The Juneau Assembly on Monday voted to move forward with purchasing a new location for city hall.
Purchasing two floors of the Michael J. Burns Building will cost $10.2 million, with an estimated $7.7 million in future remodeling.
In 2022, Juneau voters narrowly rejected a $35 million bond proposal to build a new city hall. The voters again rejected a $27 million bond proposal to fund a new city hall the following year.
Since then, the Assembly has been putting aside funds to acquire a new building, so the decision to purchase was left to a vote within Assembly, and not the public.
Without one designated office space, CBJ employees are currently working “scattered across the Borough,” as City Manager Katie Koester described in the Burns Building Timeline document. “Over 60 employees are at Marine View where there are six active leaks and the water for the building has to frequently be shut off. Our current situation is not tenable.”
Juneau resident Dale Hannah spoke out against the proposal, saying that the Assembly should consider other rental options, and that costs of renovations alone could total tens of millions of dollars.
“Before you really cement yourself into this proposition, go back and look at all the current conditions and what the real money costs are,” Hannah said.
Assembly member Wade Bryson defended the Assembly’s decision to purchase a new space.
“The largest complaint that we have received, even tonight, is that we’re not being careful spending the money,” Bryson said. “After spending four years on this project, no piece of information has come that has proven to me that CBJ owning the City Hall … that that’s not the best financial decision for this assembly to make.”
