Julie Dowling, longtime member of our Board of Directors, is leaving us after 7 years of service. She finally got the boot on March 29th.
“The boot” being an actual XtraTuf boot, decorated with sea glass and ribbon.
Julie was originally invited to the board by one of the therapists working at Community Connections at the time. She remembers her first board meeting, because it was held at the Peace Health long term care center instead of the CC offices. One of the board members was a patient there.
Julie remembers thinking it was special that “they would move the board meeting to be sure that the member could be included.”
During her time on the board, Julie got to take part in the opening of the new building.
“That was a very exciting time… to see the clients’ faces on the day of the Open House, and the faces of their caregivers, was very touching,” she says.
The challenging part for her was to not allow people outside of Community Connections to blur her responsibilities to the Board.
Julie also mentioned the phenomenal people she met during her seven years of service.
“They personified ‘leading with your heart’ to me,” she said.
The rest of the board received flowers.
Welcome to our Newest Board Member
Our newest board member, Scott Brandt-Erichsen, did not get flowers.
“I haven’t done anything yet!” he protested when Bess Clark, Executive Director, tried to hand him some flowers.
Scott is a lifelong Alaskan with 30 years’ experience practicing municipal law. He worked 7 years for the Municipality of Anchorage in both the civil and criminal divisions, and 22+ years as the Borough Attorney in Ketchikan. He has served terms as both a Board Member and as Legislative Committee Chair of the Alaska Municipal League. He retired from public employment in 2018 and now is in private practice as a partner in the Keene and Currall law firm.
Scott has a long history of community involvement, having started the indoor soccer league in Ketchikan in 1997 and coached high school soccer teams for 15 years. In 2005, he was the Alaska Youth Soccer Association parent of the year. In 2009, he was recognized as Youth Volunteer of the year by the Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce. He has been a member of First City Rotary for 22 years, serving 2 terms as President. He has also served on the boards of the Ketchikan Arts and Humanities Council, Ketchikan Youth Soccer League, the Ketchikan Running Club and Ketchikan Theater Ballet.
Scott has 3 grown daughters who graduated from Kayhi, one grandchild, and a spouse who is the librarian at Fawn Mt. He also has a dog, Kona, who is quite fond of him, and a cat who could not care less.
