As I noted last previously, layoffs have been postponed until the Assembly examines the budget and makes recommendations. We will do that this coming Wednesday, February 3 at 5:30pm in the City Chambers. I think some of my colleagues would have rather had the manager lay off people which would have avoided us taking responsibility for hard choices. We will have to either (or a combination of) a) cut the budget somewhere and gore somebody’s ox; b) Take money from our budget reserve or c) layoff city employees. None of those options are attractive but I would rather cut the budget and take money from the reserve than layoff city employees. That should be our last option. Stay tuned.

Board of Equalization
Every year some residents appeal their property assessment. These appeals are heard by a Board of Equalization- which until a few years back was the Assembly. At that time the Assembly delegated property tax appeals to an appointed Board. We have had some difficulty in filling all the seats and I ask you to consider serving the city in this capacity. Click HERE for information about the Board. If you are interested in applying for any CBJ Board click HERE

Planning Commission
The Planning Commission on 1/26 heard an update on the Downtown Parking Management Plan

The Commission postponed….again – discussion of an ordinance on wireless towers

Miscellany
Reminder of the existence of the CBJ Avalanche Advisory page

For the Mendenhall Valley – Here is the pagewhere we note whether there is an air emergency and a wood stove ban.

Layoff update

We had the discussion on layoffs Monday. I said we needed to consider other budget cutting options before laying people off. After some discussion, I made a formal motion and it was approved -barely- 5-4. I was supported by Bob Doll, Jeff Bush, Ruth Danner and Johan Dybdal. The Mayor, Randy Wanamaker, Merrill Sanford and David Stone voted to go ahead with the layoffs. We'll see what happens next round.

Well, you know that we have budget issues. We are short 2-3 million for next year’s budget. The Manager had asked the main government employees union to forego their negotiated wage increases for 12 months. Friday 1/15 the membership voted against accepting that contract revision. The Manager has said he will now have to lay off employees. The reality is that we have to find cuts of 2-3 million somewhere. (Foregoing the wage increase would have saved 1.2 million).

There are a number of political pressures that this stimulates. The Manager told the union prior to the request that if they refused, he would have to layoff employees. The Manager raised the ante in the negotiations, but the union called him. He is likely to feel he has to follow through and not look for other places to balance the budget since he made that threat. The Assembly can simply allow the Manager to do what he decides, or it can give instructions. Some- maybe a majority- on the Assembly feel we should leave “management” decisions to the Manager. That is another way to dodge making hard decisions. I believe the Assembly should provide guidance to the manager and I will say so tonight (1/18) at our special meeting.

The 1/18 Special Meeting is with the School Board. The School Board will want to preserve their funding. They may propose to put one or more school projects on the fall ballot as bond issues. The School District has not been subject to the same budget restrictions as all other areas of the city budget. They have not had their funding reduced at all. I have proposed that they share the burden proportionately. However, others on the Assembly do not want us to touch school funding. I have had numerous questions over the years about the school district’s budget management. As an example - last week we heard from city auditors that the school district essentially has a 7 million dollar capital project – dare I use the phrase?—slush fund. Old projects have not been closed and any money they did not spend has been dumped into this fund.

Another budget issue where I was the one person minority was the biannual citizen budget survey that has been carried out regularly for 20 years. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/Budget_Surveys/index.php The Assembly voted 8-1 to cancel the survey for this year. Some said we “couldn’t “afford it.” Others said “we have no choices, so why ask citizens.” This is total nonsense. In a year where we have to make significant decisions on where to cut and where to spend YOUR money– we say we don’t need citizen input. I am extremely disappointed that my colleagues don’t see this as essential.

Short Notes The U.S. Navy proposes to conduct training exercises in Alaskan waters. Some are concerned with the impact on marine mammals. Here is the general link to the Navy’s site http://www.gulfofalaskanavyeis.com/ which includes links for comments—which must be received by January 25th.

The State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has a new amendment to their STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan) which is their plan for how to spend transportation dollars. Public comments must be submitted by February 1 http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/cip_stip/index.shtml

Reminder that Juneau’s Legislative Reception is Wednesday 1/20 from 5-6:30 at Centennial Hall. Everyone is invited. Come welcome Alaska’s legislators and staff to the Capital City. Governor Parnell’s State of the State message will be broadcast on public radio and television Wednesday evening—tentatively 7pm.

Next Regular Assembly meeting is Monday January 25th at 7pm – broadcast on KTOO.

Happy New Year

I hope this year is an improvement on 2009 (economically). As I have said previously, the Assembly is focused on how to cut the budget. Last Thursday City Manager Rod Swope had a letter published in the Empire on the subject. Next Wednesday the Assembly sitting as the Finance committee will consider possible cuts and guidelines to the Manager.

Last Monday’s Regular Assembly meeting was fairly low key. The one controversy wasn’t even reported in the paper. The rebuild of 12th street is being planned and CBJ staff recommended narrowing the street by a foot or so. This passed Public Works on 12/28 where I voted against it. 12th street is already too narrow and even a foot will have negative consequences. The recommendation came to the Assembly and after a lot of talkr, the motion to follow staff recommendations failed 4-4. Mayor Botelho, Jeff Bush and Johan Dybdahl joined me opposing it while Merrill Sanford, Bob Doll, Ruth Danner and Randy Wanamaker supported narrowing the street (David Stone was absent). This was a situation where even though the Engineers had technical reasons – residents and others really don’t want the street clogged up even more. This will be taken up by the Planning Commission next Tuesday 1/12

January 19 is opening day for the Legislature. Probably the biggest thing shaping what they will do is the price of oil which has pushed above $80 and that pretty much ensures stable state funding to municipalities. If you want to know the nitty gritty details of state revenues it is worthwhile to review their biannual Revenue Sources Book This is the info they pass on to legislators. Juneau depends on the state for almost a quarter of its income.

The Assembly continues to work on the solid waste management issue. That was the subject of our 12/28 Committee of the Whole meeting. Public Works Director Joe Buck presented a memo talking about our next steps. The first thing we need to do is get an agreement with Arrow refuse and move on transferring their permits to CBJ. Then we need to pass a universal collection ordinance. Right now garbage collection is voluntary and it is estimated that about 20% of Juneau is not covered. When we advance that ordinance there will be a big outcry by those who do not want to have commercial collection forced on them, but this is really necessary to make our operations efficient. It will also cut back on illegal dumping.

I’d like to invite everyone to welcome Alaska’s legislators at our 25th Annual Legislative Welcome Reception Wednesday, January 20, from 5:00-6:30pm at Centennial Hall. Please come, eat some appetizers and go out of your way to be welcoming to legislators and their staff.