April 17, 2024 Assembly Finance Committee

I call the April 17th Meeting of the Assembly Finance Committee to order. Uh, Ms. Wendell, will you note the roll? Thank you, Chair, Chair Wohl. We have all assembly members present in chambers with Assemblymember Kelly present on Zoom and Assemblymember Bryson absent. Thank you.

That brings us to approval of minutes. Any suggested changes to the April June 26th minutes, which were a red folder item.

Seeing none, those minutes are so approved. Um, which brings us to agenda topics. All right, so few opening comments before we jump in here. Um, first, want to remind everyone our agreements for the budget season are up there on the board. People can always add to them.

Um, we— I reviewed the plus/delta activity we did at the end of the day on Saturday. What things people liked, what things people wanted to change about process. I just wanted to highlight a few things that, um, I saw if others didn't look at the full list. People generally liked the full day, so next year that may be something we try again. Um, and they were very thankful to our finance staff for the binders and the preparation materials.

Uh, folks felt that it was a bit rushed in the morning with staff updates. And so, um, uh, next year we'll make sure they have more time. And if there are other topics that you feel like we didn't get enough depth on as a result of rushing, um, just let us know and we can make sure to circle back on that stuff. There are some comments on Eagle Crest and Bartlett. We, we move forward on the budget for both of those pieces, but we know we're going to have to revisit more about both of those.

So we have put a special place for Eagle Crest on this, on your updated budget calendar.

May 1st, Eagle Crest is going to, and staff are going to come back to us with some more information to continue that discussion. And BRH, I think we decided we're not going to tackle BRH part of this budget cycle, but there are a lot of comments that we still need to be talking about that soon. Soon. And so there are a few places on this calendar where we might be able to fit in a special meeting. I'll leave that up to our mayor and staff to figure out outside of the Finance Committee meeting, but just wanted to make sure that was on people's brains.

Um, some comments about the mill rate, wanting to continue that conversation. We'll obviously be continuing that conversation. Okay, that brings us to today. Um, our main topic is assembly. Yes.

Um, excuse me, how will we be continuing that conversation? Because the calendar only has mill rate way, way late in the process, and I know you and I've talked about it, but how will we— how will we be able to have a robust discussion about the mill rate a little earlier in the process? I don't have the answer to that, um, at this time. Maybe you and I can talk offline. I think there's value to having it at the end after we've kind of seen what spending the Assembly wants to do, but I know that, um, it's a big conversation.

We don't want to feel rushed through it. So, okay, today, Assembly grants and community requests. Um, reminder to everyone, we are not making decisions today. We're not even really going to have a chance to, um, advocate or speak our minds on these topics. The, the goal is to figure out what does the assembly need before those decisions are made.

So those decisions will be made later in the process. Um, but, you know, part of this new process was to save assembly time and to save time of our community partners so that they're not spending a lot of time putting together materials and information that, um, when they don't need to. And so We had them fill out a simple sheet. If there is more information you need from our partners or from staff, tonight will be the opportunity to identify that. Um, so I'll talk a little bit about how we're going to work through this, but any kind of big picture questions about what we're doing today before we go into it.

All right, so we're going to go. Oh, I see a hand. Miss— Madam Hale. Miss Hale.

I like it. Um, just to confirm, the organizations requesting money are not here to answer questions today. They're just to hear our discussion. No. Yes, they're, they're here to listen to our discussion tonight.

We don't want to put them on the spot in case there's some questions that they need to do a little bit more work on. Thank you. Good question. Um, so we're going to go through this list as listed on your agenda, which is, or on your, in your packet, which is alphabetical order. Um, I'm going to ask the sponsor to just introduce the request.

This does not have to be a big long pitch. You could speak a little bit to why you sponsored it and, um, anything you want to explain to the assembly. And then the assembly is going to, we're going to open up to the assembly to see what questions they have. If they're easy questions that the sponsor or the staff can answer, we can get those done. But if they're bigger questions for the community partner, I'm going to ask sponsors to take note of those questions.

If it's a specific question you need from staff, please say so. So if you want to know something about former budget, you know, um, and you need staff to answer that question, please specify. Okay, the only other thing I wanted to say before we jump in is you'll notice there is a marine passenger fee item on this list from the capital, um, part the— from the partnership, Capitol Civic Center. Um, we will be making that decision with the other marine passenger fee information, uh, discussion, but we wanted to put it on our agenda tonight because it was new and, um, Assembly hadn't had a chance to ask questions about that.

Miss Hughes-Scandies, could you— thank you, Madam Chair. Could you clarify when you say it was new, what— how that has fit in with the rest of the planning? Because now I'm confused. Well, my understanding, and staff can correct me if I'm wrong, is that the marine passenger requests have been working their way through the Assembly for quite some time. This request came in late and so has not been through that process.

I don't know how late, and I'm looking to staff if they have more information. Thank you, Chair. Well, this request is a little bit of a unicorn, and I have to admit I am the person who advised the partnership that this would be a good place to put it. If you recall, there was a $10 million that industry agreed in passenger fees could be reserved for the Capitol Civic Center project. And that group is asking for the $4 million of that $10 million in this budget cycle.

It doesn't really fit in our traditional solicitation of passenger fee projects because it's something that's already been negotiated. It also doesn't really fit in other places, so because it's a community organization, I advise them to submit this request to get it on your radar and get that conversation started.

All right. We are going to jump in and because of the alphabet, I get to go first.

Also, people notice that Mr. Bryson is not here. He felt really bad. He was not able to be here. He had a last-minute thing come up. Let him know that he would have another opportunity to advocate for the projects that he sponsored.

We will still go through them on the list and identify questions when we get to those that he is the sole sponsor on. Okay, Alaska HEAT Smart is a request I sponsored, and, you know, I think we all know how important the work that Alaska HEAT Smart does in our community and towards our renewable energy goals. Um, you know, the reason that I wanted to sponsor them is, you know, when I look at the list of all the things that we could do on climate and renewable energy, when I think about what's the biggest bang for our buck, they're at the top of my list, and they've shown a lot of success. I'm not going to go through all the stats. Those are in your packet.

Um, but one nice one, for every $1 that $1 they spend of CBJ money, they have been able to match that with $3.5 of federal funds. Um, I think the questions that you all will have is, um, why this amount of funding and why for 3 years? Um, you know, in my experience on the assembly, assemblies in the past have indicated, you know, they really want Alaska Heat Smart to be more sustainable, to be less, um,.

Dependent on CBJ moving forward. And, you know, I, in my day job, I work on nonprofit sustainability, and I know that that takes a while to get there. And so, and I also know that it is very burdensome to have the instability of waiting every year for your funding. And so I went to Alaska Heat Smart and said, hey, could you put in a proposal that's less annual funding than you did last year, and maybe we could get the Assembly to agree to an amount that would, um, support your operations for the next 3 years. Um, uh, I know that, you know, there's good rules around not promising future Assembly funding, but I talked to staff about ways that we could, um, in this moment, provide them more stability, uh, that way.

So I will stop there and see if the assembly has questions that I, partners, or staff could answer for them. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah, can you talk a little bit more? So this would be $668,000 now if it was approved, that would then— so then Heat Smart wouldn't come back to us for 3 years? That's correct. So we have 2— we could have 2 options so that that would be the case.

We could allocate from fund balance, um, 3 years worth of funding. Staff would work on kind of doling that out over time, or we could say we want this in the manager's budget for the next 3 years. In either case, the community group wouldn't have to come back to us until, you know, in 3 years we could revisit. Yes, just a quick follow-up. So it wouldn't be $668,000 now at this one time, it would be So it would be $200,000 this year.

The assembly could choose either of those options. But the partner— anyways, yes, Mr. Smith. Thank you. I think maybe kind of getting at the same thing. I guess my question was kind of why— I mean, I guess the reason you're proposing doing it this way is to provide the organization a little more certainty.

Though, through either of those options, a future assembly could remove it from the manager's budget, or I believe, right? So it provides a little more certainty, but there is still an opportunity for a future assembly to change that budget as they can on pretty much everything. It would be similar. Yeah. So, like, how we do CIPs, we allocate money for the future, but anyone at any time can decide that's not— we're going to reallocate those funds.

But it does provide a certain amount of certainty that that is the intent of the body.

Um, Madam Deputy Mayor, thank you. I kind of like Madam Hale better. It's okay. No, it's good. Um, so, um, if we were to— let's say we thought we've got enough fund balance now and we were to allocate that full $688,000, whatever it is, um, what you're saying is it would be— it would be allocated, but they would only get the first year, and then a future assembly could take it back if they wanted to crawl through the numbers?

Correct. So, so my understanding is that with some community groups, um, you know, an MOA will get set up between the organization and in the community and CBJ, and it could say, you know, we're going to give you the money over this amount of time. Another question, please. Oh, sorry. Mayor Weldon.

Question at time. First of all, I want to thank Alaska HEATSmart for asking for a lower amount And also the fact that they're now charging. So that would be my one question is how much have they raised so far charging? And the chart on page 9 is a little confusing. Um, and maybe it's just because I'm not— don't know enough.

Do they only serve households in a specific range? Value. Okay, I'm seeing nods from the Heat Smart folks, even though they're not doing it. So, um, that was my question. Thanks.

Great question. I'm writing it down, and we've got members of the audience nodding their heads. Um, Ms. Hughes-Handys. Thank you, Madam Chair. I—.

This will be a good test to this process because I'm not sure. Do I just speak it out to the room and And then I'll get phone calls later. Uh, it's more sponsor information. Very much appreciate this. Appreciate the way you structured it.

Um, I think with that continued focus on sustainability, um, I see the numbers that they raised so far, and I see some federal grants that they applied for, but just some sort of organizational information that would be helpful, uh, For instance, if it's community fundraising, what is your sort of target that you aim to do every year? Or I can see the CPRG grant you applied for, but are there others there? Just so I kind of know, um, just helpful, but this is great.

That was well done. Thanks, Ms. Hughes-Candies. Um, I think I saw, um, Ms. Hale, and then we'll hug you up. And then the mayor. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Do you see, Madam Chair, this 3-year— as a 3-year spread here as a substantial model for some organizations that do require ongoing funding? Thank you.

I think it could be, and maybe we can talk more about that when we're At another time, before I go off on my philosophy around nonprofit management.

And then the mayor. Just a couple of things that I'd like to see moving forward, and this goes for all of them actually. Um, just, uh, maybe here when we have the breakdown of. Of the information, you know, how many times they've been funded in the past, you know, what's that total amount? Um, and I don't know if this is something that you can tangibly put to numbers, but it would be nice to see maybe some kind of— this hits on, you know, 3 out of, you know, our 15 assembly goals or something along those lines, just so that I have a better understanding of that.

Mayor.

Thank you. I know that this program is helpful with people trying to get away from oil to reduce the greenhouse gases, but we've had to talk about electricity and capacity. And ironically, we just had a conversation with AOMP this morning and the overall The town is using more electricity than normal. They haven't totally gone through it all, but they believe it's the use of heat pumps. So I was wondering if there's any precedence for people trying to get out of baseboard heat, and do we need to follow up as an assembly to encourage— find a way to encourage new building to go to heat pumps instead of baseboard heating?

These are great questions. I'm sure our partners, Alaska Heat Smart, have lots of thoughts on that. Anything else? Are you ready to move on? Nice job, everybody.

Okay, the next one is the Alaska Small Business Development Center. This is one of Mr. Bryson's request. I'll ask staff if, because you're taking notes, if you could just be a little bit more attentive to Mr. Bryson since he's not here to hear it.

Questions that the body has on the Alaska Small Business Development Center request?

Mr. Smith and then Ms. Hughes-Scandies.

Thank you, Chair. Well, I guess for me it almost felt like this request started off kind of following the format of similar requests, but then it maybe didn't carry through. Like, it didn't mention how much of their funding comes from other sources or if it's matched. So that was, I mean, maybe kind of similar to [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] question on on just greater understanding of, of, of the budget of the organization, I guess, relative to the, to the ask of the Assembly. It just, I just wasn't able to see.

Can I just clarify, if, if they haven't filled out all of the buckets that we asked them to, asking them to do that, that would be nice. Yeah, that might be a good, that would be a good step. Yeah, thank you.

Others?

Um, I had a question, um, which, uh, would be, are there other community— I know this.

Organization exists in other communities across Alaska, do they have similar funding arrangements in the other communities that they work in? All right, moving right along, that brings us to AEYC. There are two requests here from AEYC. We'll start the one at the top of the list. I think it's actually second in your packet.

For operational support for Parents as Teachers. And this is Ms. Atkinson. Yes, so this is operational support for Parents as Teachers, which is a program that supports families with kids from, you know, pregnancy to 3 and helps support parents in the process of raising and providing instructional materials and that sort of thing, either at home or in like, you know, a community space. They receive funding from the state. This is similar to the Alaska Heat Smart request in that it is a— phrase is one-time funding, but it's for over 3 years, so around $167,000 a year, just while they are lobbying the state Department of Health to increase the funding.

They are currently operating in a deficit and have been piecing together what they can with other community grants and are having trouble, and they really would like to expand into their waitlist a bit. They are currently serving 150 families, I believe. And with 3-year stable funding from the city, they would be able to increase staff training, update instructional materials, and look at increasing the numbers of families that they serve. And yeah, that's about what I have on Friends of Teachers.

I see the mayor and then Ms. Hughes-Caniz.

This is probably for the finance staff, and you can certainly bring it. It says one time, but I know we funded, um, this program before, so it'd be interesting to see when the last time we funded it and how much we funded it too. Ms. Hughes-Candies. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was confused about this in the materials, and I think you just said it out loud, but I was still lost on me.

The—. You said they're operating at a deficit, and I saw a reference to a waitlist. I guess I could get this from the sponsor, but information on what they are doing when they hit capacity, is it just first come, first serve waitlist, or is it income-based, or you may not know that. That would be for AYC.

Mr. Smith first. Thank you, Chair. Well, the sponsor may have touched on it in her opening. And that was just, I was trying to square the math in that, you know, I see a total cost at $577,000 per year, amount secured at $444,000. So is the reason it got to $500,000, is that that delta over 3, is it 3 years of that delta?

Yes, that is correct. Very good. And just to follow up on it, Um, is, um, is it kind of a similar proposal to, to what the, what Chair Wall had for, um, Juno Heat Smart, like 3 years, almost kind of a CIP again? The money could be taken, clawed back, but is that, that's a similar intent? Yeah, especially with looking at, you know, staff training and, and if they're going to be serving more families, they were hoping for some stability over, like, predicting as much as you can predict city funding for 3 years.

Got it. Okay, thank you.

Miss Hale, then Mayor Weldon. Madam Chair, this question really applies also retroactively to the Heat Smart question, which is we know that sometimes organizations will ask for money and then they'll come up short in the next year or two, and then they come back and ask for more money. So if AEYC comes back and asks for more money, as well as SeedSmart in those 3 years, will staff be able to, and the organizations themselves, be able to be very, very clear that they had made this 3-year request? So we felt that we were funding them for 3 years just so that future assemblies will have that awareness. Thank you.

Mayor Walden, then Wahaganuk. Okay, I'm with Mr. Smith on this one. I'd like to see their number broken down better. Because doing my math, it shows a difference of $132,000 times 3 is $398,000. That's not $500,000.

So I'd like to see them break down their $500,000 where they're coming up with that number.

Walthali Giduck. Yeah, and just in— because what I'm hearing is this $500,000 for 3 years. If it can just reflect similar to Heat Smart on here, I think Some folks already said that, but just so I can say it again, so it's clear in my mind that it says the same thing that says one time for 3 years, just like Alaska Heat Smart says.

A table of requests.

All right, not seeing any more questions on that. We'll move down to the next AUIC ask on this list. Land purchase for AUIC Family Center. Mr. Thank you, Chair Wall.

Um, this— I submitted this request at the request of AYC. Um, the $4 million would allow the purchase of land for a family center out located near the kind of the Hunsaker— Hunsaker Pond area near the airport. Um, we, we know what AYC does and the value they add. We know they help develop childcare. This funding would support their Phase 1 of a family center, which includes childcare, and would help in terms of the organization has received a $5 million congressionally designated spending.

This could help them build Phase 1, which again would create childcare as well as some other benefits to the community. I just wanted to bring this forward to allow kind of further discussion and continued conversation on some of the plans of this and dreams of this organization. Thank you.

Questions from the committee?

Ms. Hale? Has AEYC done a deep dive on what, how they would, could fit the AEYC center into either Floyd Dryden where it would complement the Tlingit Haida proposal we heard about recently incredibly well, or into Marie Drake. So that would be my question. I wouldn't want to go any further without that kind of a deep analysis. Thank you.

Just from what I know, I mean, you know, when I've spoken with them about this project, There have been obviously very significant changes in terms of buildings and facilities. It is their desire to have a purpose-built facility, as probably many organizations desire. But I think that's a good question that we will relay back to the organization about possible use of Floyd Dryden and Reedrake. Thank you. Mayor Weldon, I'm supposed to be— I'm supposed to be writing these questions down, right?

Okay, let me get a piece of paper to help your partners.

Um, Mayor Weldon, perhaps we are one of those organizations that wanted to purchase both buildings, but boy, we didn't get that either. Um, anyway, um, at one time they had also mentioned that doing a loan instead of just a full grant. So it'd be interesting to see if we can look at that also. Um, but I think I agree with Ms. Hale's question.

Um, Mr. Kelly, just so you know, I, I've— I'm trying to look up at you, but if you— if it feels like I'm missing you, please speak up.

So far, um, everybody else seems to be asking my questions, so I've been good so far. Excellent. All right, that brings us to another— Mr. Branson. Oops, sorry, another question. Mayor Weldon.

Um, and, um, I haven't seen it lately, so it would be nice to see their revenue sources, their operating revenue sources for the years to come. Um, because as I recall, there were a little light on details.

All right, it brings us to another, um, Mr. Bryson sponsorship, which is the Downtown Business Association operational support and Main Street America accreditation. What questions does the committee have about this ask? It's on page 41. Thank you, uh, Miss Hale, then Mr. Smith. Oh, you can let Mr. Smith go first.

I went first last time. Okay, I'm scrambling to try to find my question. Um, I think my, I think my question would just be to get, unless it's shown in here, the what the, what the kind of historical support for the Downtown Business Association has been. That would be helpful for me. And, and what.

Is what is currently in the manager's budget. Ms. Flick. Thank you, Ms. Walt. We can bring up the historical information, but I would like to remind the assembly that it is also online on the CVJ website under Assembly Grants. There's a grant funding page, and the data, I believe, goes back to 2013.

But we can bring up any specific ones that you need as well. And it would— It would show how it would show Assembly grants for the, to the Downtown Business Association. It's broken out by year and the organization that received funding. Great. Miss Halden, welcome.

Thank you. And before I jump into my question, can you send us that link so we know exactly where to go? That would be great. Um, I'm on the bottom of page 42 under plans in progress, and it, it does not feel like they're talking about plans. I don't see any plans or progress in that paragraph.

So perhaps we could— so, you know, I know at the beginning they talked a little bit about the downtown lighting program, which I love. I don't remember exactly what it's called. It's really wonderful. But is this— this sort of reads like a project-based grant request, but it also reads like a recurring funding request. So I'm not quite sure what it is.

So if we could have more clarity, that would be helpful.

Uh, and then Mayor Walden. I think, uh, my question was similar to Miss Hale's in that, um, the total cost breakdown for the amount requested, and I know that it shows up in our recurring funding line item here, But the amount requested, you know, when I see Light Up Juneau, in my mind, I think lighting repairs, but that's a one-time funding thing in my mind, not a recurring thing. So just a little bit more information as to what exactly would require the— if it is a recurring funding request, what would be included in that?

Mayor Weldon. Thank you. I'll go back to ask my question. Any other questions on the DBA request? All right, that brings us to Gastineau Human Services Low Income Housing Development and Construction.

Um, this is a, um, Mr. Bryson request, though it is also something we're going to be discussing Uh, later in our agenda, because we've been asked to do a vote of intent around funding this tonight. Um, I'm happy to take questions now, and we will have a more robust discussion about kind of the timeline and the needs for that afterwards. Miss Hale. I am happy to try to represent this because I, uh, I had worked with Ms. Skillbred and I talked with Mr. Bryson about it. So I'll say that what I think we're doing here, it's not the same as the Gasnow Human Services request for $2 million.

So there's two separate $2 million requests, and this one is different. Um, this one is actually working with the coalition, which is, uh the Juneau Nonprofit Housing Development Council and having basically seed funding so that as— I'm wrong. Okay, about the project that you funded, but I think it may be out of— it might be out of order. I'm sorry, I'm on page 54. Okay.

Sorry about that.

Is everyone clear where we're at? I'm sorry. No, that's all right. I apologize for messing up. We will get to that request under Juneau Community Foundation in a few minutes.

Does anyone want to speak to the Gastineau Human Services or questions? I can speak to it. Sorry about that. Thanks for correcting me. So, you know, we've been through an incredibly difficult conversation about the homeless camping and the closing of the warming shelter.

And as I've spoken with people about the Gasano Human Services request, basically that is funding to house people who have perhaps been addicted and have gone through treatment. Currently, what happens is people People then cycle back into addiction because they don't have stable living arrangements. So the Gassano Human Services request is sort of like a final piece in order to get the rest of the funding to build 51 or 54 units of, and very basic units for people who have like zero to very low income. I think it really, to me it's, it's affordable housing. It's really affordable housing for people who desperately need the affordable housing.

Thank you, Miss Hale, for speaking to that. Mr. Bryson's absence. I'm going to maybe suggest that we hold questions on this one till— because we do have a decision in front of us tonight around this. And so maybe it makes sense to cover our questions. At that time in case there are questions that folks need answers to tonight.

Unless, Miss Hughes-Giannis. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, not— I can hold my questions until then. Um, I think packet-wise, because there are those two, and I understand why you got confused there. I have when things are out of order in mind, which I think for all of us, and so I have this, I'm on looking at page 44 and I have this letter from them.

Some of the other ones have the COVID sheets. Is that in this packet or no? A cover sheet was not submitted for that. Good, good question. But what, that's why it's not in there.

It's not missing.

All right, so we will hold that until after we've gone through this list, um, so that we can have a more robust discussion on that item. Okay, that brings us to the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council operational support and regranting program. This is Miss Adkinson. Uh, thank you, Chair Wall. Yes, so this is an increase of, I believe it's $218,000 from their previous funding years for Juneau Arts and Humanities Council.

A lot of it is in response to inflation for some of the grants, but it's also an increase double for their admin and operations, which partly is to do with costs increasing for their existing programs, and also with the intent to, in the current state of the Juneau School District, sort of fill a vacuum for arts here in Juneau and arts education. All the specifics on what they'll be doing with that are being worked out with community partners right now. At this point in time, there aren't a lot of specifics. It's just sort of where we ended up in the funding process and in their working with partners process. But that is the breakdown of it, and they have expressed a willingness to do an MOU with the city for a certain number of years before we reevaluate the amount.

Since it's currently listed as recurring, we haven't moved forward on anything like that yet, but they are open to it as well.

Had consent questions for the Jack— Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chair Wall. I would be interested in seeing other types of funding that the JAC receives, I guess, for this area. I don't wanna make people, you know, like, have to open their entire accounting book if this is a small portion of their budget, but that would be interesting to know. And if, you know, if there have been increases in other fund support or membership or other ways they generate funds would be useful for me.

[Speaker] I will add that a lot of the money that we do give to the, to the JAC is regranted. So that is a large portion of what we're giving them here. It doesn't all go to operations. I think a total of like $120,000 of their total request goes to like admin operations. Most of the other stuff is granted out.

[Speaker] [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah, if we could, um, maybe I can just get some clarity now, or we can kind of true up the table to the request later, or maybe, maybe I'm just reading it wrong, but the amount of the request says $420,000 on our cool cover sheets that we have. Um, and then the recurring funding is $218,000, but it doesn't list the other $202,000 that says it's in the budget. So just a sure up of. What, what amount are we talking about right now? Miss Wendell, the Jack is considered a partner agency of the Assembly and CVJ for their regranting program.

There is already $202,000 included in the manager's proposed budget, which reflects flat funding over the FY24 budget. The $218,000 is in addition to that amount.

Then the COVID sheet.

Should not read $420,000 for their request. It should just read $218,000. Is that correct? $420,000 Would be the total funding that they would receive from the assembly if the additional $218,000 is approved.

The answer to that question we are getting is, is yes. Um, and so that we can make that change. So it's clear as we move forward, because I think the rest of our requests are in that format.

Um, Miss Hale.

Uh, thank you. I, I have had some good conversations with Mr. Hipchen, and I encourage a conversation before our May 1st date, and so we can have answers between Mr. Hipchen and Superintendent Hauser, just so that we can make sure that the intent to assist with education while JSD has this difficulty is actually— can be fit in, and I believe it can, but can fit into the school district.

Mayor Weldon. And along with, uh, Ms. Hale's question, um, it would be wise in the school district coming to us for this fund request. Uh, but my specific— my question was the rate regranting. I'm a little concerned with that. That's more than doubled, and so I'm I'm wondering where that regranting is going and why are they coming to J— um, General Arts and Humanities instead of coming to us.

A clarifying question, you mean what organizations are they funding through that program? That's what you're looking for? Okay.

Ms. Hailed and Mr. Smith. Sorry, Ms. Hailed and Mr. Smith. The other question is on page 46 of the packet, line 4, project support.

It might be perhaps the JAC can work with their board or others who have sort of a deeper dive into assembly documents Because I am certain that the arts have been mentioned in some of our community plans. I just don't have my finger on exactly where they are. And so that would be good, like in so many of these other requests where people can point to this of the assembly's goals or whatever.

Did I miss somebody? Is that everyone? Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chair Wall. Um, I guess I just, I was looking at the The request includes $60,000 for Jack admin and operations.

I just, I wanted to, you know, we know inflation has been a thing. I was just kind of curious to know how much of that increase was due to just cover costs. It does look like there's some proposals for, you know, new, at least what, anyway, they're listed and I just don't know if those are new activities or if it's just to cover existing activities and the cost of those existing activities. So a little more clarity would be helpful for me there. Thank you.

Adkinson. Thank you. I don't know the exact breakdown on the funding for that. I know it is for both as it's been expressed to me, but I can figure out exactly what that breakdown is for you.

All right, looks like that brings us to Juneau Community Foundation, build housing for homelessness, low-income populations. We already got a preview of this from Ms. Hale, but if there's anything else you want to add, Ms. Hale, you're welcome to readdress the body. I think I pretty much have it. Um, so it's really, uh, to be used as seed money as potential projects come up, as our nonprofit sectors dealing with homelessness and housing people have opportunities, even matching funds for grants, that sort of thing. So it's not the big projects.

They'll come back to us for the big project funding, but it's to be more nimble.

Miss Hughes-Candies. And Mr. Smith. There is— pardon me. There is some— I would look to the project folks for this. I think there is good information about who's participating, and there's a bit in there about how things would move forward.

But I think a little bit more about that, I'm thinking about the Housing and Homelessness Coalition. Everybody's working on the same mission, and even so, sometimes there's— tension between partners and disagreement about how to handle things. So kind of how those decisions would be made, because sometimes two different organizations are working on two different projects and just how we would— how that money would be handled.

More plans, I guess.

Mr. Smith, then Mayor Weldon. Thank you, Chair Wall. I guess I just wanted to confirm that this request is being, is being asked just, and that it, and that these, you know, types of uses of funds just haven't fit into the affordable housing fund process or, or types of funds that it's hence why it's being asked in this way and not from the affordable housing fund. But just to confirm that, I have a strong suspicion. So thank you.

Ms. Haile, are you going to—. If I may, and I think the proposal talks about this, the fact that this is the kind of housing that really can only be developed by nonprofits. So for-profit developers typically are affordable housing fund is for profit or, you know, smaller things, I guess. But okay, I'll stop.

Mayor Weldon.

Um, thank you. Um, I'm having a hard time distinguishing this project from Gaston Human Services other than just two different agencies. They're both looking at, um, $0,000 to $60,000 and, um, where it would say people that would be hard to house. So I would like to know more of what's the difference between these two, and especially since this is such a big dollar amount and we don't have many dollars, um, would they do with less?

I'm going to go ahead and, um, ask a question. Um, I think, you know, similar to Mr. Smith's comments, um, some, some clarity around kind of the different avenues that there are to seek this type of funding and why this one is particularly needed. I love organizations being able to be nimble, but what I wouldn't want to be in a position of is having money granted through this program to a project, that same project come back to the assembly, either through the affordable housing fund or directly to the assembly, or, you know, maybe people think it should be part of the affordable housing fund. Like, that gets confusing. You know, these, these processes are onerous and that can be frustrating, but a lot of times we have processes and for a purpose.

So I'd want to kind of understand the difference between, you know, those processes. Um, Mayor Walden, just kind of piggyback on what you were saying. I'd like to see where the state fits in here, because typically the state takes care of low-income housing, and then the city has helped with everything else in the past. And I know it's challenging times with the state, but the city can't do everything. So my question would be, where would the— where does the state fall on this?

Because it seems like the other project that we'll talk about shortly does have state funding.

Okay, that brings us to JEDC. The first 2 items here from JEDC. The first one is Choose Juneau Research Project— sorry, Juneau Economic Development Council Choose Juneau Research Project. This is Bryson/Atkinson/Smith. I will say, Miss Atkinson and Mr. Smith, you're both welcome to, to say some words if you like, or choose someone else to say words for you.

No, that sounds good. I had expected Mr. Bryson to do it, but I will give it a good shot. I think the goal of this one-time funding, which is matched with some JEDC funds, is to really help us better understand who is coming in or leaving Juneau, why they stay here, and, and just much more granular data on demographics, employment, and, and just better information on what brings.

People to town, why they leave, um, or why they stay. And just to— and I think the goal is to better help us make policy decisions or other decisions, um, to appeal, if we decide to, to certain demographics. Um, I think just will provide us that, that information so we can try to be more strategic in our, in our policies.

Questions for Ms. Adkinson? Ms. Adkinson, anything to add? I think he did a great job. Thank you. Ms. Hale?

This is kind of getting in the weeds, but they reference a Choose Juneau page, and then when I'm reading the Travel Juneau information about Travel Juneau, they also have pages, you know, emphasizing choosing Juneau, and I just wonder We could maybe find out what kind of collaboration goes into that.

Great question. I'm going to ask one here. You know, just curious if there is a scaled-back option for this. I'm not suggesting that there is, but if You know, I would love to say if we spent less money, what would we miss out on for this particular project? Because it's interesting, but that price tag is, you know, maybe high for me.

But any— Miss Hale? The other thought I had was, is it possible to collaborate with the university on a research project like this? I could just imagine some great graduate students being into something like this.

Great. I'm going to move us on to the next Geno Economic Development Council item, scenario thinking, strategic long-term planning tool. This is Mr. Kelly and Ms. Hale. I'll let you both duke it out for who wants to speak first. I'll volunteer as tribute first.

So this item, scenario planning, some of you may be familiar with it from other events the JEDC has held in the past. I remember shortly before I was sworn in, JEDC held an event over at K2 where they invited a lot of the community and incoming and I think existing assembly members to come into. They also did this event at their most recent Innovation Summit. So the scenario planning, it basically allows us to kind of, instead of like looking forward like we, I think, are typically used to doing to solve most problems, it has us going to that future point and looking backwards and trying to figure out how did we— here's this future that we want to see. How did we get here?

Or alternatively, looking at a future that we desperately want to avoid and making sure that any decisions that we make going forward are designed to avoid that situation, such as perhaps, you know, I almost dare not speak it, but such as like the capital moving, or such as, you know, our current demographic changes, you know, people You know, it's no secret that our population is staying relatively flat numerically, but, but also aging. And so if we want to look at a future where we have a vibrant economy and housing aplenty and, and people, everybody having jobs and homelessness reduced, How do we get to that point? And so this scenario planning, it involves, you know, bringing in experts to kind of look at these different scenarios. It brings in not just Assembly members and leaders, but, you know, members of the community. So it kind of gives everybody a chance to kind of get involved with the planning.

I think what I think is great about it is that it also, I think, has the potential to give the community a better insight into understanding why we're making the decisions that we're making. And I ran on wanting to— any funding that we spent would be towards an investment. I think this would be a great investment in planning for our future.

Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Miss Hale, anything you'd like to add? Just a few things. Um, we also did a very compressed version of a scenario planning at our assembly retreat, and that's when we went, okay, housing, housing now. So we've been saying that for years, and it took on even more urgency.

And at that Innovation Summit that Mr. Kelly and I and Madam Mayor were at, and I don't remember I don't know if anyone else from the Assembly was at that. We did a very— we walked through a very compressed version of scenario planning. And there were some great ideas that came out of the groups. It was also very hard because we had to work very fast and very hard. One person suggested that we rebrand RAINN.

So that was pretty fun. So what I really liked about it is that it's not just reacting. Often we have to just react at the Assembly level. It's not just taking stabs in the dark, well, let's try this and see if that sticks. It's thoughtful, it's methodical, and it's creative.

And there is a broad group that supports it. The Chamber of Commerce is on board with the idea. There are many different organizations and entities. There were many organizations and entities at the Innovation Summit, so it would sort of build on that and have a broad group of maybe 45 to 50 representatives from different aspects of Juneau involved in this scenario planning.

Questions from the committee? Miss Atkinson. Thank you, Chair Wall. On their request here in the total cost, it talks a little bit about different funding levels and the more funding they get, you know, sort of the details that they can get into with these scenario developments. And I'm really interested to see, like, you know, what the difference would be on different funding levels.

How in-depth will this be versus how would that be if they had less for this grant amount? I'm just— I'd like to see a high-level breakdown on that.

Mayor Walden. Ms. Atkinson answered my question, I think, just where is this $80,000 coming from? Um, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.

Other questions? I'll ask one or two. I'm definitely interested in that. Um, you mentioned the chamber being on board. If there are other partners who are, you know, I think this work is important and takes all the right people to be in the room to make happen.

And so, who do you hope will be there? And who do you know will be there would be helpful. I also would love to hear from staff on kind of intersection of this in our comprehensive planning. I know they're different, um, and I understand the differences, but You know, it would be helpful that those are informing each other and that are, you know, that there's a collaborative approach there. And so maybe this is a question both for JDC and for our staff, but to work together on the answer to that.

But I'd love some, at least something that we can tell the public about, especially for asking them to show up for these, that we're not confusing them. With kind of things that seem similar to people who aren't in the weeds about the difference.

Ms. Hale. Thank you, Madam Chair. And one thing I did want to point out when I spoke with JEDC about this request was the importance of it being collaboratively led. So not just JEDC leading something so it kind of becomes a little bit stovepipe, but actually very broadly a coalition leading the effort.

Thanks for that.

All right, we are an hour in. My suggestion is we get through the last 4 here before a break. Is that okay with folks?

All right, Juneau Mountain Bike Alliance, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chair Walt. Um, I'm honored to be the sponsor of the smallest one-time funding request found in the packet. It's a $70,000 project that would add a phase 2 for a new trail at the mountain bike park out located in the, in kind of the residential neighborhood under Thunder Mountain. There's currently 3 other trails.

The Alliance has received a grant for some of the project. They're, they're still currently going after more grants. They're also planning on using their funds and other funds from members to see this one through. This is a growing activity in our community. These are robust trails that can last for years and years.

And it is getting to a point now where we're actually getting visitation from other places to come and ride trails in Juneau. And so again, for.

Small amount of money that is matched pretty well. That is the request of the alliance. Thank you.

Questions on the Juneau Mountain Bike Alliance request? Wáflaa gii dak.

Kind of have a two-parter. They're related, I promise. I just, I was wondering if this is— this is CBJ-owned trail system and this is a nonprofit that is taking care of our trail system? Is that what's happening? Trying to figure that out.

I don't actually know the land ownership. Very good question. I will follow that up.

Ms. Hale. Thank you. Um, at the prac recently there's been conversation about a trail above the flume, and I can't remember the name of it, and competition between mountain bikers and hikers. And I do know that the river, the Menahal River, used to go down the base of Thunder Mountain actually, and so there's like sort of almost a trail there already. And is that an issue on this trail, and how is it being addressed?

Good question. Mayor Weldon, she can answer it. There is another Thunder Trail, but these are not the same. They, um, come— you get on the other Thunder Trail, and then there's 3 different trails that go up past that, and there's exclusively for mountain bikes.

Seeing no other questions, we will get to Sealaska Heritage Institute STEAM Fab Lab. As we get towards the end of this list, I will say, as someone with a last name that begins with a W, I feel for you all that have to go last because of alphabetical order. It's rough. This one is Mr. Bryson and Mr. Kelly. So we're going to turn it over to you, Mr. Kelly.

Sure, I found myself scrambling to prepare for this one. I wasn't anticipating carrying this, but I, I think I'm happy to. I am a supporter. I signed on as a co-sponsor for this one because I am a supporter of education. This would be a facility that would, it would have a commercial teaching kitchen with a focus on Native foods.

It would have a STEAM lab. Which for— if anybody needs clarification on acronyms— Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. So kind of a lab focused on all of those, a digital lab and a recording studio.

I feel like with this gives us an opportunity to support our Indigenous community. The kitchen will have a focus on Native foods. And so I think any opportunity we have to help people, especially as they're growing up in the formative years— I'm also thinking of my own stepchildren who are both Tlingit— and giving them kind of some more, a chance to build their identity. This will also be downtown. It's open, it's my understanding, and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that this will be something that's open and being downtown, be an opportunity for visitors to also get an example of some of our indigenous culture here in Juneau.

Um, and so those are some of the reasons I'm, I'm supporting it. I can, I can try to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Kelly. I see Mayor Wilden.

My only concern with this is it's a one-time request because I believe we gave it last year also, and I want to say to the tune of $320,000, $360,000. So is this truly a one-time request would be my I can't really answer exactly that. What they did tell me is that they did come to the assembly last year with a $500,000 request. They didn't get— they got the $320,000, but they were also— I guess it was expressed at that point that they were invited to come back to the assembly and ask for more in future years. They've also shared with me that that some of the financing, for example, from the Rasmussen Foundation and others hasn't come through.

And so there is some unanticipated lack of revenues. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I'll just say that the Rasmussen and then there's one other grantor that are paused. Currently. So, um, yeah, those haven't come through, but I did have two things that I was hoping to get more information on. Uh, one is, you know, I'd love to see how the STEAM Fab Lab turns into careers for people, our kids who live in Juneau.

And then the second is kind of, uh, Miss Hill asked this before, uh, about the JAC, but, you know, where's the interface with our school district and how do, you know, some of these complement, uh, the school district's deficit, I guess you'd say.

Thank you. I'll note those questions. Mr. Smith and Ms. Hale. Thank you, Chair Wall. I guess kind of in addition to Mayor Weldon's question on the amount last year, I, I could go and find this too, is just I couldn't remember what the intent of the, of the grant last year was for.

So if we could be reminded of that. That would be helpful for me. Thank you. And that may be something that staff could help us with specifically. Um, Miss Hale.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so the $320,000 number came up, and on page 2 in the total cost section, number 6, it says $320,000 CBJ FY25. But the request for FY25 is $300,000— is $500,000. So my question is, is, was that $320,000 in FY24?

I believe that to be the case, but I don't know if our staff have— can answer that, or we can provide clarity. Um, Chair Wolf, the $320,000 Um, was granted in FY24. Um, we can have, um, Mr. Bryson and Mr. Kelly confirm with the group, but I assume that on page 2 of 2 that that's likely a typo.

FY24 would be correct as opposed to 25.

Mayor Weldon. And since, um, Sealaska Heritage is the nonprofit arm of Sealaska Corporation, I'd like to know how much they're giving to this project.

I have noted all those questions. Thank you. I'm probably pressing on and off too much here. Um, this brings us to the Partnership Inc.'s request for Capitol Civic Center Phase 2 and 3. Um, again, we will take up this decision, um, well, when we were, uh, talk about the other marine passenger fee, um, requests.

But because this is new to the committee as a request there, we've got some time here to identify questions. Go ahead, Miss Hale.

Thank you. I'll try to be brief. Um, we all know a lot about the Capitol Civic Center. We've had ballot measure that has failed to provide funding, and so there is a renewed effort to actually secure private funding for this. However, CLIA and the key information about CLIA is at the bottom of page 69 in the footnotes.

So there was an assembly resolution amending the settlement agreement with CLIA to indicate that up to $10 million was could be spent on the Capitol Civic Center, and CLIA then actually wrote a letter to that effect. And so that is also mentioned here. It's also important to know that for CLIA and their member lines, the Capitol Civic Center would prove— would provide a relief valve if, for example, there were a fire on a ship or something like that and a lot of passengers had to have a place to go and to stay. And so that's part of the reason that their funding is agreed upon and also just because it would be an area, a place for both visitors and locals. So private— they're moving towards private funding, but they're making one request, $4 million of that $10 million now.

Miss Youskandis? I think my question would just be additional information.

Information about the amount, uh, why that amount this year.

Miss Atkinson, thank you, Chair Wall. Uh, in that footnote, I noticed it says, uh, over no longer than a 5-year period. Uh, is that a requirement to get $10 million in the next 5 years? What is that something they're going to be seeking in future years from us? Do we know?

Um, I would just be Answer that, actually, and it answers Ms. Yuskandy's question probably as well. So, uh, yes, and I think they indicate that in their, um, in their request. I can't point exactly to where, but yes, they would do.

Page 67. Yeah. Is this a request for a one-time event purchase or grant mission? So they do intend to request the full $6 million to bring it up to $10 million, and that is The reason why this request is coming now is it's to, to move on that because there is that 5-year limit and they are increasing their private fundraising.

You're raising your hand. Miss Hughes-Candies.

I can follow up with, uh, staff offline on this as well, but I— my interpretation of the the settlement and the CLIA's clarification of their interpretation of the settlement language, you know, it still doesn't explain to me what if it was $2 million this year, the structuring of the amount. So that's what my question is, not that they're starting the process, but why are they structuring it this way? [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] I've got a question for staff too that Um, you all may be able to answer now or come back to me. I have got a fuzzy memory of kind of starting a strategy, trying to start a strategy where we were allocating $1 million each year to this project under when Mr. Watt was our city manager.

I thought we had done that. Looks like we did not do that. Am I crazy?

Well, my fuzzy memory recalls $1 million being allocated in years prior, but obviously we're going to need to actually look at some paperwork and confirm that. Just confirm that.

My fuzzy memory also indicates that that's $1 million set aside, not necessarily the authorization to spend that $1 million on the project, kind of being two different things.

All right, that brings us to our last requester, Travel Juneau Visitor Count Research, uh, Mr. Smith. Very good, thank you, Chair Wall. Sorry you've heard my voice so many times tonight, but this is— I sponsored this request as a previous Travel Juno liaison. The intent of this one-time funding is to answer the big question that we ask and are frequently asked: how many independent travelers came to Juneau this year?

This number supports that research. They see this as kind of in addition to their standard operations, and hence their request for $110,000 for the Assembly for this research.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Questions from the committee? Ms. Hughes-Handys.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think— Just, it's a similar theme for other organizations, but how this fits into the organization's overall budget. We see Travel Juno reports frequently to us since they are one of our partners, how our normal investment fits into their overall budget, but how this project fits into their fund balance, or why it doesn't come from their fund balance. And then This information is likely useful to many Travel Juno partners, so maybe why CBJ funding this versus getting it from another entity.

Miss Hale. Thank you. The question I had when I was reading the discussion of this was, we'll have baseline data and then we can compare that to future trends, but how will future trends be measured? So if we have baseline data, how are we going to know something's change in 5 years without funding some other studies. Good question, Ms. Hale.

I've got a question. I know there are metrics that TribalGen is tracking, that we've asked them to track. It's been a while since I've looked at that and been a liaison, but I'm definitely curious about kind of the proxy. This is definitely, I, you know, the most accurate way to figure out how many visitors are coming, but I know there's been kind of proxy measures used over time to get a general sense of how many visitors here, whether that's hotel capacity or kind of what are the things that, that Travel Juno has tracked in the past to look at this, just kind of an understanding of what those are, recognizing that this gives us more accurate data.

All right, that brings us to the end of the list. Um, I— before we take a break here, I'll just let people know what happens next. So, um, we have another opportunity to hear answers from those questions on May 1st. This is on our agenda And so I would just ask if people have written material they'd like to provide the assembly, um, on some of the answers to these questions. Um, uh, I know the staff will be putting together a packet, um, the Friday before, which would be next Friday.

Um, so not a lot of time, um, to get that in the packet, but, um, we still will not be making decisions. On these until we get to the pending list. So definitely the sooner you can get that information, the better. Ms. Hale. Will at the May 1st meeting or at any point, will members from the— participants from the organizations be able to answer questions?

Yeah, the intent is that on May 1st to invite our partners who can participate to be here, and if there are questions that have not been answered by, um, on paper and other means that we'll have an opportunity to bring them up and ask questions. I'm hoping that will be a light ask of folks. Um, and if people can't make it, they can certainly work with their sponsors on getting us that information, but that would be the intent.

Good question.

All right, we are going to take a 10-minute break. Um, so we'll be back at 7. I have a flight tonight, so I'm going to try to get us done soon, and I'll pass it to Mayor Walden if we don't get there. Mr. Kelly, Mr. Kelly, we're coming back.

All right, that brings us to item number 3, vote of intent for the Gaston Human Services funding request. Mr. Barr, will you kick us off with kind of why this is on our agenda and what the intent is here. Happy to, Madam Chair, thank you. So a little bit ago, I met with Gaston Human Services and you also have, of course, in your packet, their $2 million request for their project.

They're on a tight timeline, which is why you have this, I guess you would say, out of order in your packet tonight. They're seeking, I believe, $9.5 million in other funding for this project. And as part of that, as part of their grant requests associated with that $9.5 million, they need to be able to say in their grant applications that the assembly will fund that $2 million request. There was not— there was not at the time that we learned about this, there was not time, uh, you know, for a 2-meeting regular assembly, you know, supplemental appropriation process. Uh, and, and our understanding is that the grants that they are applying for, uh, would be satisfied with a motion of intent, um, from the assembly at this point in the budget process.

And, and then, you know, you would make your normal decision. Um, as you, you would effectively be deciding this tonight with that motion of intent for the purposes of their grant application. Um, but the $2 million would be part of your normal budget process. You would see it on the pending list as an item that you've already decided, uh, if you voted for that tonight. Um, and, uh, it would be in your FY25 budget.

Mr. Smith, I know you have maybe some additional context. Yeah, thank you, Chair. Well, Mr. Barr, when I had talked with the folks from the project, they said having an ordinance introduced prior to the— a vote to introduce the ordinance would maybe be satisfactory. Is that different than what you understand? And maybe we should—.

Yeah, they are. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Through the chair, they are here. We could certainly ask them. My understanding is that their granting agencies need some certainty, right?

And so a motion of the assembly of intent is more than an ordinance being introduced. I'm not sure if simply introducing an ordinance by their deadline would be sufficient or not, but that's not my understanding. Okay, thank you. Just. You know, obviously we can have a discussion and see where people are.

Um, you know, anyway, yeah, uh, to see where people are and how they're— how comfortable they are with the vote of intent. Or I think at a minimum, or— and getting an ordinance introduced would be good. And then that could put us— that would keep us kind of in a little more regular order as well as allow people to learn more about the project. Um, I'm supportive of a vote of intent, but I want to I want to give our members time to understand this as well. Thanks.

Ms. Hail, did you have a question? Questions from the committee?

I don't have a question. I just have one clarifying comment because I wondered about it. So in the 1, 2, 3, 4th paragraph, there's reference to federal home loan bank funds. That's not a loan. Can you speak up a little?

Okay.

Sorry. My turn. Okay. In the fourth paragraph down, there's reference to a federal home loan bank funds, and I thought, "Oh, they have to borrow money from this federal loan home bank," and it's not a loan. It's this strange situation where this federal home loan bank in Kansas or something, they're required to grant money for just this purpose.

Purpose. So it would be an additional grant, grant funding. I just wanted to clarify that.

Other questions from the committee? Mayor Weldon. Um, so I'm not totally familiar with Gaston Human Services. So I know they operate the halfway house, if I'm not mistaken, but have they ever dealt with this population whatsoever?

Would you like us to invite folks up to answer that question? Is it Mr. Swinton? Is that— thank you for being here. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah, so we run the halfway house. It's a 40-bed facility for people coming out of the correctional system, many of whom are receiving substance use treatment.

And part of that contract includes substance use treatment for the residents. We also operate a 19-bed residential substance use treatment program called Mount Juno Counseling and Recovery that we opened in quarter 3 of last year. And we're keeping those beds easily filled up. And we also operate a 20-bed transitional living facility for people coming out of homelessness. That people can stay in for up to 18 months for significantly reduced rent, $400 a month, while we help them get on their feet with employment and medical case management and those kinds of things.

Does that answer the question?

Miss Adkinson. Thank you. So would the intent be to use a lot of these units for people who are coming out of that transitional housing program?

Yeah, we would anticipate people coming out of all of those programs. You know, we are kind of the de facto substance use treatment provider here in the community. That's our, what we get so many referrals from, from our community partners. For example, Rainforest Recovery regularly sends people that complete their high-intensity program to our program for a lengthier kind of launch. And we think we would have an easy time filling it just with our own people who are coming through that program, but we have a very strong partnership with the other community agencies in town and would anticipate a lot of referrals coming from them.

Ms. Hughes-Scandies.

Madam Chair, if you could speak to whether it would be satisfactory to you to have an ordinance introduced that Mr. Smith touched on. And then I have a second if no one else has one. Certainly we welcome anything you're willing to do, but having a— what's the language— motion of intent would likely be more solid for our application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.

Mayor Walden, then Miss Hughes-Candice. I can keep asking questions. Um, so you have 51 units. Um, I'm struggling with this because it seems like we're looking at 3 projects that all are doing the same thing. Um, Housing First just got all their funding.

Thank you very much, Miss Lubecek, for Housing First Housing First Phase 3, that will give us 32, I believe.

28. Okay, thank you. So there's 28 there, and Ms. Gilbert is also talking about doing $2 million for trying to do some of this stuff too. So it seems like we're— seems to be doing all the same purpose because Housing First is what housing Um, can you try and explain why you're different than the other ones? Because this is big money and we don't have much fund balance.

Absolutely, and it's a great question. Um, a couple of things. This is different because it's focused primarily on those in recovery. A large percentage of, really the majority of people coming out of any of our three programs are in recovery, and they often end up living somewhere that they lived before and slip back into their old challenges. It's taking us an average of 9 months to get somebody housing, and many of those coming through our programs at present day don't have anywhere to go.

And so I'd like to reframe this that I think This is a great example of how all of us community partners are really working hard to come up with some really impactful solutions. I know that Housing First is having no challenges keeping their units filled. We anticipate being able to do more than this in the future.

And the need exceeds what it is that we're trying to do. But our focus area is on a slightly different demographic in that it's for those in recovery and those in the very low income category, which means they're making less than 50% of the median income, which is about $42,000 a year.

Anything you add?

Sorry, I'm, I'm losing track of order here. Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chair Wall. Um, Mr. Swinson, thank you for being here and, and for proposing this. Would, would the housing you're proposing here, would this, would, would that help house people that had been like in the Breakwater Inn and, and some of those other facilities that I know have now closed or are now changing their business model away from providing housing to them.

[Speaker] Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. So these are people who are typically experiencing chronic homelessness or ending up back in our programs over and over again. We really feel that giving them that strong foundation by having permanent housing available that's affordable with the treatment services on-site that are available to them, We think long-term it's gonna have a significant impact on reducing recidivism. Just to follow up, so do you anticipate any issue, how quickly do you think you can fill these beds should it be built? Well, we're anticipating, we're giving ourselves a year, but we anticipate it would be faster than that.

We'll certainly, part of our planning, we've built in planning to hire and flesh out a department to oversee this. Facility so that we can fill it as quickly as reasonably we can.

So I would guess 6 months, but we're giving ourselves 12 months. But the demand is there, I'll call it. Absolutely. Very good, thank you. If we had the money, we'd build one 3 times this size.

Um, I have to run to the airport, so I'm going to pass the gavel to Mayor Weldon. I'm going to sign in on.

Line so folks can try to listen. Um, so I'll try to join you here in a few minutes. Um, in that, while I pass, uh, Ms. Hughes-Candius was next.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, is Federal Home Loan Bank the funder that this application is for? They're the grantor. That's the most timely one. Our application is— we have to submit it to the bank next week.

And, um, so that's for the first $3 million from— or the $3 million from them that this is so timely for. But these— this $2 million would also support the other grants that we're applying for, which are significantly strengthened by, uh, community support such as this.

Okay. Yeah, I know that there's been studies for this type of transitional housing. Do you have a number off the top of your head on success rates for setting up something like this? That's a good question. I don't.

I'm happy to look into that if that would be helpful to provide.

But I do feel that we have definitely the expertise to help these people succeed as well as anybody in Southeast does.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, I know this might be a little early to predict this, but running a facility like this, staffing it, uh, do you anticipate you'll be able to keep up with operational costs afterwards, or would that be something you'd be looking for support from the city from in the future? That's a great question. We don't anticipate city support being needed for it in the future. We've already worked through some pretty detailed pro formas and anticipate pulling at least a net profit annually running the program.

And that's with offering onsite case management services and property management services. And so we feel very confident that this will be able to support itself.

Mr. Kelly and then Mr. Smith.

Thank you. I actually just wanted to follow up to your answer to Mr. Smith's last question. You anticipated that you would be finished within 6 months to a year. Would that be 6 months to a year from, from what point, I guess, would be my question? Thank you.

Yeah, so we anticipate starting construction, we're estimating for May of next year, and anticipate it will likely take between 12 and 15 months to construct the facility. After that, then it will be opened and, you know, will hopefully be filled up within 6 to 12 months following that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Weldon. Mr. Swinton, how long would some— is there like a length of time, like what would be the maximum time someone may stay in these facilities? Or should— I guess I'm trying to say, should we be thinking of— I mean, these are additional housing units in our community. It's not just someone's in for 2 weeks and then leaving. I mean, Should we be—.

Anyway, so this would be additional long-term housing. You know, we have 79 beds on site right now that are all for programs that last anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 years. But our goal is typically to help graduate them on beyond that. And this facility would be a place they could go or others dealing with similar challenges could go, and they could stay as long as they qualify in the income category of very low income. Okay, Mr. Swinton, your last statement just gave me pause.

So you'd say as long as they qualify, so what incentive do they have to go get a better job and change housing? Well, as with any program that's designed to help people get out from underneath a challenging situation, there are resources that are provided to help somebody. And these units are designed for individuals. They're, they're studios. And so if somebody wanted to grow to more space, there would be an incentive there.

We certainly would, with the on-site case management, be able to help them in seeking education or other occupational opportunities if they wanted to. Save to buy a home or, or some other alternative.

But I think having this available for them as long as they need it, there will be more than enough need.

Oh, look away and no hands. Ms. Hughes-Scandies, Wahlganok, and Mr. Kelly. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just one final question, and I will say that you will always need low-income housing, super low-income housing in any city and some people will never move out of it and that's okay.

You mentioned the other— this is a time contingent grant application. Could you just let me know how many other funding sources you're braiding in there? You don't have to go into the details of them, but—. Absolutely. So, you know, we're asking from you, from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, which is a federal program.

They're just the bank assigned to the state of Alaska to manage that program. Funding from Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. We've already requested funds for congressional funding designations through the Rasmuson Foundation, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, and some very small support from the Juneau Community Foundation that's helped fund us getting this off the ground for the first couple of months. [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] Yeah, just wondering about this, right? And trying to remember the federal loan, the program that you're applying for.

How long have you known about it? And just wondering, because, you know, what brought the urgency? If you've known for a while, then how come this didn't come to us before?

I'm happy to answer that, but Maria would like to answer that, if that's okay.

Thank you. So, you know, Housing First Collaborative will assist this project as a developer and operator. But the reason why this is coming to you now is because we thought that we were not going to get $2 million of congressionally designated appropriation from Senator Murkowski for Phase 3 of Housing First. And so we were panicking and we were trying to find a plan B for $2 million to get our project on the ground because it was supposed to start in April. And so we shook every tree and we identified this Federal Home Loan Bank source.

Actually, Rasmussen Foundation suggested that we apply for this round because this round is the biggest round that particular grantor has granted before. And we were like 3 weeks into our grant application, the Housing First grant application, and then we heard from Senator Murkowski and our congressionally designated appropriation came through. But we already had a grant writer lined up. We already had like all of this process. And so because we've been working with the Juneau Economic Development Council and like really trying to solve this crisis of homelessness by like lining up a project each year, we just like really thought that Gestalt Human Services, who has the land, who has the capacity, like should really not let this $3 million go to waste.

And so the community of providers and nonprofit development council members really got together and we got our grant writer to work on their project instead. We got our architect to help with their project. And so, but that's the reason for this very strange timing is because it was all lined up for another project, but then the other project got funded and we didn't wanna waste this opportunity. Because we have a housing crisis on our hands.

Okay, well, if I could add just one little thing. I do want to— this isn't a project we just decided to do 2 months ago. Our board has— we have had initial architectural drawings in hand for several years and been waiting for the right time. Uh, we were anticipating 6 months from now to really begin the push for fundraising on this. But this potential $3 million we can seek from this program is too good of an opportunity to pass up.

So we have sped up that process.

Kelly, thank you. My question is to follow up to your answer to Madam Mayor's question. I think it's great that you are providing services and making it easier for people to to move up and change their lives. I'm wondering more along the lines of incentives with this program, are there certain rules and restrictions that they would be facing that they wouldn't be facing if they had— they were living independently and had their own housing that might encourage them to try and pursue those freedoms? [Speaker:JASON] Yeah, so the— really, this is, as I mentioned,.

Focused on recovery, and a lot of people likely coming out of the reentry programs too. And so the incentive for them is to be in an environment that is very comfortable working around and trying to help reduce the use of the various substances that are plaguing our community right now. And so being in an environment where they know the, the entire building and the campus of support are there to to help them should they have a relapse or a challenge, I think is the biggest incentive that can really help lock this in. I mean, statistically, chances of somebody relapsing who has a history of addiction is almost guaranteed. That's what the research shows.

And then creating environments where we can catch the relapse quick and help them very quickly is the best antidote to that.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Um, another item of concern to me, um, is you say you'll serve individuals in Juneau and Southeast Alaska. So my question would be, how many— what's your percentage between Juneau and Southeast Alaska in your programs right now? And have you asked any of the other towns for money?

[Speaker] It's a great question. The short answer is no, we have not asked any of the other towns for money.

The reason I mentioned Southeast Alaska, our halfway house program, which is likely to have some people who may end up in this program, we're the only halfway house in Southeast Alaska that the state contracts with. And so we do have a small percentage of our clientele there who, do end up in some remote areas like Hoonah or some other communities, and we do currently provide additional counseling support for them when they move back to those communities. But right now our effort is to help people get back to the communities where they want to be. So our goal wouldn't be necessarily to bring more people from those areas so much as it would be that if there are people coming through a program here that need somewhere to stay, We want that to be available.

And then when is your drop dead date for us? Because what we're missing in all of this is any kind of public process. And so totally fair, and I'm really grateful you're having these conversations without asking the public what they think about that, and I'm not comfortable with that at all. So when's your drop dead date? Um, our drop-dead date is, uh, the 27th of this month.

So when we have to have the application in, uh, for the Federal Home Loan Bank. Okay, and I'm assuming, looking at staff, we have no meetings between now and the 27th? No CALS? No, Madam, I believe that is correct, Madam Mayor. Your next meeting is, um, the full assembly meeting on April 29th.

Okay.

All right. No, Mr. Smith, if I may, I think I have a plan. We've heard from Mr. Swinton that introducing an ordinance, which would be introduced on the 29th, would be a positive step. It sounds like a vote of intent would be better.

But let me— may I utilize number 4 of our— number 3 of our agreement and take a 2-minute at ease? 2-Minute at ease. Very good, thank you.

Will bring us back into session. And do we have a— Is Ms. Womack with us at all? She said she was going to Zoom, but I don't see her been added, so I don't know if she had any questions.

I do see her, and I will bring her over as a panelist now. Okay, and we'll give her a second to see if she had any questions. She's jumping down, up and down with questions that we— she couldn't get to.

There she is. Miss Walden, do you have any questions? We apologize, we kind of forgot about you. No worries, I've been listening in, but I don't have any questions. Uh, thank you.

Mr. Smith. Very good, thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I, I have an idea on maybe a way that can hopefully provide the maximum level of support that this body is willing to do at this time, um, with hopefully without failing a vote, which I think may be not helpful. So my plan is to offer— is to make a motion that would introduce an ordinance to fund this Gaston Human Service Corps project for $2 million using fund balance. And also a, um, also a, also would be a vote of intent showing support from the assembly for this ordinance.

We know, of course, it's just going to be introduced on the 29th, then would be brought up. And we have— I've discussed this with the applicant to keep it in line with kind of our typical budget process. It would then be— we could then adopt it in normal course. Sometime in June, sometime in June, I believe, actually sometime in May. My ask of the assembly is, if you are not comfortable with the vote of intent, to object and maybe say that.

And if we— if there's enough members that don't feel comfortable doing a vote of intent, I could withdraw that motion and make another motion just to introduce the ordinance. But I feel comfortable supporting a vote of intent from what I've heard here from the partners of the project that have shown continued success in building housing for populations that need it and matching a lot of funds. So I feel comfortable, but I know it is moving quickly and I don't want to force— I don't want the body to be forced into voting for something if they don't feel they have the information, but I also think it maybe wouldn't be best if we fail to vote on this topic. So that is my ask, is if people are objecting to the motion, did we capture the motion and do we feel good about that I said the motion? We're going to set it very, state it very clearly because you have me totally confused what you just do.

Okay, okay. Are we clear about the objectioning part though? Because that's important. My motion is—. I don't think that will be a problem.

Okay, very good. My motion is to introduce an ordinance on April 29th that would fund $2 million for the Gastonia Human Services Project with fund balance as the funding source, as well as a vote of intent showing support for the project. You might need to split that vote. Madam Mayor, my intention is if people don't feel comfortable with the vote of intent, I mean, I could just do a vote of intent, then I could withdraw and just do a motion. Okay.

So, um, okay. Does everybody understand Mr. Smith's motion?

Okay. Objection. I'll object.

And I'll speak to my objection because it looks like I'm the only one. I have a real hard time, um, uh, okay, um, I have a real hard time encumbering $2 million for a project that doesn't even tell you where you're going to put it in this one single letter, and we've had no public process. So if we have an intent without an attorney in the room, what does that bind us to? So I am not comfortable with this motion. I have no problem with the one introducing it, but I am not going to vote with a letter of intent at this time.

Mr. Kelly and Ms. Wall. Thank you. I think I had one more question for Mr. Swinton, and that would be, what would the effect be of if we do this letter of intent, you're awarded the grant, but then it's later voted down? What would be the impact of the program?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Well, it would impact our application that we're applying for in the fall for our $3 million from the state of Alaska, from Alaska Housing and Finance Corporation, because this funding would also support that.

Withdrawal of those funds, we would have to work hard to find alternative funding sources, but it certainly makes it more complicated. And I do want to add, we did submit more than just that one page. I'm not sure why it didn't get into the packet. We submitted the architectural drawings, an addendum, and a financial breakdown of all the places we're getting the funding sources from and the Um, the letter ask or the form from the city. I withdraw my objection.

Thank you. Okay, um, I'll object just for the reasons Mr. Smith outlined, that, um, I would support him withdrawing his motion and moving forward with the introduction. Uh, for the reasons the mayor spoke to.

Yeah, this is a really tough decision, and it's interesting to know that there was more attached because it's really hard to make a decision on one piece of paper, especially for $2 million and without a public process. Um, if this was coming before us, it should have had all of that other goodness with it. Um. If anyone wants it, but, uh, um, I, I, in, I support this project because I understand what it does for our community and what it does for those who are trying to heal past addiction. And I understand that importance, um, especially bringing 51, you know, uh, units to, to Juneau for low-income housing.

That makes sense to me. Um, I guess in real time, I'll be in support of this motion, uh, but otherwise would, would not be, just based on the fact that, uh, for reasons that Madam Mayor just stated. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mr. Swinton, if you have a motion here to introduce an ordinance on April 29th—. For purposes—.

I'm objecting for purposes of question, Madam Mayor. Um, if you have a motion here to introduce an ordinance on April 29th or, yeah, for this, would that satisfy your application that way? Even if it's not actually introduced, if this motion is here and it will be, will that be enough? I don't think that alone will be enough.

Thank you. I withdraw my objection. Ms. Wall.

Oops, sorry, my hand's still up from before. Ms. Hughes-Candies. Thanks, Madam Mayor. I will object just for a purpose of a real quick comment, which is that I thought, how can we make a decision on this? How did it come to us in this form?

Why do we only have one letter in the packet? But I am not going to object tonight, and I do feel comfortable doing this, and I appreciate our hawks on process and on public comment, and I think it's important. But I want to point out that the proportion of, uh, CBJ funds for something that is so needed, um, is so small in this, uh, and the importance of being able to show match in a grant application, um, is really leaving funding on the table. And, uh, I think this is just a tremendous enough need that there have been other times on the Assembly that I've had to sort of hold my nose and do what I thought was in the best intent, even though I wasn't happy with the process. And I think not perfect process, but desperately needed.

Um, and then in terms of public process, I don't know when we normally have that scheduled in the assembly meeting, but I will say that we add things to the pending list all the time before we get to that meeting. And we don't say, oh, we added, you know, we need the public to testify before we can add it to the pending list. So, and that's essentially what this is doing, only accepting it onto the pending list. Ms. Hale. Thank you.

I'm not exactly sure what we're doing here in terms of process, but I think I have to object in order to say something. So I'll object in order to say something. You can speak to the motion. I'll speak to the motion. Thank you.

I just haven't quite understood why people had to object. But anyway, I'll speak to the motion. I, I, um, I have spoken with, uh, with people involved in both this project and the other project that we saw for $2 million that I got confused earlier. Uh, for the providers, this is by far the highest priority because this is an immediate need, um, and, and if we miss this opportunity, it's a really big miss. And we all know that the federal funding has been held up for way, way too long, many, many months, and then finally, finally it came through.

So there was a lot of forces at play. I completely respect Madam Mayor's concern. However, I will say that we are introducing— Mr. Smith's motion introduces the ordinance on April 29th, and we could vote it down. That could happen. So indicating our intent now, I, I don't— you know, I'm not a lawyer either, but that— because we're indicating intent, that doesn't mean it won't be voted down.

So We are still preserving our options and we are still preserving the rights of the public to comment. So I am in support of the motion and including the intent language.

All right, we have a motion on the floor with objection. Madam Clerk, please call roll.

On the motion to introduce an ordinance at the April 29th regular assembly meeting that would fund $2 million for the Gasno Human Services Project with general fund balances, the funding source. As well as a vote of intent for the project. Assemblymember Smith. Yes.

Assemblymember Wall. No.

Assemblymember Kelly. Yes.

Assemblymember Hale. Yes. Assemblymember Atkisson. Yes.

Assemblymember Hughes-Scandies. Yes.

Assemblymember Wahlgedock. Yes. Chair Weldon.

Motion passes 6 ayes, 2 nays. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll take 10 minutes.

Adam Finance Director. Thank you, Ms. Black. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, the next few items, um, really should not take very long, although Um, I will entertain any questions that you have, but if you'll turn in your packet to page 72, what you have on page 72, um, you have seen before in our budget presentation, um, back on April 6th. It was in two different slides.

Um, essentially everything down to the FY25 projected ending fund balance, which has the unrestricted balance At $15,538,151, you have seen before. What we're going to do every time we meet here as the AFC through the budget process is add information to the bottom and give you an updated date. So what you have showing as a change to that available fund balance is the, um, an FY24 ordinance, um, that was introduced, and it's for the, uh, North Douglas Crossing.

Grant match, $1.2 million. And you'll see that it says pending after it because it has been introduced, but it has not been finalized by you as a body, as the assembly. So we will update this, get you a clean copy every time that we meet. So you can kind of see where we are in our fund balance for decisions that have been made. On page 73, we wanted to make sure that you had some other fund balances that may be of interest to you.

These fund balances are the hotel bed tax, affordable housing, tobacco excise, and then also all of the marine passenger fee pieces broken out, but to a total of $4.1 million. These fund balances include everything that has been included in the manager's proposed budget. So if the manager's proposed budget were to just be approved with no changes, these would be the resulting fund balances. These funds. So again, as we provide you the general fund balance, we'll also update these for you as well.

Any questions on the fund balances? Any questions other than we just spent $2 million? Mr. Kelly, any questions from you? No, thank you. All right, moving on, Miss Flick.

Moving on to page 74 is our pending list. Which right now only has a couple of items on there from our Saturday discussion. It is the school district, um, non-instructional above, outside the cap is the terminology we use. Um, I want to note that that, um, $2,040,000 is included in the manager's proposed budget. So if that were again taken as presented, it would have no impact on your general fund balance because it's already included.

In FY25 projected. And then, um, a placeholder there for the pending item that Mr. Kelly and Mr. Smith presented, um, for roughly $2.2-2.3 million, um, also related to the school district. So as we've worked through, um, items from the community, um, we'll be adding those to this list as well. But I'm coming into this meeting These are the 2 items that have been placed on the pending list. So again, this is one that will be updated.

Our intent is to organize it by CBJ, big CBJ-specific, by dollar value, and then outside of CBJ by dollar value. So that's how you'll see that presented as we move forward. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I don't see any questions.

But this doesn't include the outside the cap funding that JSDA is requesting, correct? The first item on the list is the outside the cap funding, the $2,040,000. Oh, okay. I see it now. The non-instructional, sorry.

Yes. And that is included, non-instructional, big non-instructional. And that is included in the manager's proposed budget.

All right. Any questions?

Excellent. Then I'm going to take the last two items on the information only together. If you'll look at the budget calendar, there's a couple things I'd like to draw your attention to. Ms. Wall already pointed out that we have included item C on May 1st, which is a discussion of Eagle Crest. So we'll bring that back with more information and create a space for discussion.

Also on May 8th, you'll see that we currently have planned the manager's proposed increment and budget amendments. Capital improvement amendments are there. And so our request to you is, as you've looked at the CIP proposed plan, if you have amendments that you'd like to see included in that, if you need more information, if you want items added, whatever those amendments might be, if you can please work with staff over the next couple weeks and provide those to us by May 1st, then we can include those in the packet for you. For your May 8th discussion. And then the last item I'd like to just point out about the calendar, depending on how long any of these particular topics take, we might move some things up.

Hopefully we won't have to slide things down. But again, just depending on how much discussion there is, we may be able to accomplish some of these actions from May 8th. We may be able to do some of them on May 1st, or, you know, from May 15th, be able to do them on May 8th. So just be flexible in that, kind of be prepared as you're looking ahead at the budget calendar. We will attempt item number 6, which is to aspire to be done by 9:30, but also make good use of our time.

And if we don't need to have all of these meetings because we've been able to thoroughly discuss what we need to discuss, We'd be happy to return some hopefully sunny Wednesday nights to you. And that's all I have, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I appreciate that you say pending list for action because that's a heads up to us that we may take action on— excuse me— any items on the pending list. I'll stop. Does anybody else have any questions? Mr. Smith, why she—.

Yeah, thanks. I think I feel good about that all. I just, I also like that it says for action. I know, I feel like it maybe it was a lack of preparedness in the past, but it was difficult sometimes if something popped up that we were then required to take action on and we didn't necessarily know it was the appropriate time to take action on. So just, I appreciate trying to consolidate and all those things.

If for instance though, we're being asked to take action at the pending list at the May 1st meeting, like good amounts of notice and like flashing lights on the email type of thing would be appreciated or else you will hear frustration from me at a meeting. So anyway. I don't know how you put lights on an email. I'm not even going to touch that, Mr. Smith. Mr. Ms. Hale, thank you.

My apologies. And Mr. Smith, thank you for picking that right up. Really what I'm trying to do is diplomatically say, Mr. Kelly and Ms. Atkinson, it will shock you that all of a sudden you're voting on something. And so when it says pending list for action, be prepared because it has shocked me in the past. All right, any further items from the assembly or staff?

We're adjourned.