if I didn't know the answer to things, but yeah, I was very, very nervous, but I did the best I could, so I'm proud of how it went.
KYUK: Yeah. I mean, that wasn't the intention. I apologize for any nervousness that may have been incurred there, but was that your first time meeting all the candidates there?
Miner: I do know two of them just from various things in the community, but it was my first time meeting Danny.
KYUK: And I know this was back on Sept. 11. But were there any questions that you thought after the fact, ‘I actually have a better answer for that.' Or 'I'd like to go further into that, I only had a minute to answer. Two minutes to answer.’ Was there anything that popped out?
Miner: Well, the only, I've been, I was anticipating this question. So I think the only question that I felt embarrassed was when I was asked about the environmental factors, and I said I didn't know, because I think I was like, when you're getting a question, you don't know how to answer it at first. And when I listened to everyone else, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I totally like, know what? I know the answer to that question. I can't believe I said I didn't know.’ And so, I mean, what everyone said is probably what I would have said. But looking back on it, that was the one moment where I was like, I could have had an answer to that question.
KYUK: Well, do you have any further insights about maybe environmental issues that are in Bethel, or just, yeah, in the surrounding region even?
Miner: Well, just continuing to work with the community to clean up Bethel work, I know people mentioned plastic bags and waste and things like that. So just continuing to work on those areas.
KYUK: Yeah, I think I saw a pile of styrofoam in our own trash can yesterday, and I always thought, ‘Wait, didn't the candidates talk about that being banned or something like that?’ I need to look up the statute there, I think. But I think they're banned.
Miner: Yeah, me too, yeah.
KYUK: So in the forum you like, right off the bat, you went into the you're really interested in raising awareness of mental health issues in the community, and I know that could mean a lot of different things, and can you maybe dig in more specifically what you mean about people being more aware of of mental health outcomes?
Miner: Well, yeah, well, I think if there – and I don't know how exactly to do this – but I think if there were more supports, sometimes it can be very difficult to get, to get an appointment and to be seen here if you're having mental health issues. So I think two things, one, just raising awareness, maybe letting people know, like, having mental health issues is okay, I mean, it's common out here, and I think some people are afraid to ask for help. And I mean, I work with the students, and I see a variety of issues that they struggle with, and so I'm not sure if there are grants or ways that we could get more funding to provide more services. Even if we had, I don't know, walk for mental health awareness or just anything to let people know supports that are out there in Bethel, in the surrounding areas. And then just to kind of like, normalize it that where Bethel is great because it's such a community, and so just letting people realize, like, you're not alone and and things like that.
KYUK: And do you think that kind of help would be better in person? I know a lot of mental health services are kind of accessible remotely at this point. Do you think that people need more people in the community directly interacting with them when it comes to mental health?
Miner: I believe there's positives to both. But yes, I do think that there were, even if there were like, as a clinic or something that you could go to, like, on a Saturday to get seen if you're struggling. It would be nice if there were more in person, but I think any type of services would be beneficial to the community.
KYUK: Okay, and were there any other takeaways from the forum that you thought, ‘Hey, those candidates brought up some points that I didn't really come prepared to talk about,’ or anything else you wanted to mention about the forum. This is kind of a good follow up opportunity here.
Miner: Not exactly. There were, I mean, I guess I didn't really 100% like in, like alcohol and how, how much that impacts our area. I mean, I know it does, but like listening to the other candidates talk about it, and they're passionate about it. And I was sitting there like, ‘Yep, that's a really good point.’ And so I do hope, and this is one of the I think I've been asked, like, ‘What are the three things you want to work on?’ So one of them is, like, continuing to do the positive things with Bethel Police Department, with the traffic stops, with the addition of Zeus the dog, and just making sure to continue the good things that are happening to hopefully decrease some of the crime and some of the things, drugs and alcohol issues that we're seeing here in Bethel.
KYUK: Yeah, and obviously, it's no secret, it's not hard to get alcohol sent to Bethel. Do you have insights from spending years and building a family in dry communities?
Miner: I mean, it can be done. And I guess I don't exactly know how to answer this question here…
KYUK: Well, I've been asking candidates about their experience traveling around the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta in general, you already touched on that right off the bat. But another question besides living in communities where alcohol is local option, not allowed at all, have you taken any insights about how city governments are run outside of Bethel in much smaller communities? Did you learn about that aspect?
Miner: I did a little bit when I was going through my program and stuff, I did attend some meetings, some tribal meetings and things like that when I lived in one of the villages. So I do feel like I have a little bit of understanding about how that stuff works, and my time in the village was some of my favorite memories. And we really those years are very precious to us, and I think they helped shape some of the person that I am today.
KYUK: Yeah, and I guess you're, you're aware that, you know, the City of Bethel works with the local tribal entity, [Orutsararmiut Native Council], on issues, and generally has an annual meeting. Do you think that you'll be able to – is that on your mind, helping facilitate good communication between those sides, the tribal and the city side of managing the city?
Miner: I think it's important. I think that's how you get change, I mean, in my current role, and then using that to city council, I think the more organizations coming together and working together, that's how, that's how you get change to happen, because each organization has a skill set and has strengths, and so you want to work together. We did try to do something like this for the school side last year, getting different organizations together. We had 4-H, the police department, the school, [Association of Village Council Presidents], we had lots of organizations coming together to figure out how to benefit our youth. So I think that that kind of activity could also work for city council.
KYUK: So you have a pretty robust Rolodex of contacts in the community, I imagine at this point?
Miner: (laughs) I think so.
KYUK: Yeah, so, I guess this is a question. This is a real hard one. Hit you with another difficult question following up on the forum here, but I've been asking candidates what they think Bethel can do to create long term economic sustainability? Sorry, I can't talk right now. What can Bethel do to create a more robust economy for the long term and keep the budget high? I mean, people mentioned taxes and other things, but do you have any ideas there?
Miner: Well, that's one thing I was going to say taxes. But I think trying to get people here and get them to stay, definitely housing is something everyone has talked about and an area of need. So I think just providing, first, having a place people can come and live, and then I definitely agree with the tax thing as well, and then just continuing to expand and have opportunities here in events and and making Bethel a place people want to be and want to spend their money to impact the city.
KYUK: And do you have any specific ideas on housing, on how to address the shortage or the affordability of housing in Bethel?
Miner: Not um, exactly. Housing is definitely an area I want to learn more about. I know there's been work done on it already, and there's things being built here in Bethel. So that is an area that I definitely want to get more educated about, if elected to city council,
KYUK: Great. And we touched on this in the forum, but how do you plan on getting your finger on the pulse of what people are interested in, and to get them engaged in council and to get them giving you like the feedback you need to make the right decisions?
Miner: Well, I think one just being out in the community and being – which I already am – and I think just being out in the community and being personable and someone someone can talk to and express concerns. I do know there are surveys that are done throughout the city, so maybe trying to, like, make people want to do those. I don't exactly know how to do that, but I know in my role, when I just keep bothering people, they fill out the survey. So maybe doing that, and then just working with the council together to make it a place where people want to come share their concerns. I think if people have concerns and then they see action being done with those concerns, they're more likely to keep coming back because they know that you care and you want to help them.
KYUK: Yeah, and I imagine you're willing to stop and chat with anyone in the community if they want to talk face to face too?
Miner: Yes I am. I already do that pretty regularly, and I definitely enjoy catching up with the citizens of Bethel in various times throughout the day.
KYUK: Yeah, I'm picturing that. So we just have a couple minutes to about two minutes left here. Just, is there anything else you want to tell people that help them make a more informed decision when they go to vote for these five candidates going for four seats here? What should they know to know you might be a more appropriate choice?
Miner: I think they should know that I am very involved in the community. I give my all to my current role, and I will do a good job trying working with the council to try to make some change and listen to the concerns in the community I do have. I'm willing to step outside my comfort zone, attend meetings, try to make connections with different entities. And I don't know I'm, I think, since the schools are such a big part, I think it would be nice to have someone connected to the schools, even though I'm not using the schools to get on city council, but I think that aspect of seeing things could be beneficial.
KYUK: Great. Well, it sounds like you really do want this position, and I wish you the best of luck in the election. And thanks so much for calling in, for calling in for 'Coffee at KYUK' today.
Miner: Thank you very much.
KYUK: All right, you have a great rest of your day.
Miner: You too. Bye.
