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Assembly Member Christine Woll says she won’t seek a third term
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jun 9
- 3 min read
District 2 member who has chaired Finance Committee for the past three years says ‘it's a considerable amount of hours in my life,’ and she’s going to focus on her career and family
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Assembly Member Christine Woll wrapped up six grueling months of chairing budget hearings by announcing Monday she won’t be trying to return for more of them next year.
Woll, elected to a District 2 seat in 2020, said she isn’t running for a third three-year term as a passing remark while debating a budget amendment at Monday night’s Assembly meeting. In an interview after the meeting, she said "I’ve been thinking about it for a few months."
This year’s budget cycle was contentious due in part to voters passing two tax-cut measures last year, forcing city leaders to consider a range of significant program cuts, fee increases and other remedies to cope with the resulting deficit. But Woll said the circumstances of this year’s budget — which was approved by the Assembly on Monday — and the prospect of a similarly difficult process next year aren’t why she’s stepping down.
"It's always been hard, and this is hard because I live here and I don't want to see these changes to our community," she said. "But it's a considerable amount of hours in my life, and I have a family and I have a career."
Woll is the executive director of the Healing Hand Foundation, described at its website as a charitable organization assisting with unfunded healthcare-related needs of Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium beneficiaries and veterans. Her Assembly biography notes she moved to Juneau in 2012 to work for The Nature Conservancy, spending 10 years as a fish biologist and regional program director before beginning work involving other nonprofit organizations.
She became chair of the Assembly Finance Committee after Carole Triem resigned from the Assembly in July of 2023.
Woll has at times taken more stringent stances on spending decisions than a majority of her peers on the Assembly. She was among members voting against the purchase of a gondola for Eaglecrest Ski Area in 2022 — a project cancelled by the Assembly at great cost this year — and during this year’s budget cycle voted in favor of cuts that weren’t implemented, such as mothballing one of the city’s two public pools.
"I feel personally like I put a lot of work in to try to make that deficit smaller," she said when asked about the final budget passed Monday, which has an estimated shortfall of about $7 million. "We didn't get there."
Woll offered encouragement, if not necessarily advice, to whoever might be her successor as chair of the committee.
"Maybe this isn't advice, but it's a very rewarding use of one's time, if you care about the community, to do this job, because you have real impact on what happens," she said. "Obviously this issue is huge and is going to have a monumental impact on people who live here, and so the best way to get involved is to sign up."
Two other Assembly members are up for reelection this year. Assembly Member Paul Kelly said Tuesday he has filed to run for a second term. Alicia Hughes-Skandijs did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday morning from the Juneau Independent about whether she is seeking a third term.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
