I dig into questions about the forces and institutions that shape Juneau, big and small, delightful and outrageous. What stirs you up about how Juneau is built and how the city works?
Gov. Sean Parnell announced the appointment of three locals to state boards today.
Cathie Roemmich, the recently retired CEO of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce, was reappointed to the Marine Transportation Advisory Board.
Scott Jordan, director of Alaska’s Division of Risk Management, was appointed to the Alaska Safety Advisory Council.
And Traci Gilmour, a massage therapist for Holt Chiropractic and owner of TLC Therapy, was appointed to the state Board of Massage Therapists.
Goldbelt Inc. has named a veteran CIA and Department of Homeland Security officer as its next CEO.
Robert Irwin of Virginia has decades of experience in the federal government and officially begins work at the Juneau-based Native corporation Dec. 15.
Joe Kahklen, chairman of the Goldbelt Board of Directors, said Irwin was selected because of his “extensive knowledge” of federal contracting, especially with 8(a) contracts.
8(a) refers to a part of federal law that gives small, minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses assistance and special preferences for federal contracts. Subsidiaries are ineligible – unless the parent company is an Alaska Native corporation, Native Hawaiian organization, or an Indian tribe.
Goldbelt’s 2013 annual report shows contracted services generated nearly 94 percent of its revenue for the year, or about $138 million.
Outside of Alaska, the 8(a) preference for Alaska Native corporations has been controversial because it’s been exploited to secure hefty contracts without competitive bidding.
Goldbelt’s annual report says the company would aim to focus only on competitive 8(a) contracts to avoid the scrutiny and bad press. In 2013, it owned 14 subsidiaries engaged in 8(a) contracting, most based in Virginia.
Irwin is the author of a memoir published in 2010 about his decades of experience in the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security.
Outgoing CEO Bob Loiselle plans to retire to Washington state.
Goldbelt is an urban Alaska Native corporation worth about $105 million. It has about 3,600 shareholders and 900 employees in 20 states.
Gov.-elect Bill Walker and Lt. Gov.-elect Byron Mallott will be sworn into office on Monday at Juneau’s Centennial Hall.
The public inauguration ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m. and is expected to last about an hour.
Lindsay Hobson, Walker’s daughter and a campaign spokeswoman involved in the transition, says they’ve reserved about 260 seats for invited guests alone.
“Between the band, the performers, the people on stage and their families, you know, the governor and the lieutenant governor-elect’s family and friends that are traveling,” Hobson says.
There will be seating available in the main ballroom for nearly a thousand people. Overflow seating and viewing for hundreds more will be available in the Centennial Hall lobby and at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center.
Alaska Airlines is adding an extra Anchorage-to-Juneau flight on Monday morning to accommodate inauguration traffic, the campaign said in a Thanksgiving press release.
“This is the first time in state history where we have had both an Alaskan-born governor and lieutenant governor serving together,” Hobson says. “You know, I think there’s going to be a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. And also, it is our first nonpartisan administration in Alaska history. And the only nonpartisan governor in the United States right now. So it will be certainly one to remember.”
Free shuttle buses will run to Centennial Hall from the Nugget Mall parking lot at 10:30 and 10:45 a.m., from Marine Park at 11:10, and a cruise ship terminal at 11:15 a.m.
Live Gavel Alaska coverage of the ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m. on 360 North, 360north.org, and KTOO. KTOO’s Casey Kelly and former APRN capitol correspondent Dave Donaldson will host the coverage.
After the ceremony, Hobson says Walker and Mallott will head to the third floor of the Capitol building to physically assume their offices. Walker plans to stay in the Governor’s Mansion Monday night.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story quoted Lindsay Hobson saying “close to 500” seats had been reserved for invited guests. Hobson now says the number is about 260.
The Juneau Police Department arrested two men early Thursday after a robbery and assault reported in the Mendenhall Valley.
Late Wednesday, a 27-year-old man told police he’d been kicked in the face and his wallet and Kindle were stolen behind an unnamed business.
Police say Matthew Gilchrest, 30, and William Stauffer, 23, were detained on Mall Road and taken to the police station for questioning. Officers got a search warrant and found the Kindle in a backpack belonging to one of the men.
Online court records show Stauffer is charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor assault.
Legislators on Wednesday awarded a $27.2 million contract to Dawson Construction to continue its renovation and earthquake retrofit of the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau.
Work under an existing $6.5 million contract on the west wing of the building is wrapping now, says project architect Wayne Jensen.
“Contractor right now is demobilizing on site. When we get back to Juneau, it’ll be pretty much cleaned up. They’ve moved off the parking garage, and all the scaffolding’s been secured and they’ll be leaving the site,” he said.
Jensen was speaking to the Legislative Council, which manages the legislature’s internal budget and support staff. The council approved the contract.
The new contract carries the project through its expected completion in 2016.
“So by about this time two years from now, should be completed and have a grand opening the first day of session in 2017,” Jensen said.
The renovations began in 2013. The 80-plus-year-old building is vulnerable to earthquakes. The brick façade is also in rough shape, with pieces literally falling off to street level.
The renovations will make the building earthquake resistant, replace the façade and include energy efficiency upgrades.
Construction work is scheduled between legislative sessions. The next 90-day session begins Jan. 20.
The City & Borough of Juneau issued an air emergency and wood burning ban in the Mendenhall Valley on Tuesday.
It happens a couple of times a winter, when a weather phenomenon known as an inversion causes cooler air and fine particulate matter to get trapped near the ground. Wood smoke is a key contributor to the particulate matter, which can be hazardous to breathe.
The City & Borough of Juneau tracks fine particulate matter in the Mendenhall Valley from a state monitoring station on top of Floyd Dryden Middle School.
The station is run by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Air Quality and reports hourly readings online.
More information about the air emergency and burn ban is available on the CBJ Lands page or on the air pollution hotline at 586-5333. Report enforcement issues to Juneau police at 586-0600.
“The elderly and the young children and people with asthma are affected by the quality of the air first,” says Dan Bleidorn, deputy lands manager with the City and Borough of Juneau. His division is responsible for monitoring the air quality and issuing the emergencies.
“If we had not called an air emergency, it could get to the levels where it would affect just about anybody, anybody who’s outside.”
Bleidorn says the state’s threshold for unsafe air begins at 35 micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meter. Tuesday night, it peaked near 80 micrograms. During the day Wednesday, it topped out around 47 before dropping off. It averaged about 25 micrograms Wednesday.
Geri Swanson is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Juneau office. She says the cool, clear conditions associated with inversions look likely to persist for several days.
“We’re looking at the cooler temperatures – or, looking for the high pressure through probably at least Saturday, if not longer. I’m not really seeing a big change coming up anytime soon.”
The ban does not apply to wood pellet stoves, which burn hotter and cleaner.
