City and Borough of Juneau City Manager, Rorie Watt, was the star of the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce’s weekly luncheon on Thursday afternoon and there was no shortage of topics to speak on nor a seat to spare at Juneau Moose Family Center. Watt spoke to the crowd about the final city budget, things to know for the upcoming municipal elections and the community climate around Juneau’s city government’s decisions.<\/p>\n
[Candidates file for this fall’s local election]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n “Criticism of local government is a sign of engagement and effective local government,” Watt said.<\/p>\n Watt, who has served as city manager since 2016 and has worked with CBJ for more than 20 years, started by addressing one of the leading issues in the Juneau area: the housing crisis. He said issues around housing and development are a big topic for the CBJ Assembly, but said he asks for “support, not criticism” in the Assembly’s process and timeliness.<\/p>\n “All the easy land has already been developed,” he said.<\/p>\n [Housing issues dominate city committee agenda]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n He said the CBJ Community Development Department has particularly seen an onslaught of criticism recently and asked members of the crowd to “help change that” and noted that the tasks it faces “are not easy.”<\/p>\n With the upcoming municipal election, Watt took the time to also speak on some of the things set to be on the ballot, including the referendum to eliminate the requirement Juneau property buyers disclose the purchase price and the five-year extension of the temporary 1% sales tax that would fund projects like child care assistance, building maintenance projects and adding to the Affordable Housing which in total would cost around about $60 million.<\/p>\n