CBJ Assembly Meetings

All new members of the Juneau Assembly have been sworn in, the deputy mayor appointed, and committee members named.

The Assembly met Monday night for the first time since the municipal election.  Jerry Nankervis took the oath of office and Assembly members selected Mary Becker as deputy mayor.  Mayor Merrill Sanford said Becker was the only member who had shown interest in the deputy mayor position.

Nankervis was unable to attend last week’s special meeting called to install the mayor and new members.

Then Sanford handed out committee and liaison assignments.  Karen Crane remains the chair of the Finance Committee, which is comprised of all Assembly members.  The entire panel also sits as the Committee of the Whole, which is chaired by the deputy mayor.

Jesse Kiehl is Human Resources Committee chairman; Carlton Smith is Lands, and Randy Wanamaker retains his chairmanship of the Public Works and Facilities Committee.

The Assembly has five standing committees and each member also serves as a liaison between the Assembly and other groups, ranging from CBJ enterprise boards to the Chamber of Commerce.  Sanford admonished members to take their liaison assignments seriously, saying it’s one of the most important positions an Assembly member has.

“That means bringing communications back from committees, both enterprise boards and other committees were assigned to, getting their concerns and wants and bringing them back to the Assembly or to staff and try to work things out ahead of time,” Sanford said.

All Juneau Assembly members automatically assume membership on the Alaska Municipal League and Southeast Conference.

The new Assembly holds a daylong retreat on Saturday in city hall chambers to set priorities for the year.

 

October 22, 2012
Agenda

Juneau’s new mayor says the Capital City needs to take on a bigger leadership role in Southeast Alaska.

Just after being sworn-in Monday night, Merrill Sanford urged his fellow Assembly members to reach out to other communities in the state, especially Southeast.

“Join with them in their celebrations, in their sad times, and bond as a group like we need to,” Mayor Sanford said. “We definitely need to do that in Southeast, and stop this decline of population, and stop this decline in our region.”

Southeast Alaska’s population has been flat for the past two decades as residents have aged and birth rates have dropped. The state Labor Department predicts those trends will continue over the next 20 years.

But state Economist Mali Abrahamson says population shifts vary from community to community within the region.

“For instance, Haines last year had a larger growth rate than Mat-Su, and that was driven by retirees,” Abrahamson said. “So, a lot of this population projection information you just can’t know. Who knew people were going to retire to Haines?”

In the past Sanford has advocated creating more jobs in the timber and mining industries as a way to boost the region’s population.

Abrahamson says mining jobs in Southeast got a big boost in 2010 with the opening of the Kensington Mine near Juneau. And while timber took a hit in the mid ’90s and early 2000s with pulp mill closures in Sitka and Ketchikan, jobs in that sector have been on the rebound since 2001.

“It’s a very seasonal industry,” said Abrahamson. “But we are seeing our summer peak employment steadily increase for the last seven or eight years.”

Abrahamson says Juneau’s economy, and to a lesser extent the rest of Southeast, continues to be dependent on jobs in government.

“Juneau is definitely government dependent because of the capitol,” she said. “However, local government and tribal governments as well as school districts are often the largest employers. In southern Southeast Alaska they can be the largest employer in the entire town.”

Sanford says he wants Juneau to lead by example and he may find an ally in Assembly member Carlton Smith, who echoed the mayor’s comments at Monday’s meeting.

“We need to look to sustain employment in the community and growth of employment,” Smith said, listing off a series of goals for the community to set. “New relationships with our neighbors here in Southeast, because we have goals in common. We need to create a new fresh identity for our Capital City, and we also finally need to preserve the Capital City of Juneau.”

The Assembly will have an opportunity to get more specific about its goals when members meet for the annual Assembly retreat on October 27th. Mayor Sanford says he plans to bring in a facilitator to help with that discussion.

For the first time in nine years Alaska’s Capital City has a new mayor.

At a brief special meeting Monday night, Bruce Botelho – the longest serving mayor in Juneau history – handed the gavel to former Assemblyman Merrill Sanford.

New Assemblyman Loren Jones also was sworn-in to the seat previously held by David Stone, who served alongside Botelho on the Assembly for three consecutive terms starting in 2003.

Term limits prevented both Botelho and Stone from running for re-election at this year’s October 2nd municipal election, something not lost on Stone in his outgoing remarks.

“I personally don’t favor term limits, but in my case I think it’s a blessing,” Stone said, getting a laugh from the audience and his fellow Assembly members.

On a serious note, Stone thanked city staff, his fellow assembly members, and his wife Laurel.

“Laurel, I thank you for your support. Nine years, you’ve been there with me this whole time, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you again,” he said, getting another laugh.

Botelho – who has spent 15 of the last 30 years as Assembly member or Mayor – also thanked his fellow Assembly members and municipal staff.

“Without exception, the people with whom I have served believed in Juneau, and were committed to making Juneau the best place to live that they could,” said Botelho. “I would add this: That the citizens of Juneau have been blessed with a hardworking and committed staff. They are truly dedicated public servants.”

After being sworn-in as mayor, Sanford – who served on the Assembly alongside Botelho and Stone for eight of their nine years – presented them each with a parting gift: A crystal plaque bearing the city and borough seal for Stone and a crystal gavel for Botelho.

Laurel Stone and Botelho’s mother, Harriet, also received flowers from City Manager Kim Kiefer.

Sanford then took the mayor’s seat, and after thanking Botelho and Stone again for their service, turned to his fellow Assembly members and offered some thoughts on the future.

“It’s exciting. It’s a little bit scary to be sitting in the mayor’s spot,” he said. “But we’ll move forward together. And hopefully as we start to debate, and start to discuss issues, we’ll grow as a team and we’ll become a better team to serve our community, because that’s what it’s all about.”

Sanford also talked about wanting to lend a helping hand to Juneau’s neighbors throughout Southeast Alaska.

The new mayor said he expects to finalize committee assignments in the next week or two.

The Assembly will hold a retreat on Saturday October 27th to discuss goals for the coming year.

Jerry Nankervis, who was elected to an Assembly District Two seat at the October 2nd municipal election, was out of town Monday. He will be sworn-in prior to next Monday’s regularly scheduled Assembly meeting.

Assemblywoman Ruth Danner was honored at her final meeting Monday.

Danner will be traveling on business next week when newly-elected assembly members Jerry Nankervis and Loren Jones take the oath of office along with Mayor-elect Merrill Sanford.

Outgoing Mayor Bruce Botelho presented Danner with a plaque bearing the city seal. He thanked her for her service, especially on homelessness issues as chair of the Assembly Human Resources Committee. Botelho also alluded to the sometimes rocky relationship Danner had with her fellow assembly members, which included his own threat to censure her earlier this year.

“There are always bumpy spots. It’s the nature of a family, and we’ve had them,” Botelho said. “But we’ve also had many great successes and I think we’ll look back, all of us, with fondness on these years of service.”

Danner and Botelho shared an embrace after she accepted her plaque.

Danner said she thought her greatest accomplishment on the Assembly was working to make the city’s senior citizen and disabled veteran property tax hardship exemption more transparent. She also said she was proud of working with her fellow assembly members to narrow the number of people who qualify for the exemption.

“Like most things worth doing it was easy and it didn’t make everybody happy,” Danner said. “But in the end I think it was the right thing to do.”

In her final motion as an Assembly member, Danner asked for the Human Resources Committee to make a recommendation to the full Assembly about opening the hardship exemption to Juneau’s emergency responders who are injured in the line of duty. The motion passed unanimously.

The CBJ Canvass Board meets Tuesday to certify results from last week’s municipal election. The newly-elected Assembly members and Mayor will be sworn in at a special meeting next Monday.

CBJ Assembly Meeting
October 8, 2012
Agenda