<\/a>City and Borough of Juneau Assembly District 2 candidate David Morris, right, answers a question during an election forum hosted by the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday afternoon. To his right was fellow District 2 candidate and incumbent Christine Woll, and District 1 candidate Joe Geldhof. (Clarise Larson \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The three candidates running for the two open seats on the school board — Britteny Cioni-Haywood, Paige Sipniewski and David Noon — also joined the table.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The chamber is scheduled to host another forum next Thursday, directing similar questions to the 10 candidates seeking the two open areawide seats on the Assembly.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Most of the Assembly candidates tackled the questions thrown at them head-on, finding common ground on the need to create solutions to build more affordable housing, increase child care opportunities and develop incentives for workers, particularly in public safety positions, to stay in Juneau.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
When asked their stance on whether the city needs a new City Hall, candidates Hughes-Skandijs, Morris and Woll spoke largely in favor of the merits behind fiscal benefits of a new building and its potential improvement to government efficiency.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“If you have all the people, all the positions of the city in one place, it’s much easier for people to get work done,” Morris said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Woll agreed and followed: “I think it’s just the fiscally responsible thing to do. Our building doesn’t meet our needs, and right now we’re renting space and our employees are not necessarily in safe and healthy environments.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
However, Geldhof’s stance starkly differed from his fellow candidates.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“The current proposal to build a new City Hall is financial malpractice and political malpractice,” he said. “They are jumping the queue on a new clubhouse that we don’t need, can’t afford and shouldn’t build.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The topic of the potential privatization of the city-owned hospital, Bartlett Regional Hospital, was also pitched to candidates, to which Woll and Hughes-Skandijs argued the city’s ownership of the hospital allows for the community to prioritize aspects of healthcare that the private sector might not necessarily prioritize, such as behavioral health.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Morris said he thought privatization was the best route for the hospital, but said if that does not occur the city must work better to identify the issues at the hospital, such as retention, and resolve them quickly.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We need to figure out where the board is and why the people are leaving the town, because without finding that out we don’t know what areas to fix,” he said. “I think a private hospital would be better than a public one.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Geldhof didn’t offer a specific stance leaning either way, but did argue that “rigorous analysis” was necessary to decide what is the best course of action for the hospital.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“It’s going to have to change and it might have to change dramatically,” he said. “But just allowing the existing status quo where it’s kind of wallowing along and the place is a snake pit of emotions has got to end.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Rising property taxation was also put to the candidates, questioning where they stood on how the Assembly should balance property values in the mill rate relative to the needs of the city budget.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Geldhof said he believed the problem stemmed from the assessor’s office and its method of assessing property. He argued that change needed to occur within its staffing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t