Two Juneau Assembly members are running for reelection this year, each against a single challenger. For the District 2 seat, member Christine Woll faces David Morris.
Woll has served on the Assembly for the last three years. In an interview, she said her highest priority is housing, and she thinks her experience would serve her well in a second term.
“It definitely takes a long time to get up to speed on how the city works, what are the big priorities that we need to be focused on,” she said.
Meanwhile, Morris says he’s running because he sees a need for greater transparency in city government.
“They have spent a lot of their time behind closed doors and in executive session,” Morris said in an interview.
Woll is an executive transition guide at The Foraker Group, where she helps nonprofits recruit and select their next executives, board members and other leaders. She has a master’s in fisheries from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a bachelor’s in biology from Bates College in Maine.
While she says the city has already incentivized developers to build higher density housing, she thinks the city could do more to open up its land for development.
“I think our codes and our zoning are really not serving us when it comes to building higher-density housing,” she said. “I know people who want to put a tiny home on their property to rent out, and they can’t right now. We need to clean up our code and our zoning to make sure that we can have a diversity of housing options.”
Morris is a retired swim coach, former Alaska Marine Highway System employee and member of the Family Promise of Juneau’s board of directors. He agrees that Juneau needs more housing. To get there, he said in an interview, he supports areawide candidate Nano Brooks’ idea of raffling off one-acre plots to residents.
“If you built high-end housing here, the people that are in middle housing that are ready to move up would go take those houses,” he said. “And with those vacancies, people that are in low-income housing that are ready to move up would move into those spaces.”
Another of Morris’ top priorities is the landfill. Juneau’s landfill has about 20 years left at its current level of use. Morris thinks using an incinerator again could help.
He said he’s also heard from many voters about property taxes. This year’s mill rate was the lowest it’s been in decades, but because property values also went up, many Juneau residents are paying higher property taxes.
“The thing that hits everybody that I talk to is taxes,” Morris said. “Everybody is really upset about the taxes.”
At a forum co-hosted by KTOO, Woll said she would prioritize basic community needs like building maintenance while also making sure the city has enough revenue to afford them.
“I know people are feeling strapped right now. My monthly house payment went up this year, like most people in Juneau, and that’s not easy,” she said. “The good news is that Juneau’s economy continues to grow, which has allowed us to lower the mill rate, even when personnel and materials go up. Ideally, if other revenue sources grow, we can keep property taxes stable.”
Woll and Morris have different views on the future of Bartlett Regional Hospital, which the city owns. At a forum hosted by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce, candidates discussed turnover among the hospital’s leadership. Woll said supporting the hospital board was important, while Morris said the hospital should be privatized.
But Morris says he’s running to increase transparency in local government. As an example, he says the Assembly’s city manager selection process – through a committee Woll chaired – happened mostly in executive session.
The selection committee reviewed applications and conducted initial interviews in executive session. Finalists met with city leaders during a closed staff meeting, and the Assembly interviewed them in an executive session before picking Engineering and Public Works Director Katie Koester for the role.
Woll has raised more than $6,500, including $1,200 of her own money. Her donors include Sen. Jesse Kiehl, former Assembly member Carole Triem, former Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho, school board president Deedie Sorensen and Juneau Career Firefighters.
Morris has not reported any campaign fundraising.
Woll and Morris both live in the Mendenhall Valley – a requirement to run for a District 2 seat – but Juneau voters can vote in all races on the ballot. Election Day is Oct. 3.
Correction: A previous version of this story said Christine Woll earned her master’s from the University of Alaska Southeast. She received the degree from University of Alaska Fairbanks.
