Local Government

Ballots are on their way from Washington state to registered voters in Juneau today for this year’s local election. Residents have until Oct. 7 to vote. 

It marks the start of the City and Borough of Juneau’s municipal election this year, which features three ballot propositions, four candidates running for three open seats on the Assembly and four candidates running for three seats on the school board.  

The city clerk’s office says residents should start receiving their ballots in their mailboxes this weekend. 

Voters will have a few ways to return their ballots once they are filled out. The city has ballot drop boxes in locations throughout the borough. Voters can also mail ballots back or go to one of the two vote centers in town.

Ballots sent in by mail need to be postmarked on or before Election Day and a first-class stamp is required. 

The five available ballot drop boxes will open Friday. They are located at City Hall, the Alaska Electric Light and Power Company office in Lemon Creek, Douglas Library, the Mendenhall Valley Public Library and the Statter Harbor Boat Launch parking area. 

The two vote centers will open on Monday. They are at City Hall and the Valley Library. 

Election Day is Tuesday, Oct. 7, but final results won’t be certified until Oct. 21.

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections. 

A landslide triggered by heavy rain and wind took down trees next to an apartment building in downtown Juneau late Wednesday night. Although this slide didn’t damage homes or hurt anyone, people living in the building are calling it a near miss.

On Thursday afternoon, Dave Bonilla stood outside the Strasbaugh Apartments on Gastineau Avenue smoking a cigarette and gazing at a gash in the mountainside adjacent to the building. He has lived there for more than five years. 

The night before, a torrent of soil, rocks and large trees slid down Mount Roberts, barely missing the building. Bonilla said he really didn’t know what had happened. 

“I have no idea,” he said, laughing. “I was asleep, and it came down, I guess woke everybody else in the building up — but I was out.”

Monica Johnson also lives there with her husband and two young children. She was at work, listening to the police scanner, when the landslide struck. 

“I hear on the dispatch saying that 265 [Gastineau Avenue] just reported that a tree and some boulders came down and hit the apartment building next to their house,” she said. “So I’m looking at Google Maps, going, ‘oh my gosh, it’s on Gastineau Street.’”

All of the residents were safely evacuated around 11 p.m. This isn’t the first time they have had to evacuate. 

A landslide occurred in the same spot last summer. The scar is still visible on the mountainside. Juneau, and Gastineau Avenue in particular, are prone to landslides. The street is in a severe landslide hazard zone, according to maps the city commissioned in 2022 but didn’t adopt. 

Gastineau Avenue has a long history of landslides. In 2022, a landslide hit three homes and knocked out power on the street. In 1936, Juneau’s deadliest landslide killed 15 people and buried parts of downtown in thick mud. And back in 1920, a landslide destroyed 16 buildings on Gastineau Avenue and South Franklin Street, killing four people.

Looking at the mountain, Johnson said Wednesday night’s landslide has her family looking for a more secure place to live.

“All of this has happened to us several times. Anything can come down,” she said. “Like, those two trees on the side, they kind of creep me out, because if those were to fall, they could smash right into our building.”

Ryan O’Shaughnessy is the emergency program manager for the City and Borough of Juneau. After the landslide, he went to the building with first responders from Capital City Fire/Rescue to assess the danger. 

“They looked up the slide and identified a bunch of loose material further up the slide path,” he said. “So, some more trees with exposed root wads up the slide path.” 

O’Shaughnessy said that because more rainfall was expected overnight Wednesday, he was concerned it could cause more soil and trees to slide downhill. That’s when the city decided to evacuate the building. 

He said the city planned to open an emergency shelter, but the owner of the building booked hotel rooms for the 15 displaced residents instead. 

The city lifted the evacuation order around 10 a.m. Thursday. O’Shaughnessy returned to the building in the morning to assess the damage. 

“Very, very little, if any damage to the building at all,” he said. 

Last year’s landslide caused more damage. Johnson said a tree smashed the electrical box and damaged the foundation. Her family was displaced for more than two months while the building was being repaired. 

O’Shaugnessy said there isn’t a way to predict landslides in Southeast Alaska yet, but when emergency responders and planners can assess the site and see an imminent threat, they issue evacuation warnings to keep people safe. 

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Juneau might lose its ability to say that its electricity is created entirely by renewable hydropower if the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, prevails in a lawsuit over the ownership and sale of renewable energy credits created by the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project, which currently supplies two-thirds of Juneau’s electricity.

Renewable energy credits, known as RECs, are much like carbon credits. Utilities that burn fossil fuels can buy them to say they’re powered by renewable energy, allowing them to claim carbon emissions reductions.

But, once sold, the utility that generates the renewable power — in this case Alaska Electric Light & Power, or AEL&P — could no longer claim it produces entirely renewable energy. The City & Borough of Juneau, along with businesses and nonprofits that use this power, would lose the claim too.

Randy Ruaro, the executive director at AIDEA, said selling the credits is a way for the state to make money.

“Frankly, it was an oversight, I guess, by previous AIDEA staff and employees to recognize that this opportunity was out there,” he said. “But once it came to our attention, we’re obligated to take steps to create and generate revenue for AIDEA and for the state of Alaska treasury.”

Exactly how much revenue the agency could make is unclear. On the open market, RECs are priced at anywhere from $1 to $700 per megawatt hour. Snettisham produces roughly 281,000 megawatt hours annually and AEL&P estimates the credits would sell for between $281,000 and $421,500.

Although the dispute comes down to who gets to say what — in essence, a matter of reputation — the impact of selling the credits could be financially detrimental for those who use the claim in Juneau.

Steve Behnke is a founding board member of Alaska Heat Smart, a nonprofit that installs heat pumps in homes across coastal Alaska. He also leads Renewable Juneau, a nonprofit that advocates for clean energy.

“Renewable Juneau and Alaska Heat Smart have created the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund, which raises money by saying that we’re using this nice clean hydroelectricity, a renewable resource, to put heat pumps in low-income Juneau homes, saving them 50% on their heating bills, and demonstrating a reduction in carbon emissions,” he said.

He says the fund relies on individuals and companies contributing to offset their carbon emissions.

Alaska Heat Smart is also rolling out a program to install 6,000 heat pumps funded by a $38.6 million dollar federal grant. Behnke said that if AIDEA is allowed to sell the credits outside of Juneau, then local nonprofits would lose their claim to renewable power, making them less competitive in seeking grants that score project applications based on clean energy.

Robert Barr, Juneau’s deputy city manager, echoed Behnke’s concern.

“I certainly understand (AIDEA) wanting to bolster their bottom line, but in this case, they’re doing that at our expense, and that is certainly frustrating,” Barr said.

Barr called the sales proposal short-sighted and said AIDEA didn’t consult with the city before starting the process.

Greens Creek Mine, the largest silver mine in the country that’s located near Juneau on Admiralty Island, runs partially on surplus hydropower supplied by Snettisham through an agreement with AEL&P. Hecla, the company that owns the mine, claimed a 38% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions between 2019 and 2024. Last week, Hecla filed a complaint against AIDEA, asking the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to determine that AIDEA doesn’t own the renewable energy credits and therefore can’t sell them.

On Thursday, AEL&P filed a lawsuit against AIDEA alleging the same thing. Although AIDEA owns the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project, it long ago sold the power generation rights to AEL&P.

In the court filing, AEL&P asserts that any renewable energy credits created at Snettisham should belong to the utility, not AIDEA.

Most states have laws governing how renewable energy credits are created, traced and transferred. The Alaska Legislature considered a bill a few years ago that would have done that, but it didn’t make it out of committee, leaving it unclear how renewable energy credits work here.

Alec Mesdag, the CEO of AEL&P, said the utility looked into the credits a while ago and decided not to pursue selling them.

“It’s been something that has just provided substantially more value than what we would obtain by selling the RECs to someone who doesn’t live here at all,” he said.

Mesdag said the credits make more sense for energy grids that have a mix of power generation. Utilities buy and sell them to meet renewable portfolio standards set by state laws — but Alaska doesn’t have one of those laws either.

Now it’s up to the Alaska Superior Court to decide whether Juneau’s only operating electric utility owns the renewable energy credits that until now, local businesses and nonprofits believed they could claim. The court issued a temporary restraining order on Friday preventing the sale of RECs until the issue can be discussed in court. A hearing will be held Sept. 18.

Correction: This story has been updated to better distinguish between two separate heat pump installation programs. 

Juneau may be getting a ‘new’ City Hall after all – but this time voters won’t get to decide on whether to approve it. 

At a committee of the whole meeting on Monday, the Juneau Assembly moved forward with a plan to purchase and renovate two floors of the Michael J. Burns building, which houses the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation downtown. 

If approved by the Assembly at its next regular meeting later this month, it would become the new location for City Hall. The cost to purchase the floors is $10.2 million. Renovation costs could add more than $7.5 million. 

At the meeting, City Manager Katie Koester told members the city estimates the move and renovations will be cheaper in the long run than maintaining the city’s current status quo.   

“Purchasing two floors of a box outside of the downtown core is not my dream situation. It’s not my legacy. It’s not anything like that,” she said. “I just think that it’s a very practical, fiscally responsible thing to do.” 

The current City Hall near Marine Park fits less than half of the city’s employees and needs millions of dollars in maintenance and repairs. The city rents other office space around town to house the rest of its staff. But city administrators say that’s unsustainable and expensive. They have advocated for years for a new space that would fit everyone. 

The city asked voters twice during recent municipal elections to approve bond debt to help pay for the construction of a brand new City Hall building. Voters said no both times. 

Now, the city has enough money set aside to purchase the floors in the Burns building, which means it won’t need to ask voters to approve any bond debt. The decision will instead go to the Assembly. 

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said she doesn’t like the plan, but she won’t object to it. 

“I share some people’s sense of, This isn’t what I wanted,’ but we do owe it to our community and to the folks who work for the city and for the community to come up with a solution,” she said. 

The Assembly asked for a more detailed estimate of what the renovations would cost. The Assembly is slated to take public testimony on the purchase of the floors and vote on it at its next regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 22. 

Sunday is the last day to register to vote or update your mailing address for Juneau’s 2025 municipal election.

This year’s election features three ballot propositions, three open Assembly seats and three open school board seats. Ballots will be mailed to voters on Sept. 19 and vote centers for in-person voting will open on Sept. 22.

The last day to vote is Oct. 7. Final election results will be shared later that month. Go to the city’s election page for more information. 

Have questions for candidates? Submit your thoughts to the KTOO newsroom through the form at the bottom of ktoo.org/elections or below.

The Juneau Police Department released the body-worn camera footage on Friday of a violent arrest by an officer in July. The video was released just a day after the officer involved resigned from his position. 

Officer Brandon LeBlanc slammed a man to the ground during the July 30 arrest. The man was medevacked out of town for a head injury. Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said the officer’s conduct during the arrest did not align with the Juneau Police Department’s policy or values.

“I do not believe this incident is reflective of JPD and who we are. I think this is more of an isolated event,” he said. 

The department released the footage in compliance with a new ordinance passed by the Juneau Assembly this spring. It mandates that the department must release body-worn camera footage no more than 30 days after a city police officer’s actions cause serious injury. This is the first time the ordinance has been invoked.

LeBlanc started working for JPD last fall. The department placed him on paid administrative leave following the arrest. He resigned on Thursday. City Manager Katie Koester said his resignation reflects the seriousness of what occurred.

“I think that what we would just want to underscore and acknowledge is how painful this event has been for our community,” she said. 

Koester said the arrest has prompted a larger review of policing in Juneau. The city is internally investigating the incident. It plans to co-host a community dialogue with the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska about the community’s relationship with law enforcement. 

“We have an obligation to uphold the standards that our community expects from us,” she said. “That doesn’t mean just doing an investigation and reviewing the facts, but it means following up with our community and having that conversation.”

A video taken by a witness of the arrest circulated widely online last month and prompted a protest of the officer’s actions. The video showed LeBlanc attempting to handcuff a man before slamming him to the ground. The man, whose family has publicly identified him as Christopher Williams, Jr., appeared to lie unconscious for the remainder of the video. 

The body-worn camera footage released on Friday shows the incident from multiple perspectives and includes audio. In the video, the man does not appear to comply when LeBlanc asks him to put his hands behind his back. 

In the video, LeBlanc describes his actions to another officer as a “suplex type” maneuver. A suplex is a move in sports wrestling. 

LeBlanc worked as an officer in Louisiana before Juneau. While there, court documents show that a man sued LeBlanc in 2016 for excessive force and battery, among other accusations. A jury found LeBlanc not guilty.

Following the arrest, the Juneau department requested an independent investigation by an external agency to review LeBlanc’s use of force, which is still ongoing. It also announced that the department will participate in cultural sensitivity training. The family of the injured man says he plans to sue the department.

Chief Bos said the department is committed to working with the community to grow transparency and trust following the incident. 

“I would say moving forward from this, obviously, we can always learn and do better — if we don’t, that’s a fault,” he said. “Our intention is to look at this and say, ‘How can we become better partners with the community, and what does that look like?’”

Once the external investigation is finished, the state’s Office of Special Prosecutions will review the case to determine if LeBlanc was justified in his response.