Government

State Senate President Gary Stevens says nothing is more important this legislative session than coming to agreement on oil tax legislation.

The Senate’s bi-partisan coalition is writing its own bill to counter Gov. Sean Parnell’s proposal to reduce Alaska’s oil revenue by giving producers major tax breaks. Stevens says the Senate Resources Committee version will be drafted in about a week and a half.

Fairbanks Democrat Joe Paskvan – co-chair of the committee – says the legislation will treat Alaska as an “owner state.”

“You know we are different than most other jurisdictions in the United States and we need to act like a sophisticated owner with a world class resource,” Paskvan told reporters Thursday.

While details are scarce, the bill will include a progressive surcharge and tax credits.

Senators say they’ve been discussing their approach with the Parnell administration and the promise of more oil industry jobs for Alaskans may help bridge the gap between the two sides.

Parnell’s House Bill 110 passed the House last session, but the Senate refused to move it, asking for more and better information on the need to reduce oil taxes.

A report commissioned by the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, indicates the administration exaggerated when it claimed oil industry jobs were being shipped out of Alaska to other oil-rich states.

According to the McDowell Group report, average annual employment on Alaska’s North Slope reached a 20-year high in 2010.

Thirty-five states have banned texting while driving – and Alaska thought it had, too.

But some judges say the law passed in 2008 is not clear, so legislation is on the move that specifically prohibits drivers from reading or typing a text, email or other message while their vehicle is in motion.

A Fairbanks judge has advised magistrates to refuse texting cases and a Kenai judge has thrown out a case against a driver for texting.

That case is on appeal. Anchorage Democrat Les Gara told the House Transportation Committee Thursday that lawmakers should not wait for a court ruling before fixing the statute.

“I think you only really need one fact and that is, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures, drivers who text while they drive are 20 times more likely to have an accident than people who don’t text,” Gara said.

Calling it “the new drunk driving,” he says texting while driving has been taken up by the national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

House Bill 255 moved out of the transportation committee Thursday, heading for judiciary.

The legislation states that texting is illegal while the vehicle is underway. Gara said reading or sending a text while parked should not be a crime.

The CBJ Assembly expects to hire a new city manager by the end of the month. The two finalists took questions from the public Wednesday, followed by an informal reception.

Public feedback is part of the city and borough’s Assessment Center process, used for hiring managers. Far more than interviews, job candidates respond to daily situations and problems they’ll encounter in the job they seek. They face written reports, oral presentations, power points as well as questions from city staff, the Assembly, and Juneau taxpayers.

Just before yesterday’s public presentation, Kim Kiefer and Norman “Buddy” Custard were handed a question: What is your vision to improve and expand the relationship between the general public and city government, and what is the city manager’s role in that?

Kiefer seemed at ease as she entered Assembly chambers with some notes penciled on a yellow pad. She has worked for the city and borough of Juneau for 28 years, managing the Zach Gordon Youth Center, directing the Parks and Recreation Department, serving as deputy city manager since 2005, and as interim manager for six months in 2009 when City Manager Rod Swope took a sabbatical.

She likens the city manager to the chief executive officer of an organization comprised of groups that serve the public. But the list of CBJ services is longer than most cities of 30-thousand people, ranging from fire and police, streets, water and sewer to ownership and operation of several docks and harbors, an airport, a hospital, a ski area, two swimming pools, an ice rink, a football field and track, libraries, a museum…

“We have all of these services that make Juneau function and my job that I see as city manager is to have an umbrella over that so we’re all functioning with the same understanding and same direction of where we’re going to go with that organization,” Kiefer said.

She presented first then left the Assembly Chambers, where the event was held. A visibly nervous Custard was next. He is retiring soon from a 30-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard. This is his second tour in Juneau. He told the audience that he asked the Coast Guard to move him here, because it’s a place he wants to put down roots.

Custard has been commander of four Coast Guard cutters. He said whether it’s running a ship or a city, everything is about relationships, beginning with the department heads who work under the city manager.

“So it’s taking that energy that they have and then harnessing it and partnering up with the energy of the community and the passion that they have because they’re living in this community and they love this community so how do we merge those two together,” he said. “And I say that’s what the city manager’s job is about.”

If they were hired as city manager both Custard and Kiefer say they if they would reach out to the Juneau community in a variety of ways. Kiefer would start with improving the city website, and put the city calendar on the front page.

“City government is doing so much,” she said.

She would hold neighborhood meetings, reach out to Juneau’s aging population, and find out “what’s the vision for the school district, what’s the vision for JEDC, for the university, chamber of commerce. All those groups are made up of the public,” she said

Custard told his audience that “people are our most important resource. It’s the people that drive the innovation, it’s the people that drive the work, the relationships,” he said. “It’s not about a hierarchal chain of command. It’s about who you know and how well you know them and how you’ve built that trust.”

Custard said if he’s hired as city manager, his first big challenge would be to “reach out and just start to make those connections and to get to where people learn who I am and can trust me.”

Kiefer said her biggest challenge would be “people’s expectations that I know everything when I walk through the door, because I’ve worked for the city for such a long time; and to understand that I’m walking into a job that I haven’t done before.”

Though Kiefer was interim manager for six months, she knew Swope was returning.

“So that’s a different scenario than saying ‘OK, where do you want to take the organization?’ ” she said.

After the public presentation, those listening were asked to rate each candidate on such qualities as professional competence, oral communications, and interaction with the public. Assembly members will consider the public comments as they make their decision.

The Assembly will interview Kiefer and Custard in separate closed-door sessions on Saturday. The goal is to have the new manager hired and working with Swope before he retires at the end of March.

CBJ Assembly Meeting
January 09, 2012
Agenda

Juneau residents can see city manager candidates Norman “Buddy” Custard and Kim Kiefer in action tonight (Wednesday) when they take part in a public presentation and reception at City Hall.

The City and Borough Assembly named the two as finalists for the job in December. Kiefer is currently deputy city manager. She held the top position on an interim basis three years ago, when current manager Rod Swope took a six-month sabbatical. Custard is a captain in the US Coast Guard, currently serving as chief of staff for District 17, which is based in Juneau and encompasses all of Alaska.

CBJ Human Resources Director Mila Cosgrove has been helping the Assembly develop the interview process, including tonight’s public meeting.

“They both have different styles and different backgrounds and it’s a chance to get to see them, at least in terms of the public presentation pieces,” Cosgrove says. “And then, more informally, kind of in a meet and a greet type of a situation, there will be the opportunity to interact more casually with both candidates.”

Cosgrove says the topic of the public presentation won’t be revealed until tonight’s meeting begins. That’s to avoid giving either candidate an advantage. She says there will be comment cards for the public to fill out to inform assembly members as they make their final decision.

Besides the reception there will be a formal question and answer period following each candidate’s presentation.

“They’ll make a short presentation and then if the audience has questions about the content of the presentation or something else they’d like to ask directly, they can also do that,” says Cosgrove.

The Assembly hopes to offer either Custard or Kiefer the manager’s job by the end of the month. Swope retires on March 31st and the goal is to have the new manager on the job for a two-week overlap period.

Besides the public meeting, both candidates have been asked to complete a written assignment and will go through a formal, closed-door interview with the Assembly on Saturday.

The public meeting is tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. in City Hall Assembly Chambers.

City Manager and City Attorney are the only positions hired by the Assembly.

Protestors advocating to abolish “corporate personhood” gathered at the Capital Building on Saturday. The demonstrators were part of a group called Move to Amend, an online community of activists. KTOO’s Danny Peterson has more.

Saturday’s protest coincided with the two-year anniversary of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, a ruling that protects corporations under the 1st amendment from government restrictions on independent spending for political causes.

Corporations were first granted the same legal rights as people in an 1886 Supreme Court decision, one that protects corporations under the 14th Amendment equal protection clause. Move to Amend wants to reverse this Supreme Court decision through state and eventually national reform. To voice their cause in an approachable way, protest organizer Christina Mounce performed a satirical play on the street.

“Comedy is a lighthearted fun way to get out your message without screaming, or yelling, or intimidating people,” says Mounce.

The play imagines an encounter between a person and a corporation. The person and talking corporation debate, and the position of the Move to Amend group becomes obvious.

Mounce said the goal of Move to Amend is to have bills passed stating that your community does not want corporations to have the same rights as people. She chose the capital building to protest because of the current legislative session. Representative Scott Kawasaki has filed House Bill 244, an anti-corporate personhood bill that is currently in the House Judiciary Committee. The Move to Amend protestors want this bill to be scheduled.

“So we’re out here to let our presence be known and we’re gonna start talking to representatives to try and get this bill passed through,” Mounce says.

Protestor John Duncan said more people should educate themselves about the bill.

“Try to get educated and connect with people and get on to this foundational issue,” says Duncan.

Demonstrator Buck Lindekugel said the concept of corporate personhood is a contradiction.

“It’s an oxymoron. Corporations are creatures of statute, they are not persons,” says Lindekugel. “Natural people are the only ones who should enjoy constitutional rights under the US constitution.”

Mounce will be holding a community meeting discussing the topic on Feb 2nd from 6pm to 8pm at the downtown library.