University of Alaska

Lisa Hoferkamp is president of the University of Alaska Southeast Faculty Senate. She sent a letter to University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen that plainly said faculty have mixed feelings about Strategic Pathways – a cost-saving measure Johnsen launched last year and is spearheading.

Johnsen has billed Strategic Pathways as an attempt to make the university leaner and more efficient. It is part of the University of Alaska’s answer to steep budget cuts from the state Legislature.

Hoferkamp said some UAS faculty understand what Strategic Pathways is supposed to do and they even support it.

“But there’s a sizable faction that are uncomfortable with what they see as intrinsic flaws to the process,” Hoferkamp said.

The UAS senate’s letter sits at the top of a growing pile of complaints against the university system’s cost-saving strategy.

Faculty senates in Anchorage and Fairbanks announced they have no confidence in Johnsen’s leadership.

Hoferkamp said faculty feel left out of a lot of decision making and many are worried that some decisions could hurt the university.

“Faculty believe that the university is built on shared governance,” she said. “It involves a two-way conversation and that the Strategic Pathways started out with almost none of that.”

Hoferkamp said it got a little bit better as Strategic Pathways progressed, but faculty across the university still feel left out.

Fallout from College of Education decision

She said a prime example of the frustration is the Fairbanks Faculty Senate’s reaction to a decision to eliminate the administrative parts of the Anchorage and Fairbanks schools of education per Johnsen’s recommendation.

The decision makes UAS the new headquarters for the College of Education.

The Fairbanks faculty senate felt so strongly that faculty weren’t consulted, they passed a resolution that said they have no confidence in the process for that decision. They also voted to declare no confidence in Johnsen’s leadership and so did the Anchorage senate.

Hoferkamp said originally, Johnsen was going to recommend the headquarters go to Fairbanks.

He changed his mind after multiple Southeast Alaska residents and elected officials asked him to recommend UAS, and the City and Borough of Juneau promised to donate a $1 million to the university.

Johnsen has also said he heard from multiple faculty members.

Hoferkamp said, “UAF and UAA feel like that whole process epitomizes the flaws, the inherent flaws in the Strategic Pathways process.”

She said some UAS faculty also question the way the school of education decision was made, but she stressed that they object to the process, not the final decision.

Johnsen says faculty were involved

Johnsen told the Senate Education Committee today that 250 faculty, staff, students and community members have participated in Strategic Pathways; and 89 faculty members were on the teams that studied the pros and cons of academic programs and administrative services that were identified for potential cuts and changes.

“Going forward there will be two rounds of consultation with every affected organizational unit in phase two,” Johnsen said. “So yours truly is going to be all over the place prior to my even reviewing the options with the Board of Regents in March, I will have had meetings with every faculty (and) staff member affected by the options that are being considered.”

Johnsen said the university is already using some faculty suggestions to improve Strategic Pathways and last year the university held public forums.

“On a couple of our campuses, we had roughly 400 people show up to these public forums,” he said.

He said during the forums in Fairbanks and Anchorage people mostly spoke about sports.

Finally, Johnsen said that change is hard and he can’t wait to make decisions after Legislative budget cuts. He said decisions have to be made quickly.

Faculty want financial analysis

Besides participation, faculty across the state are worried no one has done a financial analysis to find out what should and shouldn’t be cut.

Maren Haavig is an assistant professor of accounting at UAS.

She said, “So many faculty are concerned that the options developed and the decisions that have been made, really don’t account for the cost of these decisions, nor the effects on the student outcomes, or the long-term effects to the university, including faculty morale.”

A University of Alaska spokesperson said a financial analysis will be done after the Strategic Pathways options are presented to university leadership.

Hoferkamp said there are a number of UAS faculty who would also vote to declare no confidence in Johnsen, but they aren’t the majority. She said most want more inclusion, which is what she asked for in her letter.

Editors Note: A University of Alaska spokesperson said members of the public can call into the February 21 Board of Regents call-in session and share their thoughts on Strategic Pathways.

The Juneau Assembly has given clear direction to city staff to try and mend fences with the University of Alaska Southeast over a prime piece of federal property up-for-grabs on Auke Bay.

Both the city’s Docks and Harbors division and the university have competing applications with the federal government to take possession of the former NOAA Fisheries Auke Bay Marine Station next to the city’s Statter Harbor.

Previous attempts at forging a joint application stalled last year. But speaking Monday evening at a joint meeting of the Juneau Assembly and the Docks and Harbors board, University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield said the university remains open to a joint plan.

“We’re interested in continuing to work with the city and see if we can’t find an arrangement that would work for Juneau,” Caulfield said. “But I do want to share our vision of what we believe is possible on this property if we can keep that kind of partnership in focus.”

The city’s Docks and Harbors has its own ambitious plan to extend boat slips from Statter Harbor to serve commercial fishing vessels, tourist boats and even small cruise ships. The city had offered to lease the main laboratory building to the university on a 30-year lease.

But Caulfield says the university is hesitant to invest $15 million in a building it didn’t own.

“We have some concerns about making the investments that would be required to really utilize this property fully and not have, if you will, if not fee-simple title but good control over use of the property,” he said.

Members of the Docks and Harbors board then put the question to the chancellor directly: “If the university’s questions were answered, if all the issues were addressed, is there any scenario that the university would drop its application and combine it with the city’s?” asked board member Dave Summers.

“There could well be an arrangement where we would do that. But again I think we would need to sit down and work through some of the questions that I’ve pointed to,” Caulfield replied.

Juneau Assembly members concluded by directing the city manager’s office to resume talks with the university over the 4-acre property. That doesn’t leave a lot of time. The federal General Services Administration is expected to make a ruling on the applications before May.

The federal government is offloading some prime real estate on Auke Bay and both the city of Juneau and University of Alaska Southeast are making strong cases to receive it. The former NOAA Fisheries Auke Bay Marine Station is currently occupied by the Coast Guard, though that arrangement expires this spring. Now both UAS and the Juneau Docks and Harbors have put in competing proposals to take it over.

There are differing visions for what to do with nearly 4 acres of prime waterfront property on Auke Bay. Juneau’s Docks and Harbors division sees huge potential in expanding slips for commercial fishing boats, yachts and even small cruise ships. Port Director Carl Uchytil argues that Juneau’s geography has left mariners with too little harbor space and this location is prime.

“We’re cramped on this long, linear ribbon of land in Juneau,” Uchytil said, “so having the opportunity to acquire more land and utilizing that land as a portal for expansion of the harbor we think is in the best interest of the marine users in Juneau.”

Docks and Harbors submitted a proposal last summer that called for an ambitious $30 million harbor expansion that would build a new boat slip connected to neighboring Statter Harbor. Docks and Harbors would also relocate its administrative offices to the property, saving $56,000 a year in rent. Juneau’s port director says it’s a rare chance.

“This is kind of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire property adjacent to a harbor than can really benefit the community for decades to come, and we’re excited about the opportunity that it presents,” he said.

The most prominent building on the site is a federal marine lab built in the 1960s. For decades it was occupied by NOAA Fisheries until they moved up the road to the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute at Lena Point.

Since then several other agencies have come and gone. Now the Coast Guard is using some of the buildings but it’s not clear if they’ll renew their tenancy when it expires in May. Considered surplus property, the waterfront acreage and the buildings on it are in the hands of the General Services Administration, the agency charged with managing federal properties.

The University of Alaska Southeast whose main campus is literally across the street also has designs on the property.

Port Engineer Gary Gillette notes the city would be glad to lease out the 14,000-square-foot main building to the university.

“All the labs and everything are still there, so if it’s something that the university or some research entity could use, we’d lease it out to them because as a Docks and Harbor facility we don’t particularly need the lab space,” Gillette said.

The university, for its part, has politely declined the city’s offer. Instead, it’s filed a proposal of its own that calls for expanding its campus on Auke Bay and using the entire 4 acres.

“What we’re trying to do is expand the campus along that waterfront and use those buildings and we have plans to utilize all of the buildings that are there,” UAS Vice Provost for Research Karen Schmitt explained. “So then we will have all of our science programs — which are very interdisciplinary in nature — on the same site and accessible to the water on the marine laboratory side going down to the waterfront and the dock there.”

At one point both the city and university were working on a joint-plan but that stalled last year. A memorandum of understanding remains unsigned because Docks and Harbors and the university disagree over how to share the property.

UAS facilities director Keith Gerken says both sides recognize a compromise would simplify the process but so far that remains elusive.

“One of the questions we haven’t been able to answer is whether there is a workable plan that has the two agencies sharing the property,” Gerken said. “That’s what I think frankly neither party can say for sure works.”

The university projects it would cost up to $2.2 million to move in in the first year. Demolishing and replacing some of the buildings and bringing it up to standards could cost upwards to $25 million over 20 years.

Schmitt says the state’s fiscal crisis — and the prospect of deep spending cuts — is no reason to abandon investments in education and that’s the message they’d carry to the Capitol.

“We’ll be serving a large number of people in the community, certainly the region, and I think that’s the kind of mission that our university really can advocate for strongly and do well to have that property to make that possible,” she said.

Both sides agree that it’s a prime piece of land that the community would be lucky to have access to — no matter how it’s used.

As it stands the ball remains in the feds’ court. The university’s application rests with the U.S. Department of Education. Docks and Harbors has applied through the U.S. Commerce Department’s maritime agency. The federal GSA is left with the task of weighing which proposal is better in the interests of the United States government.

How — and when — the federal government will make a decision is anybody’s guess.

Southeast Alaska lawmakers express skepticism that the Legislature should look to school funding to cut the state’s budget. In fact, some legislators would like to see spending increase in some education areas.

School funding makes up one of the largest pieces of the state budget. But as the Legislature looks to close a nearly $3 billion gap between state spending and revenue, Southeast lawmakers say school funding shouldn’t be cut further.

Rep. Sam Kito III said the foundation formula funding that makes up the bulk of state school spending should be taken off of the table for cuts. The Juneau Democrat is one of the legislators who said if anything, he’d like to increase funding.

“I do think that right now, we are not providing an adequate education in some areas of the state,” Kito said.

Kito said schools serving communities with large Alaska Native populations, as well as those with high poverty levels, have the highest need for funds.

“That could actually end up requiring additional funding for education. That’s why we do need to look at the services we’re providing, and then figure out how we’re going to pay for those services,” Kito said.

Kito also said the Legislature should weigh how to support the costs of building and maintaining schools. The state program to reimburse school districts for construction bonds was suspended in 2015 for five years.

“There are definitely areas where the program could have been fixed to save the state some money, but without it being there, the state is actually increasing our deferred maintenance of schools, which means school-repair costs in the future are going to be higher,” Kito said.

Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan, a Democrat, said he wants to avoid a repeat of last summer when Gov. Bill Walker vetoed school debt reimbursement.

“It was a big blow to Juneau,” Egan said. “And we had to come up with … local funding. I mean, somebody’s got to pay. And it was done after municipalities had passed their budget.”

Juneau Rep. Justin Parish is Southeast’s newest lawmaker. A para-educator, the Democrat is a member of the House Education Committee. He joined Kito and Egan in opposing school funding cuts.

“I recognize that education is the largest component of our budget,” Parish said. “However, it is arguably the most vital for the long-term viability of our state.”

In higher education, the Southeast legislators want to give the University of Alaska more time to put into place its reorganization plan, aimed in part at cutting costs.

Parish said he’s eager to see how the plan affects students.

“I think that while an organization is trying to make cuts intelligently, it’s a little unwise to impose cuts from outside,” he said.

Kito said he’d like to see the university review whether it needs all of its buildings. And he’d like to see it refocus on meeting student needs.

“How can our university system generate graduates that can enter into the workforce in Alaska and be productive members of our state?” Kito said. “And that’s perspective I think they need to be taking.”

And the lawmakers said the state should look to close the roughly $6 billion gap between its pension obligations to retired teachers and other public workers and the assets it has to pay pensions.

Instead of cuts, Egan offered an alternative to the current retirement system. Instead of limiting public workers to the current defined contribution retirement system, Egan would like to offer them the chance to choose between traditional defined benefit pensions and the current system.

“Defined benefits allows people in the system to gain a better retirement if you want to stay here in Juneau, raise a family, pay property taxes, and contribute to the economy of the state,” Egan said.

Egan said defined contribution plans work better for workers who only plan to spend a few years in the state.

Ed Schoenfeld in Douglas and Quinton Chandler in Juneau contributed to this report.

A missing person case for Anchorage police turned into a death investigation on Thursday.

A graduate of Nome-Beltz Junior/Senior High School, Martina Painter, 25, was found dead Thursday afternoon. She was the only person in a blue four-door Dodge Dart located in a parking lot near University Lake Park in Anchorage.

A family member had contacted Anchorage Police Department about 11 p.m. Wednesday and filed a missing person’s report, claiming Painter had gone out for the evening with a friend but had not returned home.

An autopsy conducted today in Anchorage concluded that the lone occupant of the car was Martina Painter. The cause of death has not been determined. An investigation is ongoing.

Anchorage homicide detectives have conducted several interviews and are currently not looking to speak with anyone else regarding this incident.

A Facebook profile matching Painters said she had previously worked at Norton Sound Health Corporation, Nome. It also said she had attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Here’s a run down of Juneau’s biggest stories of 2016.

A divisive, decades-old community bumper sticker issue was put to rest for foreseeable future. To save money, Gov. Bill Walker announced he was effectively killing the mega-project to extend Juneau’s main road north, 50 miles closer to the road system. While ferry system boosters and environmental interests cheered, others, like Juneau Mayor Ken Koelsch, lamented.

“Today’s announcement definitely feels like a body blow,” Koelsch said.

The cruise ship industry hit the City & Borough of Juneau with a federal lawsuit in April. Cruise Lines International Association alleges Juneau is misspending the $5 per passenger tax it collects. Federal law says it can only be spent on projects and programs that address both cruise ship passengers’ safety and accessibility.

The industry is especially irked that its passengers are paying for the waterfront park under construction about a mile from cruise ship ports. The park’s most prominent feature is the life-size bronze humpback whale sculpture that arrived in August. Private donors paid for the whale itself.

The city thinks it’s in the clear, and even opted to pay for its legal defense mostly with head tax revenue. The case is in the discovery phase.

The nonpartisan Juneau Assembly is leaning more conservative after Ken Koelsch won a special mayoral election in March. Then, in the regular October election, he backed the prevailing candidates in two contested races. Those members often align with Koelsch on split votes.

Koelsch spoke of unity on his election night.

“My goal is to unite us as a community. I will work hard for you with honor and with integrity. We have our work cut out for us, so let’s unite,” he said.

The new assembly appointed Jerry Nankervis deputy mayor. Nankervis is a particularly conservative voice in the nine-member body.

One issue the new bloc campaigned on was restoring the tax break seniors used to get on the city’s 5 percent sales tax. All seniors had been eligible for the tax exemption on goods and services purchased for themselves.

The 2015 assembly limited the benefit to low-income seniors as an austerity measure. It softened the impact by giving all seniors the tax break on essential items, such as food and utilities.

Since the October elections, the new assembly has not acted on the senior sales tax campaign rhetoric. It did, however, derail an affordable housing plan the old assembly set in motion.

In economic news, one of the community’s biggest private employers closed up shop. About 180 full- and part-time jobs went with Wal-Mart when it shuttered in February. And there’ve been no announcements for what will become of the big box retailer’s 135,000 square-foot building.

And no, Target says it’s not coming.

Despite Wal-Mart, the state entering a recession and state government shedding hundreds more jobs, Juneau’s economy appeared to stay strong. The school district even had an unexpected increase in enrollment.

“In many ways, the Juneau economy is booming,” Meilani Schijvens of Rain Coast Data said in August.

Schijvens said Juneau has a strong private sector, but still thinks the recession will hit locally.

“It’s coming, I think it’s coming, I’m not looking forward to it. But 2016 is still appearing to be a really strong year for the community,” she said.

In August, the Juneau Assembly made the capital city only the second Alaska municipality after Anchorage to protect its private citizens from discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.

The Rev. Phil Campbell of Northern Light United Church was one of about 70 people that crowded into a Juneau Assembly meeting in support of the ordinance.

“I humbly submit, assembly members, that by the passage of the equal rights ordinance this night that you will facilitate yet more bending toward justice and equality for all people,” Campbell said.

This year, the Juneau Police Department’s leadership championed transparency, accountability, outreach with the community at-large and the at-risk — even simple acts of kindness.

In November, here’s how police Chief Bryce Johnson explained why he wants to outfit 40 officers with body cameras:

“It’s good if the police did it right, it’s good for the public to know we did it right,” Johnson said. “And if we did it wrong, we need to own that and fix it. And it’s good for the public to know when we do it wrong, that we admit to our mistakes and we make them better.”

As smartphone video of police officers around the nation using lethal force in questionable circumstances fueled mass protests, JPD contained one potentially tragic situation after another — with little or no violence.

Among the high-profile incidents JPD resolved relatively peacefully this year:

• A man on a spree of high-speed, dangerous driving who partially shut down Egan Drive and nearly ran over on officer,
• someone having a mental health emergency knifing at imaginary animals in the middle of a downtown intersection, and
• a standoff with a suicidal subject with a gun at a downtown motel.

At a hotel police are frequently called to, Lt. Kris Sell explained why police officers were connecting residents to social services, and handing out drug overdose medicine and sharps containers.

“Really, modern policing is also about, ‘How do you apply positive pressure so that you can work with the people that are having challenges and get them on a more law-abiding path so they can get along with their neighbors?’” Sell said.

The department does have a huge blemish on its 2016 record. In November, a veteran officer shot a man that was apparently unarmed at a car crash site. The man, Jeremie Tinney, survived and is in custody with Washington state authorities on unrelated charges. JPD hasn’t charged him with anything.

In the immediate aftermath, Chief Johnson’s messaging was consistent.

“Our goal is to conduct a very thorough, very professional, very transparent investigation so we can give very clear answers for what occurred and why what occurred happened,” Johnson said.

State agencies are investigating the incident, which was JPD’s first officer-involved shooting in nearly 10 years.

The police also have their work cut out for them dealing with a huge increase in burglaries. Police officials have said they think drug addictions are a major factor in the upswing.

In education news, Juneau’s class of 2016 helped set a record high 85 percent graduation rate. And it’s not just that more students are fulfilling the minimums — more kids are taking and succeeding with Advanced Placement classes and tests that award college credit.

The university system had a big surprise for Juneau, too. University of Alaska system officials intended to consolidate three colleges of education into one in Fairbanks in response to state budget shortfalls. In a major reversal, they decided that consolidated college will be at the University of Alaska Southeast.

The stakes were higher than just the one college, according to Juneau Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl.

“That College of Education is nine-tenths of the graduate degrees that the University of Alaska Southeast offers,” Kiehl said. “Without a leadership role in one of the major missions of the university system statewide, UAS was in terrible danger.”

The Juneau Empire reports that CBJ officials helped sway the decision by pledging $1 million in support.

The demolition of the Gastineau Apartments wrapped this year. The century old, multi-building apartments became an uninhabitable downtown eyesore after a fire destroyed it in 2012.

The city hired contractors for the demolition over protest from the owners. It’s trying to recover the demolition costs from the landowners in a case pending in Juneau Superior Court.

Jeremy Hsieh

Jeremy Hsieh is the news director of KTOO. Follow @jmlhsieh