April 29, 2026 Special Assembly Meeting

We will bring the assembly meeting to order. This is a special assembly meeting for April 29th, 2026, and I had to make a quick birthday. Happy birthday to Patty Sanford, our former mayor. Wife. It's her birthday today.

So, um, we're going to do things a little bit differently today because we have so many of you friends here. Um, we're going to do all of our testimony right in the beginning after we just call— do roll call and those kind of things. And then again, we ask you once you testify if you would please leave so we can get the number of people down here in the room. So, um, just a couple things before we start. Um, truly appreciate everybody coming out tonight.

Um, probably not what you want to do on a Wednesday, but, uh, we like to hear what the public has to say. Uh, this is our, uh, the first, uh, first hearing on the budget. You'll see another one coming up in May, I believe. Off the top of my head, it might be June. So you will have another opportunity.

And the budget right now is the city manager's budget. Um, if you've been paying attention to our finance, you've seen that we've been trying to do a lot of work, trying to figure out reductions, um, trying to figure out, uh revenue, especially looking at the sales tax exemptions. I know that people are— were not pleasantly surprised with the list of priorities that we marked for reductions. Be advised, this is just a list that we're going to talk about, does not mean that things are going to come off of that list. It just means these are the things we're throwing out here.

As everybody is aware, we are a public body, so we can't talk about anything unless we're in the public. So sometimes things get out there just because we have to put them out there to talk about. So with that being said, um, Mrs. Hall, would you do our land acknowledgment? Thank you, Mayor Beth. We would like to acknowledge that the City and Borough of Juneau is on Tlingit land and wish to honor the indigenous people of this land.

For more than 10,000 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, resilience, and traditions of the Tlingit people. Gunasheesh.

Madam Clerk, will you call roll? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Deputy Mayor Smith.

Here. Ms. Yuskandis. Here. Ms. Wall. Present.

Mr. Kelly? Here.

Miss Adkisson? Here. Mr. Steininger? Here. Miss All?

Here. Mr. Brooks? Madam Mayor? Here. Thank you, a quorum is present.

Uh, Mr. Brooks, you want to try your mic one more time?

I don't think it's working.

Here. There we go. That sounds much better. Uh, Madam Manager, do you have any agenda changes for us? No.

Perfect. So now we'll get into, uh, public participation or testimony. Remember, this is your time to do testimony. You could ask us questions, but we're not going to answer them. This is not a time that you ask questions for the assembly back.

It's not a time to talk back and forth. We will try and note some of these questions and maybe ask them later in the meeting, but It's not a time for ask questions at this time. You'll have 2 minutes. You'll state your name and area, town you live in for the record. For the audience, this is very important.

Please do not applaud. You— there may be people in the audience that do not share the same opinion as you do, so it's not fair to them if you applaud someone with a differing opinion. I know some of you have signs. As long as they're the size of paper, you can show them, but you cannot bring them up to block somebody's view. So thank you, ladies in the front, for sitting up in the front.

Any other things that I'm missing, Madam Clerk? Yep, and we're going to call a few names if you would line up on the side of the wall so we can try and get through this relatively quickly.

And the— just asked a question, what's the order of list? And when you signed up, there was a numerical order. So we will go down by that, and we usually do Zoom first, but tonight because we have so many people in the room, we'll get to do the room first just to get a few of you out there, um, to listen to us in a different way. So with that, uh, the first person on the list is Connor Sullivan, so please step up to the mic. Next we have Brock Tabor, and then Tom Williams, and then Annabelle Sullivan.

So, Mr. Sullivan, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Connor Sullivan. I live in the Valley. Good evening.

I'm here today to speak in strong support of funding the Juneau Parks and Recreation, specifically funding 2 public schools in Juneau. Name me a better return on investment for the well-being of Juneau than our pools. In a community like ours, surrounded by water and defined by our connection to it, access to safe, welcoming aquatic spaces is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Public pools provide a place where people of all ages can come together, stay active, and build community.

On any given day, young children are being taught how to swim, senior citizens are participating in low-impact exercise, athletes are using the gym. Parents like me are maintaining social connections. It is a shared space that strengthens the fabric of our town. For family, these pools are essential. They provide access to swim lessons for children, lessons that can save lives.

Living in Southeast Alaska means living with water every day, whether it's the ocean, rivers, and yes, even rain. Water safety education is not optional here. It is a critical necessity. Public pools create a controlled environment where kids can learn not just how to swim, but how to respect and navigate water safely. These facilities all support programs like the Glacier Swim Club.

I am the father of 3 swimmers. I've experienced firsthand how incredible this program is. Through Glacier Swim Club, my children have opportunities to grow as athletes, build confidence both in and outside the pool. Being part of a team sport has instilled discipline, resilience, time management, and goal setting. These skills extend far beyond the pool.

Our pool also provides the opportunity to host swim meets where athletes throughout the state come to compete, thus bringing revenue to our city. Funding 2 public pools ensures accessibility, reduces overcrowding, and allows for a wider range of programming. One pool for a city of 30,000 is sufficient. And we're gonna have to stick to our time, so you get one more sentence. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any clarifying questions for Mr. Sullivan? Thank you for testifying today. Uh, next we have Brock Tabor, followed by Tom William, Annabelle Sullivan, and then Ed Schoenfeld. Yep.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

And we'll have the clerk try and give you a 15-minute heads up. Brock Tabor, 434 7th Street. Uh, thank you very much for your time today. Thank you, members of the assembly, for your service. Um, I'd like to start by providing a definition from Merriam-Webster.

Affordability. Afford: to manage, to bear, or bear the cost without serious harm or loss. And I'd like to contrast that by thinking about the definition of livability, which is a balance of health, safety, and welfare. The various opportunities that a community has that is used by that community to encourage residents to stay, residents to come, communities to grow. I've got some serious questions about the budget as proposed and how they actually balances livability.

Rather than just focusing on affordability and the economics of affordability. Frankly, I think some of the cuts that are proposed creates more of a disincentive to livability in our community. It's going to create a disincentive for our workforce, which we've been trying to grow for many years through economic opportunities, tax breaks, things like that. Growing our workforce, bringing new people here is important to our community. It's important to our economic base, but more importantly, it's going to be important to our seniors and our healthcare industry who need these people.

Frankly, I'd like to see much more thought about opportunities for new revenue as defined in the survey, the 2016 survey that was provided to us and where residents were asked, what's your most important thing? We said livability. We said growth for our— having a place for families to grow and prosper. Please take that under consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Tabor. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony tonight. Uh, next we have Tom Williams, Annabelle Sullivan, Ed Schoenfeld, and then Joanna 4 plus 2. I'm not sure what the plus 2 mean, but you still have 2 minutes total.

Mr. Williams. Thank you. My name is Tom Williams. I've lived in Juneau for 49 years, and I currently live in the Auke Bay area. As a former CPA, I have 18 years of experience in management, budget, and financial and performance auditing at the state level.

I've served the CBJ at the Airport Board as well as the Harbor Board chair. Based on my years of financial and government experience, along with the current financial position and budgeting practices of the CBJ. I find the seat for the CBJ to even consider closing facilities critical to the youth of our community, including our pools, the ice rink, and the field house, to be unconscionable. CBJ has more than enough money. It has tens of millions of dollars of unobligated million dollars in the bank, and as a result of very poor budgeting and the overcollection of taxes.

It's been ready to waste $9 million to tear down some houses on Telephone Hill. It has moved ahead to spend $20 million or more for a new city hall without voter approval, despite the voters saying no to a new city hall twice. It delayed development specifically of the Hoonah Totem Dock for more than 7 years, which could have been providing additional revenue for years. These are just a few of the CBJ's poor budget and development decisions.

On the positive side, the CBJ has a unique opportunity to offload the Eagle Crest to Gold Belt, another facility critical to our youth, saving, uh, more than $10 million owed to Gold Belt for the CBJ mismanaged tram project and nearly $1 million a year in ongoing CBJ funding. You know, considering these sorts of cuts, you begin to wonder whether the, the CBJ is just incompetent or has an agenda. Some people think that some of these cuts are put out there to punish people for trying to make Juneau more affordable, or to actually generate support for the recently proposed initiative to make Juneau more unaffordable by unnecessarily increasing taxes. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Williams?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

Madam Clerk, you want to explain the colors before you— we continue? Yes, we have a button in front of you while you're sitting up here. If it's green, you have plenty of time. If it's orange, start wrapping up. And if it's red, really wrap up, your buzzer's about to go off.

Okay, so next we have Annabelle Sullivan, Ed Schoenfield, Joanna First, and Eric Shook, maybe. Sorry. Hi, my name is Annabelle Sullivan, and I live in the Valley area. My name is Annabelle Sullivan, and I'm a swimmer on Glacier Swim Club here in Juneau. Over the years, I have practiced and competed in both of our public pools.

I am here to ask for your support for funding both of them. These pools are really important to me and a lot of kids in our community. Swimming has helped me become a stronger athlete. It's taught me how to work hard, set goals, and keep going even when things get tough. Because it's not just about being strong, it's about the people.

At the pool, I've made some of my best friends. We support each other, we laugh together, and we go as a team. Living in Juneau, the weather isn't always great. It can be rainy, cold, and dark for a big part of the year. The pools give us a place to stay active, no matter what the weather is like outside.

With them, it'd be a lot harder for kids to stay healthy and keep moving. We also have amazing coaches who teach us more than just swimming. They teach us responsibility, teamwork, and confidence. Those are things we'll use for the rest of our lives. Being on Glacier Swim Club has also given me chances to travel outside of Juneau.

I've been able to go to swim meets in other places, meet new people, and have experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. That's helped me learn more about the world and grow as a person.

Having 2 pools means space for everybody— kids, families, and teams, and the whole community. It means more opportunities for people like me to keep doing what we love. Please support funding both pools. They make a big difference in our lives. Thank you.

Thank you. What's your favorite stroke? Um, backstroke. Good for you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Ed Schoenfeld, Johanna First, Eric Schutz, Casey Krieger.

Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record. My name's Ed Schoenfeld and I live in Douglas. Um, I, I will talk about a couple things here real quickly, uh, speaking on behalf— or not on behalf, but in favor of the Juneau Douglas City Museum. My wife and I volunteer there, as do many, many other people, thousands of hours a year. We provide a lot of information for visitors, capital tours, walking tours, the museum itself.

When you lose a museum, you lose history. When you lose your history, you screw up the future. Now on to my more official role. I'm chairman of the Douglass Advisory Board, which is appointed by the Assembly, and we're responsible for watching things in Douglas and reporting back to the assembly and mayor. And we had sent a letter a while back with a budget process.

We acknowledge cuts need to be made unless if you folks shuffle the money and find new revenue sources, or not general fund revenue sources. And, um, and we just asked that cuts affecting Douglas be proportional. Well, on the list you have, um, uh, the Treadwell Ice Arena and the Mount Jumbo Gym. And I know a lot of people think the Mount Jumbo Gym is empty. It's not.

It's used a lot, preschool kids, basketball games, other things. And other people, I think, will speak about the Treadwell Arena better than I could. But you yank those two out, that's very disproportional. There are facilities that are used elsewhere by folks elsewhere in the city but are particularly strong for Douglas. We also, of course, support the fire hall staying there.

I know there have been staffing issues, but if you have a heart attack and need an ambulance or a fire and you need a fire truck, The closer it is, the better, and that's true for everybody in our community. Um, support continued funding, and I don't know if this is on the list or not, for our trails. Very popular, good exercise, and a good way to lower the tension level or the stress level in the city, which you folks are experiencing a lot. Uh, I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Winfield? Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Johanna Force, Eric Chuck Casey Krueger and Bob Foy. Apologize.

Where's your two? Yes, so good evening, Assembly members and community members. My name is Joanna Force. I live in the Valley, and my plus two are in the back coloring and eating oranges. I'm here tonight as a social worker and advocate, and most importantly, a mother, because the people most affected by these proposed cuts are often the least able to attend in-person late-at-night meetings.

Yet I'm so proud of all the families, children involved who are here tonight. The proposed elimination of community services, including our pools, Diamond Park Fieldhouse, and other parks and recreation programs, is not a minor budget adjustment. These are not luxuries. They are essential public infrastructure. What is most disappointing— disappointing for me personally is not just the threat of cuts, but the lack of thoughtful understanding behind them.

You guys have access to reports. Usage and data that show the impact information of these services. Yet we are grounding this conversation not in that information, but the public message that has been reduced to no one advocated for these services, so they don't matter. Clearly they matter, and we're here to prove that. We shouldn't have to prove our worth to you all.

No, sorry, that sounds harsh, but it is the responsibility of the leadership to understand the needs of the people you serve as especially those who do not have similar experiences as you all. The city faces a serious budget gap, a recurring shortfall reinforced by voter-approved tax exemptions and the mill rate cap. But you have to understand, residents are being forced to accept the blame and cuts to core family services while carrying the frustration of costly projects that we did not vote for and are not our community priorities. The community is not asking for perfection. We are asking for transparency, responsiveness, humility, communication, We're asking for the Assembly to accept that we need a hard reset.

So please hear me. The relationship between the Assembly and the people must be repaired right now. Many residents feel unheard, manipulated, threatened rather than represented. I appreciate your time. I'll follow up with my full remarks and recommendations via email.

Thank you guys, and thank you, community members. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Okay, Eric Shook, Casey Krueger, Bob Foy, and then Renee Nemec, maybe.

Sorry.

Good evening. My name is Eric Shook. I live in Auk Bay, and I am here to speak in defense of the Juneau pools and field house. I've taken part in a wide cross-section of the opportunities that these facilities provide. I've learned to swim freestyle in a master's class.

I've trained for a triathlon at all 3 facilities. I've turned to swimming while injured and when I needed a low-impact exercise, and I've used them as part of a university course. Lastly, I assist Southeast Scuba, a small local business who requires the use of pool sessions in the training of new divers. I list all of these things to demonstrate that these are not single-use facilities. The number of Juneauites who would be affected by the closure of even one of these facilities cannot be understated.

The young to the young at heart all use these recreationally, professionally, as friends, as students, and as educators. Uh, after a winter like the one we just had, it should be clear how instrumental these interior places are to the health of our city. They serve so many in so many ways. Their removal is not just the removal of a pool or a track. You would be removing someone's community center, someone's place of learning, someone's access to a gym in a city where other fitness centers cost an arm and a leg.

A vote in favor of ending just one of these facilities is a tacit endorsement of a less healthy Juneau, the end of a Juneau business, a Juneau community organization, and a Juneau child not learning to swim in a waterfront city where water safety is paramount. I understand you have numbers you need to match up. There's no getting around that, and I really do appreciate your hard work on that, but I do need you to know that part of the reason you are working with less is due to a loss of trust from your public. So as you are making these difficult decisions, I hope that earning back that trust is front of mind, and removing the pools or field house would not earn you that trust back. Uh, thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Casey Krueger, Bob Foy, Renee Nemec, and Zach Ritter.

Uh, Casey Krueger, staying in North Douglas. This is my fourth winter in Juneau. Uh, I've been dealing with CBJ for over 2 years. I was a CBJ employee. I was told my first year the gondola project was a pipe dream by someone who'd done chairlifts for over 20 years, uh, is now back working and is major part of why the chairlifts are now safe and making things better at Eagle Crest.

Uh, he told The past management, before he left, the gear oil on Black Bear was contaminated. I was told the past management was illegally cutting trees that the board has been aware of for over a year to push forward the gondola project. I've been denied for over 6 months to talk to the city manager or the mayor, who told me to just sue them.

Mayor, city manager, you gotta listen to the public. I was someone that worked for you that told the truth. I tried to go to a November assembly meeting. You've made me leave. You've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in that time on a now dead gondola project.

You spent millions of dollars of the community's money not having a plan. And now you think this community is going to accept you taking away their recreational facilities, opportunities from their kids, and pay for you to go get some training in another state or country? We shouldn't be paying for anything. You should Zoom meetings, talk to your community, do like Nano Brooks. Have an open thing where some employee who worked for you or a community member can state they have issues with what's going on.

Every time you see a kid not in a pool on a street, think about the decisions you made. All right, thank you for your testimony. Thanks for allowing me to speak tonight. All right, next we have Bob Foy, Renee Nemec. Zach Ritter, and then Bob Jaynes.

Good evening, uh, my name is Bob Foy. I am from Auke Bay. Uh, appreciate this opportunity. Thank you for scheduling this special meeting. Uh, I am a parent of a current and previous high school and Glacier Swim Club competitive swimmers.

I am a former Glacier Swim Club board member and a recent chair of Alaska Swimming, which is the regional corporation under USA Swimming. I appreciate the situation that the assembly must balance its budget, consider priority uses, uh, for revenue. I also see that it may seem like a quick win to close one of our pools, uh, for quality of life services, as it was termed. However, I would like to highlight that pools in a community such as Juneau are necessary for public health and safety, not only quality of life, and represent opportunities for revenue elsewhere in the community. What are public health and safety advantages to having enough pool capacity?

Drowning prevention. Alaska is the highest— has the highest drowning rate of any state in the nation, roughly 6 to 7 times the national average. In Juneau, 4th graders learn in our Learn to Swim program at the Glacier Swim Club, runs roughly 300 kids per year. That's 4,500 kids in the last 15 years. Learning how to swim.

Commercial, recreational, and subsistence boat safety. Boat safety and drowning prevention is dramatically improved by the use of survival gear, life rafts, PFDs, but people have to know how to use those tools. These tools are the last line of defense. The community pools are the first line of defense. There are approximately 450-500 commercial boats in town, 1,200 Juneau residents with commercial fishing licenses, 600 commercial vessels, and 5,000 registered boats.

People who all need to know how to swim. What are other benefits? 50 Unique user groups in the CBJ pools. Glacier Swim Club supports nearly 200 participants per year. The Glacier Swim Club and the high school host regional and statewide swim meets that bring in about $120,000 per meet.

In my written testimony, I have a number of items for possible solutions— private partnerships with GSC and others. I would love to have further conversation with you about that. All right, thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

So next we have Renee, and then Zach Ritter, Bob James, and then Naima Dardis, maybe. Sorry.

Hello, please say your name correctly. And got it, it was perfect. Okay, um, my name is Renee Nemec. I am a 2-year resident of Juneau in the Mendenhall Valley, a 6-year resident of Southeast Alaska, and a Lower 48 transplant. I'm a stay-at-home mom with my 2 children, one that's in school and one that is my constant shadow.

I was always told it's a bad idea to be out on a school night as a kid. Yet here I am on a school night with my kids. As a member of the community, I should be able to rely on the other adults in this community to behave responsibly, respectfully, and make a budget decision on my behalf. Tonight, I'm choosing to be the adult that I hoped you all would be. I'm taking time away from caring for my kids at home to make sure that their needs are heard by this assembly and will be met in the future.

I would like to start by applauding the budget survey from earlier this year. It was well conducted and thorough. Based on the data from that survey alone, our assembly had the excellent framework within which to make a successful budgeting attempt. The survey included 5 community values: make Juneau a place where, where teenage residents and young families can live, work, and stay long term; deliver high-quality core services including the police, fire, EMT, roads, and others; well-maintained public infrastructure, a strong fiscal management and responsible budgeting, and expand the availability of affordable and attainable housing. Upon reading the FY27 reduction summary and the supplemental memos, it is obvious there is significant deviation from the wants and needs of the people this assembly serves.

I came here tonight to raise my voice against the closure and divestment of facilities my family frequently uses. The pools especially are not a luxury in a coastal community. They are a necessity for our community. If nothing else, it is a safe place for children to learn water safety and how to swim. Imagine my added horror when looking at additional line items being discussed for budget cuts that include the police, fire, EMT, the school district, Bartlett Hospital, and grants for housing.

Your community laid out what those needs are. What things you need to focus on. Do your job. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions?

Thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have Zach Ritter, then Bob James, then Naima— sorry— and then Sean Isley.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record. Uh, I'm Zach Ritter and I live in the Valley. Today I'm going to be talking about Eagle Crest and what it means to people. I'm on the Juneau ski team as a snowboarder. Everyone up there is like family and like just a big community.

Everyone's really nice up there.

The Eagle Crest staff are working hard to keep people safe up there. The first aid is doing everything they can. It's a great way to spend long winters. Closing Eagle Crest would be devastating to so many people. Families will leave, and I don't want my friends to leave.

I'm not old enough to vote, obviously, but Yeah, these cuts would affect, affect so many people. Um, and the field house— I play for the baseball team, the Midnight Suns, and we travel a lot. So if that got cut, it would suck because that's a great team. Um, and I just like the youth of Juneau to stay safe and have fun. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Ski fast, have fun. Isn't that the ski club's motto?

Next we have, uh, Bob Janes. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just killing that name. Niamh, and then Sean Eisley, and then Lila Thank you, everyone. I'll make this quick, uh, which I know I have to. How did I end up having to follow that young gentleman?

He was—. He was getting both ends of the spectrum. My name is Bob Janes. I live in the mountainside area here in Juneau. I, I grew up in Juneau, uh, uh, actually Douglas.

I want to make sure I get that right for my, my family. But, uh, and my children both grew up in Juneau, and they have moved back to Juneau because they love Juneau. And they love the facilities and the opportunities in Juneau. That's why they moved back to Juneau. And I, I'm lucky enough to work with about 120 young people every summer that come to Juneau because they want to stay.

They, they want to be here, and they end up living here. They end up— many of them stay here. We've probably created 8 marriages in Juneau. I think I'm looking at a couple of them right now, but, uh, uh I want to say that, first of all, thank you very much for the work you guys have done. I walked up and somebody said, give them hell, and I don't have any hell to give you guys because I think you are doing as much as you can do with what you've got to work with, and I have confidence that you'll work it out.

We're lucky to live in such an amazing community, an amazing place in the world where we have such beauty and, and, and, and, and comradeship. So keep up the good work, do what you need to do. You'll hear it all tonight, you'll hear it all over the next few weeks. Uh, and, uh, with that said, uh, we got a blinking light, so thank you very much. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Nyamba Sean Isley, Leah Domke, and then Ann Ransom. Please say your name correctly for the record. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, my name is Niamh Dardis. I live in Douglas and I currently serve as the president of the Juneau Skating Club.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you this evening, and I'm here to strongly and sincerely urge you to support Parks and Rec and to maintain funding and full operations for Treadwell Ice Arena in FY27 budget. Treadwell is not just a facility to, to us. It is a cherished community hub and the foundation of a passionate ice sports community. The Juneau Skating Club alone serves over 280 participants through our learn to skate and figure skating programs, with strong and growing engagement from both children and adults. These programs do more than teach skating.

They build confidence, discipline, and a sense of belonging that carries far beyond the ice. JSC is incredibly proud to be one of the few competitive figure skating programs in Alaska and the home of the only figure synchronized skating team in the state competing on a national stage. That level of achievement doesn't happen by chance. It comes from young athletes who show extraordinary dedication and grit, training early mornings and late evenings while balancing school, family, and sport with commitment well beyond their years. Behind them is a team of devoted volunteers and coaches who pour their time, energy, and heart into this community every single day.

And yet our skaters are already asked to do more with less. Treadwell is not open year-round, and limited ice time means constant competition among years or groups. Our athletes are training harder and making greater sacrifices just to keep pace with peers in other parts of Alaska. Despite these challenges, they persevere. They show up and they represent Juneau with pride.

Reducing funding or operations at Treadwell would not just impact a building, it would take away opportunity. It would shrink a space for young people find structure and purpose, where adults find community, and where hard work turns into achievement. I know that you have a desperately hard job. However, I again urge you to continue investing in Treadwell Ice Arena, not only for our JSC skaters, but as a vital and valued piece of infrastructure that truly sets Juneau up for success. Part.

Thank you for your time. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Sean Leah and Ransom, and then Terry Lauterbach.

Sean Isley, Downtown. I'm here to show support for Eagle Crest. Of all the parks and recreation facilities, it's the one I use and rely on the most. It's a large part of the reason I call Juneau home, and that's true for thousands of our residents. Looking at the Eagle Crest parking lot on a busy winter weekend, I can't think of another place in our community so well used and loved.

That said, I'm not here to say Eagle Crest should be fully funded. Last summer's ill-conceived referendum imposed horrible artificial financial constraints. There will be cuts to all kinds of seriously important services that we rely on for a healthy community. My ask, however, is that you not privatize Eagle Crest in response to this manufactured crisis. Having a public ski hill that's accessible to children, families, and all residents is a crown jewel of our community.

It's an admirable model that's generally worked well for 45 years and has only stumbled for the last 5. In the early 2000s, we doubled our pools, we doubled our high schools, and we doubled our ski lifts and lodges. Just like pools and schools, Eagle Crest infrastructure is in for some belt-tightening consolidation and austerity. But just like our schools and pools, it would be folly to privatize them. Privatizing recreation leads to bad results.

In states where ice rinks have been privatized, costs go up, accessibility goes down, and participation goes down. Most importantly, the community loses the things we care about, such as children's discounts, scholarships, and affordability for all. In our case, we'd also have a perverse incentive for worsening the deferred maintenance that got us into problems in the first place. That's because the city cannot legally transfer ownership of the Eagle Crest land or major fixed infrastructure, the maintenance of which is ultimately the major cost and would be impossible to transfer to a private entity. An assumption behind privatization is that the facility can be independently profitable.

I'm not sure that's true for a town of our size, but if it is, better options seem to be operating it more efficiently or creating an opportunity for a supportive nonprofit to try running parts of it. Specifically, we should not confuse Goldbelt with community ownership. Goldbelt is a venerable business with an almost sacred duty to its shareholders, but if Goldbelt were perfectly community aligned, there'd be waving interest in the gondola contract, wouldn't be a question. Whether it's gondola in North Douglas or Cascade Point, gondola has interests that are not always aligned with many Juneauites. The crux, the crux we're in with our gondola exemplifies why we shouldn't go further down that road by privatizing operations.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Leah, and Ransom, Terry Lauterbach, and then Kelly Cootes. Hi, my name is Leah Domke, and I live in Auck Bay. I'm a lifelong resident of Juneau. I was born and raised here, and I used many of these facilities throughout the course of my lifetime. I went away for college, but I came back because Juneau is a really special place to live, work, and play.

Um, I'm a member of the advisory committee for the Juneau comprehensive plan and also a user of a lot of these facilities. But in particular, I'm going to talk about my involvement with the Fieldhouse, both as a soccer player when I was a kid, but also currently as a Juneau Soccer Club coach. Um, so like many people here, I'm concerned about the proposed cuts to the services that CBJ provides and this reduction in funding for important recreational and educational places in Juneau, like the Fieldhouse pools, Eagle Crest, and I would include the museum in that as well. These are all spaces that are integral to making Juneau an attractive place to live. They provide reasonably affordable access to different recreation and education opportunities in history, which is really pertinent given the need to attract and retain families in Juneau.

These spaces also represent or support recreational opportunities from a large span of people, from toddlers to teenagers to adults and seniors. And they're widely supported and used. I would want, and I would love and expect to see demographics and user numbers for each of these facilities under consideration included publicly in this discussion. Additionally, current research connects academic success of students with athletics and other activities and interests, and that love for, for activities and athletics starts young, and that's only possible because of these resources. Um, I'd appreciate this board exploring more alternatives or avenues for increasing or diversifying income sources to help replace the deficit over these potentially irreversible cuts that may— that, um, the board is proposing.

Thanks. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Brian Ansem, Terry Lauterbach, Kelly, uh, Kutz, and then we have Ochman Triathlon Board.

You still only have 2 minutes, whoever that is.

Again, please line up along the wall so we can go through this quickly. Do we have Ann Ranson here? Okay, we will try her again later. So Terry Lauterbach, then Kelly Kutz, Ackman Triathlon, and Wren Scott.

Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. I'm Terry Lauterbach. I've lived in Juneau for 43 years, raised a family, had a career, and now I'm retired.

With 2 exceptions, I have voted for every revenue-raising measure we have had. Whether it's a bond issue or a sales tax exemption. So I'm glad to hear that votes have consequences, which is what's been said about last fall, because two pools as a concept was not a policy decision by this assembly. The residents of Juneau have consistently voted to tax or bond themselves for two pools. First, by funding the pool in the valley while Augustus Brown was still quite your serviceable And then when Augustus Brown was finally on its last legs, we voted to extend the 1% sales tax that specified $5 million to rebuild the guts of Augustus Brown— mechanical ventilation, pumps, a boiler, piping, electrical lighting, and a new roof.

It's ready for another 50 years.

Augustus Brown just reopened about 18 months ago in mid-2024, and I think the consequence of our $5 million vote to tax ourselves for 2 pools should be more than 18 months of having them both open. I have 3 alternatives for you to consider. If I don't get to them all, I hope someone will ask a question. Option 1: I voted in favor of both bond issues to move the city hall, or to buy a city hall. But even I think $18 million to make that move is a lot of money.

Can some of that refurbishing— new desks, new computers—. Be stretched out over a 3 or 4 year replacement cycle? Or maybe a little lower level of carpeting, lighting fixtures? $18 Million is a lot. 2 More options if you want to hear them.

All right, might be better to send them in an email.

Thank you for any questions. Thank you for your email. I'll say, what are those other 2 options in rapid fire? They're short. Option 2.

Option 2. I noticed there's $2.4 million for Recycle Works in the CBJ budget. Could you cut 25% of that? That would cover the $600,000 needed supposedly for the Augustus Brown pool. Without closing anything or stopping recycling.

Option 3, if you really have to cut pools, I say don't close them, cut back the time. Monday through Friday at Augustus Brown, weekends at the Family Center, other pool. But obviously 2 pools is better full-time. Thank you.

Uh, next we have Kelly Kates, Ackman Triathlon Board, Wren Scott, and we're still looking for Ann Ransom.

Uh, hello, thank you for having a special, special session. Um, for the record, my name is Kelly Kates. Uh, I'm a resident of Douglas, um, and I'm wearing my director for the Capital City Soccer League hat this evening. Uh, the Capital City Soccer League is a nonprofit providing adult recreation soccer opportunities in Juneau. Um, at two assembly meetings ago, it was noted that there was limited awareness of how extensively the field house is used and which groups rely on it.

Um, I believe the Fieldhouse submitted those numbers to city staff, but I also wish in my testimony today to help clarify that picture and to express my strong support for continued investment in and operation of the Fieldhouse. This is the second most utilized parks and recreational facility in Juneau. It's not only heavily utilized, but it also serves a critical function as a year-round community asset that supports youth development, public health, and community connection. In FY25 alone, the Fieldhouse recorded 74,000 visits. Including 42 from organized user groups and 32 from the public at large.

These are not abstract numbers. These represent thousands of Juneau residents who rely on this facility for safe, accessible recreation in a community where weather and daylight significantly limit outdoor opportunities for much of the year. The fieldhouse has 10 primary user groups, which accounted for— I'm just going to round up numbers here— 1,700 hours of use and over 42,000 participants. These groups include youth and adult soccer leagues, high school athletics, baseball and softball programs, and they collectively serve thousands of children and families. Demand for this facility is not just high, it exceeds capacity.

Prime evening hours, 5 to 9 PM, are fully allocated and are consistently competed for among the user groups. In fact, the community has repeatedly discussed the need for a second turf facility. We won't bring that up right now, uh, to meet existing demand and reduce the scheduling conflicts. From the public perspective, the public access in FY25, Turf for Tots served nearly 14,000 young children, providing critical early, early childhood movement and social development opportunities. The indoor track saw nearly 10,000 users, offering a safe and accessible space for walking and running regardless of weather.

In total, the facility provided 3,000 hours of public access and 2,000 hours of rented use. Importantly, thank you for your time. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Okay, next it's ACHMANN Triathlon Board, Wren Scott, and then we have Cheryl Feldman. And did Ann Ransom show up? Okay, we'll come to her at the very end then.

My name is Daniel Weersma. I am the race director for the ACHMANN Triathlon. We, I guess, we represent as the board Lena, Auke Bay, and the Valley. We have participants from our organization who come from all over Juneau, Douglas, and across the state. Our fate is essentially tied to the pools.

We are dependent on the pools for lifeguards. We're dependent on the pools for training. They serve both as a formal and informal community triathlon community location. Um, and yeah, so thank you for your time. And oh yeah, also we've been working with Parks and Rec to develop new programs for kids, many of whom are here today.

Thank you very much, guys. And this is a great opportunity for youth development as well. And thank you to everybody else who's spoken up about all of these issues. Uh, thank you. Can you spell your last name for the record, please?

Wiersma, W-I-E-R-S-M-A. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Uh, since, since we still have time left, I'd like to say one more thing. The Ocman Triathlon has faced— has seen 3 years of increasing growth in participation, including a lot of out-of-town visitors that bring economic— pardon?

And yeah, brings economic value to the community. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, next we have Wren Scott, Cheryl Feldman, uh, Cumber, Kristen, and Alyssa— Alicia Aldrich.

Hi, my name is Wren Scott. This is my daughter, Beatrix Scott Howell. We live in the Valley and Beatrix just has one thing that she wants to say and then I will make some brief comments and then we'll be out of here. So go ahead, Beatrix.

You want to come and whisper them in my ear instead of talking out loud?

Here, I'll go first. Okay. I just wanted to say that I serve as a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. I'm just here on behalf of myself and just my own opinions. Um, I remember when I joined the committee, I was asked by the director of at the time what parks and rec facilities I use, and I rattled off a whole list of, I believe, all of them.

Um, and he said I was a super user. Um, and I just wanted to advocate for those facilities, um, having these affordable activities. I, um, I was born and raised in Juneau, and now I'm raising my family here in Juneau, and these facilities are what make Juneau affordable for me to live here and for us to get to do the things we enjoy and have these experiences. Um, I'll just name a few: the downtown pool, the Valley Pool, Treadwell Arena, the Field House, the Arboretum, the City Museum. We use— we're regular users of all of these facilities, and I just wanted to advocate for a more maybe moderate approach with these cuts.

I did I did see in the news today that there may be a ballot measure to repeal some of the tax cuts. And if we could sort of put a hold on making some of these really big cuts at this point, that's what I would like to see happen. So that's all I have. Beatrix, did you want to say your one sentence? Okay, go ahead.

Please don't close the, please don't close the field house. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we have Cheryl Feldman.

Amber Tristan, Alyssa Aldrich, and Caden Aldrich.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Hi, Cheryl Feldman, downtown Juneau.

I want to begin by acknowledging and thanking each of you for your service to our community. I know this— these aren't easy seats to fill and certainly harder to occupy in moments like this. My husband and I moved to, to Juneau in 2000 and have since raised our two children here. The pools, the field house, Eagle Crest— they weren't just facilities we occasionally utilized. They were foundational community pillars, a necessity to whatever community we chose to call our home, and they were central to our family's day-to-day life and well-being.

I can say with certainty that if we were starting our family today, that these facilities— and these facilities were not available, we would not remain in Juneau. That is for certain. Yes, our community faces some difficult decisions, but our solutions cannot be simply to take an axe to all the things that make this community wonderful. They must be well thought out, carefully crafted, and well vetted so that any long-term impact is identified and valued. Many impacts which go far beyond the immediate dollars and cents.

I would like to submit this hard copy of the names of almost 1,300 community members who have signed an online petition. While this— to save our pools— this petition centered around the support for the pools, but I think it's important to acknowledge the overwhelming public outcry in support of all our recreational facilities. Junot has spoken. These spaces are not interchangeable. They are not expendable.

They are essential to not only the mental and emotional and physical well-being of our residents, but to the kind of community we want Junot to be. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you.

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Amber Tristan, Alicia Aldrich. Kaden Aldrich and Kirk Smith. Finally, one I might be able to pronounce. Come up.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. My name is Emily and I live in Oak Bay. Hello, my name is Emily, a proud member of Glacier Swim Club. I have been going to the pool since I was 2 months old. Closing a pool would have a negative impact on my life.

I am very grateful for all the coaches, lifeguards, and all that the pool provides. Having two pools allows our club to have more practices. These opportunities allowed me to set goals, work hard, and achieve new personal best times. This past year, I was able to attend the Alaska Age Group Champs as well as the Pacific Northwest Age Group meet in Federal Way, Washington. Closing a pool would prohibit my future swim opportunities.

We live in a town of 30,000 people and it's already hard to get swim time. We cannot close a single pool. Too many people rely on the pool. It's a life sport. We are surrounded by water and everyone needs to know how to swim.

Please don't close our pool. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Congratulations qualifying for age groups.

That's quite an achievement. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yes, Mr. Kelly. I did have a question.

I was just going to ask our testifier what her favorite pool is.

What, uh, Miss Emily, what's your favorite pool?

Both of them. Good answer. Okay, you can clap for that one.

That, that's a future assembly member right there.

Next we have Alicia Aldrich and Kaden Aldrich, and then Kirk Smith, and then Janick McCallister. All right, my name is Alicia Aldrich. I live in the Valley, and I speak on behalf of CBJ Parks and Rec, specifically the pools. As of April 13th, 2025, Juneau was designated as an official U.S. Coast Guard City. Juneau is currently home to over 300 active duty members and their families, with more to come.

Our local Coast Guard members regularly use the pools for the required PT tests as well as for their own personal fitness, while Coast Guard dependents use pools for recreation. Simply put, closing pools would be the antithesis to a location that claims to support its Alaska-based Coast Guard members and their efforts to keep our coastal communities safe. As a spouse of an active duty member, we moved to Juneau from Ketchikan excited for new bigger opportunities for our kids, but did we make the right decision? Word spreads fast among those within the Coast Guard community. Instead of positive feedback that attracts families to want to come here, especially with 6 schools recently earning Purple Heart designations, will Coast Guard feedback become more negative, moving Juneau to the list of locations that Coast Guard families try to avoid and begrudgingly move to?

We also have 2 high school juniors. Both are active members of the JDA swim team and Glacier Swim Club. Prior to GSC, our family was 4-year active members of the Ketchikan Killer Wells swim team. Not only does closing the pools impact the local swim club in Juneau, it directly affects other swim clubs across Southeast Alaska as well as those across the state that travel to Juneau for swim meets. It should also be noted that the big swim meets held here fall during the off-tourist season, bringing revenue to Juneau.

One of my sons is currently in the midst of recruiting for swimming in college. Closing pools would never actually impact his chances of being recruited. My other high school son is currently employed as a lifeguard where he gives back to the community that supported him within the— his swimming. My youngest son participates in swim lessons as well as the Safe Water Safety. It's a program that is in high demand, not only for its use that are in high demand but also highly valuable to him as a youth that regularly be— well, will regularly be around water.

Budget cuts are necessary, but closing the pools is not the answer. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Kaden Aldrich, Kirk Smith, Janet McAllister, and then Damon Vargas.

My name is Kaden Aldrich, and I'm from the Valley. I've been on the swim team for 5 years. The pool is a big part of my life. It's where I've spent a lot of my time growing up, where I've built friendships, and where I've learned how to push myself and stay committed to something. I moved to Juneau from Ketchikan last summer halfway through high school.

Even though they're not that far apart, it was a big transition. Everything felt new and nothing was familiar or comforting, but swimming and just being able to go to the pool was one of the main things that helped me feel normal again. It gave me the something consistent to rely on and fall back onto while I was trying to find my place here. I can't imagine how my life would be without the pools. If the pools close, it's not just cutting a facility or a program, it's taking away opportunities.

Kids lose a place to be active. Some lose a sport that gives them structure and goals. Others lose one of the only places they feel like they belong. The pools also matter for the whole community. They give people a place to stay healthy during long winters, especially when there aren't many indoor options.

And it's not just for the youth. Many adults and seniors visit the pool regularly as well. I understand there are budget challenges, but losing the pools would cost more in the long run in health, safety, and opportunities for people like me. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Okay, next we have Kirk Smith, Janet McAllister, and Damon Vargas, and then Keegan Andrews.

Thank you very much for your, your time this evening and for hearing from so many dedicated residents of Juneau on so many issues that are clearly important for everyone. Tonight, however, I am here to speak on the topic of the Juneau Douglas City Museum and the need for preserving it. I've once heard it said that a museum is a mechanism for people to remember something that they didn't experience directly. And I think here in Juneau with our city museum, that is certainly the case.

I have been a volunteer there since 2017, and looking around this room, I know I've seen many of you come through the museum at one time or another. So it is used by residents of Juneau, uh, quite frequently during the off season, and of course during the tourist season it is very busy. As people come in and learn things about our community that they do not otherwise have an opportunity to learn. I do not think that we can safely, um, cut back or eliminate museum services, uh, here in Juneau without costing, uh, something very valuable to ourselves, which is our collective memory. I also think that from a purely technical standpoint, the closure of a facility such as a museum would be extremely costly, time-consuming, and fraught.

So I would strongly advise that we consider all possible options for preserving the museum going forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Janet McAllister, Damon Vargas, Keegan Andrews, and then Ellen Johnston.

My name is Janet McAllister. I live in Douglas, and I'm here to talk also about the Juneau Douglas City Museum. I'm really pleased to see so many young people here tonight to come and talk about what's important to them. I have quite a few years on most of the people sitting, being sitting in these seats around the arch here, and memory is important to me, maybe more important than it is to some younger people.

Once you remove memory, it's gone, and that's what would happen if the City Museum were shuttered. It would be like to save money, it would be like burning down the house for the insurance money with all your grandparents' love letters in the attic. Don't take away our memory. You may not get it back. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Questions? Thank you for your testimony. Okay, next we have, uh, Damon Vargas, Keegan Andrews, Ellen Johnston, and then we have a family. So pick a spokesperson for your family because you're only gonna have 2 minutes.

Hello, my name is Damon Vargas. I've, uh, I currently live in Douglas. I've been in Juneau for about 7 months now as I came here to be the new head coach of the Glacier Swim Club. Uh, in that time, um, got to witness an absolutely amazing community. But that aside, to keep things short, I'm just going to go to the statistics of it.

Swimming is hugely important to this community, not just as recreation for health, but also as an after-school program. You heard earlier that we serve about 300, uh, 4th grade students a year in a graduated swim program through the schools to help them learn to swim, uh, and we operate primarily in the hours directly after school, making us an after-school program for youth. Most importantly, I think, the, uh, middle schoolers from Thunder Mountain who get to come right over to the pool, absolutely no gap in their scheduling to, uh, continue be active with us. It's safe to say that honestly, I moved here because of the pools, and it's the reason I'm in this community and happy to be a part of it to help grow what has already been an amazing program for a long time now. I believe it was founded in 1973, and in that time I couldn't even find out exactly how many thousands of people were impacted by the program.

But for regular numbers, we operate and serve between 160 and 180 youth athletes. Year-round, and between 20 and 30 master swimmers— that's anyone over the age of 19 swimming competitively through our program. So I would say that, uh, to lose a pool, to lose any space in that regard, would hugely impact the health of this community and its after-school programs. Thank you. Any questions?

Thank you, and congratulations on your new position. Thanks.

Next we have Keegan Andrews, Ellen Johnston, um, Shy Dian family, and Malcolm Davidson. Good evening, my name is Keegan Andrews and I'm from the Valley. I'd like to speak today on behalf of the Augustus Brown Pool as well as the Diamond Park Aquatic Center. As a swimmer of Glacier Swim Club, I use both pools often and I see firsthand how many people rely on it. For us swimmers, the pool isn't just some facility.

It's where we train, and it's where we reach our goals. Competitive swimmers push themselves physically and mentally every single day, and this space makes that possible. But this isn't only about the swim team. The pool serves a much wider group, like children learning how to swim, elderly people trying to stay active, and families who see it as a safe and healthy space for their kids to hang out. Losing the pool would create a gap that's not replaceable.

I see that poor budgeting can require difficult decisions, but cutting the pool will only save money in the short term while costing us something far more valuable in the long term— youth engagement. If there are any alternative plans, I strongly encourage you to explore them, because once a resource like this is gone, bringing it back is going to be much harder than preserving it now. I'm asking you to see the pool not as an expense but as an investment in people like me and as well as the community. Don't let that community disappear. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

I have to ask you to not block the door, so we need to move away from the door. There are a couple seats up front if you want to sit up up front, but we can't block the door. Um, Miss Johnston, and then we have the Chidian family, Malcolm Davidson and Ren, uh, Dilge. Hi, my name is Ellen Johnston. I live in the valley.

I am a CBJ employee, but I'm speaking tonight in my capacity as a private citizen. I moved to Juneau about 3 years ago, and for the first 6 months I lived here, I I didn't know a single person. It was very lonely. And then I started working for the pools, and now I can't go anywhere without seeing someone who knows me from the pools. And I would say that my love for the Juneau community at this point is completely inseparable from my love for the pools.

A lot of people have made a lot of good points about the pools. What I would like to talk about today is the need for two pools. So my job at Juneau Pools, I help schedule all the programming. And I can tell you that the— we typically have waitlists as long as the class size of our swim registration. And the holdup is pool space.

We have so many user groups that use the pool so frequently. The only reason I can't offer all the swim lessons that Juneau wants is pool space. So I'd like to read you a list of all the user groups which span the complete breadth of the Juneau community. We obviously have youth swim lessons, adult swim lessons, parent and tot swim lessons, Little Swimmers, which is an additional preschool program. We have Diamond Park Adventure Camps, which provide affordable daycare during the summer for families.

We have Aqua Aerobics, which is a movement opportunity for seniors, wildly popular. We have aichi, another movement opportunity for seniors. We have lifeguard courses and provide employment for a lot of Juneau's youth. We have water safety instructor courses, special events like float-in movies and the floating pumpkin patch. The Glacier Swim Club— a lot of people have spoken on that tonight, but the Glacier Swim Club is not one thing.

It's a pre-competitive program, a youth program, a master's program, and they also host local, regional, and statewide competitions representing Juneau to greater Alaska. The Juneau School District uses our pools heavily. Juneau Douglas High School swim and dive team I will wrap up simply by saying that the parts of this list that I didn't get to are multiple programs that serve seniors and disabled people and help them find independence, like SAIL, Transition, Search Physical Therapy, GAMI Health and Wellness. I only got a third of the way through my list. Tlingit and Haida Middle School, Thunder Mountain Middle School.

Unfortunately, we have to have you wrap up. Of course. Uh, sorry, I get so excited about this, but I will send you the whole list by email. Appreciate that. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have the family Malcolm Davidson, Ren Dilla, and Mary Catherine Martin.

Hello, good afternoon. I'm Mary Antwidian. We live in the valley.

Again, I'm Marian Tweedyan, mom of Frances Colleen Tweedyan. We call our daughter Colleen. Can you stand up, please, so they can see you? I remember the day she asked us to try to join the Glacier Swim Club in November 2022. She was 9 then, and we immediately said yes since we believe that swimming is good to build self-confidence and good for the health that strengthens the heart, lungs, and muscles.

It is also a life-saving skill, especially here in Juneau, wherein we are surrounded by water. She also gained a lot of friends. Since then, she has been dedicating her time to swimming. She improved a lot, and they just had the 2026 Alaska Swimming State Championships in Anchorage last April 23rd to 26th, just last, uh, weekend. I can see the confidence in her, which is important to kids nowadays.

Swimming also helps the elderly to be active, not just to stay home, and to also find more connections that would affect their mental well-being. We are appealing to you to please save our pools and all the other recreational activities. Please do not cut ours, uh, because this will limit the activities of the people here in Juneau, young and adults. We know that these are the reasons why people are staying in Juneau, because of these kinds of activities. That our town can offer to the residents.

We don't have malls and buildings that other states have, and this is what we love in Juneau— being simple but with lots of activities to offer. We hope that our messages would not be taken for granted and our voices be heard. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Have a good day. Thank you.

Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Malcolm Davidson, Ren Dila, Mary Catherine Martin, and then Abby John.

Uh, my name is Malcolm Davidson. I live on Riverside Drive up in the valley. Um, I don't know what else I can add about the, the value that the pools add to the community, so I'm not going to really beat that drum anymore, but I do know that they serve a robust cross-section of the community, from infants learning to swim to the water aerobics group, which by the way, it looks like the funnest group ever to use the pool, Glacier Swim Club, and just families who come in. And I can't imagine what will happen if you cut a pool and try to cram all the users into one space, because it's not going to happen. So I strongly encourage you please to, um, keeping them both running.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Ren, uh, Dila, Mary Catherine Martin, and Abby John, then Barb Lind.

Hi, my name is Ren. I live in Oak Bend. My brothers, myself, most of my friends, and lots of other kids go to the field house several times a week to play soccer or other sports. I'm in the soccer club and I love it. I think the field house is very important to our community for all the kids who use it to play sports and activities, along with the, the adults and seniors who use it in the winter months.

I also feel the same way about Diamond Park Pool. I'm in the Glacier Swim Club, as are my brothers. Many, many people use the pool as a way to stay healthy and active. Please think of all the families and seniors who would be affected if you close the field house or the Diamond Park swimming pool. Please don't take these important places away.

Thank you for your time. Thank you. What's your position on your soccer team? Um, midfield and defense. You do a lot of running then.

Thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have Mary Catherine Martin, Abby John, Barb Lynn, and then Brooks Heran.

Hello. Um, first, thank you for the hard work that you all do every day for our community. Um, I know the drop in city funding means that you're faced with some hard decisions, so thank you for doing your best to navigate the situation. I'm speaking as a mother of 2 elementary school-aged children here in Juneau, an aunt, a homeowner, and somebody who is planning to remain here for the rest of my life. I'm here to ask you to please consider avenues other than cutting the very things that make Juneau a more livable place space for families.

Anyone with young children is familiar with the importance of Juno's pools and the field house to our community. Show up on the weekend and they're packed. Swim lessons sell out literally within seconds. The last time I signed up, I managed to get one kid into lessons, but at 12 PM plus 2 seconds, it was too late for the second one. Getting your kids into swim lessons in town is basically a competitive sport in itself.

And the same could be said of Eagle Crest. I mean, it's enormously popular. Personally, I'm an annual pass holder at the pool, at the pool, and I swim at Diamond Park Pool at 5:30 AM multiple times a week. It has helped enormously with both mental and physical health, especially in the winter. My kids currently don't play soccer, but we're still at the field house on a regular basis supporting friends and family who do.

The Diamond Park Pool, Augustus Brown Pool, and Diamond Park Field House are invaluable to hundreds of Juneau families, if not more. Anyone concerned about retaining families in Juneau and outmigration in Alaska and Juneau should be ensuring that our schools and recreational facilities are funded adequately. And it's my understanding that the city is not currently considering cutting funding to either schools or libraries. So thank you for that. Um, in closing, as you consider these cuts, I ask you to think about what is important to families in Juneau and to please retain full funding for both the Diamond Park and Augustus Brown pools and the field house.

The last thing a city surrounded by water needs is kids who have a harder time finding a way to learn how to swim or how to engage in healthy activities on a cold rainy day. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Thank you.

Next we have Abby John, Barb Lynn, Brooke Sharon, and then April Rizondes. Uh, good evening. Uh, for the record, Abby John, uh, Twin Lakes. Um, I'm speaking in support of maintaining recreational facilities across Juneau. I'm a user of recreational facilities, and I'm also a high school cross-country coach, though I'm speaking on behalf of myself today.

So I know cross-country is an outdoor sport, but so many of the kids that I coach also participate in other sports and activities across Juneau and use essential CBJ recreational facilities including the pool, the Treadwell Arena, the field house, and Eagle Crest, to name a few. I worry that if we cut too deeply, we'll be taking away community and opportunities for these kids that love to play outside and inside alike in CBJ facilities. Another consideration is for facility use. Not only are we maxed out at CBJ recreational facilities, we're pretty maxed out at the school facilities for gyms and, and youth space. And we've just heard from a lot of other testifiers about how the pools are also maxed out.

So that's one consideration, is, is if you're reducing facilities, um, where are kids going to play sports and, and do other activities? The more spaces that we take away, the less space we have to grow as a prosperous, balanced, and active community. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you. Okay, we're going to take 5 more and then we're going to take a short break. So we have Barb Lynn, Brooke Saran, April Rizon— Rizondez, Ron Somerville.

Hi, first of all, um, hello Assembly and Mayor. Thank you very much for taking all these testimonies and for doing the best you can. I was not planning on talking, so I might ramble a little bit but I walked in and the first person who saw me was an Eagle Crest person and said, you're talking. Well, I lived through the beginning of Eagle Crest. I lived through every day of its planning, every day of the support that this community gave it.

It is Juneau's ski area. It's had some bumpy years lately, but actually Eagle Crest was voted on and approved for different funding all throughout its history. It's had even— so people who do not necessarily come to Eagle Crest, they have supported as a way for people to get outdoors and have winter recreation outside. It's the only facility in Juneau where you can do that, and I can't imagine living here if Eagle Crest wasn't here. Just as soon as the season is over, the first thing I'm doing is looking for a trail.

I've got to get in shape for skiing next year, and the longer I get in skiing, the more I need to get in shape. So I just want to say that I hope you will take into consideration that the people of Juneau have been the people that have supported and guided the development of Eagle Crest for well over 50 years, and skiing in Juneau started way, way, way before then. It's a tradition. So thank you. Thank you.

And for anybody who doesn't know, this is Hillary Lind, the silver medalist of the Downhills Mom.

So next we have Brooks Horan, April Zondes, Ron Somerville, Giselle Miller and Akaya— sorry, Forces— Forks. Sorry, I need to go back to hooks on phonics, apparently. My name is Brooks Horan. I live downtown. Uh, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Assembly members. Um, I'm here to voice my support for Eagle Crest. We hope to make Juneau attractive to young adults and families. And Eagle Crest is a vital ingredient in that recipe. 12 Years ago, it was Eagle Crest that drew me to move here.

The number of people here tonight demonstrate how much we value all of the services Juneau provides. Now that we understand what the tax cuts mean, we fully appreciate the math. I support expanding income streams such as the seasonal adjustment to the sales tax. This could prevent the defunding of the recreation opportunities that make Juneau such a great place to live. Thank you, Mayor and assembly members, for listening.

Thank you for your testimony. And a reminder for Eagle Crest folks, we all— we will be— that is a topic at our finance meeting immediately following this meeting. So April Rizondes, Ron Somerville, Giselle Miller, and Acacia Forks, maybe Hi, I'm April Rosendiz. I live on North Douglas. This is May.

Um, and so I want to talk kind of two points. Um, when I moved here 13 years ago, the Masters Swim Club was where I met some of the first people I knew in Juneau. They're still some of my closest friends and really who kept me here for those years. Um, and we already struggled to get that pool space. You know, the kids take priority, which is great, but having time— and often we have 4 people in the lane swimming and it's just great for mental health and community.

Now I am the mother of two young children, and being able to use all of these facilities is critical to keeping us here in Juneau. Um, just today when I picked my kids up, my son told me, he's like, let's do something today, but let's do something inside. My hands got too cold in the rain. And what's inside is the libraries and the pools and the field house, and we rotate between them most days when I pick them up, and on the weekends especially in the winter when we can't be outside for as long. Um, and so those are just critical to, I said, keeping us here, and privatizing them really doesn't fill that need as it becomes cost prohibitive.

We have some great opportunities in town that are private businesses, but the costs are higher, the hours are shorter, um, and it's just not a place where we can go for, you know, just an hour, half an hour. And the pool has been— just last week when we were at the pool, you know, there were a handful of families with young kids. There were a group of people in the sauna, a group of people using the deck, and it's just great to see all of those. But really, yeah, getting the kids there has been critical to how we can survive in Juneau, especially in the cold, dark times. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have Ron Somerville, Gazelle Miller, and Acacia, maybe. Forks.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, my name, my name is Ron Somerville. I live in the valley. I'm a lifelong Alaskan, and the only time I've seen this place as crowded as it was today was when you took away the senior tax exemptions. And you didn't listen to us then.

I hope it works out better this time.

I was having a hard time trying to figure out how I could really provide something that you could use. I worked for Fish and Game for 24 years, had plenty of times when we were short on funds and we had to make adjustments. Frequently adjustments were made between regions rather than, than somebody taking the whole thing and being responsible for it.

This problem you have was not created by anybody in the room except the Assembly, and I'm just— what I'm saying that I thank the Assembly for all you do because it's a tough job. But nobody in this room created this problem other than the assembly or budgeting, misreading the intent of the public or whatever. And I think you've got to patch up that relationship with your citizens. You've got to show an honest attempt to do something to fix this, but For crying out loud, don't eliminate things because you don't have to. I, I would say I would support getting rid of one of the pools, but more than likely, if I was responsible, I'd say why don't we shut down one during 3 or 4 months and then move the other one next following that one, taking the same staff to run both pools would reduce staff responsibilities.

Um, I, I do— I have one recommendation: transfer prosecution of criminal cases to the state.

Thank you. Um, any questions for Mr. Summerill?

Thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have Giselle Miller, and then Acacia Forks.

Okay, my name is Giselle Miller, and I'm a Thayne resident. I'm also almost a Douglas resident because our house is about to close. So exciting for me. I also want to begin by saying a big thank you to the Assembly for the challenging work that you have ahead of you, and I'm especially grateful for Um, to the friends that I have here, um, on the assembly, um, for all of your time and energy that you give to make this place a better community. Um, I'm here tonight as a Juneau resident, a new mother, teacher, and a swimmer, asking you to please keep both pools open and active.

I grew up here in Juneau as a member of the Glacier Swim Club as a kid. I was a competitive high school swimmer. Um, I use the pool aqua aerobics program during pregnancy, and I'm a current member of the master's swim team. Um, as a new mother, I frequently take my daughter to both pools, um, to get her acclimated to the water and prepare her to swim. My husband and I chose to move back to Juneau to raise our daughter where she can swim at Augustus Brown Pool.

She can ski at Eagle Crest and have the same access to parks and rec programs that I had as a child. We're a coastal community. For our children's health, safety, and well-being, we all should have access to both pools and the programs. Swimming at Augustus Brown Pool is my primary way of recreating and to stay active for most of the year. Please, please do not let our downtown pool become an empty, hollow shell of a building.

All of our parks and recreation services are important. To our families and to our children and to all of our community members. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions?

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have— come say your name correctly— Acacia. Is that how you say it? There you go. Acacia, come on up.

Please state your name and where you live, and you have 2 minutes. My name is Acacia Forbes and I live in North Douglas. I'm on Goja Swim Club and I'm a sea lion. I've been swimming for as long as I can remember. I think you shouldn't close the pool because all my friends and me, we love swimming.

It feels like we can go to our special place and just relax. It also builds great exercise, and even the people who don't swim with the swim club, they still love swimming at the pool. Me and my friends, we are kids and we'll soon grow up, and I want our future to be bright. If we shut down one of the pools, there would only be one, and some people can't access only one pool, so we would not be able to maintain exercise or build confidence or be the best person we can be. Is that what you want for the kids of Juneau?

I also made a paper and handed it out to each of the classes at my school and I got back about 200 signatures. Oh, and my dad said Juno would be more lonely and unhealthy without Jumbo Jim. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, so we are going to take how long?

8-Minute break. And if you're upstairs and you want to come down, there is now room at in the room.

Give everybody a heads up where we are. We're on number 41. We have about 6 on this page, and then we're going to 60, um, the 60 page. At this time, we are going to close anybody additionally signing up, so Madam Clerk will grab that. But if you're signed up, we'll get to you as soon as we can.

With that, um, we— can we have Patricia Young, Darren Snyder, Mona Sturrock, And Savannah Keesling, please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

Patricia Young, I live in Valley. Um, I really appreciate all the comments about the pool and field house and Treadwell, everything. But what I particularly want to speak to is the City Museum. Alaska is, as we know, the ultimate dream vacation. It's the cruise that everyone wants, and it's not just because of our spectacular scenery.

Alaska is the last frontier. And it represents the spirit of adventure and the mystique of what is a rapidly fading past.

Lots of the visitors who come here have time constraints or mobility issues, and they really can't maybe spend a whole day in the State Museum, and even if they could, The city— the state museum does not speak specifically to the history of Juneau, and neither do shops that sell t-shirts and trinkets. But the city museum has the history of Juneau, and it's really a meaningful thing. I always take all my friends and all my visitors there, and that it's always the highlight of their trip. It's such a wonderful small capsule. It's wonderfully designed, excellently maintained, and I urge you to consider that when you're working on your budget.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, next we have Darian Snyder, Mona Sturrock, Savannah Keesling, and Carlos Cadiente. And this will be our last call for Anne Ransom.

Hi, my name is Carol Bookless. Darian left and said I could take his place, so I asked, I said it's okay. And I live in Douglas. Um, 2 propositions were passed last fall to rein in assembly spending on unwise capital projects that no one wants. The propositions were not to cut city services, and they mostly affect general government funds.

There's a change in income for the city because the citizen proposition that lowered the cap on property taxes was passed. Since the assessed value of property is expected to be rising to 2.1%, the effect is basically zero in terms of the budget. So that one's out of the way. The other one was to change, um, eliminate taxes on food and utilities. That's considered a regressive tax affecting low-income citizens more than higher-income citizens, and I'm glad it's gone.

This, um, so somewhere, sometimes when I swim at the pool, it's really crowded. I look at my friends in the pool and I try to rush, rush, rush to get in a lane. But at one point I thought, what am I doing? My good fortune of getting a lane will be at someone else's misfortune, and that's kind of sick. And yet that's what we're doing today.

You're asking us to come here and say, I really, really like this, but expect that someone else is going to get the shaft. That's not okay. Um, if you look at the whole budget, especially the proposed capital projects like the marine park over there, which is perfectly fine and nobody says it's a heck hole, um, and the land giveaways that we're proposing, there's money to fix the budget. I don't say good job, Assembly. I say start doing your job and get over the fact that the proposition was passed to stop your runaway spending.

Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Bookless? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Mona Sturrock, Savannah Keesling, Carlos Cadiente, and Rebecca Freeman.

Mayor Weldon and assembly members and community members, Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Mona Steebik. I live in the Mendenhall Valley, and I'm here to speak in favor of the Juneau Douglas City Museum. I have volunteered at the city museum for the past 3 years and am currently a board member of the Friends of the Juneau Douglas City Museum. I would like to remind everybody here about the history of the Juneau Douglas City Museum.

It's housed in the Veterans Memorial Building and is an iconic building in Juneau. It was first— it was the first building in Juneau built entirely with public funds in honor of World War area veterans and was the site of the July 4th, 1959, 49-star flag-raising ceremony celebrating Alaska's long-awaited statehood. The building was supported by local community groups, including the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood, which I am a member. The Veterans Memorial Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 7th, 2006. The building has such a rich and important history in our community.

It was our first local public community library, then in December 1988 became the site of the current Juneau Douglas City Museum. Museum. The City Museum is a vital community cornerstone that preserves our unique, irreplaceable history, fosters education, boosts cultural tourism, and is irreplaceable.

We need you to wrap up, please. I implore you to explore all alternative options before considering any further reduction and permanent shutdown and demolition of the historic Veterans Memorial Building. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Steebach. Any questions?

Thank you for your testimony and your reminder of some things there. Next we have Savannah Keesling, Carlos Cadiente, Rebecca Freeman, and Tracy Morrison. Well, thank you, Mayor Weldon and assembly. There is so much love for our city in this room. It just makes my heart feel so, just so happy.

My name is Savannah Kiesling. I am, I live in Montana Creek and I've been here since 2015. My family and I moved here and one of the primary reasons we chose to work and live in Juneau was its robust swimming program and rec activities. We're all active skiers. We utilize the hill every year.

We call it the, uh, our, our city tax when we don't use our pass as much as it would probably, probably would pay for itself. But that's okay because we love the hill and we're willing to pay for it. Um, all 4 of my kids have spent hundreds of years, hundreds or even thousands of hours in our Juneau pools. I also coach the dive program, but I'm also, I'm here just on my, just on behalf of myself. The, the Glacier Swim Club just celebrated a couple years ago its 50th birthday, which took a lot of hard work and support of our community, our city, and our generous businesses.

And they recognize— the city has recognized, our businesses have recognized the importance of our swim club and our pools. And I'm really hoping that you also see the value in keeping both of our pools open. The 2016 McKinley Research Group survey identified that there was a massive demand for our Juno pools, both of them, which sometimes exceeded 120,000 uses per year. We need both pools. Having both pools provide the availability and access needed in order to effectively serve our community and run our high school swim and dive program.

I believe that if we if we lost our downtown pool, it would— there would likely be cuts to our roster for high school. I don't want to see that happen. I don't think anyone does. I— we are the capital of Alaska, and we need to allocate our funds to demonstrate our ability to effectively lead. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Keesling? Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Carlos Cadiente, Rebecca Freeman, Linda Krueger, and then Elizabeth Brennell.

My name is Carlos Cadiente. I am a resident of downtown Juneau, and I've been here for 72 years. Uh, I'm here to speak on behalf of the budget cuts, and predominantly relative to public safety. I think all cuts should be on the table, including public safety. Um, I speak particularly first for the radio project, which is an RFP number 20-254.

Uh, I balk at the price of that project. It, last I saw, was $23 million. Uh, City of San Francisco had a transportation communication project that was $53 million in that city of San Francisco. So I think that's an exorbitant amount, and that the approach to that should be a phased approach versus one big project, one big bang, and one big dispensing of $23 million. Uh, second subject that I have is that the police, as I mentioned, public safety should be on the block, and, uh, I'd like to see the chief of police and the deputy chief present a forum for all of us residents here in the community to understand where we have lessons learned relative to the Chris Williams event in Douglas when a police officer of Juneau Police Department beat a Native, uh, Chris Williams.

And the other concern I have in that call was also the fire services EMS call and the quality of care for the patient and the lack of care And I think with the new fire chief, I would like to talk with him also, but I would like also to access staff regarding the radio project to review the status of that project. In my career, I designed all of the public safety communications in this town over a 23-year career with the city, plus I was— managed the Enhanced 911 project and wrote the Master Street Address Guide. So I, I, and I've, I've been around the block. Thank you, and I appreciate all of your work and what you guys do. I support you totally.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Cadiente? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Rebecca Freeman, then Linda Krueger, Elizabeth Brennell, and then Lori Scanlan.

Hello, thank you all for all your hard work. I'm here today as what you would call a super user of our community recreational facilities. I'm a swim mom, a hockey mom, and a regular user myself. These spaces are a part of my family's everyday life. What— but what I'm really here to speak about is the bigger picture.

I'm also here for the people who aren't in this room. There are individuals and families across Juneau who rely on these facilities every single day, not just for recreation, but for self-care, for stability, and for maintaining their physical and mental health. The pools, the field house, the ski areas, the ice rink, the museum, Jumbo Gym— these aren't extras, they are lifelines. In my work in the disability support field, I see firsthand how critical these spaces are. They are— they create rare year-round opportunities for inclusion and provide safe, accessible environments where individuals with disabilities can move their bodies, connect with others, and feel part of their community.

There are few spaces, places that offer that consistency, and when they're gone, they're not easily replaced. These facilities also give our children safe places to be. They give them— they keep them active and engaged and connect and connected. For many families, they are one of the few structures, positive environments available outside of school. When we talk about cutting or reducing these services, we're not just talking about budget budgets.

We're talking about limiting opportunities. We are talking about taking away spaces that keep people healthy, connected, and supported. I urge you to consider who's impacted most, because it will be those who already have the fewest opportunities and options. Please protect our community recreation facilities. They are essential to healthy safety, inclusion, and the arts.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Questions. Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Linda Krueger, Elizabeth Brennell, Lori Scanlon, and then John Wendell, I think.

Okay, thanks. First, thanks for this opportunity to speak, and thank you for all you do for our community. It's not— it's a hard job, and I just appreciate everything you do. Linda Krueger, and I live in West Juneau. I've been teaching water aerobics at the downtown pool for more years than I can remember.

Right now I have people coming to my classes who are preparing for surgery, recovering from surgery, and losing weight so that they can have surgery— knee replacements and hip replacements mostly. I'm a frequent user of the pool personally myself. I go down to the pool, downtown pool, Monday through Friday at 6 o'clock in the morning. And while I'm not a user of the Valley Pool, both pools are tremendously important, and you've heard lots of reasons why, so I won't go into that. I got my PhD studying rural communities and how to keep them strong, healthy, and working for the people who live in them.

Our pools, our field house, Eagle Crest, the city museums, libraries, all of those are what keep our community strong and healthy and lie at the heart of what makes Juneau livable for most of us who are here. They function as part of our healthcare and safety system. They're, they're an investment in our youth and they are a place where all ages can learn and engage in sports like the Field House soccer, softball, baseball, and other sports, as well as swimming in both of our pools, and even learn sportsmanship, and a safe place for seniors to walk, especially in the winter. This past winter, my partner and I were at the Field House every day walking indoors, and in bad weather will be found there as well, working out and socializing. So please find alternatives gives to fix the budget shortfall and, and leave our— all of our facilities that are so important.

I forgot to mention the city museum, libraries, and Eagle Forest are also really important. They bring community together. They make this community what it is, attracting people and keeping people here in Juneau. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. So then we have Elizabeth— excuse me— Brennell, Lori Scannell, John Wendell, and Chris Jensen.

Okay, hi Mayor Weldon and assembly members. Thank you for your service to Juneau. My name is Elizabeth Brunell and I live on North Douglas and use both downtown and Valley pools regularly. I'm also a 3rd and 4th grade teacher at Saint Gastineau Community School on Douglas and a competitive swimmer since the age of 5 that currently swims with the Glacier Swim Club's Masters team. And I won't tell you, um, how many years that's been because some of my more enterprising students will finally figure out my age.

This year I had the distinct privilege of taking our school's 4th grade cohort to the Augustus Brown Pool for the 4th grade 2-week learn-to-swim program. First, learning to swim should not be a privilege. Every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim, both as a necessity for the safety of their future lives, but also for their future health. Health. I want to specifically address this program and the need for both schools— or both pools to be open and schools to support this specific program, which is district-wide, in addition to the other life-saving— yes, I'm really not exaggerating, they are life-saving programs that are run by and at our pools.

Getting back to this year's 4th grade lessons, I want to tell you the story of one child. This child has special needs and had never in his 10 years of life experienced water surrounding his body. He had never experienced the feeling of weightlessness that one gets when submerged in water, or the joy that surrounds you when water kisses your skin. And the first time that that child set foot in the AGB recreational pool, his smile and gleeful laughter will forever be one of the most favorite moments as a teacher. I'll never forget the look on his face, ever.

Every child deserves that feeling. Every child should have the opportunity to experience our pools, and every child should have the chance to learn to swim. Please, please keep both our pools open. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have, uh, Lori Scanlon, John Wendell, and Chris Benson— Chris Myrtle.

Hi, I'm Lori Scandling. I'm a lifelong Alaskan. I've lived in Juneau 48 years. I'm a former teacher of history both at the university and in the Juneau School District. I volunteered at the Last Chance Mining Museum.

Perhaps you've never been there. It's not easy to get to. I volunteered there for 10 years. It is under the auspices of our city museum. I don't believe this budget situation is of your making.

But the solutions will have to be. I have to say I was shocked to learn of the possible elimination of the City Museum, and I was thinking that you would be shocked if I just walked in here and started taking down pictures of past assembly members as though what came before doesn't matter, and we know that it really does. The City Museum's nearly 100,000 items are held in public trust. Which implies a civic duty on the part of the city to preserve and share that which has made Juneau and Douglas. You might know, I hope you do, that Juneau and Treadwell were the very first developed communities in all of Alaska, a generation before anywhere else.

As a matter of fact, I volunteer in the last remaining building of when this area was the epicenter of gold mining in the entire world. I believe we have a responsibility to those of us who are here now and those who will come after to preserve and share those stories. We have managed through a great effort to hold on to the capital for 120 years. For a capital city to not have its own museum, I think, would be embarrassing, and the state and city museums are not redundant any more than city and state governments are the same. Between the city museum and the Mining Museum, we had nearly 40,000 visitors last year.

All of us at the Mining Museum are volunteers, and other volunteers lead city tours, and they make money which they give to the city museum. The booster organization allows the museum to be free for the quieter months. We think we're doing our part, and we hope that you will help us as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have John Wendell, Chris Benson, Chris Myrtle, and then Ryan Sabine.

Great evening, everybody. Uh, John Wendell. I live in the valley. Uh, as the assembly considers difficult decisions, I ask you to take a hard look at continued public funding for the Eel Crest Ski Area. Alpine skiing is simply not an affordable activity for many households in our community.

Particularly when factoring in lift tickets, equipment, and transportation. In contrast, many other recreational programs and facilities serve a broader and more economically diverse segment of Juneau. At the time when resources are limited, public funding should be directed towards recreational opportunities that are inclusive, widely used, and financially accessible. Continuing to subsidize a high-cost activity risks diverting support away from programs that better serve the entire community. I'd like to quickly go over the costs associated with the recreational facilities in Juneau for a family of 4.

A family of 4 up at Eagle Crest for the entire day is $409.50 for the lift ticket and equipment rental. For a family of 4 at the pools, it's $22. At the field house, it's $16, and at the ice rink, it's $26, meaning that Eagle Crest is 1,475% more expensive than the most expensive CBJ alternative, which is the ice rink. I urge you to make the difficult and necessary decision to eliminate subsidies for Eocrest Ski Area and instead prioritize recreational opportunities that are affordable and accessible to a broader Juneau community, ensuring that limited public funds support recreational opportunities that are truly accessible to the whole community. Eocrest receives $930,000 of general fund support, and later tonight They're going to let you know they need an additional $751,913 to barely run it, which is moving in the wrong direction.

I have no personal issues with Eelcrest. I just don't think that it should be shared by— it should be paid by public subsidies. And thank you for your time and difficult work you guys are all doing. Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Chris Benson, Chris Myrtle, Ryan Savine, Annie Bartholomew.

I'm Chris Benson. I live downtown. Thank you for your service, especially in this difficult budget situation. I'd like to see you put more focus on raising revenues than cutting parks and recreation facilities. I would support you increasing taxes, head taxes, bed taxes, user fees, but it's important to keep our parks and recreation intact.

Specifically, the proposal to mothball the Augustus Brown Pool is senseless because a large investment was just made there in the repairs. And I'll remind you that the voters approved the bond that was very specifically to repair Augustus Justice Brown Pool. Um, in Juneau, our indoor exercise facilities are not optional. They're necessary for me and all the residents to keep our health. Um, it's important to keep both the pools open.

Another serious concern, and here I'll say for transparency, I serve on the board of the Friends of the Arboretum, but I'm speaking as myself. Um, the proposed budget cut to the Arboretum, with the numbers that you're dealing with, maybe $41,000 doesn't sound like much, but it would be devastating to the Arboretum. Um, I can, I can tell you from my weekly visits out there that the, the 2 summer staff that are currently employed there just can't keep up. And so to cut one of those 2 staff would, would be really detrimental to the operations. And the Arboretum is important to so many in the city with increasing collaborations with the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, the Theater Alaska, and it gets used by so many residents who bring their out-of-town guests to show it off.

Not to mention that the Arboretum has international recognition because the American Primrose Society, which which is international, held their meeting here last year. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Chris Myrtle, Ryan Savine, Annie Bartholomew, and Jim Stay.

Good evening. Chris Myrtle from Thane. I'm really apologetic and sorry we're here. I think Affordable Juneau was meant to send a message, but I think we're all realizing it's kind of mean-spirited, short-sighted. And it's having a lot of negative consequences that unfortunately you're having to deal with.

Thanks for tackling that. Just to get a little bit of perspective, uh, till a couple years ago, as the chair of the Parks and Rec Advisory Committee for 12 years, um, and they've really understood the importance of recreation in our community, whether the amazing programs at Zach Gordon, the need for pickleball, the explosion of users at the Treadwell Arena. We're hearing over and over again the importance of recreation and the programs in our community. Also, keep in mind that a lot of recreation in our community, whether it be the Fieldhouse, Eagle Crest, Treadwell, those are all community-led projects that the community spent a lot of time fundraising and spearheading. So recreation is and has continued to be a very important part of the community.

So how's this impacting me and the community? Well, my eldest daughter, she's in her final year of nursing. Since she was 12, she said, I can't wait to go to college and not come back. Back. This winter, she said, "Juneau's really nice.

It's a great sense of community. There's great things to do." Perspective, it takes time. Go down to the lower 48. But that's really echoing the importance that we need to have a community that brings our youth back and creates a great community for raising families. For me personally, I'm a landscape architect.

Several of my projects are put on hold right now. We do a lot of design for parks, recreation, and trails. Projects are put on hold because of this conversation. I don't know if they're going to restart, but they're impacting my business right now. Same thing goes.

I'm looking forward to the future of all the people that are currently employed at parks and rec facilities and potentially be laid off. Important part of my job is health, safety, and welfare, and really jeopardizing this, uh, these cuts would be taking away the health, safety, and welfare with some of these recreation costs. Solutions— there is no silver bullet. Um, we really need to maintain our facilities, and I fully support alternative revenue sources, including, uh, the temporary sales tax or even park bonds. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your time.

Uh, Ryan Savine, Annie Bartholomew, Jim Stay, and Cindy Garcia.

And I apologize if I'm killing your last name. It's okay, it happens all the time. Uh, I am Ryan Sovey. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I live in the Mendenhall Valley.

I'm a paramedic and I'm an EMS leader here in the Juneau community. I recognize that you're facing some difficult decisions, especially in a challenging fiscal environment where every dollar is under scrutiny, but I'm here to ask you to look closely at what is at stake before cutting funding to our community pools. At its most basic level, this is about safety, especially for our children. Drowning remains one of the leading causes of accidental death for children. In fact, in Alaska, it leads the nation in childhood drowning.

Swim lessons are not a luxury here. They are a proven, practical way to reduce that risk. Every child who learns how to float, tread water, and safely navigate open pools or open water environments gains that skill that can quite literally save their When access to affordable swimming programs is reduced, is not felt evenly. Families with fewer resources are the first to lose out, and that creates a preventable safety gap in our community. But the benefits extend well beyond safety.

Our pools are one of the few spaces that serves all ages, income levels, abilities in a meaningful way. It provides structured program for youth, low-impact exercise for seniors, rehabilitation efforts, opportunities and a healthy outlet for families. In a time where we're all concerned about screen time and mental health and physical inactivity, this is a resource that directly addresses those issues. There's also the reality of, of access of indoor activity, weather seasonal limitations, reduced safe recreational opportunities through the year, and the pool's a controlled and supervised inclusive environment for those conditions. In these difficult times, the choices we make reflect our priorities: protecting our children, supporting our families, maintaining safe, healthy spaces for our community.

Should remain among them. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Uh, next we have Annie Bartholomew, Jim Stay, Cindy Garcia, and Tom Manning.

No Annie Bartholomew. Okay, Jim Stay, Cindy Garcia, Tom Manning, and Nancy Mead.

Good evening, I'm Jim Stay from downtown 5th and Franklin. Uh, I'm here to be a big advocate for keeping Augusta Brown Pool open. I learned to swim there, oh, about 50 years ago, and I can— and that's when I was young like you guys, I suppose. And I've been using that pool ever since. And when I smashed my knee playing basketball in one of the leagues, Dr. Reiswig said, go to the pool because the pool— use those weights and it'll build up your, you know, quads and things like that.

And he was right. And the pool just really helped me in a big way there. But, you know, I just want to say that seniors use the pools a lot more than you think. And if you ever— I know we've heard a lot of talk about younger people using it, but seniors do too. And I look around here and I see a few seniors right here staring back at me, and it's amazing thing, particularly downtown, because it's a place of community.

You see your friends. Terry Lauder was here talking earlier. You see your friends, uh, and you, you know, you just get exercise, which we all need. So anyway, it's what seniors needed too, not just kids. A few thoughts that just run through my head as I've been listening to everything, uh, you know, there is a problem with, uh, shortfalls about budget shortfalls.

I know a little bit about budget shortfalls, but, you know, we have to find creative ways to get around that, and we have to find ways of either adding programs that will produce revenue, or we have to reduce revenue to meet our budget goals. But it doesn't have to be— I think someone said a hatcheted approach. It I think we need to share the burden, and I don't know how you do that, but I, I have some experience in the past of doing that. But, but we really do need to share. One person's gain can't be another person's loss, or one person's loss can't be another person's gain.

So I ask you to, uh, you know, save us from, from that mess. Is my time up? Yeah. Okay, just, you know, Just one last comment. It's almost over.

The budget we're talking about was put together by city staff, and they look at numbers and they try to make their numbers fit in the box so everybody's happy. The mayor's happy, you guys are happy. But the council here, the assembly, you don't look at numbers like that. You look at all the people that were here tonight and you feel what their feelings are. And you make this vision not just on numbers, but on how it makes our life here so much more beautiful.

Thank you for your patience and listening to us. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Cindy Garcia, Tom Manny, Nancy Mead, and then Dave Hanna.

Hello, good evening. My name is Cindy Garcia and I serve on the board of the Juneau Soccer Club. I currently manage 3, uh, travel teams, and I'm here representing myself and my children. My daughter Maya plays, uh, soccer. My son also plays soccer on 2 travel teams, and— but he's not here because he's on a wrestling tournament in Wasilla.

Um, okay, I respectfully ask you to prioritize increased funding for recreation facilities in our community, including the Diamond Park Fieldhouse. As a parent of athletes and a— and now seasonal soccer player, I've seen firsthand how important safe, reliable indoor space is. My children, now 14 and 11, have grown up in Juneau recreational programs, learning to swim at both public pools, celebrating birthdays, and attending toddler time at, uh, Jumbo Gym and skiing at Eagle Crest. These experiences have helped them shape who they are today. At the Field House, they participated in soccer and baseball, which built their confidence, teamwork, and healthy habits.

The Juneau Soccer Club alone serves around 380 children, and during our long winters like this like this one we just had. The Fieldhouse provides a safe, essential place to stay active. Our family even plans our winter holidays around the Holiday Cup. We no longer travel because this community experience means so much to my family, and I think a lot of our soccer community. These facilities are more than just a place to play.

They support physical and mental well-being and reflect strong collaborations across our community. Right now it is already difficult to find available time at the field house between baseball, softball, and youth and adult soccer. Please do not reduce access to this spaces for the whole community. Thank you. Thank you.

Many questions. Thank you for your testimony.

Next we have Tom Manning, Nancy Mead. Dave Hanna and Noah Klein.

Looks like Manny, Tom from downtown, want to talk about us, Gus Brownpool. Okay, looks like he's gone. So we have Nancy Mead, Dave Hanna, Noah Klein, and Otto Klein.

Okay.

Okay, next we have Dave Hannah, Noah Klein, Otto Klein, and Jill Still.

Well, good evening, Madam Mayor and assembly. Welcome to the glamorous world of being on the assembly, huh? Uh, Dave Hannah, Back Loop Road. You may not believe this, I'm here to support you. I'm here to support you.

Make some rational decisions. And not make all these cuts to all these services that these people have testified so passionately about. They're all very true, they're all correct, it's all very important to our community. And the reality is, is we don't have to make these cuts right now. Now, I don't know if you read Mr. Mertz's letter that was in the Juneau Independence.

If you haven't seen it, I printed out big enough that you could. As you know, most of you should know, Mr. Mertz didn't exactly fall off the turnip truck. He's eminently qualified to make the statements he made and to write the letter he wrote. We have the capability to absorb this right now and take our time and make some rational decisions. There's a lot of ways out there that we can absorb what may be this big a shortfall.

We don't even know if there's going to be that big of a shortfall. We won't know till this year is over, but we have funding available to cover it in the meantime while we look at the opportunities that are out there. And there are a lot of opportunities out there. There are income opportunities, there are savings opportunities, and there are a lot of us in the community that would be very willing to serve and help you identify those. There is expertise abounding in this town that could help you in all the different things that the city borough is involved with, and whether it's operations efficiencies, or maybe restructuring some of these, uh, programs that we have going on, or some of the facilities we have, or whether we're exploring new revenue streams.

Now, you folks have already looked at a lot of them. You realize that we could eliminate, uh, not collecting sales tax— the nonprofits not collecting sales tax. You—. We could possibly eliminate some of the property tax exemptions, uh, I encourage you to take your time. Don't make these cuts this year because you don't have to.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Uh, next we have Noah Klein, Otto Klein, Jill Still, and then Tracy Morrison.

Thank you. My name is Noah Klein. I live on Douglas. Uh, first of all, I just wanted to thank all of you for your service. I don't envy you and the difficult decisions you have ahead of you.

I also just wanted to apologize on behalf of my friend and colleague Nancy Mead, who had to go to a different engagement, so she just left a few minutes ago. I know that she would have spoken to you about the mental and physical health benefits of our recreational facilities. She's specifically a super user of the pools, a master swimmer, and she would want you to know that although she is a citizen of Anchorage, she's been a session resident of Juneau for 15 years running now. Most of you, or many of you, probably know her. Now I'm here speaking as a parent and on my family's behalf, although I am a member of the Juneau Soccer Club board as well.

Um, we are huge supporters of all the recreational facilities here in Juneau. We're super users of the recreational facilities here in Juneau. We moved here as a young family from Fairbanks in 2019 because of the opportunities in Juneau. But specifically, I just want to talk about the field house and the soccer club because of the accessibility that it provides to our community. It is truly a facility in the soccer program that we have there that has no barriers.

The soccer club will provide scholarships for kids who can't afford to play soccer, on top of the fact that the program itself is incredibly cheap. We're talking less than $50 a month for essentially a year-round athletic program. There are hundreds of kids that participate in that program. My son, who's about to talk to you, who is not being strong-armed, not here as prop, wanted to talk to you on his own behalf, almost cried when he heard the Fieldhouse might be closed, and he'll be upset at me for saying that. But truly, all I'm here to say is, um, we're strong supporters of all Parks and Rec facilities, all the facilities that have been talked about.

We're not trying to put the Fieldhouse against any other facilities. We would love for all facilities to stay open, but I can speak to what we know the best, and that's the Fieldhouse. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Testimony. So next we have Otto Klein.

I bet your dad almost cried, not you, huh? A little bit of both. There you go. Could you state your name and where you live for the record, please? I'm Otto Klein.

I live on Douglas.

I want to be a professional soccer player, and I have spent a lot of time getting better at the field house. But if you close it down, other kids won't have that chance. After every practice, I play with my friends until the field house closes for the day. It is what I look forward to every day. I came straight from the field house to be here.

I—. If you can keep this place open so every kid can get to play soccer or any sport that uses the field house.

That it? What position do you play? Center. Oh, good for you. You do a lot of running then too, so try to console your dad.

We'll see what we can do. All right, next we have Jill Still, and then I'm gonna have a 2-minute recess.

Hi everybody, my name is Jill Still and this is— you want to introduce yourself? No. Okay, this is Lillian and I'm also joined by Dylan and we're really happy to be here. I will tell you it wasn't easy to sit here this many hours with our two kids, dinner time. There's a lot of families that couldn't be here.

One of the reasons we stuck it out is because we know that this is a moment in time There were families that came before us. There are families that are here today. There are families that are going to be here 50 years from now.

We know that we're at this discussion point right now because of a series of events, right? It didn't just happen due to one thing. When I was younger, I played basketball. World was my— or sports were my world. I remember thinking that last shot of the game, down by 1.

You either make it or you don't. But there were a series of plays time after time again for all 4 of those quarters that led to that moment in time of when you were down by 1. This is a moment in time where potentially Juno is down by 1.

We sat here today because there's a gentleman here that said he learned how to swim 50 years ago. My husband's from Juneau. Coming to Juneau had so much potential for our family. It's not easy to bring a spouse to Juneau, especially one from California. There's so many reasons to make Juneau a home, and I would really hope that with our kids here tonight and the families that came together that we never have to have this discussion again.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Thank you. Bye-bye.

Okay, we're just going to take a 2-minute recess.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

All right. Um, Tracy Morrison. Hello, Assembly members. My name is Tracy Morrison. I live in the Valley.

Um, and I've come here to talk about the Aquatics Board. Um, I'm also kind of piggybacking off of what Jill just said, because 11 years ago we were here fighting for the Augustus Brown Pool, um, talked about closing it, and now we find ourselves here again, but more facilities. It's great. Back then, we as a community came out in droves like tonight, um, and from that outcome of that meeting, or maybe some subsequent ones, was the formation of the Aquatics Board to protect and represent both of our pools. Mayor Beth Weldon, you served on this aquatics board.

I also, several years later, had the pleasure to serve on this board. Um, but then a couple years ago, CBJ Assembly dissolved our board without asking our input, not seeing our value of why the pools were being represented and so important.

Really frustrating at that point, not being consulted and just being dissolved. The community still feels the same way about these two pools, and now they don't have any representation. I was disappointed with the decision to shut down our board. Please consider bringing the Aquatics Board back so we can continue to support both pools and make sure we don't have to meet again like this in another 11 years. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for Thank you for your testimony.

Uh, David Monis, maybe from the Valley, talking about the pools. Sorry, I'm totally slaughtering your last name. Morris. Yeah, David Morris. Okay, now, now I know that it's you.

It's— I can get that. So thank you. Uh, please state your name and your town you live in for the record. You have 2 minutes. Hi, my name is David Morris, and I'm talking about pools mainly.

Um, many of you know that I have been a lifeguard and a WSI swim instructor for many years, and they're not only used for teaching the kids in 5th grade learn to swim, you know, and that's a great program, but we also have many of the people that come out of surgeries come to the Valley pool to walk in the river to get re-accompany themselves. So if they do fall down, it's okay. Day, you know, because they're in the water. So it's medically for both hospitals, it's a very high-use place, along with the physical therapy has the, has the back pool several days a week. So I would like to speak on the— for the pools.

And I do— I read that article that— and there's a lot of money that could be shifted to take care of the problems of all these facilities. And then— and I guess that's it. All right, thank you. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Uh, next we have Rochelle Rodman, Aaron Youngstrom, Staley Sheehan Are you Rochelle? No, I am Rochelle. Oh, good. Please state your name for the area, town you live in, for the record, and you have 2 minutes. My name is Rochelle Rodman.

I live in Douglas. I was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, and I just want to thank the assembly for allowing us to give public testimony on this. I used to serve on the board of the Capital City Soccer League, and I've used the field house extensively for many, many years, ever since it opened. It is crucial to my own mental health, and it gives me the exercise I need to stay fit and happy. It provides an activity during the pouring rain, which happens all the time.

Uh, but mostly I want to urge the assembly to try and focus on the services that won't affect the youth, because as somebody grew up here, I know that Being involved in sports and recreation helped keep me out of trouble, and it gave me something to do. And I still do all of these sports, and I still look forward to doing them as an adult. So I hope you focus on the things that won't affect the children quite as much, because I want them to have a rich life here. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions? Thank you for your testimony. So next we have Erin Youngstrom. Staley Sheehan, Avery Smith. Hello, my name is Erin Youngstrom.

I have been living in the Valley since 2017, a homeowner since then. I moved to Juneau in 2015, and I do find it ironic that tonight I will be testifying on keeping Juneau affordable, but we are here because of the actions of Affordable Juneau. The irony of that. Things I'm here to testify for. I support the pools, keeping them both open full-time as they currently are, um, because of the effects of activity and recreation in this town.

That's what I love. I'm here to support Arboretum. The facility that, that place is, is beautiful. Many people that I know have gotten married there, and I'm going to have my friends get married there later in May, so I'm looking forward to that and keeping those two employees, um, employed there. I want to support Eagle Crest because is while I do not use Eagle Crest, my husband does, and 3 weeks ago my 2-year-old skied for the first time there, and I want her to grow up in a town where she can do that.

I did not ski growing up, but I would like her to be able to do that. I would like to support the Junior Arts and Humanities Council so that they continue to provide grants for artists in this community. At one point, Juneau was voted the most town that has the best creative vitality in the United States, and I think that the Junior Arts and Humanities Council is a part of that and making this town support artists, because artists are not the most up to date on what's going on with the budgets. And I'm here to support them and everyone who couldn't be here tonight. I'm supporting Travel Juno, keeping their budget full so that they can go out into the United States and also around the world to market Juno and make sure that people come here on a visit so that they continue to spend money in our community.

I want support the museum. I have many friends who have done galleries at the museum, and that keeps Juneau an active place of artistic expression. Finally, the Field House. I have a 2-year-old. My 2-year-old has used the Field House almost every single day for the past 2 years.

In-home childcare is difficult in this town. Please fund and support the Field House. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. And then we have Staley Sheehan, Avery Smith, Katie Bosler, and then I heard Annie Bartholomew's back.

And I apologize if I'm killing your name. It's, it's Staley Sheehan. I'm from North Douglas. Hi, my name is Staley Sheehan, and I'm here in support of all CPJ rec facilities, but mainly in support for the Treadwell Ice Arena. Treadwell Arena.

I started playing hockey when I was 4 years old and I'm 17 now. I spent what feels like my whole life at the ice rink, from practices to 6 AM to games at 8 at night. Recently I got accepted into various respective boarding schools outside of Alaska. I heavily considered going, but I didn't for one main reason: my team. Hockey has brought me a family that I couldn't find anywhere else.

Without Treadwell Arena, I wouldn't have been able to grow into the person I am now. And I know each player from ages 6 to 18 will or have already grown into a better person and a better teammate from playing hockey. Losing the rink means losing amazing communities in Juneau, like the Juneau Douglas Ice Association, the Juneau Skating Club, Juneau Adult Hockey Association, and Juneau Douglas High School Hockey, plus every member of the community who has come to open skates. There's only one rink in Juneau. Please don't let that number change to zero.

Not only for my sake but for the sake of my community. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.

Uh, next we have Avery Smith, uh, Katie Bosler, and Annie Bartholomew.

Hi, um, Avery Smith, and I live out the road Um, I'd like to speak about the pools. I've been swimming almost my entire life and with GSC for almost 10 years now. Um, I'm a lifeguard at the Valley Pool, and I probably spend more time at the pools than I spend anywhere else. Um, first of all, closing AGB would greatly affect GSC's practice hours. Right now, high schoolers alone swim 5 times a week at AGB, and if it were to close, we would lose the needed lane space we have there, and Diamond Park does not have the capacity to absorb all of it.

Speaking on high school swimming— sorry, um, this past season we had a team of 45 and we were lucky to have the lane space that we needed. Um, if AGB does close, we will likely not be able to have a high school team as large. In 2023, when AGB was closed for renovations, our practice schedule was difficult due to weird times, fewer lanes, and the pool was significantly more crowded in general. Temporarily, it was difficult, so I can't imagine how that would look long term. As others have mentioned, GSC has over 200 youth and teaches life skills like discipline, hard work, goal setting, and so much more.

GSC's impact on our community is so important, and swimming is one of the best youth sports Juneau has to offer. I've seen firsthand the impact on which swimming has had on my life and also my peers. Without consistent access to both pools, we are risking losing a support system which has helped to shape hundreds of lives. The pools are so much— sorry, the pools are so much more than recreational facilities. There are so many groups and people who use them, and we need full access and funding to both pools.

I cannot, I cannot imagine how closing and reducing hours could possibly be a solution. Therefore, I do not think it is fair to Glacier Swim Club, our community, and anyone that uses either of the pools to cut hours and close Augustus Brown. The benefits of keeping full access to both pools significantly outweigh any long-term or short-term savings the city would earn. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions? Any other questions? Thank you for your testimony. So next we have Katie Bosler and then Annie Bartholomew.

I heard Annie Bartholomew was back. Was that incorrect?

Go ahead. Good evening, I'm Katie Bosler and I'm from Douglas. You'll be making some important decisions about Eagle Crest funding following this meeting. And I am here to really emphasize the value of Eagle Crest to this community, to its well-being, to its mental health, to its physical health, and to its sustainability.

Now, you heard from a lot of young people tonight, and there are just as many young people who would testify how important Eagle Crest has been to their, um, growing up and also to their success in their later life. As a matter of fact, you have heard and have from several people, including people I'm related to, that this is why they are choosing to raise their families here, to run businesses here, to start businesses here, to buy homes here, to raise their kids here because of Eagle Crest. Now, uh, we heard tonight that Eagle Crest might not serve a broad population. It serves a very broad population. You have school groups that learn to ski, kids who would never learn to ski who come up with their class.

These are actually funded and supported by local businesses. This is a community collaboration. You have Sail Orca, people with disabilities who have a challenging situation to begin with, but they can have experiences at Eagle Crest like nothing else to help their mental and physical health. You have the Nordic ski teams who are like the running team. They need the Nordic facilities at Eagle Crest for, for their success and for their training.

Uh, you have, uh, the ski school. So I, I guess my time is up. Also, I just want to say that, uh, we do have issues with addiction in this town, and Eagle Crest is a healthy addiction. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. So next we have Andy Annie Bartholomew, and did Tom Manning or Nancy Mead ever— okay, no, well, we can go ahead.

Hi, I'm Annie Bartholomew. I'm an Alaskan songwriter, lifelong resident of Juneau residing in Auke Bay. I'm here in support of arts and culture funding and to talk about the impact of an individual artist grants program My first ever recording project was funded by a JAT grant back in 2018. In 2021, a JAT grant allowed me to work with Theater Alaska to adapt my album Sisters of Whitechapel into a stage show musical, which presented free shows at places like the Glory Hall and Rotary Park, the Treadwell Mining Office, and the library.

And that summer we got to rehearse at the Treadwell Mining Office, and we were often visited by regular Juneau people who were like really surprised to not only see theater occurring around them in this strange place, but an all-woman band. And I didn't realize how special or profound that was until I played at a bluegrass festival in the Netherlands. We're the only all-woman band on the bill. And I think that's just a testament of this town and how big we invite our kids to dream and how we have the infrastructure and curiosity and investment to fulfill those dreams and take them to the next level. When you support artists, when you invest in them, they start businesses, they generate a lifetime of sales tax, and they use this funding to leverage bigger opportunities.

Jack grants and programs like the City Museum Gallery are stepping stones for a lifetime career in the arts and allow us to be competitive at the highest levels and tell our stories on the big stages. As a single person in Juneau, I live with the insecurity of wondering how long I can stay, and the reason I don't quit Juneau for a cheaper cost of living or a place with a bigger audience is because of our robust arts and culture scene. We literally have what everyone wants. Please don't let us lose it.

Thank you. I enjoyed seeing you clogging at the Folk Festival. 75 New cloggers in Juneau. That's right. So you're welcome.

Um, so next we have a special guest, Senator Jesse Bjorkman. Sorry, slaughtered your last name too. You're not special, apparently. I'm slaughtering everybody's name tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of Assembly. For the record, my name is Jesse Bjorkman, and I represent the northern and central portions of the Kenai Peninsula in the State Senate. I'm not here to talk more about the problems that we all have together and can solve collaboratively, but I do enjoy, along with many other legislative families and my kids, skiing at Eagle Crest and enjoying your pools and your recreation activities. I am very thankful that my family family is your guest here in Juneau through the months of January and May. Those activities are very important to lots of legislative families like mine.

They allow them to come here for session and really for us as a family to function together while we're here in session. I came to offer you a couple of solutions I think that will help as financial options for you all. First is a bill that I have to smooth Property tax assessments over time while you all can maintain a trajectory for full and true value. The bill number is Senate Bill 259. I've worked on that collaboratively with local governments across the state to make sure that property tax assessments are not spiking because we are forced to follow full and true value strictly.

We can smooth that over a period of 10 years and hit an assessed value that is more predictable for residents. Also, we have a challenge with how we calculate required local contribution for schools. That issue is dealt with in another one of my bills, Senate Bill 278. It makes sure that the state government is not shifting costs for schools to local government at a very fast rate. This will help your budget over time and alleviate some of the financial strain you're under.

I urge you to consider that legislation as well. So as we look forward to working on these issues, I'm very happy and accessible to answer any questions that you might have. But really building public trust and making sure we can have smooth, predictable assessments, I think, takes out a big trigger for some people as they're looking at their tax bills, as well as your required local contribution for your school district. That too can put a lot of certainty into what you all have to pay as a muni for schools, and growing that slowly over time is much more predictable for all of you, and that would give you more money to spend on other things like recreation and also the optional allowable on top of that. Happy to discuss these issues more with all of you.

They provide stability, and I think that's much needed to build public trust. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Senator? Thank you for coming tonight.

Um, so last call for Tom Manning and Nancy Mead. Come on up.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Thank you. For the record, Nancy Mead. I live in Anchorage permanently. I spend 4 months a year in Juneau and for the past 15 years.

I'm here to express support for all the recreational facilities. I use some, I don't use others, whether it's the ice rink or the field house or the pools or the ski areas. I think it's vitally important to the health of the community to have these facilities available. When you don't have those facilities available is when you have young people who are idle, and idleness Lives. Loneliness leads to negative behaviors, whether it's doomscrolling, whether it's getting caught up in social media in other ways, whether it's minor vandalism, shoplifting, things like that.

People need to be kept busy with healthy options, and it's not just young people. There's a loneliness epidemic among the elderly, but if you go to Augustus Brown Pool and look at that recreational pool, you see the older folks having the best time with each other, bonding and fighting that loneliness epidemic. And they have done studies in other countries, for example, Iceland, where they doubled their investment into recreational facilities. In a short time thereafter, and I want to say 8 to 10 years, I might be wrong, they cut the rate of alcoholism by over 40% among their adults. So this is— these are the behaviors that are kept at bay when people are busy with healthy alternatives.

So I would urge you to cut other things rather than this. They are just as critical as snowplowing or permitting offices or street cleaning or deferred maintenance or other capital projects. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. And then we still— if they're still there, we have some people online. Um, I'm looking for Michael Reeder, maybe Reeder.

There's an I in there on my feed.

Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. And we lost him.

You got me? Yes, we hear you just fine. Please state your name and area, town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

Yeah, hi, my name is Michael Reader. I'm domiciled out—.

Uh, we can't hear you right at this minute, so you may have to start again.

Try again. Start from the beginning. Sorry. Can you hear me now? Yes, we can hear you now.

Yeah, I want to say I'm Livaat Lena. I'm not always in Juneau, but I I really think that Juneau has some of the best public pools in the country. I've spent a lot of time moving, moving around different cities, and I really think the pools are a huge asset to the community. And as we've heard tonight, that these are some of the most utilized assets, as well as the field house, especially during the winter months. When residents don't really have a lot of options to get outside and stay active.

And one thing I'll say about, um, the pools is that, you know, we, we can think about utilizing them better. You know, if we're going to change Augustus Brown, we could have a bigger, bigger parking lot. You know, this facility It has the users, it wants more, it could use more activity. And, and so one of the suggestions for CVJ would be to just right-size operations, like asking questions about do we need a facilities maintenance building in the heart of downtown Douglas, or are we utilizing certain buildings appropriately? And looking at these questions rather than just making broad cuts.

And I think Dave Hanna had a good point about looking at some of the articles that the accountants had looked at recently and some of the numbers and really thinking through some of these decisions before irreversible cuts are made. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

Next we have Dixie Klough.

Please state your name and the area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. My name is Dixie Klough. I'm the director of Museums Alaska, the statewide museum association. My board president Christine lives in Douglas but couldn't be here today. I live, I live in Anchorage.

The Juneau Douglas The City Museum is a member of ours. We've also worked with the Jensen Olsen Arboretum. Most, uh, people don't know that gardens are museums, but they are. They just have a living collection, which is harder to take care of, actually. Um, we wanted to talk about how the loss of any museum would reduce educational opportunities for students and the community, limit opportunities for local artists, and harm tourism and quality of life.

But we also, as a museum association, wanted to talk a little bit about the practical reality of closing a museum. Museums are intentionally very difficult to close because they hold collections in the public trust. Because of past cases where collections have been treated as assets to be sold in hard times, museum closures actually require a lot of legal, ethical, and professional review. It often takes years and a lot of funding. So something like a museum closure often, it's not a quick budget fix and requires a lot of community buy-in to avoid breaking public trust.

So we did want to just let everyone know that. And also, if the city needs to reduce long-term costs of the museums and the Arboretum, we would encourage maybe exploring alternatives like endowments, nonprofit partnerships, or other business model adjustments. This exploration also doesn't take— doesn't happen quickly. It takes a bit of time, but underfunding the museum and the Arboretum in the meantime, we don't think is the answer because the Juneau Douglas City Museum is already operating at a minimum staffing level for the collection safety, administration, and programming that they provide. And the Arboretum is is really understaffed.

So further cuts to both organizations would kind of endanger the collections and the community services they provide. So we urge you to pursue other solutions that will preserve these important public assets. And as the State Museum Association, we're here as a resource if needed. And that's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight. Okay, next we have Kim Metcalf.

Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record. You have 2 minutes. Thank you, Madam Mayor, Madam City Manager, and members of the assembly.

My name is Kim Metcalf and I live at 730 Gold Street. We need recreational and cultural facilities that make Juneau livable, especially for young families. I have a suggestion for offsetting city funding of facilities. The assembly should urge the cruise lines to sponsor facilities like Alaska Airlines does. You're probably all familiar with the Alaska Airlines Husky Stadium at the University of Washington.

Alaska Airlines paid $41 million for naming rights over a 10-year period, or $4.1 million a year. They paid around $28 million over 10 years to sponsor the UW basketball arena. How about the Holland America Diamond Fieldhouse, the Princess Cruises Treadwell Arena, the Norwegian Cruise, Cruise Line's Juno Douglas Museum, Disney Eagle Crest, the Celebrity Augustus Brown Pool? The cruise lines make millions and millions of dollars on southeastern ports, and their passengers pay the fees. Having their names on facilities would be a great way to build community support.

One other thing I want to mention is the line item suggesting the parking lot at 8th and Gold Street be sold. That parking lot is just around the corner from my house. There are 3 apartment buildings within a block of each other, and if the lot is sold, there's no telling what will happen to it. Where would those people park if the buyer decides to make it a private parking lot or use the land for something else? If you're going to offer a parking lot for sale, how about one of the downtown parking garages?

That would build a lot more money than the 8th and Gold that holds 14 cars. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

Uh, Paul, Mr. Kelly, do you have your hand up? Uh, yes, I, I did have a question for Ms. Metcalf. What's your question? Um, I, I was going to ask if she would attend a facility that was named after a cruise line. Named after what?

Uh, that was named after a cruise line. I don't see why not. People attend the Husky Stadium all the time in Seattle. I really think that, you know, I've often thought that we should be getting more value out of these cruise lines other than the passenger fees that the passengers paid, not the Cruise Lines. So I'd be very willing to attend the Princess Cruise Treadwell Arena or the Juno Douglas City Museum sponsored by Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Thank you, Kim. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Susan Derrera.

Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, my name is Susan Alexander-Durera. I'm Juneau-born but a resident of Anchorage.

My grandparents came to Juneau at the turn of the last century. They built a house on 12th Street where my mom, Alaska State's woman Katie Hurley, was born in 1921. My father, Joe Alexander, came to Juneau during World War II and set up a photography studio on Front Street. Where he documented the lives of several generations of Juneau families, as well as events important to Alaska and Juneau history. Many of my grandparents' belongings, including jewelry, clothing, items relating to the AAJ mine, the fishing industry, as well as ephemera from old Juneau utilities and businesses, I have donated to the City Museum.

I have also donated a good portion of my father's photography collection, and with the help of the City of Wasilla Museum, I'm in the process of donating some of his valuable statehood photographs. The museum has already used materials from these collections to put together several very popular exhibits that have brought the Juneau community together, as well as educating visitors and newcomers to the city. One exhibit featured a history of Juneau photographers and included an enormous banner depicting the hundreds of passport photos my father took over 40 years. A clever staff member featured individual photos on on the museum website throughout the summer, asking residents to help identify the person pictured. It was so popular and engaged the community in so many ways.

A more recent exhibit featured a retrospective of well-known and well-loved Juneau artist Reuben Yose. Included in the exhibit was one of her earliest works, an oil painting depicting the footbridge over Calhoun Avenue that my mother's father was instrumental in having built when he was road commissioner of Juneau. The painting belonged to my mother and was given by me to the museum after her death. I'm coming to town tomorrow to bury my brother's remains at Evergreen Cemetery. I'm bringing with me more items that I've arranged to deliver to the museum.

Yesterday I was informed that the city is proposing major budget cuts to the museum, even going so far as to consider selling the building and divesting its precious collection, which has been entrusted to you stripping the items of their context, their meaning, resulting in a historic loss to Juneau and its people, past, present, and future. I— Ms. Derrera, unfortunately your time is done. I urge you to fully fund this irreplaceable resource and community treasure. Thanks so much. Thanks.

And any questions? We're sorry for the loss of your brother, and for the record, Mr. Alexander took my senior photo photos. Oh, I— he— yeah, thank you. I'm sure he— I— he took many. Yes.

Thank you for your testimony today. Uh, next we have Amy Carney.

Miss Carney, if you're online, please raise your hand.

If you're on a phone, you can do star 9. Okay, the only other one we haven't heard from is Tom Manning. So with that, we will move away from public testimony. Looking at the assembly, do we need a short break?

Somebody's hand is raised.

We've allowed you to talk to see if this is Miss Carney. If you are not Miss Carney, we do not have you signed up in advance as required. Okay, never mind. Um, does the assembly need a break before we can proceed? Okay.

Okay, how long, Ms. Edkison? 5 Minutes.

Will bring us back into session to now tackle the rest of our meeting.

Is there— we're on to the consent agenda. Is there any public request for consent agenda changes other than ordinances for instruction? Introduction.

Is there any assembly requests for consent agenda? Items. Um, Ms. Houskanis, will you move this?

Uh, thank you, Madam Mayor. I move the consent— no, where are we at? Yeah, I move the consent agenda and I ask for unanimous consent. Any objection? Seeing none, our consent agenda has passed.

Uh, next we'll go to public hearing item 1. Madam Clerk. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ordinance 2026-18, an ordinance authorizing the manager to enter negotiations to terminate the revised revenue sharing agreement authorized by Ordinance 2023— public hearing. Sorry, the rate of levy.

Apologies. Item 1, Ordinance 2026-03, an ordinance establishing the rate of levy for property taxes for calendar year 2026 based upon the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027. Madam Manager. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This, uh, ordinance established— establishes the mill rate for fiscal year '27 at 9.92 mills.

Uh, just want to note that that is a reduction of 0.32 mills, which consists of a reduction in the area-wide, uh, millage rate of 0.16 and a reduction in the debt service mill rate of 0.16. I recommend you hold the charter-required public hearing for this ordinance and then refer it back to the Finance Committee for further review by the body.

Thank you, Madam Manager. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this ordinance, if you hadn't already covered it?

See none. We'll move it to the assembly. And remember, um, these are all going to be from the manager's budget. We have not done our work work. Um, we'll bring it back to the assembly.

Uh, Mr. Burks, I move the Ordinance 2026-03 to, uh, the, um, the full assembly and ask for unanimous consent. Uh, could I have you correct that? If you're moving it, uh, you— we, we had public hearing and now we move it back to the finance Committee. I move Ordinance 2026-03 to the Finance Committee and ask for unanimous consent.

Any objection? Seeing none, uh, so moved. Uh, next we have number 2. Madam Clerk. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Ordinance 2026-01, an ordinance appropriating funds from the treasury for FY27 city and borough operations. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Manager. Thank you. This ordinance appropriates just over half a billion dollars, which represents the entirety of the City and Borough of Juneau's FY27 operating budget, excluding the Juneau School District.

The— this ordinance, uh, will come back to the, uh, to the assembly at a reg— as a regular, uh, item on the June 8th assembly meeting for public testimony. I recommend I suppose you already have recommended your— you already have held your charter-required public hearing for this ordinance. I recommend you refer it back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review. Thank you, Madam Manager. Is there any member of the public that hasn't spoken on the budget want to speak on this?

Seeing none, we'll come to the assembly. Ms. Axson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I refer— I move we refer Ordinance 2026-01 back to the Finance Committee, and I ask ask for unanimous consent. Any objection?

Uh, seeing none, so moved. Item number 3, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ordinance 2026-02, an ordinance appropriating funds from the treasury for FY27 school district operations. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Madam Manager, this ordinance funds just under $100 million for the city and borough of Juneau School District operations. It's a slight increase of just over $3 million from the FY26 budget, and it consists of both the CBJ local funding of $38 million and federal funding of $47 million. I recommend you hold the charter-required public hearing for this ordinance, followed by a motion to set the amount of minimum local funding to be provided by the school district, and then refer the ordinance back to the Assembly Finance Committee for additional review. Thank you, Madam Manager. Is there any member of the public that didn't speak during our public participation that wants to speak to this ordinance?

Seeing none, we'll take it to the assembly. And we do have Superintendent Hauser here if there's any questions. And since I skipped Ms. Wall, I'll go to her. Ms. Wall. Mayor, I move to set the amount of local funding for school district operations at $35,801,000 $1,900, which is funding to the cap for Ordinance 2026-02, an ordinance appropriating funds from the Treasury for FY '27 school district operations, and refer the ordinance back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review.

Uh, thank you, uh, Ms. Wall. And just for everybody's clear, that's the minimum amount we're setting right now. It's not what we're probably going to give them in the end, but it's the minimum amount. Any objection?

Seeing none, so moved. Thank you, Ms. Wall. Item number 4.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Resolution 4044, a resolution adopting the City and Borough of Juneau Capital Improvement Program for fiscal years 2027 through 2032 and establishing the capital improvement project priorities for fiscal year 2027. Uh, thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Manager. Thank you.

This resolution appropriates funds for the fiscal year 2027 Capital Improvement Plan. I recommend you hold the charter-required public hearing for this resolution, followed by referral back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review. Thank you, Madam Manager. Is there any member of the public that didn't speak during public participation on the budget want to talk to this? Or it's— see none.

We'll bring it back to the Assembly. Mr. Steininger, I move the Assembly refer Resolution 404 44 to the Assembly Finance Committee and ask for unanimous consent. Any objection? Seeing none, so moved. Item number 5, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Resolution 4040, a resolution reserving up to $2,307,100 of the restricted budget reserve for the Eagle Crest FY27 budget debt deficit. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Manager, thank you. As you recall, in the FY26 budget process, when the Assembly decided— elected to allow Eagle Crest to go into a negative fund balance in anticipation of future revenue, we ring-fenced that amount in the restricted budget reserve so that we could make sure we accounted for it should it not— should that payback not materialize.

The manager's budget as presented includes the Eagle Crest FY27 budget that furthers that negative fund balance by $2.3 million. So this resolution just ring fences an additional $2.3 million of, uh, of restricted fund balance towards Eagle Crest's budget. I recommend the assembly take public testimony on this resolution and refer it back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review. Thank you, Madam Manager. Is there any member of the public that didn't speak during public participation on the budget wanting to speak on this topic?

Seeing none, we'll move it back to the Assembly. Ms. Hall, I move Resolution 4040 and refer it back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review and ask for unanimous consent. Now, any objection? See none, so moved. Is there any other items before the special assembly meeting?

Hearing none, that is adjourned. How much time do you need, Madam Clerk, to bring the Finance Committee?

5 Minutes.