Anchorage mayor appoints William Falsey as Municipal Manager

Starting July 14, William D. Falsey will serve as Anchorage's Municipal Manager, a position responsible for directing the city's police, fire, health, port, airport, and three municipal utilities.

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted a memorandum requesting the Assembly confirm the appointment, effective July 14, 2026. The Assembly voted to confirm Falsey on July 7.

Falsey served as Municipal Manager from November 2017 to December 2020, overseeing roughly 1,500 full-time employees and annual budgets exceeding $300 million. Before that, he served as Municipal Attorney from July 2015 to October 2017, overseeing a $7 million budget. He is an Anchorage native, a Dimond High School graduate, and holds a law degree from Yale.

Falsey has been inside the administration since July 2024 as Chief Administrative Officer, managing finance, human resources, information technology, and purchasing. As Municipal Manager, he will take on direct oversight of the city's major public-safety and infrastructure departments. Chief Human Resources Officer Annmarie Billingsley approved the appointment paperwork, and outgoing Municipal Manager Rebecca A. Windt Pearson concurred on the memorandum.

The Assembly held a July 1 worksession on the confirmation before the July 7 vote. At that session, Falsey described his view of the role. "I think in some ways the municipal manager serves several functions," he said. "One of them is just nerve center. Making sure the hive mind knows what the hive mind is doing. One is helping to steer the ship."

Falsey also outlined a planned reorganization. Finance would shift to report directly to the mayor, while human resources, information technology, and purchasing would remain under the Municipal Manager. He said much of the internal-services work the administration set out to accomplish has largely been done, including a rewrite of the purchasing code.