Assembly Makes Appointments to Planning Commission and Bartlett Regional Hospital Board

The City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Assembly made the following appointments to the Bartlett Regional Hospital (BRH) Board and the Planning Commission during a Special Assembly Meeting held Wednesday, December 17, 2025 via Zoom Webinar.

Bartlett Regional Hospital Board

The Assembly reappointed Max Mertz, Chris Letterman, and John Raster MD to full terms on the BRH Board beginning January 1, 2026, and ending December 31, 2028. The Assembly also appointed Jeannie Monk and Dorothy Hernandez MD to unexpired term seats on the Board beginning January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2026.

Planning Commission

The Assembly appointed Carlee Simon, Keith Koruna and Karinne Wiebold to full terms on the Planning Commission beginning January 1, 2026, and ending December 31, 2028.

The Assembly would like to thank outgoing BRH Boardmembers Kenny Solomon-Gross and Richelle (Shelly) Deering, as well as outgoing Planning Commissioners Adam Brown, Nina Keller and David Epstein for their service.

CBJ thanks all individuals that submitted applications for consideration, and their willingness to serve.  CBJ has a number of boards, commissions, and committees with vacant seats on a rotational basis. A current list of CBJ board vacancies along with application forms are available at juneau.org/clerk/boards-committees.

Meeting materials from the December 17 Special Assembly meeting are available at juneauak.portal.civicclerk.com. For additional information, please contact the Municipal Clerk’s Office at 586-5278 or [email protected].

December 18th, 2025|

JSD Schools Closed Due to Weather, Delayed Opening for CBJ Facilities

Juneau School District schools are closed today, December 15, due to the overnight snowfall and the ongoing snow in the forecast. City and Borough of Juneau facilities are tentatively scheduled to open to the public at 1 p.m. today. This notice will be updated if weather or road conditions worsen and that status changes.

CBJ encourages everyone to take care and avoid driving today where possible.

December 15th, 2025|

CBJ, Tlingit & Haida, USFS Align on Enduring Solution for Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding

For Immediate Release:
December 12, 2025
CBJ, Tlingit & Haida, USFS Align on Enduring Solution for Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding
Municipal, Tribal and Federal partners committed to working with USACE on expedient solution
Juneau, Alaska – Representatives from the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ), Tlingit & Haida (T&H), and the USDA Forest Service (USFS) this week joined the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) and technical experts from relevant agencies to review and evaluate enduring flood-control alternatives for the Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding in the Mendenhall Valley.  Following three days of technical analysis of the safety, feasibility, constructability, cost and timeline of the five proposed alternatives, T&H, CBJ and USFS united on their shared support for the Lake Tap alternative. All three agencies encourage USACE to move forward with this option as the focus of the Technical Report.“From the perspective of safety and protection of the community, construction timeline and impact to the area, a lake tap option quickly rose to the top as an enduring solution,” explains Denise Koch, CBJ Director of Engineering & Public Works. “We greatly appreciate the recognition of urgency by the USACE and the contributions of the dozens of technical experts convened to tackle this ongoing threat to our community on accelerated timeline.”

The five alternatives reviewed over the three-day charrette included flood-control dam(s), levees or floodwalls, Suicide Basin lake tap, relocation, and a hybrid option. Experts from USACE and their partners presented a high level of technical data and risk analysis; however, there was wide acknowledgement that future geotechnical studies would be central to the implementation of any solution. Participants also reviewed the public input provided via the 30-day public comment period in November 2025.

“Tlingit & Haida went into this week with the purpose of reviewing all options with a single priority: identify an approach that best safeguards citizens, protects cultural resources, and supports the wellbeing of the broader Juneau community,” said Tlingit & Haida Public Safety Manager Sabrina Grubritz. “The lake tap option appears to best meet those goals with the data currently available.”

Tlingit & Haida and CBJ are the community partners for this critical USACE report. As the impacted land manager, the USFS will also play important role in an enduring solution.

The purpose of the charrette was to determine the focus for the USACE technical report, which will inform the next steps in pursuing an enduring solution to the annual glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) events in the Mendenhall Valley. USACE plans to release the technical report in May 2026, with a public comment period to follow. While the completion of a technical report is an important step, it does not guarantee funding for a project construction.  CBJ, Tlingit & Haida and USFS are committed to their joint pursuit of a completed solution as quickly as possible.

“Time is of the essence,” emphasized Koch. “It is going to take close collaboration across government agencies at all levels to get us to an enduring solution. We truly value our strong partnership with Tlingit & Haida, the U.S. Forest Service and USACE, as well as the ongoing advocacy and involvement of our residents and representatives.”

Information regarding the USACE Mendenhall Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding Technical Report is available at the project website.

Contact:
Ashley Heimbigner, [email protected]
Dixie Hutchinson, [email protected]
Paul Robbins, [email protected]

December 12th, 2025|

Special Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Committee of the Whole Meeting on October 30

Several Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) mitigation topics will be presented by local experts and federal agencies during a Special GLOF Assembly Committee of the Whole Meeting on October 30. The meeting agenda, presentations and meeting materials are now available at juneauak.portal.civicclerk.com/.

The special meeting agenda includes presentations on recent key studies and understanding of the science of Suicide Basin from University of Alaska Southeast and the National Weather Service. Representatives from two branches within the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will be present to walk through next steps for their respective programs, including both short-term mitigation and progress toward identification of an enduring solution.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will present on the Emergency Watershed Protection Program and the potential buyout program for View Drive.

Thursday’s meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in City Hall Assembly Chambers and online at the link below. As is standard with Committee of the Whole meetings, public testimony is not included in the agenda, however, members of the public are invited to share questions and comments on the topic at [email protected] and [email protected].

Zoom link: https://juneau.zoom.us/j/95424544691
Dial-in: 1-253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 954 2454 4691
YouTube livestream: bit.ly/cbjstream

A recording of the meeting will be available on CBJ’s YouTube channel later in the week.

For questions, please contact [email protected].

October 29th, 2025|

CBJ Election Official Final Results Certified 10/21/2025

CBJ Ballot Processing Center

October 21, 2025

CBJ October 7, 2025 Regular Municipal Election Final Results
Certified by Election Official after Completion of Canvass Review Board.

The Canvass Review Board has completed its work on the October 7, 2025 CBJ Regular Municipal Election and the Election Official has now certified the final results. The Canvass Review Board began work on Monday, October 20 and completed its review on Tuesday, October 21. Official results are posted to the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Elections webpage at https://juneau.org/clerk/elections.

The Assembly and School Board races saw the following candidates elected:

  • Areawide Assembly: Ella Adkison was elected to her first full three-year term.
  • District 1 Assemblymember: Greg Smith was elected to his final three-year term as an Assemblymember.
  • District 2 Assemblymember: Nathaniel “Nano” Brooks was elected to his first three-year term as an Assemblymember.
  • School Board members: Steve Whitney and Melissa Cullum were elected to three-year terms, while Jenny Thomas was elected to a two-year term to fill an unexpired seat.

The results of the ballot proposition are summarized below. Exact language for each proposition is available in the sample ballot (PDF).

Proposition 1 – Mill Rate Cap Amendment
Proposition 1 was a citizen’s initiative petition to amend Section 9.7 of the CBJ Charter. It proposed capping the property tax rate at 9 mills, down from the previous rate cap 12 mills.  Additional millage would be permissible to pay for general obligation debt. Any property tax rate above the new cap would require voter approval at a future election. The proposition passed with 5,163 YES votes and 5,006 NO votes.

Proposition 1 is scheduled to take effect on November 20, 2025, 30 days after enactment, however the impacts of the rate cap will not be reflected until the Fiscal Year 2027 municipal budget.

Proposition 2 – Sales Tax Exemptions
Proposition 2 was a citizen’s initiative petition to amend the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Code to create new sales tax exemptions for both essential food (as defined by the federal Food and Nutrition Act of 2008) and non-commercial essential utilities. The proposition passed with 7,099 YES votes and 3,100 NO votes.

Proposition 2 is scheduled to take effect on November 20, 2025, 30 days after enactment. The citizen’s initiative was modeled after the existing senior sales tax exemption and will require several steps by City, merchants and service providers, as well as members of the public to implement. The CBJ Finance Department will assist merchants with this change, however, seniors with sales tax exemption cards should continue to carry their cards until the transition is complete.

More information on this process will be provided over the next 30 days.

Proposition 3 – Seasonal Sales Tax
Proposition 3 proposed amending the CBJ Sales Tax Code to implement a new permanent seasonal sales tax structure. The measure proposed the introduction of a 2% sales tax from October 1 through March 31 and a 6.5% sales tax from April 1 through September 30 of each year, while repealing both the current permanent 1% and temporary 3% sales taxes. The existing temporary 1% sales tax would have remained unchanged. The proposition failed with 4,365 YES votes and 5,853 NO votes.

A more detailed report with election statistics will be provided at the October 27 Assembly Reorganizational Meeting, to be held at 6 p.m. in person at Centennial Hall Ballroom #3 and remotely via Zoom webinar.

CBJ would like to extend our gratitude to the 10,263 people who voted in this election, those candidates who ran for office, and all those involved with races and propositions on the ballot, with a special thanks to the dedicated CBJ Election Workers and support staff who contributed hours and hours of their time to ensure the safety and integrity of our municipal election.

For media inquiries about the municipal election, contact the CBJ Municipal Clerk’s Office at (907) 586-5278, option 4, or [email protected].

October 21st, 2025|
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