The AJ Mine and Public Process

So this is it…..my last blog! Sorry for not posting anything for awhile. Now I am about out the door. Monday night my resignation is effective and Katherine Eldemar steps in. But I get to yell and scream a few more times before that happens.

One of those times was this past Wednesday night at Finance Committee. It was all set up to be a nice boring meeting [see the Agenda] We had a few small requests which we funded by shifting money from the Better Capital budget which had a few dollars left. We rejected the JEDC 125K supplemental request unanimously – saying, very seriously, it was more important to preserve the budget reserve.

All well and good, but here’s where the fun starts. Mr. Sanford said he wanted to add an additional item for our consideration – 250K to start laying the groundwork for the AJ mine. Mr. Sanford had just moments before spoken about the importance of preserving (and increasing) the budget reserve……until he proposed to take a quarter million out of it for the mine. [Oh, and by the way, the Manager said if we passed this he would need to come back to the Assembly to ask for a new staff position].

Last Monday the Committee of the Whole had heard the presentation of the AJ Mine Advisory Committee. Here is their Report. As the Minutes show, the only action we took was to “receive” the report, thank the committee and declare we needed to discuss this further at future COW meetings. Going slow was the watch word.

So here at the Finance Committee meeting Mr. Sanford proposes to amend next year’s budget to add 250K “for the AJ Project.” Note the process. By just making a motion in Committee, there is no notice to the public in the agenda that this is going to be discussed. Even more offensive to public process is that by including dollars in the budget, there never has to be a public hearing. It is folded into the whole city budget. No appropriation ordinance. No public input. No deliberation. Just a done deal.

The vote was interesting. They Mayor was not present. Mr. Stone had to step down for conflict of interest. So there are seven of us. Ms. Becker, Ms. Crane and Mr. Doll all support Mr. Sanford’s request. Ms. Danner and Mr. Dybdal join me in opposition. While the majority of those present supported the request, you need a majority of the full Assembly—five votes. So the motion fails.

The AJ Mine is an issue of huge importance and interest to the community. I have no idea whether eventually I would have supported going forward or not. We just received the report this week. I thought it was good to declare that we needed more OPEN discussion in COW.

Sorry about going out with a rant. But this ticked me off. In my opinion it was a gross violation of the public process for an issue of HUGE public interest... an attempt to slip something in the back door when nobody was looking. I am proud to be a part of blocking that effort.

Last Monday the Assembly selected Katherine Eldemar to replace me once I depart at the end of May. I cannot think of many people more qualified than she. Katherine is a lawyer, a former judge, Assistant to the President of Sealaska, Vice Chair of the Goldbelt Board and also on the United Way Board. She is an extremely intelligent woman who has experience in sorting out difficult issues. She will have no trouble hitting the ground running. When Katherine joins the Assembly there will be four female members—more than there has ever been before. Katherine will also be the first female Alaska Native on the Assembly.

The CBJ Budget was introduced and is starting to be presented to the Assembly in pieces every Wednesday evening at 5:30 in the Assembly Chambers. Last night we heard presentations from the Airport, Docks and Harbors, Eaglecrest and the Borough CIP project. You can view their presentation documents HERE. If you are interested in hearing any of the budget presentations – here is the Finance Meeting Schedule.

But, essentially, little is changed from what the manager presents in the budget document. In a Council Manager system the Manager submits a balanced budget and unless Assembly members want to try and really rock the boat, the proposed budget is generally accepted. If anyone wants to add anything, they have to confront the question of where to find the money.

One of the subjects that is going to get some debate is the spending of the Marine Passenger Fees or cruise ship head taxes. Restrictions governing what can be spent are part of US Constitutional Law and court cases. This year there are a number of projects proposed for the area of the private docks. Some Assembly members object. The rules say you need to spend the money on services rendered to cruise ship passengers – particularly related to health and safety. A good background can be found in a 2005 memo from City Attorney John Hartle.

The Alaska Redistricting Board just came out with their initial proposals. Their site at http://www.akredistricting.org/ also shows proposals of others. I find it difficult to see exactly where the lines are drawn. But the downtown Juneau district will be extended south almost, but not including Petersburg – and west to include Gustavus and Tenakee. The northern part of the Borough will be combined with Skagway and Haines. Now this is just the first shot in a longer battle— but it lays out the general approach. Interesting, if you like this kind of stuff.

If you would like to follow the Libraries/Archives/Museum project, there is a Blog with lots of information.

The first Cruise Ship is due in May 6. See the full Schedule of Landings.

Replacing ME!!

Well, I have certainly caused a lot of problems by my impending move. Sigh. You may recall that the Assembly requested applications from persons who would like to fill out my term from May 23 until the October election. Thirteen persons have submitted applications and the Assembly will consider them in executive session in our Monday night meeting (April 11).

As always, we have a number of City Boards and Commissions that need members. I encourage you to help out in one way or another. There are many positions that take a minimal amount of time. Please consider how you may participate in our government. Vacancies are listed HERE
And the application process listed HERE
The Airport, Docks and Harbors and Eaglecrest Enterprise Boards are accepting applications before April 27. We look for those who have a real interest and some knowledge of these areas. If you are interested, I encourage you to attend current meetings and learn about the issues. Other Boards require less background. We need persons to apply for the Board of Equalization – which hears appeals on Property Tax assessments. We also need a person on the Social Services Advisory Board and another on the Youth Activities Board – both of which distribute grants to Juneau organizations. Please consider some way you may help.

At our Finance Committee meeting last Wednesday the proposed Budget for FY12 was introduced.
I encourage you to browse through this and ask questions. It is important for citizens to understand how the Borough government is spending your tax dollars. We approved the Manager’s recommendation for the mill rate which will be unchanged at 10.55 or just over 1% of property value. I am pleased that the mill rate has remained stable for the past five years.

Marc Matsil, the Director of Parks and Recreation resigned last month and our new Director is Brent Fischer.

The Diamond Park Aquatic Center is now scheduled to open in June There are a number of job openings there.

Monday night we will also consider acquiring property in the floodplain out Montana Creek Road.

Happy Spring. I have seen Skunk Cabbage!!!

Redistricting

The 2010 Census numbers are in and Southeast Alaska has a problem because of declining population compared to the growth in MatSu. Every ten years after the Census we re-draw the district lines to make sure each voting district has approximately the same number of people. The initiative to expand the number of legislators failed in our last election – which means that with the population shift, southeast is going to lose a legislative seat. The question is now how to redraw the lines (Senate districts consist of two House Districts). Juneau qualified for two House districts previously. Now each of our districts is short about 2,000 people. We probably will have one district that is Juneau only, and a second one that is Juneau and some collection of other communities in Southeast. There’s the rub.

There needs to be about 17,755 residents per district. THIS DOCUMENT shows how many people are in the various communities around southeast and how many each district is “short.” A big challenge to the redistricting effort is the federal requirement to not reduce a minority’s voting strength. Currently District 5 is the biggest district geographically, collecting lots of different native communities. One approach to redistricting is to distribute the communities of this meandering district – but that would almost certainly reduce native representational strength and might not pass federal review.

The Redistricting Board is going to hold a hearing in Juneau tomorrow – Friday March 25th from Noon to 7pm in the Capital room 106. The Redistricting Board Website
has a lot of background materials. Come on down and testify if you want to put in your two cents.

You may have heard that the Assembly is soliciting applications from citizens in the Valley district who would like to fill out the rest of my Assembly term from May to October. Anyone who is interested needs to file a letter of interest and a resume with the Clerk’s Office by 4:30pm Thursday April 7. See the official NOTICE

We also have our annual appointing of members to the Docks and Harbors Board, Airport Board and the Eaglecrest Board. Applications are due by April 27th. Anyone who is interested should give me a call and we can chat about it. Openings for all Boards and Commissions can be found HERE
Information on how to apply is found HERE

We Need YOU!