The filing period to run for a seat on Juneau’s Assembly or school board opened Friday and some residents were itching to enter the races.
At just before 8 a.m. on Friday morning, Joyce Niven and Assembly member Paul Kelly stood at the entrance of Juneau’s city clerk’s office.
The two had a little friendly competition over who would be the first one to file to run for candidacy in this year’s local election when the doors open.
“I got outside the door at 7:34 a.m.,” Niven said.
“I got here about 7:50 a.m. — she beat me,” Kelly said, laughing.
In this fall’s municipal election, there will be five open seats: three on the Assembly and two on the school board. There is no mayoral election this year. All of the open seats can be filled by anyone who is qualified to vote in Juneau and has been a resident for at least one year. Residents can file to run until July 27 at 4:30 p.m.
Kelly announced he was running for reelection for his second term earlier this spring. On Friday morning, while waiting at the clerk’s office, he said he wants to continue his work on priorities like housing, homelessness and education. But he said he has new priorities too.
“The flood has become front and center,” he said. “I also want to really focus on our waste stream — our landfill is going to be expiring soon. We need to figure out exactly what we’re going to do with that.”
Niven said she is running for Assembly member Christine Woll’s open District 2 seat. Both Woll and area-wide Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said they weren’t running for reelection.
This is Niven’s first time running for local office. She has lived in Juneau for close to 35 years. Last year, she retired after 25 years with Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority. She currently serves on the Juneau Housing First Collaborative Board and was a member of the city’s Short Term Rental Task Force.
Niven said she shares similar priorities to Kelly.
“I want to run for Assembly because I care about Juneau,” she said. “I want to help make its future better for the young people and increase our quality of life so that people want to stay here and live here.”
Along with the open Assembly seats, there are two school board seats open this election. Those seats are currently filled by Britteny Cioni-Haywood and David Noon. Both told KTOO they plan to run again.
Juneau City Clerk, Breckan Hendricks, was busy on Friday stamping the candidates’ paperwork. She encouraged any other interested candidates to file sooner rather than later.
“I’m really excited for this year,” she said. “We have a couple seats up on the ballot, and we have a few candidates that we’re aware of that are filing. So excited to meet the candidates and to get them on our ballot.”
Two citizen initiatives will also be on the ballot this fall. Voters will be asked whether to raise the city’s cap on the local property tax rate and add a new seasonal sales tax for the city’s recreational facilities.
Ballots will be mailed to registered voters beginning on Sept. 18 and must be postmarked or returned by Tuesday, Oct. 6.
