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Alicia Hughes-Skandijs ending seven-year voyage on Assembly wiser in the ways of navigating waves
After pandemic and ’sky is falling’ budget woes in early years, departing District 1 member says issues like glacial flooding became ‘let's figure out how we're going to deal with this’
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Alicia Hughes-Skandijs is a "Local Government Aficionado," according to her LinkedIn page. She says that will still be the case when she steps down from the Juneau Assembly at the beginning of its meeting Monday night.
"I've already warned the Assembly — I was like, ‘You're probably going to see letters from me in your inboxes, just as more of the community (member)," she said in an Oct. 15 interview. "It's going to be really interesting because I don't know if after you have, let's say a month of not going to meetings, I don't know if there'll be a natural sort of like ‘This is great. I don't need to follow it that closely,’ or if I'm going to be someone who's watching the meetings."
Either way, her day-to-day work will continue to involve local government as the director of programs for the Alaska Municipal League, which in Juneau occupies an office in the Sealaska Building across the street from City Hall. Her LinkedIn page describes her responsibilities as "strengthening local governments so that they are positioned to solve local problems" and that "My passion is in helping to build communities where all residents are safe, healthy, and able to thrive."
"I might change it to something that's a little more reflective of that," she said of her "Local Government Aficionado" profile listing.
But Hughes-Skandijs has remained busy in that role during her final weeks in office following the Oct. 6 municipal election, in which she opted not to seek a third full three-year term for the District 1 seat she has held since 2019. She said that has involved discussions with the city manager about "some of the things I have left in play that didn't get tidying," plus trying to get through as many unanswered emails as possible.
"When people say what's the biggest surprise, when I first got in I always used email as an example because you get such a tremendous quantity of it — more so than I would ever think for a town of this size," she said. "So I'm trying to write back to folks, (but) there's no way between now and the 26th that I could answer all of my unanswered emails."
She said she’s also coming across documents and agendas from previous meetings at her house, and part of her pondering is how much of that information she wants to keep.
"I have packets all over because I'll like rip out a part of a packet because I'm like, ‘Oh, I'm going to want that for this future meeting,’" she said. "And I came across something and I thought, ‘Oh, I can get rid of this one, but I'm going to want this one for the e-bikes’ — (only) I don't need that one for the e-bikes because it's not going to be me doing it. So my brain is still on that right now."
Hughes-Skandijs said her Assembly duties could take anywhere from six to 40 hours a week, and what she will do with those hours after departing on Monday night is an open question.
"I have said a stated goal for me is I'm going to try really hard to not jump in and fill it with something else right away because that is my tendency," she said. "If I look back at other things I kind of am like an all-in sort of person. So I'm going to try to be a little thoughtful about my time."
Among the plans she has made are time for creative endeavors such as classes and workshops, plus seeing friends that in some cases she hasn’t been able to much during the past seven years.
"I almost feel like I'm coming back from a voyage where I'm like, ‘You guys, I hope you still want to hang out because now I have time to hang out,’" she said.
Hughes-Skandijs said she isn’t ruling out running again for public office in the future.
Taking over her District 1 seat shortly after Monday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. is Mila Cosgrove, a former deputy city manager who was unopposed in this fall’s election. Cosgrove departed that job in 2021, so Hughes-Skandijs had a chance to work with her during her first years on the Assembly.
"I have just a lot of respect for Mila, period, and feel comforted as a citizen that she's going to be on there," Hughes-Skandijs said. "I'm sure there's going to be times she'll take a vote that I wouldn't take. But I'm going to know that she got there based on really sound reasoning and considering our entire budget. And I would say I think our values align."
Many of the major issues Cosgrove — and the rest of the Assembly — will be facing are similar to those when Hughes-Skandijs was first appointed to replace Jesse Kiehl in 2019 when he was elected to the Alaska State Senate. Those include questions about cruise ship tourism, housing and childcare shortages, and difficulties filling public service jobs such as police and firefighters.
"I think the first thing I said when I got on — when I was still in appointed status — I was like, ‘Oh, you know, whatever they want to work on, and I'm excited about housing,’" Hughes-Skandijs said. "And then here I am (wondering) did I get anything done on housing? And I think so. It's just that that demonstrates the fact that this is a forever issue. It demonstrates that the magnitude of the problem is big and also, to me as a policymaker, what that calls for is a big action by the Assembly."
However, a limiting factor with the Assembly taking on big things is time available, Hughes-Skandijs said. And right now much of that time is being consumed by an issue that has become dominant the past few years: protecting the Mendenhall Valley against glacial lake outburst floods.
"As I gained more experience on the Assembly I got to a certain point where I was like, "You know what? Everybody, quiet. We can only do like three big things.’" she said. "And then I was on it longer, and I said, "‘Everybody quiet …really, we can only do one thing at a time.’ And that's not true — you can be doing more than that, but you just realize how you really do need to focus single-purpose, and so the flood is eating a lot of oxygen in the room and it's unfortunately necessary."
While flood mitigation is perhaps the biggest issue now facing the Assembly, Hughes-Skandijs said the most difficult one during her seven years in office was the COVID-19 pandemic that began the year after she was first sworn in.
"It was because there was so much we didn't know," she said. "At the same time, no one in the world knew and so we were living like the global experience of everybody finding out at the same time, and it changing moment by moment so much in the beginning. And the stakes were so high because it was literally life or death."
The Assembly had twice as many meetings in 2020 compared to a typical year, at a time when large municipalities like New York City were trying to obtain refrigerator containers because they were running out of room to store bodies, Hughes-Skandijs said.
"So if you think of that and then put yourself in the shoes of a municipal government — ‘Congratulations, you just got elected’ and then you're in this, it's almost like sci-fi," she said.
"That burned up a fair bit of my candle," she said. But in retrospect, "the staff and I think the Assembly made good decisions, and handled that really tremendously well."
There are some issues where Hughes-Skandijs said she would have acted differently in retrospect, such as putting a bond measure for a new City Hall on the ballot a year after voters rejected a similar measure.
"I think doing it back-to-back years, folks felt disrespected," she said.
Residents over the years got fired up about plenty of other issues and — once COVID restrictions were over — packed the Assembly Chambers to weigh in on matters such as fireworks, marijuana regulations, proposed housing developments and budget cuts. Hughes-Skandijs said her reaction to those meetings got more measured with experience over time.
"I think you can see the difference between the experienced, more senior members and the junior members kind of feeling rattled by ‘Oh my gosh, people are upset’ versus ‘OK, I've been through a lot of things that have gotten people going,’" she said.
During her first budget crisis "it felt like the sky was falling. Like ‘Oh my gosh they're calling for this kind of cut to our budget. How are we going to weather that as a community?’" Hughes-Skandijs said. But during her final budget cycle this year, when the Assembly was facing a fiscal shortage due to voter-approved tax cuts, "it was more like "OK, well, let's figure out how we're going to deal with this.’"
Hughes-Skandijs said serving on the Assembly for seven years has changed her in other ways.
"I can go around the community now and there's so many people that I have met that I didn't know before," she said. "I'll see people and I’ll know that they've had an issue at the Assembly, but it'll take me a minute to place them. I don't know their names, but I know kind of what their issues are, and I only know them from coming to the chambers that way."
While that’s been "a real personal growth opportunity," it’s also "one of the things that I'm actually excited about getting off the Assembly," Hughes-Skandijs said. She said a lot of her friends were surprised when she joined the Assembly because "they knew me as a goofy person."
"I was doing stand-up comedy — just very different where I focused my time," she said. "And so people are like, ‘Oh, you're not like this serious, paying-attention-to-issues person,’ which I was. They just didn't know that side of me. But I'll be excited to get back in touch with those other parts of myself."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
