Bartlett Regional Hospital. Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO.
The Juneau Assembly has appointed Mary Borthwick, Lauree Morton and Mark Johnson to the Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors.
Borthwick and Morton were reappointed, while Johnson replaces outgoing member Reed Reynolds, who served the maximum three consecutive terms on the hospital board.
Morton is Executive Director of the Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Borthwick is a retired teacher. Johnson retired as Chief of Emergency Medical Services for the state Division of Public Health in 2004.
The city-owned hospital is currently seeking a new chief executive officer. Previous CEO Chris Harff lasted just a year before resigning along with Bartlett’s CFO and Human Resources Director following an investigation into personnel issues at the hospital.
All of the board members were appointed to two-year terms beginning January 1st.
The Assembly met Thursday night to interview eight candidates for the three open seats.
Juneau City Hall. Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO.The Juneau Assembly meets tonight to interview applicants for the Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors.
The Assembly usually holds a single meeting in December to consider applicants for city enterprise boards. But as Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl explains, that would have been difficult this year.
“We had so many interested applicants in the Bartlett hospital board and in the Planning Commission that it would have been a marathon interview session and meeting for the Assembly members,” Kiehl says. “It would have been so long that you start to get a little worn down.”
There are 13 applicants for four vacancies on the Planning Commission and eight applicants for three open seats on the hospital board. So Kiehl, who chairs the Human Resources Committee, says the full Assembly will meet tonight to interview Bartlett candidates, and again on Tuesday, December 17th, to interview Planning Commission candidates.
“This is actually keeping with a recent trend,” says Kiehl. “The last time around the Docks and Harbors and Eaglecrest (Ski Area) boards, as well as the Airport Board had a tremendous number of applicants. We actually had to split those this last spring. So I think it’s a great sign that people are really interested in these city enterprise boards and the Planning Commission.”
The city-owned hospital has experienced a great deal of upheaval this year, with three of its top administrators resigning in the wake of a personnel investigation. The Planning Commission has also had its share of challenges, with several decisions appealed to the Assembly in the past two years.
Kiehl says the applicants for both panels seem highly qualified.
“We’ve got a lot of professionals, both currently working and retirees, who are really interested in making Bartlett run better and who are really interested in the work of the Planning Commission for the city,” he says. “So I don’t see a lot of folks with major agendas to push. What I really see is an interest in service.”
Candidate interviews for both the hospital board and Planning Commission will take place in City Hall Conference Room 224. Both meetings start at 5:30 p.m.
[box]Hospital board interview schedule, Dec. 5, 2013
5:35 p.m. Timothy Powers
5:45 p.m. Marshal Kendziorek
5:55 p.m. Brad Torrence
6:05 p.m. Lauree Morton*
6:15 p.m. Mark S. Johnson
6:25 p.m. Ruth Blackwell
6:35 p.m. Bob Piorkowski
6:45 p.m. Mary Borthwick*
Planning Commission interview schedule, Dec. 17, 2013
5:35 p.m. Jerry Medina*
5:45 p.m. Gordon Jackson
6:05 p.m. Travis Eckhoff
6:15 p.m. Nathan Bishop*
6:25 p.m. Chuck Collins
6:35 p.m. Michael LeVine
*15 minute break*
7:00 p.m. Greg Williams
7:10 p.m. Bill Peters
7:20 p.m. Paul Voelckers
7:30 p.m. Cheryl Jebe
7:40 p.m. Adam Zenger
7:50 p.m. Linda Snow Not available: Ben Haight*
Juneau Assembly member Loren Jones shakes hands with one of the winners of the Juneau Public Library’s 2013 children’s bookmark design contest. Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO.Beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss once wrote: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
“It started in 1982 with two goals: One was to be fun for kids. And the other was as a grassroots campaign to build libraries,” says Amelia Jenkins with the library system’s Youth Services staff.
In fact, Jenkins says the contest started about the same time as library officials began pushing for a new facility in the Mendenhall Valley. That project is finally coming to fruition, with construction expected to get underway next year.
“And the bookmark contest has been along for the ride the whole time,” Jenkins says.
The library system received more than 1,300 entries for this year’s contest. A team of judges selected one winner and two runners up for each grade level. Some of the winners were honored by the Juneau Assembly last week.
The top three bookmarks will be available at public library branches throughout the city for the next year.
2013 Juneau Public Library Children’s Bookmark Contest winners:
Preschool Winner: Brigit Young
Honorable Mentions: Itai Sheleg, Alec James
Kindergarten Winner: Elijah Wyatt
Honorable Mentions: Thaine Sanders, Sarah Rivera
First Grade Winner: Christina Giamakidis
Honorable Mentions: Johnathyn Kestel, Michiko Morris
Moving the CBJ Law Department to Sealaska Plaza is expected to allow the city to move the Human Resources staff out of the basement of the Municipal Way Building. Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO.
The City and Borough of Juneau’s Law Department will move into the Sealaska Plaza building around the first of the year.
The Juneau Assembly on Monday voted 5-3 to approve the move, which will give the law department more space to accommodate additional staff. The city’s in-house legal team is expanding as it takes on more responsibilities for the Juneau School District and Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Some Assembly members wanted to remodel the department’s current office space in the Municipal Way building. That would have saved the city about $6,000 this year compared to the cost of moving.
Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl also argued there would be long-term savings – about $68,000 per year – in the amount of rent the city pays if the Law Department stays at Municipal Way.
“I look at the cost estimates,” Kiehl said. “Even if they are below market – the ongoing expense estimates from the increased lease space – and I have a difficult time supporting adding that to the budget.”
CBJ Lands Manager Greg Chaney said a tentative lease negotiated for Sealaska Plaza would be about 20 percent below market rate.
Assemblyman Randy Wanamaker said moving the Law Department was the right thing to do, because it will allow the city’s Human Resources staff to move out of the basement of the Municipal Way Building.
City Attorney Amy Mead. Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO.
“[Human Resources] needs to get out of the basement and if they can move into the Law Department space, those rates are 20 percent below market rates, and it’s available now,” said Wanamaker. “I think we need to take advantage of this. We are adding staff to the Law Department, and we’ve taken on additional responsibilities that we have to fulfill.”
Kiehl and Assemblymen Loren Jones and Jerry Nankervis voted against the move. Wanamaker voted for it, along with Assembly members Mary Becker, Kate Troll, and Karen Crane, as well as Mayor Merrill Sanford.
Assemblyman Carlton Smith recused himself due to a conflict of interest. Smith is a commercial realtor, whose clients include Sealaska Plaza.
Measure creating HR and Risk Management Department delayed
The Juneau Assembly wants more time to consider an ordinance that would create a separate Human Resources and Risk Management Department in the city.
Right now Human Resources is a division within the CBJ Administration. The City Manager’s office has proposed making it a department, since the staff now deals with hiring and personnel issues for the city-owned Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Wanamaker said he needed to hear more before he said yes to the change.
“I understand that there’s an increase in responsibilities,” Wanamaker said. “But I don’t see how we have enough information to fully understand how this affects Bartlett and the need for a city HR department.”
At Wanamaker’s request the Assembly voted unanimously to refer the measure to the Finance Committee for further discussion.
The Bartlett board of directors, which is appointed by the Assembly, supports the city taking on hospital human resources issues. The hospital’s former HR Director Norma Adams resigned in September, one of three members of the Bartlett senior leadership team to resign or announce plans to step down in recent months.
Holland America’s Westerdam anchored up in Gastineau Channel. Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO.Juneau Port Director Carl Uchytil says he was surprised the State of Alaska needed to have a public comment period in order to transfer nearly 18 acres of submerged tideland to the city for its new cruise ship docks.
Uchytil says he was led to believe by DNR that the decision would be an administrative action.
“Mea culpa. I should have understood the state process better,” Uchytil told the Juneau Assembly on Wednesday. “I didn’t realize that there was a public notice required.”
The Assembly grilled Uchytil and Port Engineer Gary Gillette over the Docks and Harbors Department’s decision to proceed with the project despite the city not owning the submerged lands.
On Tuesday, Docks and Harbors accepted bids to build the two floating cruise ship berths at an estimated cost of $54 million dollars.
Some Assembly members threatened to delay a financing measure until the city gained ownership of the tidelands. Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl argued it was too risky.
“I’m concerned about the financials of the project if we end up not owning that land,” Kiehl said. “And I’m concerned about our exposure if we sign a contract that says we will pay you to build and install these and we don’t know for sure that we’re going to be able to install.”
Other Assembly members commented that Docks and Harbors should have disclosed the land ownership issue sooner. Some wanted written assurances from the state that the land transfer was imminent. Uchytil quoted DNR’s preliminary decision, which he argued was good enough.
“Unless it’s found that the public interest in retaining the land in state clearly outweighs CBJ’s interest, it requires the Division of Mining, Lands, and Waters to convey the tideland and submerged lands, suitable for occupation and development, when requested by CBJ,” he said.
Assemblyman Randy Wanamaker wanted to know if Docks and Harbors did anything illegal by bidding the project without ownership of the land. City Attorney Amy Mead said she didn’t think so.
“I don’t think they were in violation of the statute proceeding in good faith,” Mead said. “The state’s not going to care if we decide to put ourselves out there and sign a contract that ultimately we can’t honor, because we don’t have the land. That’s our problem.”
On Tuesday, State Natural Resources Manager Anne Johnson said DNR did not have a position on Docks and Harbors moving forward with the project before the final decision is issued.
“It’s a business decision that they made,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t really have anything to do with the work that we’re doing on the preliminary decision.”
Ultimately, the Assembly voted 5-3 to proceed with the funding ordinance for the new docks, as long as city officials seek written assurances from the state that the land transfer is imminent. The no votes came from Kiehl and Assembly members Randy Wanamaker and Karen Crane.
