CBJ Assembly Meetings

Updated post — Dec. 15, 1:00 p.m.

A city-owned Mendenhall Valley property sold to a local developer in 2018 will return to City and Borough of Juneau ownership.

The Juneau Assembly approved the transfer of the Hurlock Avenue lot at its meeting Monday night, along with leasing the property to Tlingit and Haida Regional Housing Authority for use as an emergency youth shelter.

Alaska Legacy Partners bought the property from the city in 2018. The agreement included a condition that the existing building become an assisted living facility.

Under the new terms, the property will return to city possession at no cost. The city will keep Alaska Legacy Partners’ $35,000 down payment and forgive the remaining debt of $315,000.

Alaska Legacy Partners’ Garrett Schoenberger says his company’s plans for the property fell through when the city approved a competing assisted living development nearby.

“We’re not looking to make a dime off of this,” he said. “We’re just hoping to get reimbursed for some of our out-of-pocket costs.”

Schoenberger says they looked at local groups who could provide a needed service to the community. They worked with the housing authority after learning that Juneau currently has no emergency shelter for youth.

The shelter would be managed by the city’s Zach Gordon Youth Center, with the housing authority acting as landlord and property manager.

The property transfer will take some time to complete. Local housing advocates say an emergency shelter for youth is badly needed, especially as the pandemic continues.

Original post — Dec. 14, 5:45 p.m.

The Juneau Assembly will hold a regular meeting Monday night at 7 p.m.

Items set for public hearing on Monday’s agenda include ordinances related to a piece of property in the Mendenhall Valley that may become an emergency shelter for at-risk youth, an emergency CARES Act appropriation and an extension of the city’s public mask ordinance.

The meeting will be streamed on Facebook Live and via Zoom Webinar. It will also air live on KTOO 104.3 FM and stream on the web.

Details about how to participate in the meeting can be found in the agenda packet.

Updated story

The Juneau Assembly has approved two new sources of relief meant to help Juneau residents and businesses struggling to stay afloat as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.

On Monday night, the Assembly passed $2.3 million in CARES Act funding to create another grant program for businesses and another $2 million for grants to individuals impacted by the pandemic.

Leeann Thomas owns the Triangle Club bar downtown. She said at the meeting that the pandemic has made it extremely hard to run the business her family has owned for 80 years.

“My business was closed for ten weeks due to state and city closures. For two weeks, I was only allowed 25% capacity in my business. For the past three months, I was only allowed 50% capacity in my business,” Thomas said. “And on top of that, in the last month, we have been mandated to close at 11 p.m.”

Eligible businesses must demonstrate the loss of 50% of their revenue due to the pandemic. The grant amount is determined by the difference between businesses’ gross sales this year compared to the same time last year.

The Juneau Economic Development Council will distribute the grants.

Martin Stepetin testified in favor of the individual assistance program. He works in food service for Smokehouse Catering. He said that because of the pandemic, he made half as much this year as he did last year.

“Thank god I’m still working,” Stepetin said. “I’m just happy to have a job, honestly.”

Grants of up to $2,000 will be determined by income level. Dependents under 18 are eligible for an additional $300. Grants will be overseen by Catholic Community Service, which also oversees the city’s housing and utility relief grants.

With federal CARES funding set to expire at the end of the year, Juneau and other municipalities around the country are rushing to spend the remaining money.

It’s still not clear whether Congress will extend the program or pass any additional economic relief.

The Assembly also approved $73,000 in CARES funding for Eaglecrest Ski Area to help with operations this winter and a $300,000 grant to Family Promise of Juneau for additional space for supportive housing services.

Original story

The Juneau Assembly will hold a regular meeting Monday at 7 p.m.

Items set for public hearing on tonight’s agenda include $2.3 million in CARES Act funding for local businesses that lost more than 50% of their revenue as a result of COVID-19 and $2 million for individual residents financially harmed by the pandemic.

The Assembly will also decide whether to give $1.5 million to Sealaska Heritage Institute for its Northwest Coast Arts campus construction and more funding to Eaglecrest Ski Area to help with COVID-19 mitigation this winter.

The meeting will be streamed on Facebook Live and via Zoom Webinar. Note: The meeting will not air live on KTOO 104.3 FM.

Details about how to participate in the meeting can be found in the agenda packet.

This post has been updated.

Update, 11 p.m.

The Juneau Assembly swore in its newest member and bid farewell to an outgoing member at its first meeting since the Oct. 6 election.

Returning members Maria Gladziszewski and Alicia Hughes-Skandijs took their oath together with new member Christine Woll Monday night over Zoom.

Each of them will serve a three-year term. Assembly member Loren Jones was appointed deputy mayor.

Woll replaces Rob Edwardson. In recognition for his service, the Assembly gifted Edwardson a copper artwork by artist Arnie Weimer and flowers to his wife Sandy.

Edwardson was elected in 2017 and worked on a number of issues during his one term on the Assembly. He recently spearheaded the creation of a systemic racism review committee. He was also the Assembly’s only Alaska Native member.

Edwardson thanked his colleagues for their support and wished them luck with the tough decisions that lie ahead.

“Even when we disagree with one another — sometimes very animatedly — that’s us working together in order to get things done. That’s what it looks like,” Edwardson said. “When somebody opposes on a body, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do and they’re making things better.”

Woll said she’s honored to be serving her community and inspired by the way the Assembly has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

“The reason I decided to run was watching you all over the last year,” Woll said. “This is a group that I wanted to be a part of. So thank you all for your hard work and (I’m) excited to jump in.”

And she did jump in — Monday’s meeting agenda went on for nearly four hours and was packed with topics related to CARES Act funding and COVID-19 mitigation.

They also discussed the safest way to take a group photo of the new Assembly.

Original story:

The Juneau Assembly will swear in its newest member Monday night during its meeting beginning at 7 p.m. 

Christine Woll will represent District 2 on the Assembly, replacing outgoing Assembly member Rob Edwardson. She will serve a three-year term. 

Current Assembly members Maria Gladziszewski and Alicia Hughes-Skandijs were reelected and will begin new, three-year terms. 

After reorganizing, the Assembly will take up business on a number of issues like CARES Act funding and sales tax exemption onboard cruise ships. 

Tonight’s meeting will be a hybrid between in-person and virtual. Assembly members and limited staff will be allowed in Assembly Chambers. 

The meeting will be broadcast on Zoom and Facebook Live. You can also listen live on KTOO 104.3 FM and online, or here once the meeting begins. 

The public can participate during the meeting by calling or emailing the City Clerk’s office ahead of time, or by hitting the “raise hand” button on the Zoom webinar to speak during public hearing. Details can be found in the meeting packet. 

This post has been updated.

https://www.facebook.com/cbjuneau/videos/3567825809929566/

Juneau officials approved millions of dollars in pandemic relief Thursday. That included a program to pay households up to $2,000 in rent, mortgage or utility relief — by the end of the year. 

They also gave a major boost to the Glory Hall homeless shelter’s effort to build a new campus near the airport.

The Juneau Assembly approved about $7.3 million in new grants, funded by the federal CARES Act. 

A big chunk of that, $3 million, is for residential rent, mortgage and utility relief. Eligibility would be limited by household income, less than $94,240, among other things. 

Erin Walker-Tolles is the executive director of Catholic Community Service, which will administer these grants. They’re modeled after a program in Ketchikan. 

“We’re very fortunate, Ketchikan did all the heavy lifting for us. So, I wouldn’t expect it would take us more than a couple weeks, to get, you know, accepting applications in the door and processing them. … In two weeks, three weeks tops,” Walker-Tolles told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Another $2 million is going to a local business grant program started earlier this year. The Juneau Economic Development Council is administering that and requested the additional money due to high demand. 

The Juneau School District will get $1.7 million for technology, and losses related to lower enrollment and distance learning expenses. 

Travel Juneau is getting $384,000 to pay for a destination travel marketing campaign.

Two Assembly members, Loren Jones and Maria Gladziszewski, voted against this. They doubted it would be effective during the pandemic. 

Some of that money will also go toward accreditation of businesses with safer operating practices. 

Mayor Beth Weldon summed why she was for it.

“Trying to make Juneau a safe place for visitors also makes it a safe place for our residents,” she said. 

The final CARES Act funded grant was $175,000 to fund a pilot program for COVID-19 testing and monitoring of local businesses’ employees.  The Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce will handle that grant.

The Assembly has an end-of-year deadline to spend the city’s share of CARES Act money. It has now spent or committed about 90% of the $53 million the city is entitled to. About $5 million is left. 

More CARES Act funding pitches are slated for the Assembly’s Oct. 26 meeting. 

One assembly member, Alicia Hughes-Skandijs, said she plans to propose a program to make direct payments to locals. She said she’d like something similar to the program Skagway implemented. Another, Greg Smith, said he would propose additional CARES Act funding for housing assistance. 

And, the general manager of Eaglecrest Ski Area has requested an extra $182,000 to operate more safely this winter. The plan includes additional staff to manage the crowds, and new tents and tables to create outdoor spaces to limit time indoors. City officials said Wednesday that some portion of that request is likely to be CARES Act eligible.

In non-CARES Act business, the Assembly granted $2.3 million to the Glory Hall for its new emergency shelter and soup kitchen near the airport. The commitment is expected to help the Glory Hall land more grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska Mental Health Trust.

Longtime Juneau resident Laraine Derr has been part of the fundraising effort, and others.   

“Raising money to move The Glory Hall was one of the easiest. It took less than four months,” Derr said. “Why so fast? People in Juneau see the need for individuals who experience homelessness and suffering, and mental health issues and substance abuse disorders to have access to help. The construction of the new Glory Hall cannot wait and must begin soon.”

Local donors have already raised half a million dollars for the project. 

This story has been updated and expanded with news from the meeting. 

The Juneau Assembly will hold a regular meeting Monday night at 7 p.m.

Items set for public hearing on tonight’s agenda include multiple emergency appropriations related to CARES Act funding for things like more child care spots provided by the Juneau School District and additional funding for the city’s business sustainability grant program.

Another ordinance would appropriate $50,000 for the newly created systemic racism review committee. And the Assembly will decide whether to waive the requirement for witness signature on voters’ mail-in ballots for the Oct. 6 municipal election.

The meeting will be streamed on Facebook Live and via Zoom Webinar. It will also air live on KTOO 104.3 FM and stream on the web.

Details about how to participate in the meeting can be found in the agenda packet.

Note: The city had issues with Facebook Live during the meeting and was not able to publish the video. An audio recording is available below. It cuts off the first couple of minutes. 

The Juneau Assembly will hold a regular meeting tonight at 7 p.m.

Items set for public hearing on tonight’s agenda include the creation of a systemic racism review committee, CARES Act funding for local non-profits and updates to the borough’s floodplain maps.

The meetings will be streamed on Facebook Live and via Zoom Webinar. It will also air live on KTOO 104.3 FM and stream on the web. You can also watch here.

Details about how to participate in the meeting can be found in the agenda packet.

https://www.facebook.com/cbjuneau/videos/310668810169380/