This story has been updated to remove an incorrect statement by the city manager that KTOO no longer broadcasts Assembly meetings.
With an utterly monstrous agenda facing the Juneau Assembly during its next meeting Monday night, it’s fitting the last of the 51 numbered items is a proposal to start its meetings earlier.
Regular Assembly meetings generally begin at 7 p.m. and have a four-hour time limit that can be extended by a majority vote. That may well be necessary Monday with final passage likely of next year’s budget, raising the mill rate and utility taxes, a redevelopment plan for Telephone Hill that forces existing residents to vacate homes by Oct. 1, and further work on a HESCO barrier flood levee.
Also being discussed are several municipal election items such as implementing ranked choice voting beginning next year, plus proposals for this year’s ballot including school and utility bonds, altering the sales tax to a higher rate during tourism months while exempting food and utilities year-round.
City Manager Katie Koester, in a June 3 memo to Assembly members, noted the 7 p.m. start time “came about because KTOO was broadcasting meetings at that time.”
“Giving members and public time to eat dinner and still attend a meeting has also been shared with me as a reason for a 7PM Assembly start time,” she wrote.
However, most current Assembly members are expressing a preference for an earlier start time — as long as it also means an earlier end time, she stated. The impacts go beyond the Assembly members and staff sometimes being asked to make critical decisions late at night.
“There was a comment that some know of potential Assembly members who choose not to run because of how late the meetings run,” Koester wrote. “Another concern expressed is that the public may be unable to watch or participate in meetings that end late due to the need to sleep.”
Another factor is earlier meetings “would benefit (city) staff who struggle to fill the dead time between the end of the workday and the meeting and would prefer to end earlier,” she noted.
“Any meetings we can switch to regular business hours will save some overtime,” Koester wrote. “Making decisions late at night can be taxing. At its worse, there is a tendency to defer to staff recommendations when everyone is exhausted. HOWEVER, what is most important is that a meeting schedule accommodate the Assembly and the public.”
The memo includes two alternatives to the current start times of 7 p.m. for Assembly meetings and 6 p.m. for their Committee of the Whole meetings (along with some other committee meetings immediately preceding them). One starts both meetings at 6 p.m. and the preceding meetings at 5 p.m. The other starts the main meetings at 5:30 p.m. and moves the preceding meetings to noon.
Assembly members, if they favor a change, are being asked by Koester to authorize city staff to draft new rules and a sample calendar for consideration at the members’ next regular meeting.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
