Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:38
Jared Griffin“A conflict exists when someone has the ability to improperly influence the outcome. And I don't— I don't think that appearance alone is not enough evidence to show that an influence has occurred., and we have to ask, you know, which decision in the procurement process was improperly influenced? And we can't point— there is nothing there. So if we can't identify one, then we're objecting to who won and not how the contract was awarded. So I would strongly urge you to pass this contract.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:51
Codi Allen“although it's ambiguous on if an aggrieved bidder is allowed or not allowed to protest per borough code, we decided to allow that anyways, and so we actually extended the protest period to give them time and provide a formal protest to the manager for review”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
1:00
Jeremiah Gardner“we have in our code Chapter 2.35010, Section E, it says municipal officer, appointed official, or employee may not use his official position for the primary purpose of obtaining financial gain for himself or his spouse, child, mother, father, or business. Um, not that it is, uh, the primary financial gain in this situation, but the optics of this look a little bad to certain people in the community. I think it would be wise to extend the current contract for one month and talk about how we want to approach this situation and basically put this back out to bid so that we can clean up the optics on it. So I will be voting no on this one.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:24
Jared Griffin“Even more significant is, I think, is we continue to see fewer young children entering the population. In April of 2020, we had 970 residents aged 5 to 9. That number last year was 800. 802, Um, actually. We have a rapidly aging community.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:46
Aimee Williams“we also talked about looking at possible code changes to make that section more clear in the conflict of interest section at agenda setting this week. So I think we've done some work around making sure that those optics aren't something that we have to worry about in the future. I do have copies of the— because I thought this might come up— of my reply to the contractor if you want to see that. I can distribute that now or later or whenever, but that's been issued and the protest was denied.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:36
Codi Allen“the other bidder that is filing the formal complaint/informal protest was deemed non-responsive. Per our bid documents, we have all the outline requirements to make a bid responsive or non-responsive. Per code, it's really the assembly's decision if they're a responsible bidder, but so we went through— and our checklist there that's in the bid documents, and they didn't provide a bid bond for bid security. And so that automatically deemed them non-responsive, and we let them know as such.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:30
Aimee Williams“As we do when we get any kind of a protest, it goes to the manager, and the manager has a certain amount of time to answer it. We answered it right away, sent that reply back to the other bidder. They have it, and I got an email back that said thank you, and that's the only thing that we've heard. I have shared that response with both your Deputy Prime presiding officer and the mayor, just so they were included on what was going on.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:28
Bo Sedillo-Whiteside“procurement processes, when following best practices, which I am confident that Director Allen and his staff did, along with the Meta Manager, they are very rigid and prescribed in process. And certainly, in respect to anyone highlighting a potential conflict of interest, there is very prescriptive ways that you capture the process.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:06
Jeremiah Gardner“It was brought to my attention that I believe there was sort of an informal protest letter written on this.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:36
Aimee Williams“as soon as we identified that there was going to be a potential conflict at that pre-bid meeting, every step that could be taken to separate the two was already done. But given the staff member's job here, in their normal course of work, they would have nothing to do with anything on the creation of or tabulation of or opening of or just— that's just not their job here. She does work here, but that's the end of the, the correlation.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:14
Codi Allen“the contract actually already expired June 30th, and so I'm not really sure how that process would work, potentially extending and things. So that contract is completely expired at this time.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:18
Jared Griffin“the state released new demographic estimates yesterday. So I took a look at them, and there's a really— there's some really interesting things in there that I think will help guide what we do.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:28
Tyler Young“Staff does not recommend that Track B at that width is well over 300 feet wide, plus the existing dedication of East Hillside Drive, which is another 60 feet. Being able to build a residential collector standard road without being a civil engineer and without being able to certify it, causing that may be an undue burden towards the petitioner.”
Mat-Su Borough: Platting Board Meeting - July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:43
Tyler Young“the vacation, if approved by the board, will have 30 days to go in front of the assembly for either approval or veto. That does not give the petitioner enough time, the petitioner being the State of Alaska. Enough time to make the decision over what they want to do, whether approving the— approving the full dedication of Tract B or choosing one of the other options”
Mat-Su Borough: Platting Board Meeting - July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:55
Tyler Young“if the easiest fix for this to protect the borough, help the petitioner, protect the future development that could come is dedicated in Track B. We got to make sure that a collector road could be built there with whatever nuances that that may come with.”
Mat-Su Borough: Platting Board Meeting - July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:51
Reginald Carney“I would personally be very comfortable making sure that the appropriate road could be developed in the space being dedicated before any type of vacation. That's just how I feel on it, because I wouldn't want this to come back on the borough later to have to purchase private land or anything like that.”
Mat-Su Borough: Platting Board Meeting - July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
0:32
Tyler Young“the public use easement does not go away until final record— recordization, and final recordization does not happen unless all of the conditions of approval are met. So, if there's any other questions about that statement, I'd be happy to answer them. So there's a check and balance there to make sure that the vacation doesn't happen in it as presented.”
Mat-Su Borough: Platting Board Meeting - July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
1:17
Bob French“I would like to object to the final recommendation point on page 4 for the floating right-of-way easement for the Knick Arm Crossing. As a member of the AMATS Citizens Advisory Committee, I cannot speak for them, but I do recall conversations that have taken place regarding whether or not the Knickarm Bridge and any of the easements or access points to that should be included in our current plans that are out in the municipality and also in the state. I recall Aaron Yonglin, who is the head of AMATS, actually saying that we could not really include any of the— any projects or things like that that would be related to the Knick Arm Bridge because the Knick Arm Bridge does not exist in any statewide plans. It doesn't— it's not in the STIP, the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan. It's not in the AMATS municipal planning documents, and it's not— it currently has no funding or any other available— there's nothing to say that this project is ever going to actually happen.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:22
Mike Krasinski
“I have no objection to any update of any notes regarding the easement. I talked— actually talked to Bob Kiner of DOT right away, and he mentioned it, that it was just there as a placeholder like Shawn mentioned, in case the road is developed in the future.”Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:30
Kevin Cross“my understanding based on what I just heard is that we have two opposing plats. We have an MOA plat and we have a DOT plat, and we're talking about an aerial easement— excuse me, a floating right-of-way easement that's only on the DOT plat but not on the MOA plat, in which case Is there one that supersedes the other?”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:33
Skyler Quinn“whether this plat note stays on or is— or gets removed is kind of moot point because it's already on the state plat. So, um, I agree with the logic of the, uh, of the presenter, and I think that I agree with Mr. Cross where a lot of plat notes are just not needed and muddy the waters more com— more often than not, but I don't really see removing this, um, making much of a difference.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:14
Mike Krasinski
“No, it has no immediate consequence to our development. It's more of—. It has to do with DOT. I mean, I—. It doesn't matter to me in development of however the Community Council wants to develop the land.”Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:58
Bob French“a lot of the toll revenue plans that were produced by Wilbur Smith Associates are frankly fraudulent. As an engineer, I could tell you that it's what we call reverse engineering. There were at least 3 different financial plans that they produced that had— where the numbers for traffic were clearly derived from the need for the toll revenues that they thought they were going to have. Frankly, you know, the project was shut down by Governor Walker, and it was shut down because really the state does not have $2 extra billion.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:47
Bob French“that is the actual realistic cost of the bridge that we produced back in 2010, and I could say that through the tariffs and cost of steel and everything else, that those prices are only going to be going up. So frankly, I think the best thing to do would be to either add additional comments onto saying that the Kinnickarm Bridge project would need to be fully funded fully developed in the municipal and state plans, or that it should be reduced completely, removed completely.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:21
Brenda Mills“I was actually thinking about motioning to remove the plat note just in case, but, um, after hearing Mr. Cross, um, yeah, I agree. It's just these plat notes are a pain, um, to remove, they're a pain to put on.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:44
Kevin Cross“if it's not a realistic project, then the plat note doesn't matter. But if there is a remote chance, given our demographic challenges, And God only knows what the future looks like. Having that in there could be future benefit that can't be measured right now.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:25
Skyler Quinn“I have a question for staff because in my experience with plat notes, they're pretty particular, and I've never seen a plat note that had— that talked about funding. Um, I mean, I've had requests on past projects wanting additional plat notes. The municipality is advised— or not advised, but ruled against that because there's just particular things that can be plat notes and things that can't. So is that even a possibility?”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:27
Kevin Cross“In regards to the public testimony, removing Section AC, unfortunately, I think even if we were to do that, just to justify, it would only be for entertainment purposes because it exists on the state plat, which supersedes us. So unfortunately, dealing with that issue is not something that we can handle. Even if we removed it, it would still still exist. Therefore, I am moving forward with it unaltered.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:26
Kevin Cross“So even removing it is inconsequential because it still exists on the state DOT plat? That's correct. And so which— the state supersedes our municipal requirements. So I mean, so I hope the public understands that if it's on the state plat and the MOA is subject to the state, even if it's not on the municipal plat, it still exists. So then we're just— we're providing, you know, information, emotional service, but not anything of substance.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:26
Patrick Jones“I'm kind of concerned about adding a note having it reference funding because I guess in my mind and thinking through how that could be construed as they could say, well, this is going to be a 10-phase project. Phase 1 is we're going to build the landing pad for this Connect Bridge. That's fully funded, and so we need the right-of-way.”
Anchorage Assembly: Platting Board - July 1, 2026 - 2026-07-01 18:30:00 · Jul 2, 2026
0:20
Kathy Renzel
“Today, the Chamber is filling that role in Cordova. But it's difficult to foresee a future for doing that without looking at a sustainable path forward for funding the chamber.”Cordova: July 1, 2026 - City Council Regular Meeting · Jul 1, 2026
0:46
Kathy Renzel
“This year, much of the work has been significantly reduced for destination marketing due to a loss of funding. Outreach to expedition cruise lines, meeting and conference travelers, and other targeted destination marketing efforts have been— had to be scaled back. So I'm just here to see if we can find a way to move forward together in the future”Cordova: July 1, 2026 - City Council Regular Meeting · Jul 1, 2026
0:37
Kathy Renzel
“the Chamber is working hard and preparing for the Fourth of July celebration, and we're excited to bring the community together to celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary.”Cordova: July 1, 2026 - City Council Regular Meeting · Jul 1, 2026
0:23
Kathy Renzel
“We can't realistically commit to organizing last year's Fourth of July celebration if we can't figure out a way to keep the chamber funded. So, um, that is a criticism, and it's not an easy thing to say. It's just simply the reality of our current, uh, capacity. And I just wanted to make it publicly known to the city and to the community that that's the case.”Cordova: July 1, 2026 - City Council Regular Meeting · Jul 1, 2026
0:21
William Falsey“off the top of my head, that would be the municipal manager, the municipal attorney, the CFO, and the economic and community development director, and chief of staff.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:31
William Falsey“I'll have a deputy. I did not have a deputy in the austerity times of 2016, 2017 to 2020. So in some ways, I think the workload just becomes much more manageable as a result of having somebody else that can put their laboring or put their shoulder to the laboring oar.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:30
Jared Goecker“does that signal a shift? I mean, obviously with departments reporting directly to the mayor, you know, you like to have— and maybe you don't matter, Mayor, I don't know— but in administrations I've seen and worked in and been a part of, there's usually a buffer between departments and the mayor. So does this indicate a shift in priorities in what you're doing internally within the administration, or is this just a workflow thing that works a little bit better?”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:33
Anna Brawley“I know obviously you've been in a different role, the Chief Administrative Officer. There was a reorganization to create or recreate that position. And so maybe speaking a little bit to the distinction between those two roles, if at all, and more generally, you know, how you— if that position position is not going to be filled, then kind of what— how is that workload going to be absorbed?”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:30
William Falsey“in order to literally change the way the budget works in the system, we'd have to adopt a whole new budget. And OMB has sort of thrown itself in front of the train and said, please don't make us do an extra budget in 2026, which is entirely reasonable.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:28
William Falsey“our preference is not to do a formal reorganization now. In part because to really accomplish that, we would really have to adopt another budget, and we're about to go through the budget cycle anyway. So I think what we are likely to do is cobble together a web of acting assignments, and if there needs to be some Assembly review and approval of that, we're totally comfortable bringing that to the Assembly.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:29
William Falsey“In some ways, this is a return to a model that is most familiar to me. In the previous go-round, I think it was exactly the same setup, with the only difference being that the particular— and the particular departments that reported to the municipal manager and the then community economic director were a little bit different underneath.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:22
William Falsey“give us a little bit of time to live in this configuration and see if there are perturbations that we want to make as we finalize it in the 2020 session.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:22
William Falsey“the chief administrative officer position would be unfilled, so there would be some cost savings in the reorganization as well.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
0:58
William Falsey“the restoration of the Chief Administrative Officer position was something of an oldie but a goodie that existed in the initial George Sullivan early iterations of the municipal— of the municipality, and then it came back in the '90s as executive managers. At the time, our thinking was at least twofold. One, that there were really acute challenges in the internal service functions of the municipality. And so by creating a position that was really focused on those, it would give a forced attention to those subjects”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
1:03
William Falsey“our proposal is that we are likely to reorganize the municipality in a slightly different way now, where we would return to a form that has been present in the past, where I would continue to have HR, IT, and purchasing, and then blend that into the municipal manager's role while offloading finance, which would report directly to the mayor, and then merging most of the Tudor Elmore functions into the community economic director function so that the workload remains balanced.”
Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Confirmation Hearing of William Falsey, Municipal Manager · Jul 1, 2026
1:03
Betsy Wood“one of the first observations is really that the scale of interest in this program and organizations that are ready to engage— we knew that this was going to be a transformative and incredibly impactful opportunity for the state, and the interest that we saw and the engagement that we saw far exceeded our expectations and really does reflect the substantial statewide demand.”
Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Advisory Council (July 1, 2026) · Jul 1, 2026
0:44
Betsy Wood“We received a number of proposals focused on maternal and early childhood health, as well as tribal-led models that integrate tribal healing and culturally grounded approaches to care. While each proposal addresses local needs, again, the portfolio as a whole advances the broader vision that the state has collectively built for a more accessible, sustainable, and connected rural health system.”
Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Advisory Council (July 1, 2026) · Jul 1, 2026
1:00
Betsy Wood“we've received 365. This is, you know, some organizations may have self-selected and said, you know, if they had multiples that move forward, maybe they decided to focus their efforts in any given area. I think this is common to see, you know, a little bit of folks who were invited or selected to advance recognizing that maybe this isn't the right time or not completing that application, but we did want to share that, you know, starting with our initial nearly 1,800 letters of interest, you know, moving down to what's the body of applications that the department is currently reviewing, we are looking at 365 proposals that have been submitted, one for every day of the year.”
Alaska Dept. of Health: RHTP Advisory Council (July 1, 2026) · Jul 1, 2026