Clarise Larson

Tuesday is municipal Election Day in Juneau, and voters will decide on three Assembly seats, three school board seats and three key local tax measures. Residents cast their ballots at vote centers and ballot drop boxes open across town. 

Election workers emptied out the ballot box outside City Hall on Tuesday morning as Jev Shelton went to cast his ballot. 

Shelton said he doesn’t think any of the propositions should pass, but took particular issue with Proposition 1. That measure seeks to cap the rate the city uses to determine how much residents pay in property taxes each year. 

“It just leads to a major step backward in this community, which is losing population, losing influence, and is needing to make itself a bit healthy and a bit more attractive than it’s doing,” he said. “That was not the way to do it.”

Another resident outside City Hall, Lawrence Siverly, said he wasn’t familiar with the candidates up for election. He came to vote on the ballot measures. He said he voted yes on Proposition 1 because his son is a homeowner here, and yes on Proposition 2, which would exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. 

“Since I’m a senior, I already have benefits for food, but I think that should be available for everybody that lives here,” he said. 

But Siverly says he voted no on Proposition 3, which would implement a new seasonal sales tax system in Juneau next year. Proponents say the change would take advantage of the 1.7 million cruise passengers that come to town each summer, while giving year-round residents a break during the winter. Opponents say the system won’t actually save residents money in the long run. Siverly says he voted against it because he doesn’t want to pay a higher rate in the summer. 

Brian Fox walked outside the Mendenhall Valley Public Library after voting in person. Fox didn’t share how he voted, but said he wants to make things more livable in Juneau.

“I know that the cost of living here, and I’m acquainted with it very well, having lived here and in Fairbanks previously,” he said. “The cost of many things is sky high, some of it a little out of proportion.”

Back at City Hall, LaRae Jones is the volunteer supervisor for the election this year. Next to a stack of  “I Voted Today!” stickers featuring the Alaska state flag, she fills up a candy basket.

Jones said this is the last evening people can vote.

“People are wonderful, we love to have them come vote in person,” she said. “I just encourage everyone to vote.” 

The preliminary results of the election will be released Tuesday night after ballot boxes and vote centers close at 8 p.m. The initial results will only include ballots that were mailed in or dropped off before Election Day. Official results won’t be certified by election officials until Oct. 21.

KTOO reporters Alix Soliman, Jamie Diep and Yvonne Krumrey contributed to this report. 

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections. 

Juneau’s municipal Election Day is almost here — voters have until Tuesday night to cast their ballots. 

There are a handful of ways you can vote in the by-mail election. The city has ballot drop boxes in different locations all across town. Voters can also mail their ballots back or go to a vote center. 

This year’s ballot features three propositions, four candidates running for three open seats on the Assembly and four candidates running for three seats on the school board. One write-in candidate for school board is not featured on the ballot.   

Deputy City Clerk Andi Hirsh said as of Saturday, about 4,600 ballots had been returned.  

“Democracy only works when people participate,” Hirsh said. “This is your chance to really have a say in what our community looks like, and I think it’s really important for every person to be part of that.”

The ballot drop boxes are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday. They are located at City Hall, the AEL&P office in Lemon Creek, Douglas Library, the Mendenhall Valley Public Library and Statter Harbor boat launch. 

Ballots sent in by mail need to be postmarked on or before Election Day and a first-class stamp is required. Vote centers at City Hall and the Valley Library will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday for in-person voting.

Hirsh said the vote centers can get busy on Election Day and people might experience a wait time.

“We do tend to get both a lunch rush and an after work rush,” she said. “So, there tends to be a bit of a line.”

Ballots turned in on Election Day aren’t counted in the unofficial results released that night. They’ll be added to later unofficial result updates. Final results will be certified on Oct. 21.

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.

Juneau voters will decide in this fall’s municipal election whether to exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Economists say that taxes on food hit low-income people the hardest. 

Whether you head to Costco, Foodland or Fred Meyer or any other grocery store in Juneau, you pay a 5% tax on most of the food you buy. And, when you go to pay your water or heating bill, you’re taxed the same on that, too. 

Right now, Juneau’s city government taxes food and utilities like just about everything else – at 5%. But, if voters choose to pass Proposition 2 on the local ballot this year, that tax would drop to zero percent for everyone, regardless of their income. 

Daniel Parks, the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, said food insecurity is impacting more and more Juneauites every year. 

“On a local level, we’re facing the highest amount of demand that we’ve ever faced here,” he said. “More and more people that you would have once thought of as firmly in the middle class are sliding into food insecurity.”

Park said he thinks the proposition could have a positive impact. 

The proposed food exemptions would apply to items under the same definition as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps. It would also apply to residential electricity, heating oil or propane, water and sewer and garbage and recycling. Senior citizens are already able to apply for these exemptions.

Angela Rodell is the treasurer of the Affordable Juneau Coalition, a group of advocates who gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot. She says Juneau should have removed the tax a long time ago. 

“This is probably one of the most regressive tax things we have here in Juneau,” she said.  

She said the change would be immediately felt by residents and would make Juneau more affordable. 

 “I think when you start to feel like costs are coming back your way, when you feel like you have just a little bit of extra money, you feel better about participating in the community, participating with the nonprofits, supporting churches and trails and arts and all of those things,” she said.

Juneau Assembly member Neil Steininger is an economist, and he supports the concept.

“We don’t have the supply chains that can provide us lower-cost food, like a lot of areas down south do,” he said. “That really impacts your day-to-day living, because you got to eat every day.”

According to city estimates, the average person would save approximately $300 per year.   

But there’s a flip side to the change. The current 5% tax on food and utilities brings in quite a bit of revenue to the city — to the tune of a combined $9 to $11 million annually. 

“That is huge. That is a big number. Just to give some context,” said Assembly member Christine Woll. 

She said removing that tax would leave a serious hole in the city’s budget. 

“There is no way that we could exempt food and utilities without significant reduction to what the city provides its citizens,” she said. 

It’s unclear what services the Assembly might choose to cut. It would make those decisions after the election.

But, in hopes of offsetting those decisions before they come to fruition, the Assembly is asking voters to implement a new seasonal sales tax system to neutralize the estimated revenue loss. The proposed system is meant to take advantage of the summer tourists while also giving some winter relief to year-round residents.

“The seasonal sales tax basically will make up for that $9 to $12 million revenue loss by shifting the tax burden from residents to our summer visitors,” she said.

Rodell disagrees. She said a reduction in revenue will force the Assembly to pay closer attention to how it spends taxpayers’ money — something she doesn’t think they’ve been doing a good job at. 

“I’m a strong no on the seasonal sales tax because of the way it needs to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “They need to do a better job about defining how it’s going to help the residents of this community.”

The last day to vote in Juneau’s by-mail election is Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.

The Juneau Assembly is considering offering a portion of the future Telephone Hill redevelopment to house U.S. Coast Guard families moving to Juneau. The city expects more than 100 families to join the community when a U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker homeports in the coming years. 

At a committee meeting Monday night, City Manager Katie Koester said both the city-owned Telephone Hill and Pederson Hill subdivisions could meet the Coast Guard’s housing needs.

“We have been meeting with Coast Guard leadership and Coast Guard staff here on what their needs are for homeporting the Storis, knowing that housing is a major obstacle and that there’s a high priority for the community to bring that ship home,” she said. 

The Coast Guard announced last summer that Juneau would be the homeport for the new polar icebreaker Storis. The 360-foot ship is built to operate in the Arctic and is meant to increase U.S. presence in the region. 

Coast Guard officials say it will likely be a few more years before the ship is officially homeported in Juneau. But it will bring at least 110 personnel and their families to town.

Koester says Juneau’s housing stock is not enough to take care of its current housing needs. The crisis will only be exacerbated once Coast Guard families begin to arrive.

She suggested the Assembly look to sign an agreement with the Coast Guard that a portion of the housing at the Telephone Hill and Pederson Hill subdivisions would go to its personnel. She says that would make the land more attractive to developers.

The historic Telephone Hill neighborhood downtown is slated to be demolished beginning in December. Renters are still living there, and have until Nov. 1 to move out. The plans open up the area for newer, denser housing in response to the city’s housing crunch. The city does not yet have a developer signed on to the project. 

“Telephone Hill has an opportunity to provide a lot of multi-unit housing that’s really conveniently located across from the subport,” she said. “So, for those service members that maybe don’t have a car, maybe they’re single — close to public transportation, close to work — it could provide a really attractive option.”

Pederson Hill is about 26 acres of city-owned land, a half mile past Brotherhood Bridge on Glacier Highway. In 2017, the Juneau Assembly approved developing the 86-lot subdivision to create more housing. Since then, private developers and individuals have bought some of the lots to build single-family homes. Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority is also working on developing housing on a portion of the land. 

The Assembly voted to direct Koester to work on creating a memorandum of understanding to potentially offer land at Pederson Hill and Telephone Hill for private developers to build Coast Guard housing.

Chief of Police Derek Bos says the Juneau Police Department is taking action to reform its policies after an officer was filmed slamming a man to the ground during an arrest in July. 

Bos presented the findings of an internal review of the department to the Juneau Assembly at a committee meeting Monday night. Overall, he said he believes the officer’s actions don’t reflect his character or the department as a whole. 

“I firmly believe he’s a good officer who made a very bad mistake on that day,” he said. 

The presentation comes nearly two months after former JPD Officer Brandon LeBlanc’s arrest of the man circulated widely online and prompted a public outcry. 

The video showed LeBlanc attempting to handcuff the man before slamming him to the ground. The man, whose family has publicly identified him as Christopher Williams, Jr., appeared to lie unconscious for the remainder of the video. He was later medevacked out of town. 

Following the arrest, Leblanc was placed on paid administrative leave and the department requested an independent investigation by an external agency to review Leblanc’s use of force, which is still ongoing.

The police department released the body-worn camera footage of the arrest late last month. LeBlanc resigned from his position just a day before it was released.

Chief Bos said that following the incident, the department has updated its policies for requesting medical assistance when someone loses consciousness. Additionally, he said officers learn tactics at the state’s Basic Training Academy that do not align with JPD’s expectations and policies. He said the department is now developing plans to address that disparity in its training. 

Bos went on to defend the department’s hiring standards. That’s despite Assembly members’ concerns about LeBlanc’s background. A man previously sued LeBlanc for excessive force and battery while he served as an officer in Louisiana. A jury found LeBlanc not guilty.

“Our standards are very high, and we — and me specifically — are not going to accept a warm body, just to accept a warm body,” he said.

Bos said the department is committed to working with the community and other entities to be transparent and build trust following the incident. Once the external investigation of LeBlanc’s use of force is completed, the state’s Office of Special Prosecutions will review the case to determine if his response was justified.

Goldbelt Incorporated is finally sharing more about its proposed $500 million cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas Island.

Its president and CEO, McHugh Pierre, presented the plan to the Juneau Assembly for the first time at a committee meeting Monday night. 

“We have some really big, bold ideas,” he said. 

Last fall, the local Alaska Native corporation announced plans to develop the new port in partnership with Royal Caribbean Group. At the time of the announcement, city officials said they felt blindsided by the news. 

But on Monday, Pierre and Goldbelt’s board chair presented to the Juneau Assembly in front of a packed audience to explain exactly what’s in store for the development called Goldbelt Aaní. 

Pierre said the goal of the semi-private cruise destination is to uplift Lingít culture and support Juneau’s economy moving into the future.

“We believe it’s our mission to invest in the community, grow opportunities, build certainty and provide that foundation for families to grow and have confidence to remain in Juneau,” he said. 

Goldbelt owns roughly 1,800 acres of land along the northwest coastline of Douglas between False Outer Point and Point Hilda. The port will be located on about 250 acres just beyond where the road ends on North Douglas.

The plan is to develop the port in phases, starting out with basic dock and welcome center infrastructure before moving into broader ambitions like developing a child care center, employee housing and a replica Lingít village.

Once developed, the land would be subject to property taxes. Pierre estimates the project will cost $500 million. Goldbelt says it would catapult the corporation to become the city’s #1 property taxpayer. 

“We’re excited to contribute to the community, to have a strong community, and to put our money where our mouth is,” he said. 

Assembly members had a lot of questions. Wade Bryson questioned the Douglas Highway’s ability to handle the traffic the port would bring.

“That’s the thought that is on many of our minds, ‘How do we deal with North Douglas Highway and trying to accommodate this development?’” he said. 

Mayor Beth Weldon asked how the corporation intends to curb concerns that the new port would overwhelm the community with cruise tourism. Pierre said Goldbelt believes the new port will actually help alleviate visitor traffic and congestion by containing visitors at the port. 

Pierre didn’t commit to a firm timeline for when the port will open. That’s because of all of the hurdles the corporation still needs to jump over to get permitting approvals with the city and other governmental agencies. The project’s website states 2028 as its grand opening. 

The project is adjacent to a lot of city land. City leaders say they want to thoroughly plan for the North Douglas area before Goldbelt starts development. Pierre pushed back at that. 

“Goldbelt would be happy to work with the city concurrently, but Goldbelt would not be happy to be sidelined and stopped altogether from development because the city wants to do something on its land or plan something around its land,” he said. 

The project will need approvals from both the city planning commission and the Juneau Assembly to move forward. Goldbelt has yet to apply for any city permits.

Pierre said the corporation intends to provide updates to the community as the project moves forward.