Juneau resolution would encourage employers to let workers serve on city boards during work hours

A resolution encouraging Juneau employers to let workers serve on city boards during work hours is tentatively scheduled for a Juneau Assembly work session in November, according to draft minutes from the city's Human Rights Commission, which wrote it.

Under the resolution, the city would provide employers with training, guidance and resources to adopt such policies. It encourages employers to do so but does not require it.

The resolution cites 33 vacancies across 26 city boards, committees and commissions as of January 2025. In a December 2025 letter to the Assembly, commission chair Haifa Foroughi compared the idea to employers supporting jury duty, calling it "a logical and practical extension of a civic norm we already uphold."

The Assembly's Human Resources Committee amended the resolution on March 9, according to its minutes. It moved the commission's recommendations on funding boards, recruiting underrepresented members and outreach into an addendum to the commission's letter, and struck a clause promising that the city would recognize and promote employers that encourage board service. The city manager presented the resolution to the Assembly on April 6.

The commission's draft minutes from its Sept. 22 meeting place the resolution on the November calendar for the Assembly's Committee of the Whole, the full Assembly meeting informally for discussion. Any formal action would come at a regular Assembly meeting. The resolution is also on the commission's Oct. 6 agenda.