The final election results show new, old faces were elected as Ship Free Saturdays failed

Final Juneau municipal election results show two new faces will join the Juneau Assembly, while Juneau’s incumbent mayor and school board members have been re-elected to another term.

Meanwhile, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to ban all large cruise ships on Saturdays and the Fourth of July starting next year.

Voter turnout also increased significantly this year. This year’s election saw one of the highest voter turnouts in the last decade.

Steininger and Hall win Assembly Districts 1 and 2

There were two seats up for grabs in the Juneau Assembly this year – one seat in District 1 and one seat in District 2. From the start, District 1 candidate Neil Steininger and District 2 candidate Maureen Hall led in their respective races preliminary results.

And on Tuesday, both maintained their lead until the final count and secured their seats in Parliament. Steininger said he was grateful for the support of voters and now looks forward to taking on his new role.

“I’m just really looking forward to getting involved there, working with the rest of the group and figuring out what problems we need to address and what things we need to solve together here over the next year,” he said.

Hall said she is already committed to working with other members to best address the issues she championed during the campaign.

“I will definitely research what has worked in other communities, with homelessness and of course with flood protection, and make sure that affected homeowners are heard and get what they need,” she said.

The term of office of both is three years. They will replace current MPs Barbara Blake and Michelle Hale, who did not seek re-election.

Weldon wins another term as mayor

Incumbent Beth Weldon won the mayoral race against challenger Angela Rodell.

While both held similar views on issues such as preparing for glacier eruptions, Rodell ran her campaign on a fiscally conservative platform while Weldon praised the Assembly’s work providing relief to taxpayers.

Weldon said she is eager to continue her work in flood preparedness, housing and child care.

“It is an honor to be re-elected as mayor of this great city and I am very proud to continue in this role,” she said.

Incumbent re-elected to school board

The three incumbents running for re-election to the Juneau School Board had strong leads in the first vote count. And in the end, Elizabeth Siddon, Will Muldoon and Amber Frommherz all successfully defended their seats.

All incumbents had the same goal of keeping the district on solid financial footing after last year’s tumultuous budget crisis and school consolidation process.

Muldoon said the return of all incumbents means all board members are up to date on current issues and ready to tackle difficult decisions in the future.

“We have a difficult road ahead of us, so I think the institutional knowledge and experience will make things easier,” he said.

They remain on the school board along with School Board President Deedie Sorensen and Vice President Emil Mackey, who were the subject of petitions seeking to recall them in this year’s election.

Recall initiative fails

The final results showed that most voters were against removing the couple from the slate. The effort was led by a group of residents who wanted her removed in part because of their votes for the city Consolidating Juneau’s high schools and middle schools Earlier this year.

Sorensen said she thought it showed that most voters understood the complexities of the consolidation process and the need for difficult decisions by the board.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the recall didn’t take hold,” she said. “I felt like the people who were most dissatisfied with the decisions we were making were a pretty select group of people.”

Mackey agreed.

“It’s a testament to our community that they were willing to accept the difficult decisions that no one wanted to make, and also recognize that a recall could have a chilling effect on future boards trying to find school board members,” he said.

Jenny Thomas was one of the leaders of the recall campaign. She also ran unsuccessfully for school board this year. She said she had no comment on the results of the recalls.

Boat-free Saturdays fail, public safety and infrastructure bonds go into effect

There were three bond initiatives on the ballot this year. One was a public security guarantee which asked to borrow $12.7 million to replace the radio system used by first responders, and the other was a Wastewater binding It asked for a $10 million loan to replace critical infrastructure at the Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant. Both passed by a wide margin in the final vote.

But the third — and most controversial — proposal, called “Ship Free Saturdays,” asked voters whether Juneau should do it or not Ban on all large cruise ships on Saturdays from next year. And the voter response was overwhelming “NO.”

The final results showed 4,196 people voted no to the proposal, while 6,575 people voted yes – a difference of 2,379 votes.

And a total of 10,880 registered voters were counted in this year’s local elections – that’s 38%. It is the highest voter turnout in the last decade.