The Juneau Assembly earlier this week established an empowered aquatics board to run the city’s two pools. Much of the discussion revolved around whether or not the board is truly empowered.
Two weeks ago, the Assembly amended the ordinance to keep the Parks and Recreations director as head of the pools. The position would answer to the aquatics board on issues related to the facilities, and would answer to the city manager for everything else. That means, unlike other empowered boards in Juneau, the aquatics board would not be able to hire and fire its own director.
With that change, Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl said the ordinance still establishes an empowered board.
“It manages the operations and marketing of the pools. It sets the regulations for the pools. It sets the terms under which groups and organizations can use the pools and, above all else, it approves the budget, or the budget that is submitted to the Assembly for the pools. And if you control the flow of the money, frankly, you control what government does and doesn’t do,” Kiehl said.
Assemblywoman Debbie White wasn’t convinced. She said the ordinance still sounded more like an advisory board than an empowered board.
“The voters said they wanted an empowered board. Yes, they have the responsibility of setting the budget, setting the regulations, but they have nothing to back it up,” White said.
White ultimately voted yes. Mayor Merrill Sanford was the lone vote against the ordinance.
“This is not an empowered board,” he said. “If you happen to believe in an empowered board and what the empowered board can do for the aquatics facilities, then that’s what you believe and we should keep it in line with the empowered boards that we have, and this has veered away from that and has given us a lame duck board.”
The ordinance has a sunset date after three years. City Manager Kim Kiefer says the next step is to end the aquatics facilities advisory board. Applications for the new empowered board are due by June 1 and the Assembly will conduct interviews June 10 and 15.
