We'll bring the regular assembly meeting to order for November seventeenth.

Uh, Mr.

Kelly, will you lead us in the flag salute, please?

Through the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for what you send one nation under God, indivisible.

Thank you, Mr.

Kelly.

Uh, Mr.

Brooks, would you read the land acknowledgement, please?

We would like to acknowledge that the city and borough of Juneau is on Clinkett Land and wish to honor the indigenous people of this land for more than ten thousand years.

Alaska Native people have been and continue to be integral to the well-being of our community.

We are grateful to be in this place, a part of this community, and to honor the culture, traditions, and resilience of the Klingt people.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

We have Deputy Mayor Smith is absent.

Ms.

Candice.

Here.

Ms.

Wall.

Present.

Mr.

Kelly.

Here.

Ms.

Adkisson.

Here.

Mr.

Seinninger.

Here.

Ms.

Hall.

Here.

Mr.

Brooks.

Here.

Madam Mayor.

Here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Um see no special order of business.

We will go to approval of minutes.

Mr.

Kelly.

I move that the assembly approve the October twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-five regular assembly meeting minutes and ask for unanimous consent.

Any objections?

Seeing none, thank you.

Uh, Ms.

M Madam Manager, do you have a agenda change?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor.

I just would like to note that we did publish an updated agenda at one thirty PM moving Alaskan coffee pot from new business to the consent agenda.

They were under new business to uh recommend protesting their license renewal, however, they've become current.

So now our recommendation is to approve that uh with on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Madam Manager.

Is there any objection?

Seeing none, that item has been removed.

Uh next, we'll have public participation on non-agenda items, madam clerk.

All right, we'll go to Zoom first.

Please bring over Mr.

Adams, and um we will have two minutes allotted to everybody.

Uh thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

My name is Joshua Adams.

I'm an incremental developer in Juneau, Alaska.

I live all over the place because I work all over the place.

You know the single most expensive thing in building, speaking of building, it's the permit.

Dealing with an inspector or agency that isn't willing to work with the public can triple or quadruple the overall cost of a project.

Charlie Ford was the perfect example of a seasoned expert whose experience commanded respect.

I remember the days when we had Charlie Ford in community development, and he was a real positive force.

Like everyone could learn from him.

He knew the rules and understood how they were meant to be used.

Now it seems like the administration community development has become a little bit self-absorbed and even high-handed sometimes.

I hear that we're in the middle of a housing crisis.

Local government has been partnering up with some of the biggest contractors they can find to build things, among them housing projects that could be more adroitly done in the private sector.

Those contractors weren't looking for work.

They're being taken away from the private sector with our tax dollars.

We can no longer hire them in the private sector for that reason as easily.

At the same time, while we're competing with the public sector for those those work hands, and so there's a major labor shortage to boot.

Community development has been joining forces with the fire marshal and making frivolous demands on local business owners and their ransoming licenses.

That is to say nothing of what they're doing to local contractors who want to build things for the public.

I'm referring to the contractors.

But that is to say nothing of what the experience is like for owner builders.

Building code books hundreds of pages long each are being weaponized against the public, giving orders that have nothing to do with health or public safety, but they can sure use a rule book that they've been paid on public dollars to read, and they use it against us.

It's getting harder and harder for individual citizens to build.

Little by little the act of building is being turned into a crime.

It seems like we've lost uh something about the connection that we have with our government when there's a community development that seems to think of itself as a strictly regulatory agency.

These agencies can cause way too much harm to operate with so little oversight.

Our housing crisis runs too deep to be dealing with the time.

Please wrap it up.

Yes, certainly.

That needs to change if we're going to find ourselves out of the housing crisis.

It doesn't matter how many units you build.

If you criminalize building, you're going to have a crisis no matter what.

One way that we can help alleviate this housing crisis is by reigning in community development.

And finally, let's legalize building.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you.

Any questions from Mr.

Adams?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

Um, next we have in the room um Catherine Fritz.

Please come up to the mic.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Catherine Fritz, I live in the highlands.

Yesterday I returned from a state conference of architects in Fairbanks along with 10 of my junior architect colleagues.

There was a presentation on infill projects that is especially relevant to our housing problem.

Infills work with existing strata of a community to integrate and strengthen rather than demolish and create new.

Essentially, in fill is concept D of the Telephone Hill Place Guide.

Your current approach is taking significant financial and social risk.

This has been called boldness.

The financial risks have been discussed, as has the social risk of demolishing existing housing without the promise of new housing to replace it.

You've also experienced a social risk of political alienation from citizens.

Another social risk is your discard of Juno's history.

Telephone Hill has been presented as a liability rather than an asset.

You are risking that the finished new product will outweigh any historical value of the structures and the neighborhood that has been in place for more than a century.

And you're taking on all these risks without considering any alternatives.

Please consider concept D over the next 60 days as you continue to develop the bid documents for concept C.

Support a community effort to fully explore the viability of infill on Telephone Hill that would reduce financial risk, reduce demolition and site construction costs, maintain maintain the scale and character of the place, provide local jobs and local property ownership, and honor history.

Fleshing out concept D would give you much more information from which you could make a decision.

Comparison of the pros and cons of each concept would be better made before you commit to a construction contract that permanently removes the physical and social fabric of Telephone Hill.

This approach lowers risk and offers opportunity for the community to share the decision.

Please think about this.

Any questions from Ms.

Fritz.

Next, we have Larry Talley.

Thank you.

My name is Larry Talley, and I live in the flats.

And first, thank you all for doing your job.

I'm sure it's not always fun or easy.

And so I do appreciate it.

Um my first point here is I'm asking you to winterize the buildings on Telephone Hill.

We understand that you are proceeding as fast as possible toward demolition.

But many of us disagree with that risky yet bold direction, and we're trying to move the needle of City Hall towards concept D.

We understand that CBJ is not currently planning to winterise the vacant houses on Telephone Hill.

A small investment in stewardship of these buildings could keep options open.

Please drain the water lines and shut off the water.

Leave the electricity on to maintain exterior lights.

Conduct police patrols.

Please keep minimal heat until the bids are opened in late January for the demolition and site work.

If the bids are too high, the project could be stopped.

Please be a good steward.

And my second topic, thank you.

You might have recognized the proposal in front of you, Telephone Hill Concept D.

This got substantially the same number of votes in the survey as did Concept C.

Concept C being the proposal most likely to result in a vacant lot.

So concept D is much more palatable to the people who refuse to vote in the survey because the promised option, leave it like it is, wasn't presented.

It can't always be fun being on the assembly, but it could be.

Any questions for Mr.

Talley?

Thank you for your testimony.

Next, we have Carol Bookless.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

Carol Bookless, and I live in Douglas.

I came today because I heard something that kind of bothered me the other day.

I was talking to somebody, and they said that because of the um referendums where the tax um sales tax was cut for food, and also the um property tax was set at nine mils, that people were maybe getting not fired, but not hired at the city, and that services were going to be cut.

Well, some of that makes sense because to some people because property and sale tax goes to general government functions, which would be like libraries, police, fire, and that sort of thing.

It also doesn't make sense because really what people voted for, at least what I voted for, and everyone who I spoke to voted for the city not listening to what we're saying.

When we said we didn't want a new city hall, it was reintroduced again.

What's happening with Telephone Hill is the same thing.

People are saying we don't want the place torn down, but you're not listening.

And that's the so what's happening is what can people do?

The only thing we can do is cut off your funds so that maybe you will do the things you have to do, which is fire streets, sewer, all that stuff, but stop spending money on things we don't want you to spend it on.

Five million dollars for demolition, those buildings are worth three million dollars.

Why are you spending all this money on things people don't want?

So basically that's it.

I want you to realize why people voted the way they did, at least the people I know.

Thank you.

Any questions from Ms.

Bookless?

Thank you for your testimony.

Uh next we have William Quayle.

William Quayle, 415 Willoughby, number 305.

I'm here for the liability rates.

The liability rates for a pedicab is just astronomical right now.

I pay one year, I paid $5300.

We need some breaks.

And the best way that we can ask for the for a break is with the certificate convenience.

Uh and um harbors.

I want to knock down the fees for certificate convenience to $20.

And for harbors to $20.

Now, this will definitely help in the long run.

Get more um pedicap drivers, and so are uh so the tourists can have not have a problem get a get a getting rides.

And it's really really important that in fact, all next last year, this past season, I spent trying to get three thousand dollars put together to do the season, and I couldn't do it.

Um I was on unsuccessful.

Um if we knock down the overhead to try to get in business, uh definitely be a big help.

Um there's I'm not the only one that has this problem with the liability insurance.

Um the rates are just astronomical.

We cannot have we cannot control the liability rates, but we can control how much the certificate convenience fees are and um the loading fees.

And um I like some positive action on this because you're out of time.

Okay.

Any questions for Mr.

Quail?

Thank you for your time today.

Next we have John Ingalls.

Please take a game in air any town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

Hi, my name is John Ingalls.

I'm a former resident of Telephone Hill.

It's a really scary experience.

The last really scary experience I had was I was asked to do an interview with RN DeArman, the famous notorious uh local historian.

This was in right around 1980.

And I talked to him.

I was scared to death.

I kind of realized I'd want a friend when we could talk about rowing because when he went to college, he wrote all the way to Seattle on a rowboat to go to college.

And as I was leaving the interview, we were talking, he asked me where I lived.

I said I lived on Telephone Hill.

He said, Oh, you live next to the oldest house in Juneau.

And then he went on and talked to me about that house.

And at that time I took a vow that I would do whatever I could to protect those houses and maintain that uh neighborhood is the safest and best neighborhood in Juneau.

And I think it's very important to keep it.

I would like to see more housing up there.

I think we can win with a uh if we add more housing.

I think we should restore what's up there, at least the houses that are restorable.

And then I think we should add more housing uh in terms of an apartment building or whatever.

And uh so I think that would be a win-win situation.

We can put in some smaller housing.

Uh maybe some uh garden apartments.

Anyway, thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for your testimony.

Any questions for Mr.

Ingalls?

Thank you for your testimony today.

So um last we have uh Bruce Simonson.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm Bruce Simonson.

I live on Star Hill.

A former resident of Telephone Hill.

Uh at the last assembly meeting, we presented a petition of 847 voters in town who said, Yeah, slow down.

Make sure you know what you're doing on Telephone Hill before you do something irreversible that you might regret.

My life of me, I don't know why you're ignoring that that piece of advice.

Um I think the assembly is actually conflating two issues here, and it contributes to the complexity.

Uh you have an asset telephone hill.

What should we do with Telephone Hill?

And you have a perceived housing problem.

How can we increase housing density in downtown?

By conflating the two and entangling the two.

I think you're setting yourself up potentially for a big fail on both.

If you separate the two and say, what can we do with this asset called Telephone Hill?

And where can we build housing?

I think you get a lot further without the risk.

Uh there's a lot of enthusiasm in this in this room and the groups that I'm with to help you.

Let's figure out what we can do with Telephone Hill.

I am convinced that for a tenth of what you're proposing to spend to raise the hill, that you can get move very much forward.

And I think there are seven stakeholder groups that would agree and enthusiastically endorse an approach that's more measured.

What you need to do now, I think, in the short term is make sure your assets don't deteriorate.

It's very simple advice, is just make sure there's heat in those houses and that the pipes don't freeze so that they become unviable.

Keep them viable.

That's your responsibility.

It's an asset of the community.

You need to do that.

And then uh form a working group.

We can do that.

We can help you and concurrent with your other work as well, but find other ideas for Telephone Hill.

I really do think that there are seven stakeholder groups that would welcome an alternative to what you're considering now.

Any questions for Mr.

Simonson?

Thank you for your testimony today.

So that concludes our public participation or non-agenda items, so we will go to our consent agenda.

Um is there any public requests for consent agenda changes other than ordinances for introduction?

Seeing none.

Is there any assembly requests for consent agenda changes?

Seeing none, that brings us to assembly action.

Ms.

Hughes Scandis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move that the assembly adopt the consent agenda as amended and I ask for unanimous consent.

I don't believe we amended it.

We moved uh the T the coffee pot to on the regular agenda.

It's not on the consent.

Oh, apologies.

I thought it got moved to the consent agenda because I'm sorry, I've been corrected.

Thank you for that.

As is so I'm not kidding.

Any objections to the moving the consent um agenda as amended.

See none, the consent agenda is approved.

So that brings us to public hearing.

Uh Madam Clerk, item one.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Ordinance 2025-1-3, lowercase C, an ordinance amending the election procedures, ranked choice voting.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, Madam Manager.

Thank you.

This ordinance was brought to the assembly by assembly member Adkinson and has had a lot of uh public hearings and public meetings.

Those are all listed uh in your agenda.

Uh this ordinance, if passed, uh, would apply ranked choice voting to single member races beginning with the October 6, 2026 municipal election.

I recommend the assembly take public testimony and adopt this ordinance.

Thank you, madam manager.

So we will go to the public and first we'll go on Zoom.

Um Angela Rodell.

Can you hear me?

Yes, Madam Mayor.

Please say you're for the record, and you have two minutes.

Thank you, Mayor Weldon and members of the assembly for the opportunity to speak tonight.

My name is Angela Rodell, and I live in downtown Juno.

I'm here today to voice my opposition to adopting ranked choice voting in Juneau at this time.

Regardless of how anyone feels about the merits or drawbacks of RCV, one principle should be absolutely non-negotiable.

Any change to the way we elect our leaders must go to the people.

Our most fundamental democratic right is our right to vote, and that includes our right to decide how we vote.

Implementing RCV through assembly action alone without giving the public a direct say feels like an autocratic approach to something that should be handled with the greatest level of transparency and consent.

If we are going to alter the structure of our elections, we should do what the state did and put the question in front of voters and let them choose.

That is the democratic standard, and Juno should meet it.

Whether you support RCV or oppose it, the process matters.

Trust in government is eroded when major changes are pushed through without public approval, especially on something as foundational as the electoral system.

If this change is truly in the best interest of the community, then it should withstand a public vote.

For these reasons, I urge you not to adopt rank choice voting without first placing it on the ballot.

Let the voters decide.

That is how democracy is supposed to work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions for Ms.

Rodell?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

Uh next we have Chuck Cohen.

Do you have this phone number?

Mr.

Cohen, if you're online, please raise your hand.

Okay, next we'll go to Michael Reeder.

Please state your name and area on the record and you have two minutes.

Hi, Madam Mayor.

Thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, my name is Michael Reeder.

I'm currently in professional school in Arizona, but maintain my domicile in Juneau.

And I'm not gonna speculate here if there needs to be more time on the public process or if it should be voted on on the ballot.

But if ranked choice voting does pass tonight, I really want there to be more accessibility considerations than there have been on the Juneau ballots.

Um I think adding more language is just gonna cluster the ballot, especially for people with English as a second language, senior citizens, people with sight impairments, cognitive differences, literacy challenges, and we can just make an easier and faster ballot.

So some options would be to have an optional high accessibility ballot that people could use in person, or just in all ballots have a large readable font, clear instructions in plain English English, generous white space, high contrast with columns, um, possibly even color as cost allows for printing.

And I think this will increase voter engagement and uh be what ranked choice voting ultimately aims to achieve.

Um I think it's a good there's there's pros and cons to ranked choice voting, especially with respect regards to avoiding split votes.

Um I just want you all to consider those points tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um questions, Mr.

Reader.

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

Next, we have uh coming back to the room, Dave Hannah.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the assembly.

My name is Dave Hannah.

I live in the back loop.

I'll try to be very brief.

I'm here to speak against ranked choice voting.

It was intended to solve partisan politics.

We don't have partisan politics.

It was intended to solve the primary issue.

We don't have primary issues.

It was intended to solve multi-candidate issues.

You can't even get anybody to run.

It was intended to solve dark money issues.

We don't have dark money issues in Juneau.

So what RCV does do is make things worse.

It confuses voters, it leads to the following outcomes.

It leads to discarded ballots that are improperly filled out, so the votes don't count.

It leads to exhausted ballots, so more votes not counted.

It forces voters to rank candidates they don't like.

So voters don't even vote due to confusion and distrust.

The truth is RCV can elect a candidate that most people would reject.

So I'll just wrap it up.

We don't have the issues it's supposed to fix.

It will create issues we don't need.

It's slow, it's expensive, and it's almost impossible to audit or to confirm.

So RCV is a solution looking for problems that don't exist.

Thank you.

Any questions from Mr.

Hannah?

Saying none, thank you for your testimony.

Next, we have Joe Geldoff.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have two minutes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the city and borough of Juneau assembly, Joe Galtoff.

I live in West Juneau.

Um I've done a number as a lawyer, I've done a number of election cases.

Um I have nodding familiarity with the election process here in our local government, state government.

So what?

Um it it allows me to say, what are we trying to solve here with ranked choice voting?

Um why are we doing this?

I don't think you're prepared to answer that question.

In fact, I would suggest that ranked choice voting on the local level is a gimmick that's not necessary.

And uh I pay attention to what you all are doing and your priorities.

And ranked choice voting doesn't come anywhere near affordability, housing, some of the other issues you've identified correctly as being worthy of consideration.

So my point to you, if you're really serious, ranked choice voting at this time before this assembly.

Anybody who votes for it is demonstrating sort of a political attention deficit disorder.

Don't do it.

It's not necessary.

And if you think that it's gonna be put it out to the voters, thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions for Mr.

Gillov?

Say none, thank you for your testimony.

And I apologize the next one.

I can't read the writing real well, Tom Dorst.

Dearest Deast.

Can you uh please state your name and every time you live in the for the record, and you have two minutes, and would you spell your last name when you get up there?

So I can write down.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and Assembly members.

Uh the last name is Deanst D I E N S T, and I live in Ok Bay.

And I'd like to speak to the uh uh ranked choice voting um um ordinance.

I urge you not to adopt the proposed ranked choice voting on um ordinance if you wish to pursue this very representational voting change.

Please serve and honor your constituents' wishes by allowing voters to decide the change with a public ballot initiative.

Similar to what we've heard from other folks since 2022, 17 states have banned ranked choice voting.

Oregon's effort to implement it uh failed by over a million votes.

Um my personal experience with voting in Juneau has been very fulfilling.

Um I've assisted local voters at polling uh locations for both the uh borough and the state.

And um I've been very impressed with how dedicated our staff are and how much training and effort has gone into, especially the state system, you know, with over 402 precincts.

Uh the ranked choice voting um when it was rolled out took a tremendous amount of training and public uh education and whatnot.

Um, and I think our our folks have done a pretty marvelous job of utilizing a very, very tough um system.

As a poll worker, I was also saddened by the voter frustration that I detected and the disenfranchisement over our voting systems.

Um, again, especially the statewide uh elections.

Um for state elections, um the um ranked choice voting has created a much higher rate of rejected ballots.

There's a national study that shows that up to 27 percent of the votes are rejected because the voter does not know how to rank one through seven uh over votes, undervotes the ballot.

Um I've personally had people that just handed the ballot back to me because our scanner could not read it and they didn't want a fresh one.

So I urge the assembly members to please vote against this ordinance.

And if you do want to pursue it, please do the research.

There's an enormous amount of research out there and put put it to a vote with the voters.

Thank you very much.

Any question for Mr.

Deeds?

Thank you for your testimony tonight.

And thank you for your poll service work.

Um next, we have Frank Bergstrom.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record.

You have two minutes.

Frank Bergström near Fred Meyer.

Uh good evening, all.

Thanks for being here.

Um I've submitted two letters so far on this subject.

I hoped you read them.

I hope they were worthwhile reading, and I won't go into that because that would be boring.

But uh, I'm really here tonight simply because uh you haven't asked us to weigh in on this, you haven't asked us to vote, so I'm here to offer my vote anyway.

My vote, of course, is no, please reject ranked choice voting.

The concept of one person, one vote is ubiquitous throughout our political system.

It is not an issue of one person several votes, maybe depending on who other votes.

So I wish we would stick with one person, one vote, pick your person, stand behind them.

That's the way it ought to be.

Please don't fiddle with our rights.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions from Mr.

Bergstrom?

Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Beth McEwen.

Oh, I would love to tell you.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have new events.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

For those for those of you who don't know, Beth McEwan's our retired city clerk, so I can tease her a little.

Beth McQueen, uh Lemon Creek resident.

And I am urging you to vote against this ordinance.

Um, and I will reiterate the points that we made in our July 23rd, 2025 letter that was sent to you by both the former municipal clerk Lori Sika and myself.

Um I wholeheartedly agreed with ranked choice voting for the state.

I think it was a good decision for state elections, not for local elections.

Local elections are non-partisan.

The state has a partisan system.

And um we have primaries and general elections at the state.

We don't have that at the local level.

I think this is an unnecessary confusing um thing when you have both um races that have multi-seat races as well as single seat races.

And when you're trying to describe to voters that you're going to rank choice vote only those that are single seat versus those that are multi-seat, it confuses the voters.

So I would urge you not to pass this ordinance, or if you do choose to pass ranked choice voting, as the previous speaker said, I would also urge you to put it out to the voters to see what they feel like.

Because while the whole argument is we had a lot of Juno people supporting ranked choice voting for the state elections, I being one of those that did vote in that way.

Um I would not support that at a local level.

So thank you for your decisions.

You make a lot of hard decisions, and when they come to you, they're a hard decision between a rock and a hard place.

This should be an easy decision, and please vote no, or at least send it to the voters for their opinion on that as an advisory vote at next year's election.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions from Ms.

McKewin?

Thank you for your testimony.

Next, we have Shannon Green.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Shannon Green, I live in the valley.

Um we elect you to represent our interests, both as individuals and a voting community.

Many citizens are disheartened, frustrated, and frankly, deeply troubled to hear that the assembly is once again planning to tamper with our local method of voting without a call to do so.

A little history.

In early 2023, CBJ made a significant overhaul to our election process, moving to make bi-mail elections the default method, beginning with a motion, late January 30th, and the last 10 minutes of a four-hour assembly meeting.

Yes, in the dark of winter and late at night.

In just five meetings from that night motion, then a three-month gap of silence until the April 24th COW discussion to the May 8th assembly introduction to the May 17th special assembly adoption to the final June 12th public hearing.

From start to finish, our method of voting transformed in just 93 business days.

Few in our community even knew what happened.

There was very little public testimony or awareness of the then 27,767 registered voters.

If even 100 had given public input on the matter, that only represents 0.004% of the citizen voting voice.

Our vote is our voice.

And how we vote matters deeply.

Now the assembly is set to repeat its offense by unilaterally making another significant change to the method by which the people vote without putting it to the registered voters to decide.

At a state level, repeal RCV will likely make the ballot with over 48,000 signatures gathered, of which over 1,800 of those votes or signatures came from Juneau.

That is over a third of your typical votes cast across the country.

17 states have now banned RCV in their elections.

I urge you to either put it on the ballot on the ballot or table the issue indefinitely.

You are losing our trust.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions from his green?

Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Roger Calloway.

Please state your name and area town you live in for the record.

You have two minutes.

Yeah, my name, my name's Roger.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

My name's Roger Callaway.

I live in the Juneau Borough.

I'm here to testify against the adopting this ordinance.

I believe it's wrong for you, the assembly to side how we the voters get to cast our votes.

After the first round, one drops out and leaves the strongest candidate in for each group.

Do the sides or community, we generally have no more than one or two candidates running anyway.

So I don't argue that it may bring us less choice.

Ranked choice voting can overwhelm voters, complex ranking requirements, leading to mistakes, confusing ballots, as many have said already, causing 10 times more arrows.

RCB's complex counting and multi-round tabulations create uncertainty, fueling conspiracy theories about rig results.

Juno deserves transparent and straightforward election without controversy.

Juno pushes in uh ignores Alaska's broader skepticism of repeal to repeal of ranked choice voting.

It's going to be on the ballot again next year to repeal.

High implementation costs, RCV requires expensive software, training, public education.

It will strain our already short staff DBJ personnel.

Well, Juno battles floods, crime surges, and storing costs, the assembly obsesses of ranked choice voting, a solution seeking a problem.

Residents didn't participate for this top-down tinkering that waste time and money and going urgent needs like affordable housing and public safety in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions, Mr.

Calloway?

Seeing none, thank you.

For testimony.

So with that, we've concluded our uh public testimony.

And uh so we'll go to the oh, before we go to the assembly.

Um Madam Clerk, will you remind us what we do for disabled voters?

There was some questions asked.

Thank you.

We do have what we call ICX tablets at each of our voting facilities, which are when you go into the voting center, you'll see a large like TV screen in there.

And if you need help, if you need my time's up.

Um, if you need to hear the ballot, it we have a nice recording from our deputy clerk, Andy Hirsch, that reads off the ballot to you.

If you need larger lettering, that's also an option.

You can also bring someone with you that can help you with your ballot as well.

So we have those great machines at our vote centers that are an option.

All right, thank you, Madam Clerk.

So with that, we'll bring it to the assembly.

Ms.

Atkison.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

Um ranked choice voting is something that uh I think will be really, really great for Juno.

It's something that is designed to deal with races that have many candidates, and I think Juno deserves choices in candidates.

And right now we have a voting system that works and actually incentivizes having fewer candidates because people can split votes if they join in.

And that's not a voting system that works for Juno, because we want people to have the best choice possible.

And we know it's something that Juno as a whole supports on the state level, and I though there is differences in the state level versus the local level, that is still a very strong show of support.

I think it is the right choice for Juno.

That being said, this last election cycle, we were handed budget cuts.

We are going to have to cut services and we are going to have to lay people off.

And that is a thing we are going to work together as a community to get through, but it's going to be a really tough time for Juno, and we're going to have to spend a lot of time and energy as a community getting through that hard time.

And I just don't think this is the right time to implement this ordinance.

So with that, I would move to table ordinance 2025 13 version C indefinitely, and I ask for unanimous consent.

Is there any objection?

Seeing none, it is tabled indefinitely.

Um item number two, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Ordinance 2025-41, an ordinance authorizing the Eagle Crest ski area to enter into a franchise and permit agreement with Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, LLC, DBA, Kawanti Adventures for operating the Alaska Zipline Adventure Canopy Tour.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, Madam Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

The title uh really sums it up.

This authorizes a five-year franchise agreement for the zip line uh adventure tour at Eagle Quest.

You may recall that uh you approved this um franchise agreement in 2023.

However, the company needs to update the um the time frame to allow them to pursue funding to make improvements.

I uh recommend the assembly take public testimony and approve this ordinance.

Uh thank you, Madam Manager.

And we do have Mr.

Simmons in the audience uh for the ecoquest.

Um I don't believe any public has signed up for this ordinance.

So with that, we'll go to the assembly, Ms.

Hughes Candies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move that the assembly adopt ordinance 2025-4-1, and I ask for your unanimous consent.

Is there any objection?

Seeing none, that ordinance is adopted.

So I apologize to everybody, but I could use five minutes, so we'll take a five-minute break.

There.

For the listening audience, we're trying to get a couple lights fixed.

Item number three, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Ordnance two zero two five dash zero one lowercase B uppercase P, an ordinance appropriating three hundred and twenty thousand two hundred dollars to the manager for the wetlands rescue vehicle capital improvement project.

Funding provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, Airport Improvement Program AIP, and Airport Capital Reserve Funds.

To purchase a Marsh Master MM two MX.

And the reason that this response vehicle is necessary is if there were to be an accident, um, an airplane crash in that area, uh, we would need to allow emergency responders to respond quickly and in large volume to that event.

So it is uh in order to be able to adequately respond to a mass cas mass casualty event.

Um being able to have that capability is part of our requirements that the FAA makes us uh makes us require to be a functional airport.

So I recommend the assembly take public testimony and adopt this ordinance.

Uh manager uh Andreas Delgado is on Zoom at this time if there's any questions.

Um I saw nobody had signed up for this.

So we will go to the assembly.

Um Mr.

Brooks, do you have a question first?

Go ahead, Mr.

Brooks.

I uh just had a question about the um the um vehicle itself.

Uh where is it?

Is it going to be stored uh inside, or is it going to be docked in water?

And then also says that it has response to the tide lands and wetlands, just how how deep of water can it uh go into for a response.

Mr.

Delgado.

Good evening.

Uh can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Did you hear Mr.

Brooks questions?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Uh, to answer Mr.

Brooks's question, uh the vehicle will be stored indoors.

Uh in the meantime, in our snow removal equipment building.

Uh and as soon as space is found within the um glacier fire station, it will be stored there.

Now, as far as its water capabilities, it does float.

Uh, and it can traverse ice and uh musk egg and uh really harsh terrain as well for those responses or emergency response.

Okay, I have a question if nobody else does.

Um, Mr.

Kelly, go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, and this is to follow up from Mr.

Brooks' questions.

Uh so um considering where the where it's going to be stored, how quickly would it be able to be deployed in an emergency?

Uh very quickly, uh, much more quickly than a helicopter or any other apparatus can.

Um, it's not so far from the glacier fire station.

Uh, we can quickly access that vehicle.

It'll be ready to go.

And I can defer to, I believe Chief Etheridge is there tonight as well.

Uh, and I can defer to him for any of the uh response questions as well.

Uh Chief Etheridge, we're gonna bring you over if you want to chime in on that question.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can go ahead and do the question.

I uh yeah, so it would be part of the initial ARF response.

Uh so as soon as we have the ring down and know that there's an ARF incident, we would be sending people over to the storage facility to pick it up.

So it wouldn't take uh very long at all.

It would all be within that first wave of uh response vehicles.

Thank you.

Any further questions?

Um Mr.

Delgado, I talked to you earlier today about this.

So any maintenance and overtime for training will come out of your budget.

Is that um paid for by FAA or is that paid by the airport budget?

That is airport budget, Madam Mayor.

All right, thank you.

Any further questions?

Seeing none, we will go to the assembly, I believe it's moved.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move the assembly approved ordinance 2025 01 BP and ask for unanimous consent.

I object, and I'll quickly speak to my objection.

Um, I appreciate um us trying to get a specialized piece of equipment, but as people know I come from the fire department.

I have seen these, and um I just don't see it's something that we need right now.

So with that, I'll maintain my objection.

So, madam quickly, you call roll.

Thank you, madam mayor.

For ordinance 2025-01, lowercase B, uppercase B.

Madam Mayor.

No, Miss Hughes Scandis.

Yes, Ms.

Wall.

Yes, Mr.

Kelly.

Yes, Ms.

Adkisson.

Yes, Mr.

Steininger, no.

Ms.

Hall.

Yes.

Mr.

Brooks.

Yes.

Motion passes with two yes and six.

Sorry, six yes and two nays.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you for being on Zoom tonight for us to ask questions, Miss Chief Etheridge and Mr.

Uh Delgado.

Um, next, and you might as well stay there, Mr.

Delgado.

Next, we have item number four.

Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Ordnance 2025-01, lowercase B, uppercase Q, an ordinance appropriating 1,097,875 to the manager for the motor grader and vacuum truck capital improvement project.

Funding provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA Airport Improvement Program, AIP, and Airport Capital Reserve Funds.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, Madam Manager.

Thank you.

As the clerk mentioned, this ordinance appropriates a little over a million dollars for purchasing a motor grader and vacuum truck.

This uh piece of equipment will replace aging snow removal equipment at the airport, and it is matched by $60,000 in local airport matching funds.

Luckily, we have airport director Delgado online.

If you have any more detailed questions, I recommend the assembly take public testimony and adopt this ordinance.

Thank you, Madam Manager.

I don't believe anybody has signed up to testify in this ordinance.

Any questions from the assembly?

Mr.

Brooks.

Or the uh gly call recovery uh with the new equipment.

What will be the uh time savings on the task as opposed to what the old equipment is doing now?

Mr.

Delgado.

Madam Mayor, thank you.

Uh Mr.

Brooks.

Uh so our current vehicle is old.

It has a swept width of about two feet.

The new vehicle has a swept width of or will have a swept width of eight feet.

So uh four times faster, roughly.

That's a lot of back and forth, and uh it is the expectation that the new vehicle will get the job done a lot more quickly.

Thank you.

A follow-up, Mr.

Brooks.

Yes.

Go ahead.

Uh, do you have a comparison for the uh annual operating costs of it compared to the current equipment?

Mr.

Delvado.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, the operating cost, not off the top of my head.

I will say that the old vehicle is very maintenance heavy.

And so when it is down, it is down for a long time.

Um, in the meantime, uh, there is a lot of sand, a lot of material that gets piled up uh can pose a safety hazard for aircraft.

I could suck all that up.

Thank you.

Any further questions?

Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the assembly.

Uh, Mr.

Brooks.

I move ordinance 2025-01, lowercase B, uppercase Q.

And ask for unanimous consent.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that ordinance passes.

So thank you again, Mr.

Delgado, for being online.

Uh, next, we have no unfinished business, so next we have new business.

Uh, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Hardship and senior citizen disabled veteran late filed real property tax exemption applications.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, Madam Manager.

There are nine property owners that have requested the assembly authorized the assessor to consider their late filed exemption.

You need to consider each one of these requests separately and determine uh whether or not they are eligible to uh accept the application.

Uh thank you, madam manager.

So we'll bring it back to the assembly, Ms.

Hughes Candies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would start by noting that each of these applications have been reviewed and considered individually.

And that I would move that the assembly accept and refer to the accessor as eligible.

The following late file senior and disabled veteran applications for Rodolfo Estegoy, Harvey Giles, Viviane Lewis, Marlene Olsen, Dale Sam's, Patricia Harris, Tamara Mulik, Catherine Polk, and Beth Potter.

And I ask for unanimous consent.

Any objection?

See none, that motion passes.

Thank you, Ms.

Hughes Scandes.

So that brings us to staff reports, Madam Manager.

Do you have any staff reports?

I do not.

Um, so that brings us to assembly reports on mayor's report.

The only thing I'll report on tonight is our retreat, as everybody remembers is December 6th.

So look forward to a fun-filled day of budget.

And uh already started working with uh my usual uh people helping me with that.

Ms.

Hugh Scannies, we talked this morning, and uh Ms.

Wall and I will talk with the finance director tomorrow.

And Ms.

Adkison is going to come up with a fun fill that she volunteered for.

A fun fill activity to start us off well because she doesn't like personality.

Uh yes.

So with that, uh, that's all I have to add on that.

And of course, the public is welcome, and we'll see more details coming out with that.

Um, this is not the time that we do all the budget, it's just the time that we typically give to give direction to the city manager when she makes her budget.

So with that, we will go to um committee reports.

Mr.

Smith's not here for our committee of the whole, so we'll go to Ms.

Wall Finance.

Thank you.

Madam Mayor, at our last finance committee meeting, um we spent um, I believe our entire meeting on um talking about the impacts of the ballot initiatives, um, and made some decisions about how we wanted to move forward given those realities for this year and starting to think about next year as well.

Um there were um a few items that we didn't get to on the agenda, um, including talking more about leaky revenue and um dockage fees.

And so um we will likely see that at our upcoming finance committee meeting.

We are talking about um combining um the early December committee the whole and the finance committee meeting, whether that's gonna be Monday or Wednesday, we're still figuring out.

Um, but um we'll be kind of working through that agenda this week.

Um, so more on that to come.

Thank you, Ms.

Wall.

Um, and next we have Lance, Ms.

Hughes Candies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

The Assembly Lands Committee met November 3rd, and I was reviewing the agenda because I thought I had reported out on the last time that lands met.

Uh, I was absent at the assembly meeting on the third um due to family member surgery.

Um, so I don't have a complete report for you uh for lands, but um most relevant um matching something else that was in our materials.

Uh I will re-remind everyone that um it takes time to go through and rank the legislative priorities list, and so that makes its way and stops in every shop on the way up, and so we discussed that as a committee.

Um so I will just give that another plug.

Thank you for that.

And then we have public works, Ms.

Atkison.

Have we had a public works under you yet?

Yes, we have.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, we met last on uh November 3rd.

We talked about Blacker B waterline issues that have been popping up, and uh DOT came and presented on their uh initial plans for the Fred Meyer intersection.

So that's was a short meeting, and that's all we had.

All right, thank you for that.

And Mr.

Kelly chaired his first meeting today for human resources.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, so it was a uh short and efficient, but um, I think eventful meeting.

Uh we uh accepted the annual reports from the Douglas Advisory Board, uh, from the PRAC committee and from the June Commission on Sustainability.

We also have a number of appointments uh to forward to the full assembly.

Um I move that we reappoint Marion Call and Nick Waldo and appoint Ariel Haas Zamiudo.

Um all terms beginning immediately and ending June 30th, 2028 to the Junior Commission on Sustainability and ask for unanimous consent.

Any objection?

See none they are appointed.

Thank you.

Um the next we have recommendations for the Junior Commission on Aging.

I move that we reappoint Linda Kruger and Diane Kaiser to the general commission on aging 65 plus seats for full terms running January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2027, and appoint Rhonda Ward and John Brett to the general public seats on the Juno Commission on Aging for unexpired terms beginning immediately and ending December 31st, 2025 and to full terms beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending December 31st, 2027, since the partial terms are within the six-month ending and ask for unanimous consent.

Any objection?

Seeing none, they are appointed.

Thank you.

And the last one, um, I move that we appoint Melissa Beadle and James Green both to outlarge seats and reappoint Trenton English to an organized labor seat, all to full terms on the Juneau Economic Development Council board beginning immediately and ending October 31st, 2028, and ask for unanimous consent.

Any objection?

See, none they are appointed.

And uh, Madam Mayor, there is just um a couple more things.

Um we will uh we're looking to set a date for or possibly dates for the um upcoming uh empowered board interviews.

Um so um we are looking at December 17th um and or December 18th, uh depending on the ascendant assembly's availability and if we want to do um just one or two days.

Um and so I I thought I'd open that up to uh to member members' availability and before that the clerk did also ask me to plug that the deadline for replying to these boards uh to the Barlow Board and to the planning commission is uh Wednesday uh December 3rd, and we are looking for more applicants.

Thank you for that.

So um is everybody okay with December 17th.

I'm seeing thumbs up from Elisa Quorum.

We have a couple people still looking.

All right.

And we had one that couldn't make anything.

Yes.

Okay, so I think December 17th is open, and then we'll have to probably look at how many candidates and see if we have to bleed over into the 18th.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

All right, thank you for your report.

Anything further for human resources?

That's all, Madam Mayor.

All right, thank you for that.

Um next uh we have our liaison reports and assembly comments and questions.

So we'll start down there, Ms.

Hugh Scandis.

Madam Mayor, why don't you come back to me?

Certainly, Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um the PRAC met um, I think it was two weeks ago now.

Um they were um getting an update on the Floyd Dryden pickleball courts.

Um they also took a few actions that I think will um you'll see the recommendations come through the assembly.

Um one was on a request to um build a cell tower on Diamond Park at Diamond Park on one of our lighting poles or the city's lighting poles.

Um they did recommend that.

And then um they um did not recommend um uh providing uh parkland to um Capitol Inn downtown.

There's something that's been built over a property line and and they're requesting being able to purchase that piece of the parkland.

So the PRAC um recommended against it, but I know that that will come, I believe, to the housing committee and eventually to the full assembly.

Um the airport board met last week.

That was my first airport board meeting.

Um, so still trying to catch up on what they're up to, but um they were discussing impacts of the shutdown um on airport operations, which seemed minimal, um, and then reviewed a new um rates model that um I believe they've been working on for quite a while that um to be able to kind of more easily understand how rates are developed at the airport.

That's all for me.

All right, Ms.

Euscanis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy, and then I find my calendar, and I understand why.

Uh the Bartlet Board will meet tomorrow and I will be there.

They had their my first Bartlett board meeting uh since I started.

I was on an airplane, so I couldn't um attend that one.

So that'll be my first Bartlet board meeting, which I'm looking forward to.

The chamber board uh chamber of commerce met um the 12th at 2 30.

I was also on an airplane going up to Anchorage.

Uh, but luckily someone on that same airplane was on the chamber governance board, so he was able to catch me up on what they've been talking about, and I will be getting coffee with the executive director.

I'm sure they will have lots to say about uh our budget process and what that might look like.

So uh look forward to reporting back where they're coming from.

Thank you for that.

Mr.

Brooks.

The school board um met on the 10th, and they're discussing uh bylaws and uh changing language and amending things a little bit just to kind of clean up the understanding.

They were also uh discussing having uh meetings and materials available for the public and uh kind of discussing, you know, maybe they do something similar to what we do with the assembly and posting things on YouTube and stuff.

So we uh we might see something, some sort of ask coming in that aspect, but uh it was just a short section of the bylaws, and they're continuing on with different sections, so I'm sure we'll see more in the future.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Brooks.

Ms.

Adgison.

I'll keep things very short, Madam Mayor.

None of my liaison appointments have met since we last met.

So I have nothing to report.

Thank you for that, Mr.

Steininger.

The uh systemic racism review committee met uh months ago and reviewed the agenda that we just went through this evening.

They also discussed capital project priorities.

Um, and I believe their comments were incorporated into um what we received from Director Koch.

Um so you should all see that in your packet.

Um Eagle Crest Board met middle of last week, um, had General Mountain update.

They've made a bunch of new hires in the marketing department, so they should be getting you know more word about what's going on at Eagle Crest out there into the community.

Um gondola update.

There wasn't much of a gondola update.

The real um kind of thing that they're waiting on right now is getting the contractor on the I think it's CMGC contractor.

Um I always get that acronym wrong, but that contractor is gonna come on and be the you know the point of contact for kind of getting all that project coordinated, and um we'll see a lot more updates about that project once that happens.

Um I think that's it for my two liaison reports.

Thank you, Mr.

Steininger, Ms.

Hall.

Okay, thank you.

Um Madam Mayor, it's been a busy week last week in this.

Um, so JEDC board had their um meeting, which um my first meeting attending, and they interviewed the candidates for their billed vacancies, had a nice send-off for their um board president and um outgoing member.

Um, and then also on Thursday evening, I attended their um investor indicator event at K2 Studios where many community members were there hearing about um uh you know the the state of the economy in Juneau and and projects that have yeah, so anyway, it's a very interesting evening and and good opportunity.

I also um attended my first first docks and harbors.

I went to their operations and planning committee meeting, which is sort of comparable to our work session, and then on the weekend, um they held a day-long retreat on Saturday, and the topics included developing the CIP list, their board purpose, building trust.

Um Mr.

Ucatel reports that Aurora phase four is progressing well with only eight pilings left to be driven.

Electrical water lines will be installed in the coming months, and the contractor has until April to finish the work.

Um statter phase 3D is also proceeding well.

The contractor will be pouring the final concrete in the coming two weeks.

Landscape will be in place in April to clean up and complete the work.

Um, and that's that's it for now.

Their board meeting will be later this week.

So thank you, Ms.

Hall, Mr.

Kelly.

Thank you.

Um the downtown business association has been busy since I was appointed as W liaison.

They've actually had two meetings.

They had their annual meeting um a couple weeks ago, um, and they had their uh monthly meeting um last week.

Um, prominently featured, I think in um in both meetings was a discussion about the upcoming gallery walk, uh, which as usual will be um on the first Friday of December.

So they're looking forward to that.

And also thinking of kind of stretching it out into more of a weekend event.

Um their next meeting is slated to be on December 10th.

The Juno Commission on Aging has not met yet since I've been assigned to them, but they are meeting tomorrow.

So I'm looking forward to that meeting over Zoom at three.

And I did hear back from the um uh Southeast Alaska Solid Waste uh Authority.

Um they have not formally set a meeting, but they're looking at their next meeting being uh Wednesday, December 10th at 10 a.m.

Uh over Zoom.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

So again, just to remind everybody what Ms.

Huscanny said, our priorities are due, I think November 24th, I think.

Is that the date or priority list somewhere around there?

Yep, I'm getting hit nods up.

And then also just a heads up on our consent agenda.

We are talking about the downtown Douglas and West Geno area plan.

So you might not wait till the night before to read those things.

So you might look at that before we get to our December meeting.

Um looking at staff, do you guys have anything for us?

So okay, with that, uh anybody else have anything down there?

With that, we are adjourned.