Casey Kelly

City Manager Kim Kiefer has been a monthly guest on A Juneau Afternoon throughout her nearly three-year tenure as the top administrative official in the municipal government.

As part of a shift in A Juneau Afternoon to more of a purely arts and culture based program, Kiefer’s regular interviews are moving to All Things Considered on the third Monday of every month.

She sat down with me this morning to talk about what’s happening at the City and Borough of Juneau, including the recently announced departmental reorganization, the city’s prospects for getting state and federal money for capital projects, and the work of the Juneau Assembly’s Tax Exemption Review Committee.

These interview highlights have been edited for clarity.

On the recently announced reorganization of city departments
We have been looking at a variety of different operational changes since last year, when we faced a $6 million budget deficit, and we have a $9.2 million budget deficit for the coming year. So we’re looking for different ways to be able to streamline what we do and be more efficient.

On how the reorganization will save the city money
Just looking at straight on full-time equivalent employees, we’ll have two less employees. So we’ll have the savings from that. And then as both new directors (Engineering Director Rorie Watt will be the new Public Works Director and current Public Works Director Kirk Duncan takes over as Parks and Recreation Director) look at their departments, they’ll be able to see other savings they may be able to have based on the merger … Are there some efficiencies that they can do? Looking at where the staffing is and look for other opportunities.

On the city’s strategy for getting state and federal money for capital projects
We will be talking (Wednesday) with our city lobbyist, Kevin Jardell, with the Assembly to talk about what should be the strategy this year. We know that the state budget will be extremely tight and we want to be respectful of that. We also want to provide a variety of different options in case maybe there’s a little bit of money, and this project could be the perfect match for that little amount of money.

On the work of the Assembly’s tax exemption review committee
They were charged to try and finish the work by the beginning of January. It’s taken a little more time to go through it and look in detail at the different exemptions and determine which ones they really wanted to move forward with. This isn’t the first time the Assembly has said, “OK, let’s look at our exemptions and decide what we want to do…” They’re very conscious that this isn’t just going out and looking to see how much more money we can bring in. They’re really trying to look at the big picture and what those impacts are for the community as a whole.

Two City and Borough of Juneau departments will merge next year as the cash strapped municipality looks for ways to create operational efficiencies and save money.

City officials say the move will eliminate two full-time positions from the city budget and save about $275,000 a year.

City Manager Kim Kiefer on Friday said the Engineering Department will become a division of Public Works. Engineering Director Rorie Watt will lead the merged department, and Public Works Director Kirk Duncan will take over the Juneau Parks and Recreation Department. Current Parks and Rec Director Brent Fischer will move to a new position overseeing Building Maintenance and Parks and Landscapes.

Kiefer says Engineering and Public Works already work closely on a lot of city projects. She adds that Duncan has a recreation background, including seven years as general manager of the city’s Eaglecrest Ski Area.

“As we look at city resources in the future, as we look at potential state resources in the future, this really seemed a really good time to make those adjustments in the organization and putting people in positions that fit well with their skill sets,” Kiefer says.

She admits the $275,000 in savings is just a drop in the bucket compared to the city’s $9.2 million budget deficit next fiscal year. But she thinks the new department heads will be able to come in and find additional ways to save money.

“Yeah, 275-(thousand) isn’t a lot,” she says. “But I think as we get these people in place, I would look to see possibilities of other efficiencies that will be able to happen as they start looking at the budgets and looking at it in a different way.”

All three of the department heads moving to new positions say they’re looking forward to the change. That includes Fischer, who says he agreed to take a pay cut when he gives up the parks and rec director job.

Watt says there won’t be an engineering director, saying he plans to do that job and lead the Public Works Department. He says there may be other operational efficiencies, but he’s not ready to discuss specifics.

“The city budget’s been cut a lot in the last couple years, so it’s not like there’s a lot of fat out there,” Watt says. “And I think people have to know that the services that they’re getting are going to be reduced, and we’re going to try to limit the bad side of that.”

The odd man out is Facilities Maintenance Superintendent Tim Gibson, whose job is being eliminated. His duties will fall to Fischer when the reorganization takes effect Jan. 5. The other half of Fischer’s new job will be overseeing parks and landscapes. Former Parks and Landscapes Superintendent George Schaaf resigned at the end of November.

Gibson says he’s disappointed, but understands the city has to balance its budget.

“The city manager’s office is tasked with making tough calls to deal with fiscal realities and to satisfy the public’s demands for services, and I know they’ve been pretty thorough in looking at their options and they feel that this is their best choice to meet those ends,” Gibson says.

Kiefer says the city will try to find another position for Gibson, who was hired in June.

Gibson used to work at the Kensington Mine and says he has several years of construction and building maintenance experience. He says he could return to the private sector, but wouldn’t turn down another job with the city.

“I guess I’m surprised it’s coming as quickly as it is,” he says. “But I’m OK with it.”

The Juneau Assembly has directed the manager’s office to explore ways to be more efficient. Assembly members will start crafting the city’s new biennial budget this spring.

Full disclosure: Kirk Duncan and George Schaaf are members of the KTOO Board of Directors.

The Juneau Assembly on Wednesday appointed new and returning members to the Planning Commission and Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors.

Nicole Grewe and Paul Voelckers were reappointed to the Planning Commission, and Mike LeVine was appointed to a third open seat, vacated by Karen Lawfer.

Nancy Davis and Bob Storer were reappointed to the hospital board. Brenda Knapp was appointed to another open seat. Dr. Nathan Peimann is leaving the board after serving the maximum three consecutive terms.

The Assembly received six applicants for Planning Commission and eight for the hospital board.

The Planning Commission reviews private and public development projects to make sure they comply with the city’s land use code. It also keeps the city’s Comprehensive Plan up to date.

The Bartlett board oversees operations at the city-owned hospital. It hires and works closely with Bartlett’s CEO.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today finalized a wastewater and tailings disposal permit for the Greens Creek Mine near Juneau.

Without the permit, the silver mine on Admiralty Island would’ve soon run out of space for its tailings, the material left over after valuable minerals have been extracted from raw ore during the mining process.

Greens Creek government relations manager Mike Satre says the permit will meet the mine’s needs for about 10 years.

“Greens Creek is incredibly pleased that we have the final permit in hand to start the expansion to our tailings facility in 2015,” Satre says.

The mine is one of Juneau’s largest private employers. Satre says of the more than 400 people who work at Greens Creek, about 225 of them hail from Juneau and Southeast Alaska. He says many of the rest live elsewhere in the state.

The mine is owned by Hecla Mining Co. of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Greens Creek is located within the Admiralty Island National Monument, which led environmental groups to express concern about the permit.

The City and Borough of Juneau is taking steps to seize the burned out Gastineau Apartments by eminent domain, and turn the building into affordable housing.

The Juneau Assembly on Monday gave the city’s Law Department the go ahead to draft a memorandum of agreement with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation.

The agreement will outline the city’s plans for the vacant building. City Attorney Amy Mead says if it is taken by eminent domain, the city will need to spell out some public purpose in the agreement.

“In this case I think we’re focusing on affordable housing,” said Mead, adding “that can have some component of commercial use.”

If the city does seize the property, AHFC could provide financing for a private developer to come in and renovate the building, which is uninhabitable.

Mead says the building’s owner, James Barrett, has been in contact with city officials in the last month. She says he expressed interest in selling the property to the city, but has not responded to an initial offer.

Mead also says private parties have requested an appraisal the city commissioned with Barrett’s consent.

“Their (the private parties) options are either to go directly to Mr. Barrett to try to purchase the property directly, in which case we would just be completely out of it,” said Mead. “Or to see if they could work directly with us, either as part of the eminent domain process depending on what the project is that they wanted to put on the property, or another action that might ultimately end up with the building being acquired with less restrictions.”

Mead says one of the private groups was interested in developing the property into senior housing. Assembly member Karen Crane says the downtown apartment complex would be great for seniors, and she hopes the agreement with AHFC will recognize that.

“So that seniors with wheelchairs or handicap needs or whatever, that some apartments there are also available to meet that need,” Crane said.

Mead says she hopes to have the agreement finished by the end of January.

The building was appraised at just $50,000. The property without the building is valued at a little more than $810,000.

It’s been just over two years since the Gastineau Apartments burned in an accidental fire.

Juneau’s nonprofit homeless shelter, the Glory Hole, will be closed at least a month after a burst water pipe caused major flood damage last weekend.

Patrons and staff were adjusting to that new reality Tuesday.

Mike Ricker was about to go to sleep Sunday when the water started pouring down on top of him.

“It came down through the Sheetrock in the ceilings three floors, because it was in the ceiling of the third floor, and down through the light fixtures,” Ricker says. “The lights were on and the water was just pouring down out of them.”

Even though it’s technically an emergency shelter, Ricker has lived at the Glory Hole for about a year. He says he ended up homeless after getting behind on a number of bills. Now he’s working odd jobs and trying to get his life back on track.

Ricker and about 20 other Glory Hole patrons are housed at Juneau International Hostel for the time being. St. Ann’s Parish Hall downtown is hosting the shelter’s regular breakfast, lunch and dinner service.

Ricker says he’s grateful to the hostel and church for stepping up on short notice.

“If they weren’t open, then what option would we have, you know?” Ricker asks. “We’d be in a pretty tough situation. Thank God for them.”

Glory Hole cook Katie Parrott says the whole situation is stressful for both staff and clients.

“We just want to make sure that people know that we’re still serving food and handing out sack lunches, so we’re still operating to the best of our ability,” she says.

Parrott served about 10 people lunch on Tuesday, a smaller crowd than normal. She says the breakfast service for 21 patrons was about average.

“So it could be just, you know, a lot of people will be doing things throughout the day, maybe won’t be here for lunch but will be here for dinner,” Parrott says. “It could be that people are trying to find somewhere to store their things. Who knows?”

The closure of the shelter comes after the first big snowstorm of winter hit Juneau over the weekend. Glory Hole Executive Director Mariya Lovishchuk says the broken pipe had frozen before it sprung the leak.

Lovishchuk says insurance will cover the cost of repairs, but she worries people will forget about the shelter while it’s closed during the holidays – a time when the Glory Hole typically receives a lot of donations.

“One of the concerns that I have is that, you know, our fundraising efforts this year will not be as great,” Lovishchuk says. “So, you know, our operating funds for next year will be jeopardized.”

She says contractor North Pacific Erectors is already working on getting the shelter back in business, and the public can help by continuing to donate money and food.