By the close of business Tuesday, the number of applicants vying for the vacant D1 seat on the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly had quintupled. The Assembly now has a pool of five applicants from which to choose a replacement for Mary Becker, who left her D1 seat empty when she assumed the mayor’s seat after former mayor Greg Fisk died in November.
“Juneau is a last-minute town,” said Deputy Clerk Beth McEwen. “It’s fairly frequent, at least with our regular elections, that people will come in with their paperwork 10 minutes before the filing deadline.”
That was certainly true Tuesday. Three of the five applicants filed 30 minutes before the deadline. Regardless, applicant Cheryl Jebe said that she is glad to see some competition for the position. In fact, she only decided to apply after hearing that Barbara Sheinberg was the only person to have applied for the position as of Monday.
“There shouldn’t just be one candidate,” Jebe said. “There should be several in order for the people to make the best choice.”
In this case, the people choosing will be the sitting Assembly members who will meet during a special session Monday to interview the applicants. The Assembly will hold a second meeting the following day, which will include a public hearing.
According to Jebe, the Assembly has a tough decision ahead of it because all five applicants are “very well qualified.” Combined, the five applicants have nearly 180 years of CBJ residency between them. And all of them say they have the experience needed to “hit the ground running.” Al Clough, Arnold Liebelt and Douglas Mertz round out the applicant list.
APPLICANT PROFILES
Al Clough
Length of residency: 48 years
Relevant experience: Former Assembly member (‘92–’95), retired regional DOT director
Reason for running: “I saw an opportunity to kind of step into the gap. I have no interest in doing this as a career or to run for the seat in the fall. I just wanted to offer my experience without giving any other candidates a leg up.”
Arnold Liebelt
Length of residency: 23 years
Relevant experience: Policy analyst for Office of Management and Budget, former facilities section chief for the Department of Health and Social Services
Reason for running: “I saw this as a good opportunity to get familiar with some of the problems the city is facing. One thing that is really driving this is I would like to see us live within our means as a city.”
Barbara Sheinberg
Length of residency: 30 years
Relevant experience: Runs a consulting business in Juneau, served on the Planning Commission and on the CBJ Board of Equalization
Reason for running: “I have experience and knowledge in me to do that and thus help the Assembly and community during this transition. I’ve thought off and on about being on Assembly over the years and this seems like this would be a good time.”
Douglas Mertz
Length of residency: 36 years
Relevant experience: Longtime Juneau attorney, completed mediation training
Reason for running: “I was trained in mediation several years ago. I learned to try and find win-win solutions. It’s very gratifying when you’re able to do that, and it’s one of the things I’d be able to do here.”
Cheryl Jebe
Length of residency: 40 years
Relevant experience: League of Women Voters member (25 years), former Docks and Harbors Board member
Reason for running: “I feel that I have the skills to jump in at this time. I feel I could hit the ground running, so to speak. I’m familiar with city government structure due to my past experience following the Assembly and working on the Docks and Harbors Board.”
Arnold Liebelt
Cheryl Jebe is running for mayor of Juneau.
Douglas Mertz
Al Clough
Barbara Sheinberg
