It didn\u2019t take long for Ken Koelsch to realize that being mayor wasn\u2019t going to be a glamorous gig.<\/p>\n
Just days after winning a highly publicized election last year, Koelsch walked into City Hall to turn in his paperwork to Human Resources. When he strode into the office, the employee working there asked who he was, not recognizing him.<\/p>\n
Quite a bit has changed since then.<\/p>\n
Not only do Koelsch\u2019s co-workers now recognize him, but the city has faced a number of challenges, from an increase in opioid abuse to a legal battle with the cruise industry. Sitting in his office almost exactly a year after being elected, Koelsch chuckled as he pondered whether the year has gone by slowly or if it\u2019s sped by.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like I\u2019ve been doing this forever,\u201d Koelsch said.<\/p>\n
Four contentious issues<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the unexpected whirlwind election that ended with Koelsch\u2019s victory, he and the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly have discussed numerous contentious issues, but four stand out to Koelsch.<\/p>\n Those four issues \u2014 the LGBTQ non-discrimination ordinance last summer, an ordinance supporting the Juneau Access Project, the anti-camping ordinance for Juneau\u2019s homeless and the decision to exempt sales tax on cruise ships \u2014 are still fresh in Koelsch\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n Those issues brought members of the public out in droves and led to lengthy discussions in the Assembly chambers, but the members of the Assembly tended to agree one way or another. There was only one dissenting vote with the LGBTQ ordinance<\/a> and with the sales tax exemption<\/a>, and the road access ordinance was approved by a 6-3 vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about unity in Juneau and there is a dichotomy in liberal and conservative viewpoints here,\u201d Koelsch said, \u201cbut if you look at those four large issues, the only one that was close was the camping ordinance,<\/a> and that was 5-4.\u201d<\/p>\n That ordinance, both for the way it divided the Assembly and for the effect that it will have when it goes into effect April 15, weighs especially heavily on Koelsch\u2019s mind. The ordinance forbids people from sleeping in doorways of downtown business, brought about as a reaction by longtime business owners.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still unclear, however, where those people will go once they\u2019re prohibited in large part from sleeping on the street. Koelsch and the city have discussed numerous solutions, including campgrounds and warming shelters, but there still is no clear answer to the problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was paramount to deal with that,\u201d Koelsch said of the business owners\u2019 interests, \u201cbut at the same time, we have not responded effectively, or as effectively as we can, dealing with homelessness here, and we needed to have that online at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n As Koelsch looks forward, homelessness and opioid addiction top his list of issues to address in town. Those fit under the umbrella of general public safety, which was one of Koelsch\u2019s main concerns during his campaign last year. Burglaries are rising quickly in Juneau<\/a> in conjunction with the opioid problems, and Koelsch believes finding ways to treat those battling with opioid addiction would be a major component in increasing safety.<\/p>\n Koelsch said he\u2019s looking for the city to fight the opioid problem by working backwards, beginning with finding places for addicts to find treatment. Just like the lack of housing for homeless, there\u2019s a dearth of options for addiction treatment in Juneau as well<\/a>. Though Koelsch wants to keep people in Juneau as much as possible, he is looking to do research on what the best options are for treating addiction.<\/p>\n \u201cI need to sit down with a group of professionals,\u201d Koelsch said. \u201cIs it better to keep somebody in this place and have the same group of friends, the same challenges, or is it better to have somebody go outside for treatment? Is it better to come back or are you saying, basically, \u2018It\u2019s not a good idea to come back.\u2019 I don\u2019t have that answer. I think treatment around family and friends is always a good thing, but in this kind of addiction, maybe it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n Koelsch isn\u2019t the only one at the city who\u2019s looking to make addiction treatment a priority. City Manager Rorie Watt \u2014 who rose to his position just three weeks after Koelsch was elected to his \u2014 recently drew up a plan for the future of the city\u2019s approach to dealing with issues of homelessness and addiction, entitled the Community Wellness Strategy<\/a>. It\u2019s only an outline at this point, so a firm solution is still fairly far off.<\/p>\n From being on the Assembly years ago and especially from being mayor this past year, Koelsch knows that finding solutions takes time. A good start, he said, is sifting through different points of view and getting everybody on the same page. With many of the main issues of the past year, the Assembly members compromised and came to agreements.<\/p>\n Finding unity is always a challenge, and Koelsch said that fighting issues such as homelessness and addiction will require finding common ground.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can have differences of opinion,\u201d Koelsch said, \u201cbut when you\u2019re finished (debating), acknowledge and move on. Let\u2019s figure out how to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com or at 523-2271.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It didn\u2019t take long for Ken Koelsch to realize that being mayor wasn\u2019t going to be a glamorous gig. Just days after winning a highly publicized election last year, Koelsch walked into City Hall to turn in his paperwork to Human Resources. When he strode into the office, the employee working there asked who he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":428,"featured_media":3527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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