Clarise Larson

The cost to move Juneau’s City Hall is coming in millions of dollars higher than expected.

According to the city administration, it’s expected to cost $20.5 million to purchase, renovate and move into two floors of the Michael J. Burns building, which houses the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation downtown. The floors are slated to become Juneau’s new City Hall location. 

In September, the Juneau Assembly greenlit the purchase of the floors from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. At the time, the cost estimate was less than $18 million. 

Mayor Beth Weldon said the move to the Burns building is the best option for both city staff and citizens. 

“We have to find a solution. We have looked under every rock to find a cheaper solution. There is no cheaper solution,” she said. 

Those rocks include trying to build a new City Hall, and looking at existing buildings like the former Walmart in Lemon Creek, the Marie Drake building and the Floyd Dryden campus. 

The $20.5 million price tag is millions of dollars higher than city officials anticipated it would be just a few months ago. That cost is to cover moving expenses and a partial remodel of the floors — including things such as new paint, carpet and cubicles. 

And, while the Assembly has already put aside about $14.5 million for a City Hall project during recent budget cycles, they still needed to find another $6 million.

So at a meeting Monday night, Assembly members agreed to pay for the shortfall by pulling that amount from a hodgepodge of other proposed city projects, including the Capital Civic Center, the Lemon Creek Multimodal Path and a waterfront museum. 

But not everyone was in favor of the plan. New Assembly member Nano Brooks voted against the transfer of funds, arguing it was too much money. 

“The amount of $20 million is just, I can’t support that in good conscience,” he said. “It’s not what the taxpayers voted for, and even the funds that were initially set aside has left a lot of the community feeling very disparaged and unheard.”

The Assembly’s vote comes after multiple years of push and pull between city administration and Juneau voters. The city asked voters twice during recent municipal elections to approve bond debt. They said no both times. 

Juneau’s current City Hall near Marine Park fits less than half of the city’s employees and it needs millions of dollars in maintenance and repairs. The new location would consolidate several departments that are now in separate buildings.

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said the plan isn’t perfect, but she’ll support it. 

“There is no workable alternative that I have heard,” she said, “So we need to find the solution, and this is frequently where we find ourselves, which is just choosing the best of our least favorite choices.”

According to the city administration, the renovations and the move to the new location are expected to take at least a year to complete. 

The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska recently launched a new foundation. Its main goal right now is to fundraise for a new education campus in Juneau. 

The tribe announced the formation of the Tlingit & Haida Foundation last month. Jamie Gomez is the executive director of the nonprofit. 

“The mission is, we strengthen tribal communities through resources that advance education, wellness and self-determination,” she said. “It really covers almost all the programs and a lot of the work that we do at the tribe.” 

Gomez said the nonprofit’s first major goal is to help fund the tribe’s proposed tribal education campus in the Mendenhall Valley. Tlingit and Haida President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson announced plans to develop the campus during the 89th Annual Tribal Assembly in 2024. 

The 12-acre tribal education campus — slated to be located behind Fred Meyer — would serve students from early childhood into college. The tribe says its goal is to improve education outcomes for Alaska Native students by providing culturally relevant, place-based lessons.

In total, the campus is expected to cost $90 million. Gomez said the tribe plans to develop it in phases. She said the tribe likely won’t break ground on the project for at least a few years. 

“The foundation is going to be a big part of trying to help find funding to support the education campus,” she said. “Those in Juneau and the community know supporting our youth and future generations is really important to us, but there’s a lot of funding to be raised there.”

Other tribes in Alaska also have nonprofit arms, like Cook Inlet Tribal Council, which serves tribal members in communities from Chickaloon to Seldovia.

Gomez said the Tlingit & Haida Foundation plans to connect with the Juneau community in the coming months to share more information about the nonprofit and the education campus.

The general manager of Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area has resigned and the chair of its board of directors has stepped down. Both departures were announced Thursday night during the ski area’s board of directors meeting.

Hannah Shively served as the board chair for less than six months. At the meeting, she said she was leaving the role due to health reasons. The board elected Brandon Cullum as its new chair. 

Craig Cimmons, Eaglecrest’s general manager, was absent from the meeting Thursday night and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his resignation. He has not publicly offered a reason as of Friday morning. 

“We’re not sure why the manager is not here tonight, totally honestly, we’re still trying to figure that out,” Cullum said during the meeting. “I’m sure it’s not out of disrespect to anyone, but we’re going to do the best we can to present the information that he’s provided and answer questions.”

Cimmons’ resignation comes after serving in the role for less than two years. He was hired as general manager in the fall of 2024 after the former manager, Dave Scanlan, was abruptly asked to resign by the board.

Both departures also come as the city-owned ski area faces a tough start to its 50th season, including a broken water line and a delayed opening of the Ptarmigan lift. And, that’s all while Juneau has been facing back-to-back snowstorms, prompting city officials and tribal leaders to issue a joint disaster declaration. The capital city is currently bracing for heavy rain and potential flooding from an atmospheric river on Friday.

“This month has been terrible,” Shively said at the meeting. “Pretty much anything that could have gone wrong went wrong.”

Eaglecrest staff originally announced in mid-December that there was a large break in its main water line that supplies its lodges. And, while that has since been repaired, staff say there are still other repairs that need to be done before the water is restored. In the meantime, skiers and staff have been using portable toilets outside of the lodge. 

Another issue is the delayed opening of its Ptarmigan lift due to unexpected repairs. The chairlift serves the middle of the mountain. According to Shively, the ski area hopes to open it soon. 

“All our required state certifications have been received, and we’re currently waiting for that final inspection from our insurance provider,” she said at the meeting.

Cimmons agreed to stay in his role for another month to help facilitate finding his replacement. Meanwhile, the ski area’s Director of Snowsports School, Rental, Retail & Repair Erin Lupro will take over the role of acting general manager.

The ski area is slated to celebrate its 50th year as a ski area next weekend.

In this newscast:

• The City of Hoonah declared a local emergency earlier this week following heavy snowstorms in the region.
• As the state of Alaska responds to Juneau’s disaster declaration, the capital city is bracing for heavy rain and potential flooding from an atmospheric river expected to hit Southeast late Thursday night.
• Students and staff at Mendenhall River Community School were evacuated from the elementary school Thursday morning due to growing concern about the snow load on the gym roof.
• The public comment period for the controversial Cascade Point Ferry Terminal in Juneau closes tomorrow.
• The City of Ketchikan is once again looking for its new manager. Keith Morey had been selected by the city for the job but withdrew his name from consideration yesterday afternoon, just hours before the city council planned to finalize his employment contract.

The City of Hoonah declared a local emergency this week following heavy snowstorms in the region. 

On Tuesday night, the Hoonah City Council unanimously approved a disaster declaration, which opens the door for the Southeast community to request aid from the state. Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved the declaration Thursday morning. 

Hoonah’s City Administrator, Dennis Gray Jr., says the small community on Chichagof Island has been overwhelmed with the snow and needs assistance. As of yesterday morning, the National Weather Service in Juneau recorded that Hoonah had received at least three feet of snow since late December. 

“We’re facing the same issues that Juneau is,” he said. “We had three boats sink in our harbor. We have two that are still sunk and causing damage to the floats.”

Hoonah’s declaration comes around the same time that city and tribal leaders in Juneau announced a joint disaster declaration after back-to-back snowstorms dumped more than four feet of snow on Juneau.

Gray said Hoonah city staff and residents are struggling to keep up with snow removal on buildings, boats and roads. He said multiple porches and trailers have collapsed or been damaged due to the increasingly heavy snowpack. 

“We had eight men on top of our wastewater plant shoveling off snow to make sure it didn’t collapse,” he said. “It’s just a big mess.”

Gray said the city is requesting assistance from the state primarily to help recover the two large sunken vessels that local equipment is unable to remove from the harbor. 

Both Hoonah and the capital city are bracing for an atmospheric river expected to hit Southeast on Thursday evening that will bring heavy rain and potential flooding. 

Juneau’s Fred Meyer store closed yet again on Wednesday amid concerns about the heavy snow load on the roof following recent record-breaking snowstorms and cold temperatures. 

The closure began Tuesday evening when shoppers reported on social media that they were evacuated from the building. 

Tiffany Sanders, a spokesperson for Fred Meyer, said the closure is “out of an abundance of caution” while staff remove snow and address building maintenance. She did not say when the store would reopen.  

The store was already closed for multiple days last week due to concerns about the weight of the snow on the roof. The Fred Meyer gas station’s awning partially collapsed last week. Now, the station is partially reopened.

The recent heavy snow and rain in the capital city have caused several collapsed roofs across towns. On Tuesday, the roof of the Bill Ray Center, an empty building on F Street downtown, collapsed under the weight of the snow. 

Other businesses in Juneau have closed their doors as well. Nugget Mall has been closed since late last week due to safety concerns. That includes stores like Petco, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Office Max. 

“We are continuing to monitor snow load daily in coordination with structural engineers and qualified contractors,” the Nugget Mall owners wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. “Safety is and will remain the priority. That includes the safety of contractors, tenants, employees, and customers.”

The state also announced on Wednesday that the building that houses Juneau’s Department of Motor Vehicles was closed due to snow load concerns.

On Tuesday night, city and tribal leaders announced a joint disaster declaration and are asking for assistance from the state with snow removal.