Juneau Assembly formally accepts new assembly members

The winners of the municipal election earlier this month formally joined the Juneau Assembly on Monday evening at its regular meeting.

Beth Weldon and Norton Gregory attended their first assembly meeting as members, and Mary Becker also began her third term. Kate Troll and Jamie Bursell formally exited their seats on the assembly. 

Jerry Nankervis
Jerry Nankervis

The new assembly appointed Jerry Nankervis deputy mayor. The appointment was unanimous, though assembly member Loren Jones initially objected.

Jones said that traditionally, the deputy mayor tends to hold politically and philosophically different views than the mayor. He said he didn’t feel that was the case with Nankervis’s appointment.

“I think that it serves the assembly and the citizens well if we maintain as much as our nonpartisanship and not always look like a sort of majority philosophy is going to set the tone,” he said.

Juneau’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, though Nankervis has been a much more conservative voice on the assembly than the previous deputy mayor, Jesse Kiehl.

Assembly members did not comment on Jones’ statement.

Mary Becker sits in the office of the mayor at Juneau's City Hall on Dec. 3, 2015. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
Mary Becker

Mary Becker nominated Nankervis for the position. Nankervis donated $100 to Becker’s campaign when she ran for reelection, according to campaign finance reports.

In other business, Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said officials are looking into licensing fees for pedicabs and other vehicle passenger services.

“We had a request early in the summer to review our licensing fees for pedicabs and also the route that they’re allowed to take in the downtown core (of the city) and possibly beyond,” Cosgrove said.

William Quayle Jr. routinely raised the issue at assembly meetings for months. He made it an issue during his unsuccessful assembly campaign. Cosgrove says he requested the city look into it.

Quayle was at the meeting and declined to comment.

The scale back of the senior sales tax break that went into effect earlier this year also came up. One Juneau resident urged the assembly to reconsider the change.  The recently sworn-in assembly members had campaigned on restoring the full sales tax break for seniors, but some have been noncommittal about it after the election.

The next Juneau Assembly meeting is Nov. 7.

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