Alaska Elections

This profile is part of KTOO’s ongoing coverage of the 2013 municipal election. See all of the election coverage here.

Bill Peters has spent much of the last two decades serving on non-profit, community, and municipal boards. Now he’s hoping to add CBJ assembly to that list.

Peters was 27 when he joined the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters in Anchorage. He stuck with it when he moved to Juneau 16 years ago, and was the first board chair when the state’s three regional Big Brothers Big Sisters merged into one in 2007.

Peters served one term on the Juneau school district board of education.

He also pushed a ballot initiative for a second high school. Peters holds firm to his belief that two high schools in Juneau are better than one.

“I get it. I understand. There are a lot of people in the community that would still advocate that one high school can serve the need and they would probably argue with declining populations. But I would like to think, from a positive perspective, we need to build our economy, we need to bring people to our community, jobs are very important, we need to provide a good education for those people coming, and I think in the long term, we’re going to see that growth,” Peters says.

He says now is the right time to join the assembly.

“Running for assembly has always been on my radar. It’s an open seat, so it’s a good opportunity for me to run. I’m passionate about service in the community, but most importantly, we’ve got some important issues right now that we need to work on,” he says.

For Peters, those issues are affordable housing, jobs in Juneau, education, and access to a clean water supply.

“Last Chance Basin has been deemed that it’s not sufficient. I know the city is doing some work and I’d like to ensure that that work continues to identify a supplemental water supply – that would be Salmon Creek – and then also look to rehabilitate the wells that are at Last Chance Basin,” Peters says.

Peters thinks water could be an issue if AJ Mine is developed, but says the assembly has a responsibility to consider any proposal that comes forward.

“I’m a proponent of economic growth and this could be an opportunity that could have a positive benefit to our community. As an assembly member, I would do what is needed to take a look at that, certainly understanding that any viable option would need to meet state, federal, and city regulations,” he says.

On the issue of solid waste,

“One of the things that I would like to work on is considering whether or not we can bring back the incinerator and whether that could address both solid waste and the sludge. If there was the incinerator option that would work to take care of both those needs.”

Peters is Vice President of Corporate Development at True North Federal Credit Union. If he gets voted in, Peters says he’ll bring a financial background to the assembly, which he thinks will be useful for finding an appropriate balance between revenues and expenditures.

This profile is part of KTOO’s ongoing coverage of the 2013 municipal election. See all of the election coverage here.

Juneau School Board Candidate Lisa Worl believes parental involvement is critical to improving the quality of K-12 education in the Capital City.

Worl not only talks the talk, she also walks the walk. The mother of two has been involved in her kids’ education since pre-school. Before being appointed to the school board last December to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Kim Poole, Worl served many years on site councils at schools her children attended. She says the board is a natural next step.

“The more time I spent in the schools the more I saw the need and the importance of having parent advocacy,” she says.

Worl is a lifelong Alaskan, born to a Tlingit mother and Filipino father. She grew up in Hoonah and Juneau, graduating from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1987. She put herself through college at the University of Oregon, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1992.

She’s married to Ricardo Worl. They have a daughter and son, who attended Auke Bay Co-op Preschool, Auke Bay Elementary, and Floyd Dryden Middle School, and are now students at Thunder Mountain High School. She also has 15 nieces and nephews throughout the Juneau school system.

“First day of school I was helping a niece register at (Juneau-Douglas High School),” she says.

Worl believes parental involvement is key to improving education in the Capital City.

“There are just so many ways to be involved – it could be classroom, it could be fundraising,” she says. “I chose site councils, because my interest lies more in the policy and the budget. I have friends who, they do a lot more of the PTO/PTA. They like the social. But, it’s important and so there’s a role for really everybody.”

She says it’s even more important for parents to be active in their kids’ education as school funding continues to decrease. Worl joined the board last winter just as the district embarked on crafting a budget that saw operating expenses cut by about $1.3 million. That came on the heels of larger budget reductions the two previous years.

With support from state and federal sources expected to hold steady or further decline, Worl says the district will need to prioritize spending that benefits students. She says that could mean the community as a whole needs to step up to support programs like the arts, music and extracurricular activities.

“And it seems this community has come through when they’ve needed to,” says Worl. “But it really, for the board right now, is about really focusing in on the classrooms.”

Worl says community involvement in this year’s budget process helped the board prioritize its spending. The 17-member district budget committee, appointed by the board, included teachers, site council representatives, and community members.

“Having 17 members, making sure everyone has their input and asks their questions, it was a little bit, I don’t know, unwieldy?” she says. “But we had plenty of voices at the table.”

Juneau teachers are working on a one-year contract this year, one of the fallouts of the district’s budget struggles. Worl is limited in what she can say about ongoing negotiations between the administration and the teachers union. But she’s hopeful the two sides will reach an agreement for a three-year contract soon.

“It’s a very difficult process, and I wish it weren’t as tenuous as it is,” she says. “Because ultimately we all have the same goal. I wish we were all rowing in the same direction, I wish the whole process was very different.”

Worl is seeking her first full term on the Juneau School Board. She is running unopposed. Municipal Election Day is October 1st.

This profile is part of KTOO’s ongoing coverage of the 2013 municipal election. See all of the election coverage here.

Juneau Assembly member Karen Crane hopes to complete a number of projects in her second term.

Crane is running unopposed for a District 2 Assembly seat in next month’s municipal election. Besides the unfinished projects, Crane says she still enjoys public service – something she’s been doing most of her life. But she says the decision to run for reelection wasn’t easy.

“The Assembly requires a considerable amount of time, and it means you can’t travel as extensively as you want and some other things,” Crane says. “So, it was a discussion with my husband, ‘Are we still comfortable with this amount of time?’ And I am retired, so I have the time to give.”

Crane is a former director of the State Division of Libraries Archives and Museums. Before moving to Juneau in 1986, she also spent seven years at the Fairbanks North Star Borough as Library Director and head of the transit, parks and recreation systems there.

She’s married to artist Dan Fruits. They have two terriers and live out Glacier Highway, though for many years they lived downtown on Basin Road.

Crane says she spent much of her first Assembly term learning the ropes, another factor in her decision to seek a second term.

“I’m just at the point there are a couple of projects that I would like to see through,” she says.

One of those projects harkens back to her days in Fairbanks. Crane says it’s time to update Juneau’s Transit Plan. While she thinks Capital Transit does a good job overall, she says the bus system has not changed its routes in more than 20 years.

“Having been involved in transit in Fairbanks, I know that consistency is critical to ridership in a good system,” Crane says. “But I also know that the system needs to be nimble enough to change with the community. And I don’t think that ours has.”

Crane believes Capital Transit could be faster and more convenient for riders.

“We have a parking problem downtown, and I think the transit system could be a big part of a solution there,” she says. “If we would take a look at park and ride, and then really have express buses maybe every fifteen minutes.”

Another project Crane hopes to see through is housing. According to a Juneau Economic Development Council report, the Capital City has a housing shortage at all levels. The Assembly this year formed an ad hoc Housing Committee to recommend ways the city and borough could address the problem. The Assembly is now working with the city manager’s office to implement some of those suggestions. Crane says the city is nearing a “crisis point” on the issue.

“If you look at economic development, if we want to bring more business into town, housing is an issue there,” she says. “If we want to expand in a number of areas, housing is an issue. If we want to keep young families in Juneau, housing is an issue.”

Crane is chair of the influential Assembly Finance Committee. The panel works with the manager’s office to craft CBJ’s biennial budget. That’s been a challenging task in recent years as the city has lost sales tax revenue due to the Great Recession, as well as state and federal support.

“Over the last few years, what we have done is, government has been cut,” says Crane. “We’re keeping positions open, and we’ve just had to live within our means.”

It’s a trend Crane expects to continue for the foreseeable future.

“We certainly know what’s happening at the federal level, and the state is cutting back as well,” she says. “And the city is going to have to make reductions commiserate with those.”

Crane says dealing with tough issues is what she likes most about Assembly service.

“The issues and the potential solutions,” Crane says. “I’m willing to dig in, do the homework, and I’m also really committed to public process.”

Karen Crane is running unopposed for a District 2 Assembly seat. District 2 includes the Mendenhall Valley and out the road, but voters throughout the borough cast ballots for the seat. Municipal Election Day is Tuesday October 1st.

Hosted by the League of Women Voters – Juneau

Absentee and early voting is underway for Juneau’s October 1st regular municipal election. A qualified voter can absentee vote for any reason.

Ballots can be cast early until September 30th at city hall’s assembly chambers or at the Mendenhall Mall.

Voting hours at city hall are Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm. At the Mendenhall Mall, ballots can be cast Monday through Friday 10 am to 6:30 pm, and during the weekend from noon to 4 pm.

Voters are choosing two school board members and three assembly members.

 

Byron Mallott is a familiar face in Alaska politics. He’s served as mayor of both Juneau and Yakutat. He was the first commissioner of the Department of Community and Regional Affairs. He’s headed the Sealaska Corporation, and directed the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.

While Mallott still hasn’t filed the paperwork needed to run, he declared his candidacy on Monday, in an interview with the Alaska Dispatch. There had been some speculation that he might follow his fellow candidate’s Bill Walker’s lead and run as an independent. Instead, Mallott wants to earn the Democratic nomination.

That means he could face off against State Senator Hollis French in a party primary. French hasn’t officially committed to entering the race, but he’s announced he exploring a run and he’s registered with the state as a candidate. French says Mallott’s announcement shouldn’t affect his final decision on the issue.

“I’ve never been one to try to arm-twist other candidates into getting in or out of the race. I think this is a good development.”

Mallott could not be reached for comment for this story.