Government

Petersburg’s city council plans a more active role in advocating for borough formation. Lands within Petersburg’s proposed borough were previously slated for annexation to the City and Borough of Juneau, which is responding with an annexation proposal of its won. The issue was discussed at length by the Petersburg council on Monday night during both public and private sessions. Matt Lichtenstein reports.

For months now, Juneau City Manager Rod Swope has warned that a shrinking tax base, less federal support and a lower return on investments add up to a potential 7.5-million dollar shortfall for the city’s upcoming biennial budget. His projection hasn’t changed.

“The first year we’re figuring probably try to reduce the budget by $5-million, and then the second year we’re anticipating we’ll still have to take further reductions of about $2.5 million,” he says.

Swope’s strategy for dealing with the deficit also hasn’t changed. He told the assembly that vacant positions will be held open as long as possible while city departments look for efficiencies. He’s also asked all department heads to take a two-week furlough before July. But Swope says the assembly will decide if the shortfall warrants cuts to city services.

“My plan was to go ahead and work with the departments to identify those, list them out to indicate what the service currently is, what the proposed reduction would be, and then clearly state what the impact would be to citizens in the community,” he says.

Swope thinks he can give the assembly his list of proposed service cuts by the end of November. Mayor Bruce Botelho says the assembly agrees with that approach.

“His proposed strategy is one that the assembly simply affirmed. It confirmed the direction that he intends to take the city,” Botelho says.

Swope will leave his budget proposal in the hands of the Assembly before he retires on March 31st.

Botelho expects the assembly will hold several meetings to review the hiring process for a new city manager, beginning October 31st at another work session. Swope retired for the first time almost three years ago. But when a nationwide search for his replacement fizzled, the assembly asked him to come back on a two-year contract, which he agreed to do after a six-month hiatus.

The whole assembly will decide whether to do another search for a city manager. But this time around, Botelho supports promoting Deputy Manager Kim Kiefer, who was acting manager during Swope’s sabbatical.

“She is thoroughly familiar with all the issues that are taking place in city government. She is thoroughly familiar with and dedicated to, committed to this community,” says Botelho.

Kiefer did not apply for the city manager’s job when Swope retired the first time, but says now she’s up to the challenge.

“Part of it for me now is that I did do it for six months and I have a better understanding of it. And I’ve got another two years under my belt, so I feel like I’m in a better position,” Kiefer says. “And also I think, from the city’s standpoint, when we’re looking at a 7.5 million dollar deficit, that trying to keep things as stable as we can when we move forward is a good thing for the organization.”

Kiefer has roots in Juneau, having moved to the Capital City in the sixth grade. She attended Auke Bay School and graduated from Juneau Douglas High School in 1977. She returned after college and started working for the city in 1984. She’s been deputy manager since 2006.

If selected as manager, Kiefer says she knows one thing for sure: “It’s definitely a two-person job, because I did both for the six months. Having a deputy city manager and a city manager as that team is really critical.”

At its retreat Tuesday, the assembly also discussed a list of capital projects that could be funded by an extension of the city’s one-percent temporary sales tax. The current extension expires in 2013, and would need to be reauthorized by voters next fall. Botelho says a five-year extension could bring in 35- to 40-million dollars over the life of the tax. The list of projects being considered is about 150-million. The mayor expects it will be pared down between now and next summer, in time for the assembly to approve a ballot proposition to go before voters at the fall municipal election.

Three Assembly members stepped down and three newly elected members took their place Monday night.

“One of the hallmarks of the American system,” Mayor Bruce Botelho said, “is the peaceful and orderly transition of government.”

It was the last meeting for Peter Freer, Malcolm Menzies, and Deputy Mayor Merrill Sanford. Freer and Menzies each served a few months, having been appointed to fill seats left vacant when Bob Doll moved to Washington State and Jonathon Anderson took a new job in California.

Sanford has served three consecutive three-year terms – the limit for Assembly members.

Jesse Kiehl, Carlton Smith and Randy Wanamaker were sworn in to replace the outgoing members.

Freer, who served on the Assembly 28 years ago, thanked the panel for appointing him.

“When I took the seat here in July of this year, after many years of not being on the Assembly, it felt as though I never left,” Freer said. “I felt very comfortable in the chair and in doing the work of the community. “

Menzies said he enjoyed the few months he was on the Assembly.

“I very much thank you for selecting me – not electing – but selecting me to fill another’s term,” he said.

After nine years on the Assembly, Sanford had a lot to say to his colleagues, which was a bit out of character for him.

“You know I’m a man of few words, but my wife typed up a few things for me,” he said, to the laughter of the panel.

Sanford proceeded to talk for ten minutes. He gave members three recommendations: Don’t lock up city lands from development, be prepared to vote against some of your friends and neighbors, and work as a team.

He said serving on the Assembly has been a humbling experience.

“When I first started my little saying was ‘a lifetime of commitment.’ You know that was just a little slogan picked out of the air by four or five of us,” Sanford said. “And I guess when I look back on my career as a Marine, as a builder of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, as a fireperson for 30 years, on the Planning Commission for four years, on the Assembly for nine years, I can say now that I truly have had a lifetime of commitment to our city.”

City Attorney John Hartle administered the oath of office to Kiehl, Smith and Wanamaker. Then the panel elected David Stone as deputy mayor.

The Assembly accepted Mayor Botelho’s recommendations for committees.

Karen Crane takes over for Stone as chairman of the Finance Committee, while Stone becomes chairman of the Committee of the Whole. The entire Assembly sits as a Finance Committee and COW.

Wanamaker is chairman of the Public Works and Facilities Committee, Mary Becker retains Lands, and Ruth Danner will continue as Human Resources chair.

Downtown Douglas will keep a state office building and a new office complex will NOT be built in Juneau any time soon.

As KTOO has reported, the Douglas Island building has become the Parnell Administration’s top priority as it addresses the needs of state office space in the capital city. Here are more details of that decision:

The administration was expected to soon announce the location of a new 140-thousand square foot office building to house about 500 employees from the departments of Labor, Public Safety, Fish and Game and Corrections.

Instead, Administration Commissioner Becky Hultberg says an analysis led to a different plan:

“I don’t think we’re saying we’re not going to build a new building, we’re just saying that our first priority is renovating the Douglas Island Office Building and then we’re going to do some additional work and planning to understand the need for office space in Juneau,” Hultberg says.

Juneau city leaders, state legislators as well as Palin, then Parnell administration officials, have been discussing the new facility for about three years.

A new capital city office complex was proposed in 2009 at the old downtown subport, owned by the Mental Health Trust Authority. Legislation allowing the Authority to develop office space and lease it to the state did not survive that session, but $2-million in planning and design funds were given to the project last year.

Hultberg says the work led to a different conclusion.

“It enabled us to have a better understanding of the condition of the existing buildings we have,” she says. “Prior to this there were some assumptions made, some very limited work done, but really the appropriation enabled us to do the detailed work that has led us to this conclusion.”

Hultberg says an engineer’s study shows the old Douglas building is structurally sound and can be renovated. She estimates it could cost $15-million to $20-million.

But the question remains of what to do with the old Public Safety Building on Whittier Street. It’s been considered a temporary home for the department since the 1970s.

Hultberg says the Public Safety Building is not worth rehabilitating and employees will have to be moved at some point.

“Whether that’s in a lease or a state-owned building has yet to be determined. And we don’t have a decision yet on the ultimate disposition of that building,” she says.

The lease for the so-called Plywood Palace, which houses the Department of Labor, expires next year. The poorly constructed building has long been a pain to the administration. Recent work was done to get rid of mold and other bacteria that some state employees said made them sick.

Hultberg says the administration is negotiating with the building’s absentee owner.

“But really we need to go through a process of looking at the space that we have in state office buildings, ensuring that we’re maximizing the use that space, looking at what space might be freed up in the SLAM project goes forward, and then assessing what additional space needs we have in Juneau and that would include a decision on what do about the Department of Labor,” she says.

SLAM is the proposed State Libraries, Archives and Museum complex, which will not be built for several years. Hultberg says nearly two floors of the State Office Building may be available once the library is moved.

Juneau State Representatives Cathy Munoz and Beth Kerttula carried the legislation is 2009 for a new office complex.

Both say they’re disappointed the Parnell administration has changed course and they will continue working with the administration on a new office building in the capital city.

While Munoz says she appreciates the need for fiscal responsibility and is pleased the administration still plans to invest in Juneau, she believes the Plywood Palace has to be replaced.

“And we just need to keep moving forward to make ensure our long term goal of replacing, or being able to construct a new facility to accommodate the Department of Labor employees is met,” she says.

Kerttula says it’s good the state will retain an office building in downtown Douglas.  She admits frustration at the state’s decisions years years ago to construct sub-standard facilities. Kerttula says it is clear Juneau will need a new state office building.

“You could have told them at the time when they moved people into the Plywood Palace and the DEC building, too, from my perspective, that eventually those buildings were not going to withstand even the weather,” she says.

Administration Commissioner Hultberg says the administration has no plans to move employees from the four departments out of Juneau.

Juneau City Manager Rod Swope has made it official – he’s retiring for good on March 31, 2012.

Swope already retired from the city once, more than two years ago. At the time, the CBJ Assembly unsuccessfully went through the process of trying to find a replacement. Swope took six months off, and agreed to come back and work on a two year contract. Now he says he’ll stay on a little longer than that.

“That two year time would have been up at the end of this month, at the end of October. But I’ve agreed to stay on through the end of March,” says Swope.

That means he’ll be stepping down in the middle of the city’s biennial budget process. Swope generally puts the budget together early in the calendar year. The assembly then holds hearings on it during March and April, and approves it – with changes – in May or June.

The assembly is scheduled to hold its annual retreat tomorrow (Tuesday), where the topic of recruiting a new city manager will be on the agenda.

A new state office building will NOT be built in Juneau any time soon.

The Parnell Administration has changed course. Instead of building a new 140-thousand square foot office building, Administration Commissioner Becky Hultberg says the Douglas Island Office Building will be renovated.

The administration was expected to announce the location of the proposed facility that would house about 500 employees from the departments of Labor, Public Safety, and some Fish and Game and Corrections employees.

But Hultberg says an analysis made possible by a $2-million legislative appropriation has led to a different conclusion.

“It enabled us to have a better understanding of the condition of the existing buildings we have,” Hultberg says. “Prior to this there were some assumptions made, some very limited work done, but really the appropriation enabled us to do the detailed work that has led us to this conclusion.”

Hultberg says an engineer’s study shows the old Douglas building is structurally sound and can be renovated for $15 to 20-million.

It does not resolve the question of the old Public Safety building, which has been considered a temporary home for the department since the 1970s. The lease for the so-called Plywood Palace, which houses the Department of Labor, expires next year. The poorly constructed building has long been a pain to the administration. Hultberg says the administration is negotiating with the building’s owner.

She says the administration will have to move public safety employees, but it’s not clear where.

Once the new Libraries, Archives and Museum complex is built – several years from now — space will be available in the State Office Building, Hultberg says.

A new capital city office complex was first proposed in 2009 at the old subport, owned by the Mental Health Trust Authority. Legislation allowing the Authority to develop office space and lease it to the state did not survive that session, but planning and design funds were granted last year.

Juneau State Representatives Cathy Munoz and Beth Kerttula carried the legislation on the first proposal.

Both say they’re disappointed, but say it’s good that a state facility will remain in downtown Douglas.

Munoz says it’s important the administration is still planning to invest in Juneau.

“Going back two or three years when we were working on the Mental Health Trust project that was a great opportunity. It’s unfortunate it didn’t get through the process then, but obviously there are new considerations today that we weren’t looking at two or three years ago,” Munoz says.

Kerttula says Juneau legislators are committed to working with the administration on a new office building.

This story will be updated with more details.