At the close of Monday’s City and Borough of Juneau Assembly meeting — during a time when Assembly members may make any comments — Assembly Member Ruth Danner responded to the Assembly about last week’s censure issue.
Last week, during a special meeting following an Assembly Committee of the Whole Meeting, the Assembly addressed a request by Danner to have the city’s legal department explain reasons for its opinion on a gravel crusher decision by the Planning Commission. The meeting ended up being called for her comments to the Planning Commission about the legal department — saying the department had “misled” the commission in the past.
Mayor Bruce Botelho pushed for an apology for her words, which he interpreted to imply the Law Department was being deceitful. She at first refused to apologize for doing her job. He called for a censure of Danner, due to lack of an apology. Once she re-read her statements she apologized to the law department, saying “misled” was not the word she intended to use.
Danner responded more fully to the Assembly on Monday night. She prepared a statement, prefacing it by saying she doesn’t trust her words to come out at random anymore.
“A few days have passed since our last meeting and I have received a great many positive calls and emails from people, some who like me and some who usually do not,” Danner said. “I’ve gotten more direct personal feedback on this issue than on any other two issues combined, including the North Douglas Crossing and the AJ Mine. Some think I should really tell you off, but I can’t do that. I have a few things to say, but let me first apologize for any lack of skill I may have in delivering my message. I mean no disrespect in any way. I am afraid I have done a poor job of making my objectives clear in the past.”
Danner said when she came onto the Assembly she had read Robert’s Rules of Orders and the city charter, but it didn’t come close to explaining how the process worked. She also went to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for a three-week session on executives in state and local government.
“I learned a lot, but one thing sticks out, just now and that is “The Lesson of the Complicated Thing,’” she said. “This Assembly is like any other group of individuals brought together to serve a common purpose. This lesson is not just for elected officials. It applies to all of us; to our work relationships, our volunteer relationships, our social and family relationships, all the same.
“Whenever we come together to consider a problem and a course of action, it is as though there is a complicated thing in the middle of the room and we are all seeing it from a different angle. We cannot change our vantage point, so what I see from my side may be completely different from what you see from yours.”
Danner said they have to be willing to listen to one another’s opinions.
“I know I am jumping to conclusions, but I dare say that everyone in this room wants to do whatever we can within the limits of our power to encourage and support growth and development in our community,” Danner said.
Danner talked about the need for the city to follow the written rules.
“The rules we agree to in writing, protect the rights of all property owners equally,” she said. “Adoption of the code has passed through the public process. We all agree. Any reinterpretation of those rules that does not pass through the public process violates the rights of the many to benefit the few. The people are listening. If the public believes we operate strictly on a solid foundation and allow the rules to govern our decisions, we will have their trust and their permission to go forward and act on their behalf. And if do not, we truly are undermining the public trust in this institution.”
Danner brought up the issue of the rock crusher in a D3 zone again. She said planner Beth McKibben listed why a rock crusher would not be permitted in that zone in an email to the commission dated Nov. 15, 2011.
“At that point, the permit application was stalled indefinitely,” Danner said. “Then five months later at the Planning Commission hearing on April 10th, the community learns that the Law Department has reinterpreted the code without the Assembly. At our meeting last week, I was looking for an explanation. We all should be.”
Danner said there are two existing gravel crusher sites in that area. One, more than 50 years old, is still running as it was grandfathered in under old rules. The other, to the south, was held to the standard of the Table of Permissible Uses, Danner said.
“So what do you think? Is this a tempest in a teapot because some crazy woman doesn’t want something in her own back yard, or is this a smoking gun?” Danner asked.
She felt citizens should not have to file an appeal over the topic to get an answer.
Botelho said there is a separation of powers in city government just like there is in federal and state government. Botelho said there is a process outlined in the city charter.
“The purpose behind the specialty commission is probably several-fold,” Botelho said. “In part to have citizens who can concentrate their efforts, working with knowledgeable staff making land-use considerations free of the partisan considerations Ms. Danner alluded too. To the extent Planning Commission makes decisions, there is a specific process. That process is an appeal. It is the process for the Assembly to determine if a mistake has been made.”
Botelho said to intervene at this point, before the appeal process has closed, would undermine the Assembly as the appellate body.
“Ms. Danner you made appropriate reference of protecting the rights of all parties,” Botelho said. “That is one in part why we developed this process, with the assumption we can generally contain ourselves to the record before us.”
Botelho said this particular topic has been “contaminated to such an extent, this body should recuse itself from making the decision,” meaning that an appellate officer or another entity would have to take up the appeal. Botelho said because of how much side information and advocacy from one party they have received, it would be difficult to have a fair appeal.
“A mistake may or may not have been made,” he said. “I’m not prepared to make that determination. I am concerned about protecting that barrier — keeping roles of the Planning Commission separate from us.”
Assembly Member Jesse Kiehl said he also has been receiving emails from the public asking why the Assembly can’t ask for City Attorney John Hartle’s reasoning before an appeal has been filed. Kiehl said he’s kept the responses predominantly to the fact there is a process in place.
• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.
Comments (36)
Add commentCan you say...
Tempest in a teapot?
Ms. Danner is right
The proposed crusher is not in my backyard, in fact it's many miles away. I, too, want to understand the City Attorney's rationale for reinterpreting the code. This should be transparent public information. Ms. Danner is right to pursue the question; I respect her scrutiny of this issue. It shows her commitment of accountability to her constituents.
Give up Ruth. Your dealing
Give up Ruth. Your dealing with professional politicians here. No matter what logic or fact you introduce, it will be spun until you cant see straight. The cronies will get the $$$ and the general public will get the shaft. Always been that way. Always will. As they say, you cant fight city hall...
Botelho's Contamination
So the mayor now intends to recommend an outside entity to resolve the issue he "contaminated". Because the people called he and his cronies out, he wants to recuse the assemble from their duty.
What is fair, is written in existing regulations. The mayor is trying to distance himself from the mess he created "big time".
Amazing....
So, according to Bruce, the rules mean nothing if someone doesn't file an appeal? No wonder we call it the good ole boys club.....
We support you Hartle. You
We support you Hartle. You know the laws and regulations far better then anyone posting here. And danners understanding of the law and how the city government works will lead to quick replacement next election.
Who's "We" Alaskastu?
If Mr. Hartle knows the laws and regulations pertaining to this issue, then let's hear his opinion.
Thus far he has used his interpretation of protocol to remain silent.
And I for one am not included in your "We".
I listened
I listened to the meeting last night. Once again, Ruth Danner's ramblings extended the meeting for no apparent reason. Her speech was barely more lucid than she-who-must-be-ignored's resignation speech in 2009.
She says that "I am afraid I have done a poor job of making my objectives clear in the past." Actually, she's done a pretty p***-poor job of making anything clear. She is the most ineffectual, time-wasting, unprepared person I have ever seen on the Juneau Assembly in my 32-plus years here.
I can't wait to see her replaced with someone who doesn't have to take a crash course at the Kennedy School to understand civics (which, by the way, appears to have been a waste of her money).
Now let the flaming begin.
Outrageous
Where is the rest of the Assembly in protecting Juneau residents? How in the world can there be a separation of powers at CBJ government when the Mayor runs the Assembly? Is the job of the Assembly to come every two weeks and vote they way they are told to vote? If staff counsel doesn't work for the people paying his salary then why have him at all? Why can't the Mayor pay staff counsel out of his personal resources if counsel isn't working to protect taxpayers?
Ruth Danner is protecting Juneau residents and the Mayor is using CBJ resources to prevent her from succeeding. My taxes are going to waste and worse.
And a new assembly
The whole bunch is crooked and only interested in thier personal agendas, and what can benefit themselves and thier "cronies".
But thats government as a whole whether local, state, or federal.
Throw in someone who believes the public is more than victims waiting to be raped and you have a "tempest in a teapot"
This is just kill the messenger stuff
I despise officials who try to hide in process while they simply work to game the system. Our city government is rotten at the core. It has contempt for it's own people.
So the new game is bring in an "independent" to do their job so they don't have to be put on the spot and publicly answer questions after they have been caught. Then in the back room they pressure the "independent" for a outcome in their favor.
This is a classic example of why most people are reluctant to involve themselves in issues in this town and there's low voter turnout. It's just a rigged cesspool.
and it was bending over &
and it was bending over & poor planning by CBJ that has given this community the dump and Concrete Way....
Those big rock hauling trucks in and out of CONCRETE WAY have rude arrogant drivers, and they have already killied one person in Lemon Creek.
Concrete way is one of biggest (planned) problem areas for Juneau
Well-being of Juneau residents come first
ok
Ok, so it sounds like they should not have permitted the rock crusher......appeal the decision, if a mistake has been made it will be fixed. If you dont like the way the system works then by all means change it, but it is an entirely different issue and until it does change we need to work within the system we have. Whats so hard to understand?
Because the system changes
Because the system changes depending on who is looking...
Just out of curiosity...
...how many of the posters here attended, or listened to, last night's meeting?
@kflynn
The appeal process is broken too. I believe it is why Danner got involved in City politics in the first place (issues regarding communications towers at the Mendenhall Loop/Mendenhall Blvd intersection) . She didn't like the lack of transparency in both the permitting and appeals process then and thought maybe if she got more involved she could make things better.
Seems to be a bit of an uphill battle.
What is funny is that I was at the Assembly meeting where they discussed the tower issue and appeal. The Lawyer for AT&T actually said that they would be happy to make the towers any height the City wanted or look anyway the City wished, but since the City didn't have and codes governing this issue, they were going to do what was in their best interest as a company.
http://juneauempire.com/stories/072309/loc_468377095.shtml
Yep and now we have a Cell
Yep and now we have a Cell Tower that ended up right next to Glacier Valley elementary School. It belongs to: Westower - Verizon Communicatons out of Tualatin, Or.
Cell Phone Towers are a Radiation Danger and these towers emit radio frequency waves (RF) and give off electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The radiation can reach up to two miles away from the actual cell phone tower.
Evidence of electromagnetic radiation, even in low levels, causing dangerous effects is growing at an alarming rate.
I think we can all live without cell phones
@abnotey: your computer
@abnotey: your computer screen gives off electromagnetic radiation. So does the sun. In fact, all visible light falls on the electromagnetic spectrum. And, fun fact: visible light is more energetic than microwave radiation, which is the frequency range in which cell phone towers broadcast. Uh oh!
A little knowledge never hurts. Radiation refers to any kind of photonic energy, from radio waves (lowest energy) to gamma rays (highest energy). Only gamma rays and x-rays are ionizing radiation, the kind that destroys tissues and causes cancer, and besides those two types of radiation, only ultraviolet radiation also packs enough energy to cause damage to your cells. The visible light spectrum falls just below the UV spectrum in energy.
@MikeyToo
Clearly we have very different opinions.
Coming to meetings with questions doesn’t sound unprepared to me. Not having your mind made up before hearing both sides of the argument (while frustrating at times for us constituents because you never really know what she is going to do), and then wanting to actually HEAR both sides, doesn’t seem like a waste of time to me.
You know what is a waste of time? Sitting through hours of meetings to just automatically approve everything that the Mayor and City Manager put in front of you. What is the point of having an Assembly if they aren’t going to provide checks and balances?
Also, our Assembly is volunteer not professional. No one gets paid for that job with the exception of the Mayor. Ms. Danner is an accountant by trade. Ms. Crane, a librarian. Mr. Carlton, a real estate professional, etc. What is wrong with wanting to get more education on how City Government is SUPPOSED to work, as opposed to how it currently works?
Then learn how it works on
Then learn how it works on your own time. If your going to step up the the plate then you best be prepared for it. I agree there are problems, but running your mouth doesn't help. Learn the system and change from within. Don't just shout fault and expect everyone to come hold your hand because you do know how things work or how to change it.
Well said, Stu.
Well said, Stu.
@Daffy
I agree with your first three statements. However, I still believe she is, as I said earlier, the MOST unprepared - not completely unprepared, but much more so than any other Assembly member I can recall. I notice you didn't touch "ineffectual" and "time-wasting", though
I must take issue with one statement, though: The Assembly DOES provide checks and balances whenever one or more members think it's appropriate. I listen to the meetings as often as possible and, while many ordinances and resolutions get passed without any debate, it's usually because all the "heavy lifting" has been done beforehand by staff, but I've heard many lively debates about issues that I didn't think were controversial.
Also, it appears that Ms. Danner herself wanted to find out how government SHOULD work: she went to the Kennedy School for a crash course.
Lastly, I think the Assembly Members receive a small stipend - small enough that they probably feel like they're volunteering, but a stipend nevertheless.
Thanks for disagreeing without being disagreeable.
Ruth Danner
I listen to most Assembly meetings and sometimes attend one. I always find Ruth Danner to be the most prepared. She asks the questions that everyone is afraid to ask, and her questions reveal that she is planning ahead and knows what is really at issue. I am very disappointed that much of the rest of the Assembly seems to be a rubber stamp.
@Mikey
I am sending this from my phone so please excuse the typos and weird words that my "smart" phone puts in place of the words I actually mean.
Bottom line is that we are going to have to agree to disagree about Ms. Danner and her level of preparation and her commitment to the public. I will concede that Danner, when she speaks, would be better served by being more direct. I have seen this type before. They use soft words and couch their statements so that they don't raise the irr of others. She would have been better served by not bringing up the Kennedy school or looking at a problem from difeerent perspectives and gotten right to the point Which is this:
The City Attorney (one of only two people the Assembly is actually responsible for hiring) interpreted City Code in such a way that in negated another part of the code, making an illegal action acceptable with no explanation. Yet somehow Danner is in the wrong for wanting to know (as do I) what's up.
To me, that's like going in for carpel tunnel surgery and waking up without an arm and the doctor refusing to tell you why. Perhaps the doc had a very good reason for taking the arm. Maybe it wasn't carpel tunnel but a bone infection and by taking the arm the doctor saved your life. Still, don't you have the right to know?
Perhaps Hartle had a very good reason for reading the code the way he did. So just share with the rest of us and be done with it.
The longer this goes on, the more I feel like the Mayor and the City Attorney are up to something shady. Call me idealistic but I really would like to believe that there is nothing crooked going on.
PP - You need to do some
PP -
You need to do some research on Cell phone Towers.
Heres one: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3856847/Nail-A#full
"The result of the study shows that the proportion of newly developing cancer cases was significantly higher among those patients who had lived during the past ten years at a distance of up to 400 metres from the cellular transmitter site, which has been in operation since 1993, compared to those patients living further away, and that the patients fell ill on average 8 years earlier"
Thank you Ms. Danner
Thank you Ms. Danner
I think we need to protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods at all costs. I do not want to see more big trucks hauling rocks in the valley
@Daffy
We may be closer to agreement than you think. I have never questioned Ms. Danner's commitment to the public, and I believe that was the reason she ran for office in the first place. My problem is with her approach. Despite a crash course, she still doesn't seem to understand that processes exist that she should follow, and that is why I feel she is often unprepared. Inexperience should not be an excuse for failure to follow established procedures, a fact of which she has been reminded many times since her election. She consistently "wings it" and, in my opinion, is an embarrassment to the Assembly. I also think Mayor Botelho made the right call when he said that the issue was contaminated (and implied that it was due to Ms. Danner's conduct).
I can agree to disagree with you, happily. Thank you for your civilized discourse - a rare event here.
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@Daffy again
Just wanted to add that you may call me naive, but I think Juneau has one of the most open governmental processes that I have ever seen. I really don't believe it's crooked.
And to all you DISbelievers, if you don't attend the meetings or listen to them, please don't attack my position. You don't have enough information, and you don't understand the process. But your grapes are always sour, aren't they?
@Mikey
I don't think you naive. I agree with you, which is why I find it so disappointing when the Mayor or members of the Assembly do things that look shady.
My question to you, Mikey, is do you think it is OK for the City Attorney to have that much power? That he essentially can change the rules without having to answer or explain himself?
I am not comfortable with it personally. Like I said earlier, maybe his reasons are very valid. So why not share with the rest of the class?
As far as procedure goes, I heard it explained like this once - Staff/Manager doesn't ask the Assembly if they are hungry, and if so, what would they like to eat. Nor do they say, you can choose between, steak, potatoes, rice, or bananas. They say to the Assembly, bananas - yes or no. I don't like those types of restrictions.
I actually have heard several Assembly meetings, though probably not as many ask you. I tend to tune in when an issue I am interested, but not vested, in is being discussed, or when there is a new member. Ms. Danner does break from protocol, but when she does it is because she wants to know why.
Why bananas? Who decided bananas? The ppl I have talked too think peaches would be better. Why aren't we also looking at peaches if so many people dislike bananas?
Maybe there isn't room for that kind if discussion in a City Manager ran government. But I would like to think so.
Although in the interest of full disclosure, when I want bananas, I wish she would just be thankful for the banana. But when I want peaches, I am sure glad she is in the mix asking about my stone fruit! :)