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LUKE HAS THE EXPERIENCE A MAYOR NEEDS
Employment:
Thirty year career at University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1974 - 2004
- Luke started as a carpenter, then moved into management in the mid 1980's
- Five years in charge of maintenance keeping the doors open at UAF campuses from Fairbanks to Dillingham and Seward,
from Kotzebue to Fort Yukon.
- Directed Operations for a staff of approximately 100 union and non-union individuals, including hiring, resolving grievances and meeting OSHA safety standards
- Responsible for building and spending annual budgets in the millions of dollars
- Five years as Facility Planner coordinating with engineers, architects, trades, contractors and UAF departments to meet changing campus needs
- President of the UAF Support Staff Council
- Member of UAF Master Planning Committee, the campus advisory/planning committee reporting to the UAF Chancellor
- North Campus Manager, balancing research, education and recreation interests on 1100 acres of UAF campus
Community Involvement:
Board Member and Secretary Alaska Gasline Port Authority, AGPA, the voter approved public body established in 1999 to deliver natural gas
from Alaska's North Slope to Prince William sound for Alaskan and global markets. AGPA continues to work closely with our international partners,
state and federal officials, producers and industry to deliver affordable gas to Fairbanks and other markets.
Seven Years on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Planning Commission, 1997 - 2004
- Vice Chair, 2002 - 2004
- Appointed by Mayor Sampson and served under Mayors Hove and Boyles
- Finalized the first complete revision of the borough's Comprehensive Land Use Plan in twenty years
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Recruitment Roundtable to develop best practices to improve minority teacher hiring.
Governor Palin's Subcabinet Climate Change Task Force: a member of the Immediate Action Work Group that developed responses for Alaska's at-risk communities from the impacts of a changing climate.
Member, Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation, Interior Issues Council, Developing our communities response to issues concerning energy, employment, the economy and the environment.
Elected Office:
Five Years on the Borough Assembly: 2004 - 2009
- Elected two years by the Assembly as Presiding Officer
- Appointed Vice Chair of Finance Committee which reviews all financial ordinances and is responsible for approving borough contracts
- Currently Deputy Presiding Officer, and Chair of Audit Committee which is responsible for providing the borough's annual financial audit
Two term board member, Alaska Municipal League, an organization of 140 cities and boroughs representing over 97 percent of Alaska's residents with a goal to influence state and federal decisions.
Four year member of the National Association of Counties Public Lands Steering Committee, representing Alaska's public land issues to Congress and the federal government.
Two years FNSB representative to ICLEI, a national organization for Local Governments for Sustainability participating in policy discussions relating to issues of community sustainability and resiliency.
A Note from Luke
I have been living here in Fairbanks since 1966 when I came up straight out of high school in New Haven, Connecticut and moved into the UAF dorms (as a freshman majoring in Wildlife Management). In 1971, I began a local wooden toy manufacturing business, then went back a few years later to UAF, this time at what would grow into a 30 year career in Campus Facilities.It wasn’t until I retired in 2004 as Superintendent of Building Maintenance and Facilities Planner at UAF that I first ran for Borough Assembly because I believed that serving on the assembly deserved my full attention, but long before that I raised my hand and got involved in local government and community issues.
While at UAF I was elected to the staff council and served for one year as president of the UAF Support Staff Council. In my final year at UAF, I was appointed to the Campus Master Planning Committee. It was Mayor Jim Sampson who first asked me to join the FNSB Planning and Zoning Commission in 1977, and I was elected by the Commission to serve as Vice Chair from 2000 until 2004.
In October, 2004 I ran and won a 5 way race for Seat B on the FNSB Assembly, and was very proud when, during my second year in office, I was elected by my fellow assembly members to chair that body as Presiding Officer, and to be re-elected to that position the following year as well. Members of our Borough Assembly are elected to area-wide, non-partisan seats for 3 year terms and I ran, and was again elected to serve our community for a second term in 2007.
In addition to serving as Presiding Office, I successfully ran for a district seat on the Board of Directors of the Alaska Municipal League (AML) a member organization representing 145 communities across the state. Our borough is a member of the National Association of Counties (NACo) where I also serve on the Public Lands steering committee that develops positions on federal legislation pertaining to US public land policies; the position fits since Alaska has the greatest acreage and percentage of public land of any state in the nation.
In 2007 I was asked by Mayor Whitaker to join the Alaska Gasline Port Authority as a board member. Currently, I serve as secretary on the board's executive committee. The voter mandated Port Authority was formed by a vote of the North Slope Borough, the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the City of Valdez in 1999 to deliver natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to Prince William sound for Alaskan and global markets.
Since 2007, I have also had the unique opportunity to serve as a member of Governor Sarah Palin’s Sub Cabinet Panel on Climate Change, Immediate Action Work Group. Working on that panel, I have helped develop two annual reports that assisted in funded construction and new policies to protect at risk communities in place and to plan for possible relocations due to the impacts from climate changes, whether from erosion, flooding, subsidence or forest fire threats.
Of course, most important to me is my family. I have been happily married to Elyse Guttenberg for 32 years. We built our home together in Goldstream Valley, and raised our two children here. I have always bragged about the education they received in our district schools, and the pleasure we take in having four generations of our family call Alaska home.
Thank you.
