Assembly Diary

This past week the Assembly had three meetings. The first was our “Retreat” on 11/30. We accomplished a couple things (about 1/3 of our agenda). The first was addressing whether we wanted to revise our Rules of Procedure which are like by-laws. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/Resolutions/Res2427(b)-Reestablishing_Assembly_Rules_of_Procedure,Repealing_RES2379(b).pdf
One of the issues we spent time on was public participation at committee meetings –particularly the Committee of the Whole. Many people have told me they want to have more input early in policy development and not just at the final Assembly hearing. Our Rule 5 (page 5) states “Reasonable opportunity for the public to be heard shall be allowed at committee meetings other than those designated as work sessions.” COW sessions are always announced as “Work Sessions” so there is normally no public testimony. I tried to change that and was defeated 8-1. In fact there was resistance by some to having public testimony at any committee meeting. It was argued that such testimony slowed down the process and “inhibited” frank discussions. That is total nonsense. Public testimony can be limited and if the public is present, I cannot understand how testimony “inhibits” discussions. But, obviously, my colleagues do not agree.

We also established our yearly goals—a sort of strategic planning process. That’s the alleged intent, but the reality is different. These goals were set some years ago. We add new ones whenever anybody really wants to. But their impact during the year is minimal. They are not really used to plan our work. They are just sort of “out there” for anyone to say “Look at the Assembly goals.” The revised version is not yet posted- but last years is at http://www.juneau.org/assembly/documents/2008-2009-Assembly_Goals-Post_Assembly_Review.pdf. I suppose if I want to criticize, I need to be willing to walk the talk. So in next Monday’s Lands committee- which I chair – I will open a discussion of those goals which are assigned to Lands and how we should address them in our coming year.

The second meeting was one a joint meeting with the Goldbelt Board on opening discussions for an extension to the North Douglas highway out into West Douglas. This is an interesting issue. In our Comprehensive Plan we discuss West Douglas as a potential “New Growth Area.” We also have a West Douglas Conceptual Plan that envisions how such development would responsibly proceed. http://www.juneau.lib.ak.us/plancomm/WestDouglasConceptualPlan.php In fact, it would be the first part of CBJ that would be “planned” as opposed to developed ad hoc. We had an MOA with Goldbelt about 10 years ago on a road extension, but nothing ever happened. The stimulus this time is that there is 3 million that has been sitting in the state budget for several years that can be applied to this project. The issue of contention is road alignment. Where would such a road go? Goldbelt owns the waterfront and city lands are mostly upland. The Resolution on our agenda has some attached maps of the area. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/agendas/2009/2009-12-01/2009-12-01-Special_Assembly_Index.php And as some of you know – Totem Creek Properties has been trying to promote a golf course out there—and has been unsuccessful in attracting developers. Stay tuned on this one. It could be contentious.

Third meeting was Finance. It was widely publicized how the city budget is projected to be 8-9 million in the red over the next two years. The city is asking the employees union to eliminate the annual COLA. If they do not, the city anticipates needing to make layoffs. Savings from this would be around 3 million, so even if this is accepted, there is still another 5+ million that will have to be found – probably through some combination of budget cuts and use of the city’s budget reserve. There will be a push by some to use that budget reserve and not cut anything. That would exhaust the reserve in two years and is unlikely to be accepted by the Assembly. The Mayor is cautioning that we may see hard times ahead even if the economy picks up because of our dependence on state dollars, and because those dollars may dry up with the decline of state oil dollars. As we try to balance the budget, potential budgetary victims will be new program proposals like area wide recycling or expanded mass transit.

And this past week Community Development held public hearings around town on a proposed downtown parking management plan. Very few people showed up, but when policies are put in force somewhere down the road people will complain about not having input. This is always a problem. Early on we advertise long term planning on some subject, but since it is not imminent, it doesn’t have the impact on people – and the media doesn’t talk much about it, so few people hear of it or are motivated to participate. But when the plan is fully developed and then implemented – many people will say they were not consulted. Others have said they don’t attend because they don’t believe they have any impact on the process. This is a dilemma all the time for most every issue out there. All I can say is that I will try to keep people a little more informed about what is going on (that is if they read this). Anyhow – check out the CDD site at http://www.juneau.org/cddftp/ParkingManagement111809.php and email Ben Lyman if you have comments.