Rosemarie Alexander

The Service High School Cougars and South Anchorage Wolverines battle tomorrow (Saturday, 10/22/11) for the statewide football trophy for Alaska’s largest schools. The 2 p.m. game will be streamed on the Alaska School Activities Association website.

A Juneau man will be the head referee for the game. After officiating at Juneau football and soft ball games for 31 years, Guy Warren is retiring. ASAA has given him the privilege to sport the white cap, leading the team of officials at the state championship game.

Rosemarie Alexander joins Warren in a look back at his career as an official.

Three Assembly members stepped down and three newly elected members took their place Monday night.

“One of the hallmarks of the American system,” Mayor Bruce Botelho said, “is the peaceful and orderly transition of government.”

It was the last meeting for Peter Freer, Malcolm Menzies, and Deputy Mayor Merrill Sanford. Freer and Menzies each served a few months, having been appointed to fill seats left vacant when Bob Doll moved to Washington State and Jonathon Anderson took a new job in California.

Sanford has served three consecutive three-year terms – the limit for Assembly members.

Jesse Kiehl, Carlton Smith and Randy Wanamaker were sworn in to replace the outgoing members.

Freer, who served on the Assembly 28 years ago, thanked the panel for appointing him.

“When I took the seat here in July of this year, after many years of not being on the Assembly, it felt as though I never left,” Freer said. “I felt very comfortable in the chair and in doing the work of the community. “

Menzies said he enjoyed the few months he was on the Assembly.

“I very much thank you for selecting me – not electing – but selecting me to fill another’s term,” he said.

After nine years on the Assembly, Sanford had a lot to say to his colleagues, which was a bit out of character for him.

“You know I’m a man of few words, but my wife typed up a few things for me,” he said, to the laughter of the panel.

Sanford proceeded to talk for ten minutes. He gave members three recommendations: Don’t lock up city lands from development, be prepared to vote against some of your friends and neighbors, and work as a team.

He said serving on the Assembly has been a humbling experience.

“When I first started my little saying was ‘a lifetime of commitment.’ You know that was just a little slogan picked out of the air by four or five of us,” Sanford said. “And I guess when I look back on my career as a Marine, as a builder of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, as a fireperson for 30 years, on the Planning Commission for four years, on the Assembly for nine years, I can say now that I truly have had a lifetime of commitment to our city.”

City Attorney John Hartle administered the oath of office to Kiehl, Smith and Wanamaker. Then the panel elected David Stone as deputy mayor.

The Assembly accepted Mayor Botelho’s recommendations for committees.

Karen Crane takes over for Stone as chairman of the Finance Committee, while Stone becomes chairman of the Committee of the Whole. The entire Assembly sits as a Finance Committee and COW.

Wanamaker is chairman of the Public Works and Facilities Committee, Mary Becker retains Lands, and Ruth Danner will continue as Human Resources chair.

A popular Juneau-Douglas High School teacher passed away unexpectedly over the weekend.

Forty-two year-old Alison McKenna was found dead in her home Saturday morning.

Juneau police responded to call from a family member at 10:43 a.m. Police say her death is NOT considered suspicious. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

McKenna leaves behind two young children, a son, age 11 and a 9-year-old daughter.

She also touched the lives of hundreds of students over the years. McKenna taught World Literature and Creative Writing at JDHS as well as Writing for Publication. She was advisor to the student publication, The Ego.

In 2006, McKenna helped KTOO launch the high school broadcast journalism program, giving her students the opportunity to report stories for KTOO’s Morning Edition.

McKenna knew the importance of teaching students how to conduct interviews, work with adults, reach out to the community and meet deadlines. She said she wanted her students to be taken seriously and the program inspired them to do quality work.

As a long time educator, friend, teacher and colleague, her loss will be particularly hard on staff and students at both JDHS and Thunder Mountain High School. School district spokeswoman Kristin Bartlett says support is available for students and families at the high schools. While there is no school for students today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday), the high schools are open and counselors will be available to help students during this difficult time.

Downtown Douglas will keep a state office building and a new office complex will NOT be built in Juneau any time soon.

As KTOO has reported, the Douglas Island building has become the Parnell Administration’s top priority as it addresses the needs of state office space in the capital city. Here are more details of that decision:

The administration was expected to soon announce the location of a new 140-thousand square foot office building to house about 500 employees from the departments of Labor, Public Safety, Fish and Game and Corrections.

Instead, Administration Commissioner Becky Hultberg says an analysis led to a different plan:

“I don’t think we’re saying we’re not going to build a new building, we’re just saying that our first priority is renovating the Douglas Island Office Building and then we’re going to do some additional work and planning to understand the need for office space in Juneau,” Hultberg says.

Juneau city leaders, state legislators as well as Palin, then Parnell administration officials, have been discussing the new facility for about three years.

A new capital city office complex was proposed in 2009 at the old downtown subport, owned by the Mental Health Trust Authority. Legislation allowing the Authority to develop office space and lease it to the state did not survive that session, but $2-million in planning and design funds were given to the project last year.

Hultberg says the work led to a different conclusion.

“It enabled us to have a better understanding of the condition of the existing buildings we have,” she says. “Prior to this there were some assumptions made, some very limited work done, but really the appropriation enabled us to do the detailed work that has led us to this conclusion.”

Hultberg says an engineer’s study shows the old Douglas building is structurally sound and can be renovated. She estimates it could cost $15-million to $20-million.

But the question remains of what to do with the old Public Safety Building on Whittier Street. It’s been considered a temporary home for the department since the 1970s.

Hultberg says the Public Safety Building is not worth rehabilitating and employees will have to be moved at some point.

“Whether that’s in a lease or a state-owned building has yet to be determined. And we don’t have a decision yet on the ultimate disposition of that building,” she says.

The lease for the so-called Plywood Palace, which houses the Department of Labor, expires next year. The poorly constructed building has long been a pain to the administration. Recent work was done to get rid of mold and other bacteria that some state employees said made them sick.

Hultberg says the administration is negotiating with the building’s absentee owner.

“But really we need to go through a process of looking at the space that we have in state office buildings, ensuring that we’re maximizing the use that space, looking at what space might be freed up in the SLAM project goes forward, and then assessing what additional space needs we have in Juneau and that would include a decision on what do about the Department of Labor,” she says.

SLAM is the proposed State Libraries, Archives and Museum complex, which will not be built for several years. Hultberg says nearly two floors of the State Office Building may be available once the library is moved.

Juneau State Representatives Cathy Munoz and Beth Kerttula carried the legislation is 2009 for a new office complex.

Both say they’re disappointed the Parnell administration has changed course and they will continue working with the administration on a new office building in the capital city.

While Munoz says she appreciates the need for fiscal responsibility and is pleased the administration still plans to invest in Juneau, she believes the Plywood Palace has to be replaced.

“And we just need to keep moving forward to make ensure our long term goal of replacing, or being able to construct a new facility to accommodate the Department of Labor employees is met,” she says.

Kerttula says it’s good the state will retain an office building in downtown Douglas.  She admits frustration at the state’s decisions years years ago to construct sub-standard facilities. Kerttula says it is clear Juneau will need a new state office building.

“You could have told them at the time when they moved people into the Plywood Palace and the DEC building, too, from my perspective, that eventually those buildings were not going to withstand even the weather,” she says.

Administration Commissioner Hultberg says the administration has no plans to move employees from the four departments out of Juneau.

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears ended their football season Saturday in a huge loss to the Service High School Cougars.

The Cougars scored the first touchdown within the first 15-seconds of the game, on a 90-yard kick-off return. From then on, they dominated the Bears, winning 64 to 21 in the large schools semi-finals. They will play South Anchorage next week for the championship title.

Small and medium-division schools played for the statewide title this weekend, with Nikiski beating Barrow on a score of 52 to 21 for small schools. Kenai won the medium schools championship over Homer. The score was 26 to 14.

About 5,500 Permanent Fund Dividends are being recalled.

The PFDs were sent out in error. Approximately 3,600 were deposited directly into bank accounts and 1,900 were sent out as paper checks.

PFD Division Director Deborah Bitney says employees didn’t match correct records in a new software program and dividends were paid to applicants instead of creditors.

The software is called “eGarns” and it’s being used for the first time this year.

“This affects only debts that are basically court ordered, like restitution, judgments for debts that are unpaid, things like that,” Bitney says.

It does not affect garnishments for child support, she says.

The division has requested that direct deposits be reversed and also has issued stop payment orders on the checks. Bitney says the error was discovered late Monday afternoon. While the total amount of the error isn’t available, it’s expected to be nearly $7 million.

Bitney says it’s important to get the word out about the error.

“You know, 99 percent of the dividends that went out are just fine,” she says. “This affects a very small subset of the population. We really are trying to help those people and we would like them to contact us as quickly as possible once they find out they are involved in this.”

Bitney says safeguards have been programmed into “eGarns” to prevent similar errors.

Nearly every Alaskan received $1,174 in this year’s PFD.