Local Government

Juneau’s business community has serious reservations about a proposal to put two capital improvement project funding packages on this fall’s municipal election ballot, according to a survey of Chamber of Commerce members.

The Juneau Assembly will hold a public hearing on the proposed ballot propositions on Monday. One would extend the city’s temporary 1-percent sales tax for five years to pay for a $34.5-million project list. The other is a $24.9-million bond proposition to pay for a list of additional projects. The Assembly has proposed using $10-million from the sales tax extension to pay down debt on the bonds, avoiding the need to raise property taxes.

The chamber received 116 responses to its online survey — about a third of the group’s membership. Nearly 54 percent said there wasn’t enough public input on the proposals. And 76 percent disagreed with using sales tax and bond revenue to fund deferred maintenance to city buildings — a common practice for years.

Denny DeWitt sits on the Chamber’s government affairs committee and says he’ll be happy to vote no on the measures if they appear on the ballot as is.

“We’ve got operating budget problems at the city, which means that we’re going to have difficulty funding what we’re doing,” DeWitt says. “We’re concerned about state revenues being reduced. And it seems to me this is a time to be very, very cautious about moving forward with adding things to our property tax base and to the sales tax. We can’t afford what we’ve got now; one’s got to wonder how we’re going to afford it in the future.”

About half the Chamber members surveyed said the Assembly should delay the issue until next year, when the sales tax is due to expire. But in a letter to the Juneau Assembly today (Thursday), Chamber CEO Cathie Roemmich says postponing it may be “prudent.”

Assembly Finance Committee Chair Karen Crane — one three members to answer questions about the measures at today’s chamber luncheon — says the public has had plenty of time to comment on the lists, and she sees no need for delay.

“This list was put together by nine duly elected members,” Crane says. “If we wait we’ll still be looking at a list put together by nine duly elected members, three of whom won’t know as much, because some of us have spent just months and months looking at these projects.”

Assembly members are likely to decide Monday whether to send the measures to voters, though they could be held for an additional public hearing on August 27th.

Juneau International Airport is asking the Federal Aviation Administration for $2-million dollars to install additional approach lighting at the east end of its main runway.

The city-owned airport already has $1-million dollars for the project, thanks to a 2010 earmark inserted into a transportation bill by Senator Lisa Murkowski. But Airport Manager Jeannie Johnson says that only pays for three lights, when ideally there should be at least eight.

Even with modern advances in aircraft navigation, Johnson says Alaska Airlines estimates it had more than 450 missed approaches in Juneau last year. The majority of those flights eventually landed, she says, but only after taking another pass.

“Alaska Airlines is excited to get even three on that end of the airport,” she says. “Because it helps them get into Juneau more often when they’ve got more lights down there to see when the weather’s really bad.”

Alaska’s Congressional delegation is backing the airport’s request. Senator Murkowski and Congressman Don Young have written letters of support to Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. Johnson says she expects Senator Mark Begich to do the same by the end of the week.

Young and Murkowski’s letters play up the fact that Juneau is the state capital and has no road access. Both call the airport a “critical lifeline.”

The airport is asking for the project to be listed as a priority under the FAA’s “Needs Assessment Program,” and for the agency to appropriate unused funds from fiscal year 2012 projects to complete it. The federal government’s fiscal year ends September 30th.

Johnson’s not sure if the agency will have enough to meet the request, but says it doesn’t hurt to ask.

“I don’t know how much money is left over,” she says. “So, our request is for $2-million. If there’s a million dollars left over, I guess my thought is that our chances are pretty slim. But if there’s more than that, I would hope that we would get at least part of it.”

If the request is unsuccessful, Johnson says the scaled-down project will move forward early next year on the east end of the runway. The west end already has a full system of approach lights, she says.

The Congressional delegation’s support for the project was an information item at Wednesday’s Juneau Airport Board regular meeting.

A new round of federal grants announced by Alaska’s Congressional delegation today (Tuesday) includes a $21,665 U.S. Justice Department grant to the City and Borough of Juneau.

Police Spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says JPD has received the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for the past three years.

This year, it will pay for new equipment, such as rain jackets for patrol officers. It also will pay for a software and hardware upgrade to the department’s bomb diffusing robot.

In previous years, the grant was used to fund JPD’s Police Crisis Intervention Specialist — a social worker who worked with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Juneau Assembly candidate Paul Nowlin says he won’t raise or spend more than $5,000 on his campaign.

Nowlin on Monday submitted paperwork to the Alaska Public Offices Commission agreeing to the spending limit, thus exempting his campaign from APOC’s reporting requirements. He also turned in his nominating petition to the city clerk’s office, making his candidacy official.

Nowlin says he made the decision early on not to spend a lot of money to get elected.

“I’m trying to do this as cheap as possible,” he says. “Not trying to run a big campaign and spend a bunch of money doing it. Maybe that’s a foolish thing. I don’t know I’ll see.”

The APOC exemption means Nowlin doesn’t have to report income or expenditures related to his campaign. He says he hasn’t spent anything to date, and has only received about a thousand dollars in donations — mostly from friends and family.

At this point, his only competition for the Assembly District 1 seat is Loren Jones, who says he won’t seek an exemption. Jones spent nearly $10,000 running for assembly last year — a race he narrowly lost to Carlton Smith.

He says the money helped pay for things like radio and print ads.

“A lot of the places where the debates took place, where candidates could talk to each other, or groups could hear from both candidates, were pretty much public events,” Jones says. “So, I guess the advantage is that it’s just a little bit more money to get your name out there and get better name recognition.”

Merrill Sanford and Jerry Nankervis — candidates for mayor and Assembly District 2 respectively — also have not filed for APOC exemptions.

But the only declared school board candidate, Andi Story, will have one.

Candidates have until next Monday to file nominating petitions with the city clerk’s office for the October 2nd municipal election.

No big surprises on the first day candidates can file to run in Juneau’s October municipal election.

As expected, Merrill Sanford filed for mayor. Loren Jones filed for Assembly District 1, and Jerry Nankervis filed for District 2. Andi Story filed to run for school board. Paul Nowlin, who has announced his intention to run for the District 1 seat, hasn’t filed his paperwork yet, according to the city’s website.

Juneau voters will elect a Mayor, two Assembly members and three School Board members at the October 2nd Regular Municipal Election, all for three-year terms.

The filing period opened today and closes on August 13th.

Nominating petition forms are available in the Municipal Clerk’s office and online at the city’s website.

The candidate filing period for Juneau Assembly and Board of Education opens Friday.

Juneau voters will elect a Mayor, two Assembly members and three School Board members at the October 2nd Regular Municipal Election, all for three-year terms.

Nominating petition forms for those seats are available in the Municipal Clerk’s office and www.juneau.org. City Clerk Laurie Sica calls the nominating petition procedure simple.

“The person has to give us all their information on how to contact them and they sign a statement that says they agree to serve if they’re elected,” she says. “They have 25 registered voters sign the petitions and we encourage people to get several more signatures than 25 just in case we can’t recognize handwriting, or somebody’s moved and we can’t verify their voting status. But they have to be signatures of registered voters within the city and borough of Juneau.”

Candidates also must fill out financial disclosure forms to be filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

To run for municipal office, a person must be qualified to vote in state and local elections, be at least 18 years old, and have lived in the city and borough for at least 30 days before the election. Assembly candidates must have lived within the city for at least one year. Candidates for District 1 and District 2 candidates must reside in the district from which they plan to run.

The filing period closes August 13.