Local Government

Juneau’s Valley Transit Center will soon have a new charging station for the city’s fleet of electric buses. 

Construction will begin March 31 and should be completed in mid-July, according to Capital Transit Superintendent Rich Ross.

The city will close the parking lot, restrooms and the public electric vehicle chargers off of Mendenhall Mall Road during installation. Pick-up and drop-off will be temporarily moved to the park & ride lot next door.

The two new chargers will serve seven electric buses that arrived in December. Capital Transit drivers have been using slower chargers at their bus barn on Bentwood Place, which can take six hours to fully power up a bus when it’s dead. The new chargers should cut that time down to two hours, Ross said, and the more convenient location will keep buses on-route longer. 

The charging station project is estimated to cost roughly $1.6 million dollars, most of which was provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The city is covering $160,759.

The first electric bus that Capital Transit tested, made by Proterra, was out of commission for more than a year due to numerous repairs. The new buses were made by a different manufacturer, Gillig, which also made the city’s diesel buses. 

Ross said that he was nervous about how the new electric fleet would perform, but so far “these are a completely different animal than that first bus we tried,” he said. “I think it’s a good value for the community.”

All of the new electric buses should be on the road in June, Ross said. 

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Bentwood Place. 

The clock is ticking for Juneau to come up with a new place to put its trash. 

City officials and Waste Management, the private company that runs the landfill, say it likely has about 10 years left before it fills up – maybe 15 if they can stretch it. 

At a meeting earlier this week, Denise Koch, the city’s director of Engineering and Public Works, told Assembly members the city needs to act now.  

“I think that we’re coming to a point where we have to make a decision just because any landfill doesn’t last forever, it will fill up,” she said. “We can’t wait until we find out that the landfill is closing to have these sorts of conversations.”

A newly released study commissioned by the city offers three different routes the city could take to address its trash issue. Option one: Build a new landfill. Option two: Ship the trash south. And option three: Burn it. 

At the meeting, Janet Goodrich with Jacobs Engineering Group – which conducted the study – explained what solutions would best fit Juneau, and what barriers each one faces.

“It is pretty important that CBJ look at a way to establish control over your future one way or another, whether you stay privately owned or publicly owned in all of the parameters or some of them,” she said. 

All of the options would be multimillion-dollar projects and all come with their own logistical hurdles. Take the idea to build a waste-to-energy facility to essentially burn the trash for example: It sounds simple enough, but Terra Miller-Cassman with the engineering group said that’s the study’s least preferred option.

“The waste stream in Juneau is substantially smaller than other regions where waste-to-energy plants have been constructed,” she said. “It likely would not be within Juneau’s best interest to have diversion programs to divert waste for recycling or composting, because essentially all of that waste would need to be processed at the waste-to-energy facility in order to optimize the efficiency of the operations.”

A more preferred option laid out by the engineering group is to build a new landfill. That has some barriers too. For one, the price tag is pretty high. To build a landfill with just a 50-year lifespan, it would cost $50 to $162 million. For a 100-year landfill, it would cost between $99 to $323 million. Juneau’s current landfill was built in the 60s. 

Goodrich said timing is also a factor. 

“My experience personally is that a landfill is going to take at least 10 years from inception to garbage coming in there,” she said. 

Goodrich said building a landfill can take up to 30 years because of all the regulations and permitting. That’s much longer than the current landfill will likely last. But that’s where the third option, shipping the waste south, could come into play. 

Juneau produces roughly 30,000 tons of waste a year. The city has taken steps in recent years to at least slow down the flow of waste in town using its recycling program and working with a privately owned compost facility to divert materials. Cruise lines have also agreed to stop offloading bulky and oversized items into the landfill. But these steps are only Band-Aids.

The group that did the study says shipping the waste could be a permanent solution, or be used as a sort of crutch in the meantime while a long-term solution like building a new landfill is being figured out. 

Assembly members at the meeting wanted to explore that idea further. They plan to discuss it more at an upcoming committee of the whole meeting and consider commissioning another study to dive deeper into the options. 

Public transportation riders in Juneau will soon be able to pay their fares using a new mobile app. 

Next month Capital Transit is set to launch a new app through Token Transit. It allows riders to buy their tickets online using their smartphones. 

Denise Koch, the city’s director of Engineering and Public Works, said at a city meeting earlier this week that the goal is to make riding public transportation in town more convenient and accessible.

“I know, even for myself, sometimes I think, ‘Oh, I never have like $1 or $2 on me,’ this is just another option to pay,” she said. “I think it’s going to be one that’s very exciting.”

Koch said riders can use the app to purchase single rides, youth rides or monthly passes. Paying in cash or using physical passes will still be options, but the city is getting rid of ride tokens. 

General fare tickets cost $2 for a one-way ride or $1 for youth riders. Children under 5 and seniors with sales tax exemption cards will continue to ride for free. 

Koch said the city will also adopt fare capping on the app, meaning once a rider spends the same amount of money as what it would cost to purchase a monthly pass, they won’t be charged more than that.  

“Right now, we have some of our most economically vulnerable people who can’t front the money initially to buy a monthly pass, and this would be really great for them,” she said. 

The Assembly is considering offering rides purchased on the app for 50% during the first week of its launch in April. Koch said the city will announce the date the app goes live in the coming weeks. 

A group of North Slope residents is trying to recall the borough mayor, Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak, alleging that he misused public funds. 

That group’s application for a recall petition says the mayor – whose salary is over $280,000 – should be recalled for, among other things, receiving compensation from the borough for “lavish travel expenses” for his family.

The assembly adjusted borough code in December to allow compensation for family travel, but that change came after Patkotak had already received tens of thousands of dollars for at least 15 domestic and international trips with his family.

“Everybody, even the mayor, has to follow rules and regs and procedures,” said Marietta Aiken, one of the residents involved in recall efforts. “He thinks that those standards do not apply to him.”

Angela Cox, the borough’s director of government and external affairs, told KNBA in an email on Monday that some borough mayors traveled with their families even before the borough code change.

“It has long been the practice of the borough to support the mayor and their spouse for travel as they fulfill their public duties and obligations,” Cox said in an email.

The residents submitted their first recall application in February. But the clerk’s office denied it, saying that it failed to meet grounds for recall. In Alaska, officials can be recalled for misconduct in office, incompetence or failure to perform prescribed duties.

The authors filed a new application on March 4, which the borough has not responded to yet. On Friday, one of the residents, Beverly Aqak Hugo, filed a court complaint asking the court to direct the borough to issue a recall petition.

Cox said Tuesday that the group’s petition is being reviewed by outside counsel.

Family travel on the borough’s dime

Travel records show trips costing tens of thousands of dollars where Patkotak took his family — often flying first class — to North Slope villages, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Seattle, New York and Peru.

Hugo, an Utqiaġvik elder and retired Iñupiaq language teacher, said that was one of the main motivations for the recall effort.

“The mayor’s family is not the borough’s responsibility,” Hugo said. “He and his father make enough money if they want to bring their family, they can pay for them themselves.”

At a December borough assembly meeting, the assembly voted to make it clear in borough code that assembly members and the mayor could use borough funds to pay for family members’ travel during business trips. At the meeting, Patkotak – who is also a former Alaska House representative for District 40 – acknowledged that he was already doing that and defended the practice.

He said that bringing his family along – which sometimes included his wife, his infant daughter or all three children – helped him to be more efficient. He added that in his eyes, “when you elect a mayor, you’re electing the family unit that he or she represents.”

Cox said that because Patkotak is the youngest North Slope Borough Mayor ever elected, traveling with family is more necessary for him.

“Mayor Patkotak has young children, all minors between the ages of 2 and 11,” she said.

In response to a public records request about the travel history of previous mayors, the acting borough attorney Roxanne Rohweder said those records were lost in a fire in January. She said the finance director has not provided digital versions to her.

But Cox did share several travel claims showing that the borough paid for the spouse of former mayor Harry Brower Jr. to accompany him on business trips.

No other borough code in Alaska mentions compensating officials for family members’ travel expenses. Clerks from eight Alaska boroughs said their policies explicitly prohibit the practice.

“We do not pay for any family members to accompany any elected officials or employees on business trips,” Kodiak Island Borough clerk Nova Javier said. “If they decide to bring any family members, we will only pay for the employee, not for the family member.”

Last fall, Point Hope City Council removed city mayor Tariek Oviok from office after he faced allegations for misusing public funds to take his family on personal trips. And former North Slope Borough Mayor Charlotte Brower was recalled in 2016 on grounds that included spending borough funds on family trips, such as sending her grandchildren to basketball camp.

Limousines and first class tickets

North Slope Borough code directs employees to choose the lowest refundable tourist class airfare unless the mayor has authorized an upgrade as being in the best interest of the borough. The policy says that when employees travel to locations where the borough doesn’t have contract hotels, air carriers and car rental agencies, they can choose businesses with reasonable rates.

“To fly first class on the borough is not acceptable,” Hugo said.

In at least 12 other Alaska boroughs, officials are asked to use the most economical fare when they travel.

“The borough pays for the main refundable ticket,” said Aleutians East Borough Clerk Beverly Ann Rosete. “If they decide to upgrade to first class, it will be at their own expense.”

According to travel records provided by the borough attorney, Patkotak took his wife and infant child on an 11-day trip to Lima, Peru last September, where he attended the International Whaling Commission meeting. The trip cost nearly $16,000 and included first class and premium airfare tickets as well as eight nights in a deluxe suite with a jacuzzi and sauna.

In October, Patkotak planned a trip to Iceland for the Arctic Circle Assembly and then to New York for a syndicated bond sale. He canceled the Iceland portion of the trip, but at least $3,000 worth of hotel reservations were nonrefundable. Patkotak’s New York expenses included first class plane tickets and cost the borough at least $15,230.

In New York City, Patkotak was joined by a group of 17 others. That number included borough employees and officials, assembly members, the borough clerk and some of their spouses, according to the documents provided by the authors of the recall petition application. All 17 flew first class, and their travel expenses totaled nearly $115,000, according to travel claims.  

Cox said that the bond sale trip was an opportunity for leadership to better understand how the borough funds large-scale projects such as village schools and power plant rebuilds.

“Capital projects are our largest investment and bond financing is an important tool to finance our infrastructure,” she said. “This bond research trip was fully approved and funded, and backed a key initiative of the North Slope Borough to fund major infrastructure projects.”

Cox said flying first class to New York made sense because the trip involved at least 12 hours of travel and a four hour time change.

Patkotak also expensed a meal for the group that cost $1,938 — though the travelers also received per diem payments meant to cover food. Cox said the dinner was for a large group, in an expensive city.

Patkotak also flew first class to Anchorage, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia and other locations during his solo trips. He rented a limousine during a trip to California to meet with Angeles Investments and attend a helicopter expo. And during a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with Alaska representatives, he used a luxury chauffeur service Blacklane as his airport shuttle. His total costs for the six-day D.C. trip were over $9,000.

Other grounds for recall

The residents behind the recall effort also allege that Patkotak misused the borough medevac plane for non-medical errands, approved too many nepotism waivers and misused public funds to open an office in Anchorage.

The residents have also submitted an application to recall Crawford Patkotak, who is the president of the North Slope Borough Assembly and the mayor’s father, “for misconduct in office, incompetence and failure to perform prescribed duties.” The application stated that when Crawford Patkotak voted to allow the mayor to bring his family on business trips, he failed to disclose his personal interest in supporting his son.

“The conflict of interest of the father and son – that is not acceptable. It should never be tolerated,” Hugo said.

Crawford Patkotak did not respond to a request for comment.

If the borough administration establishes that the petition charges are recallable, the authors will need to gather signatures equal to at least 25% of the total number of voters in the last regular election, according to borough code. The borough clerk would then submit it to the assembly, and an election would be scheduled within 90 days.

The Juneau Assembly may mandate a timeline for the release of body-worn camera footage when a police officer shoots someone. 

On Monday during a committee meeting, Assembly members discussed a proposal that would require the police department to release footage 30 days after an incident with little wiggle room for exceptions.

Assembly member Ella Adkison said the change is long overdue. 

“This is a delayed response to a community ask, and I do want to see this move forward and not stall more than it has already,” she said. 

Juneau Police Department officers have been wearing body-worn cameras since 2017. But there’s nothing on the books that dictates when body camera footage must be released to the public. 

Juneau residents have been pushing for the department to change that since last July when police publicly shot and killed a man downtown. Then in December, an officer shot and killed another resident who was wielding a hatchet in the Mendenhall Valley. 

In both cases, the police department did not release body-worn footage until the state’s Office of Special Prosecutions ruled whether the officers involved were justified in their use of lethal force or would face any criminal charges. The officers were cleared of criminal charges for both deaths. 

Last year the Anchorage police department enacted a similar body camera policy following a similar public outcry after a string of police shootings. Its policy now mandates footage of police shootings be released within 45 days of the incident. 

Angie Kemp, the director of the Criminal Division of the Alaska Department of Law, spoke to the proposed ordinance at the meeting. She said state investigations are often riddled with delays. She warned the Assembly that enacting hard-mandated timelines with little to no exceptions could taint the investigations if they’re still ongoing. 

“From my standpoint and the way that this is currently drafted, I do believe that it’s going to affect criminal prosecution in the community of Juneau — and I don’t say that lightly,” she said. “I don’t say it because I have some interest in keeping body-worn cameras from being released, other than the effect that it might have on our ability to do our jobs.”

City Attorney Emily Wright said it’s up to the Assembly to decide what policy they think is right for the community.

“It is a balance of that public need for transparency and the effect on that investigation,” she said. “There are a lot of communities and states that have said ‘We think it is worthwhile to provide that transparency to our public even if there is a risk to the future prosecution.’”

The Assembly will discuss the proposed rule once more as a committee before a vote. Residents will have a chance to give public testimony on the ordinance in the coming months. 

Enough signatures have been gathered to put a cruise limit ballot out to Sitka voters in a special election this spring.

If approved by the voters, the ordinance would set an annual cap of 300,000 cruise passengers, a daily cap of 4,500 passengers, and limit port calls to six days a week. It would also require permits for cruise ships and require the city to administer permits and fine cruise ships for violating the new rules.

Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson said her office certified the petition on Thursday afternoon. The city’s charter says that if enough signatures are gathered, a special election must be called within 40 to 90 days.

“So the 40 to 90-day clock starts as of yesterday,” she said. “In order to have that special election according to the charter, 613 valid signatures were required, and they did get more than 613.”

The special election will be similar to a typical municipal election, with both precincts voting at Harrigan Centennial Hall and the same early and absentee voting options available.

Peterson has tentatively set the date for the election for Friday, May 30, pending Sitka Assembly approval. She said she chose that date because it works for code, and she worked with building staff to find a day when Harrigan Centennial Hall would be less busy. The building also serves as the delivery point for cruise ship passengers in the summer months.

“Both of our voting precincts are at Harrigan Centennial Hall, and in looking at all of this, I was looking at voter accessibility — where our voters are used to voting in Sitka,” she said. “Obviously, for the regular election each year, I’m reserving those rooms and everything. As soon as we’ve certified the October election, I’m already planning for the next one. So obviously, with this, we didn’t have any rooms reserved at Harrigan, and so I worked with staff there, we determined some dates that might work, and ultimately, the driving force behind choosing May 30 was to ensure that we could have the greatest voter accessibility at Harrigan Centennial Hall.”

In a press release Friday, the petition organizers said they were unclear whether the May 30 date aligned with charter requirements and said they were “looking to clarify” the city’s interpretation of code.

The initiative to limit cruise tourism was the fourth proposed by a local advocacy group, Small Town SOUL, in December. The first three failed to make it through the city’s legal review process.

Sitka has seen record numbers of cruise passengers over the last three years. With the unprecedented growth have come community frustrations over congestion, safety, and environmental impact.

The industry growth also brought an economic boom – new businesses have cropped up in response to the growth, and the city’s sales tax revenue is up. In response to the initiative, a pro-tourism group, Safeguard Sitka’s Future, formed, ran a “Decline to Sign” campaign, and hosted information sessions throughout the signature-gathering process.

Until now, those groups have been advocating without the requirement to register with the state. Now that the election is certified, any advocacy group must register with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

The assembly will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, March 18 to consider approving the ballot ordinance, which will require two readings.