Each year the AAHPA ask the membership to consider nominating members of the community that have demonstrated superior performance in harbor or port management, innovative methods to improve harbor users, creative methods of reducing operating costs, service and support to the AAHPA, or other actions that have produced marked benefits for port and harbor users would be ideal candidates for nomination.
Awardees are honored during the banquet at the annual conference. Nominations for 2022 Harbormaster of the Year will open in mid-summer 2022.
2021 Harbormaster of The Year
Lucas Stotts, Harbormaster of Nome, Alaska, is hereby honored as the 2021 Harbormaster of the Year by the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators. Lucas started with the Port of Nome in 2011 as the Harbormaster Assistant, just when the recreational gold mining frenzy was exploding. This intense and rapid increase in homeported users prompted chaos and conflict, but fortunately, Lucas used his training, patience, and disarming smile to quickly diffuse most situations. His actions quickly made him popular among the users, and an asset to the City. After becoming Harbormaster in 2013, Lucas was faced with a similar situation with the Port’s two docks being in high demand and creating a backlog of anchored vessels, which he resolved by continuous coordination, predicting conflicts, adjusting schedules, and finding creative options until construction of a third dock in 2015 somewhat eased the pressure. Nearly all of the commercial shippers, research captains and homeported users have commented on how effective Lucas is in his position, and the number of complex issues he’s helped to resolve. One will generally find Lucas putting in long hours, returning later in the evening to check an operation, monitor a difficult barge offload, or ensure the prior user is on schedule so as not to delay the next vessel. For these accomplishments and more, as well as his long-time support and active engagement with the AAHPA, it is with great pleasure that the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators recognizes Lucas as AAHPA’s 2021 Harbormaster of the Year.
2021 Employee of the Year
is hereby named the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators employee of the year for the City and Borough of Juneau for 2021. A casualty of the pandemic was that the 2021 large cruise ship season remained uncertain until early July. As the Port Operations Supervisor, Scott’s entire season hinged on these ever-changing plans for the cruise ships. The last large cruise ship to call upon Juneau was in October 2019. Once plans unfolded for an abbreviated season to begin on July 23rd, Scott sprang into action to awaken the Port of Juneau from a nearly 22-month hibernation. Due to the lack of ships and therefore, revenue, Scott was operating the Port with just a skeleton crew of employees. After being shut down for nearly two years there was an extensive list of tasks that needed to be executed ahead of the first vessel visit. Scott quickly developed a prioritized worklist and leveraged your limited staff to start the cumbersome process of preparing the Port for the arrival of the first cruise ship. Drawing upon finely honed organizational skills, Scott expertly scheduled staff to meet the Coast Guard security responsibilities and ensured a predictable and fair rotation. Feedback from customers has been nothing but complimentary of you, your staff, and our facilities. This speaks volumes to your ability to handle multiple priorities without losing efficiency or effectiveness. Scott is an outstanding teammate, leader, and a major asset to the department, and he is genuinely deserving of being recognized by AAHPA members as Juneau Docks & Harbors Employee of the Year for 2021.
Bill Bousley, Ketchikan Port & Harbors Assistant Harbormaster, is hereby commended for his service to the Ketchikan Port & Harbors Department. Bill’s deep ties to the community enabled him to relate well to harbor users who may otherwise have escalated their complaints, and his lifelong work experiences served him well in his 12 years as an Assistant Harbormaster. His knowledge, experience and advice have all helped to improve the operation and management of the Ketchikan harbors. As he begins his well-earned retirement, he should know that his council, wisdom and genial wit will be missed. We wish him fair winds, following seas, and nothing but the best for the future.