Assembly Regular - October 7, 2025 - 2025-10-07 17:00:00

You can stay home all night and day, resting your mind, keeping all bad thoughts away. Home sweet home is where I wanna be. Home sweet home, a place to find some peace.

Home sweet home is where I wanna be. Home sweet home, a place to find some peace.

Nothing's better than being home with your loved ones. You won't be alone when it's cold out. You'll be in warm in your own bed and in from the storm.

Sometimes the world moves too quickly, and I know it's not like the earth is turning slow. I'm already gone, but we both know I can't sleep alone, or at least I won't.

Where I'm gonna go.

I hope that you take me seriously. I hope that nobody stays mad at me. Oh.

Oh, which way is up in your eyes? I hope I don't come down on you, cuz we got Dancing on the words we didn't get to say.

And now that you take me seriously, and now that nobody stays mad Demi, I know that you take me seriously. Oh, oh.

Sometimes the world moves too quickly, and I know it's not like the Earth is turning. So I'm already gone, but we both know I can't sleep. Hello, let down.

That you take me seriously. I know that nobody stays mad at me. I know that you take me seriously. Oh.

Too good, it'll do good, it'll all do good. Too good, it'll do good, it'll all do good.

It'll do good, it'll do good, it'll all do good.

It'll do good.

Skip this bit. It's not the lack of your judgment that makes you a kid. It's the lack of your substance that keeps you locked in. Oh, and keeps them talking.

Oh, oh, oh.

Find out a way to spend your whole life holding hands with empty faces that you'll never see again. Search out a way to find a version of you you like. Why aren't you kidding? Why aren't you tired of me yet? Why don't you talk to me yet?

Why aren't you talking— why won't you tell me it? Why don't you talk to me again?

On my own. See, you're getting tired of everything. Why aren't you tired of me yet?

Why aren't you tired of me yet? Why aren't you tired of me yet? Why aren't you tired of me yet? Why aren't you Why don't you talk to me yet? Why don't you talk to me yet?

Why don't you talk to me yet? Why don't you talk to me—. Is it a sign?

Is it just me?

Whoa.

All of my life, waited for a sign. To rise.

Painted lights. Round her eyes. Her eyes.

All of her life, call out my name, she rise.

Lightning strikes in diamond mines, a bloody stone adorn on mine. A morning wasted on trivial, an evening wasted on primitive things. Around here everybody knows everybody, their past lives documented to the closest topic. At what time does the conversation start and end? Yeah.

Oh, is the good guys coming? Save us, promise a good life. Thank God that you came.

Always got Uncle Sam ready to save us. Thank God you came, thank God you came, thank God you came. We want, we want, thank God. We want, we want, thank God. We want, we want, thank God.

We want, we want, thank God. We want, we want, thank God. The bread's done, now we working for the pie. Spent a whole damn house on your wrist to praise God. Spent like 15 workers' salary on your wrist.

A place of chasing what you want, when you want, if you want, till it's up in dust. Billions burning in the clubs. Oh Father, please, no chasing peace. I must, she scream, but honestly I feel breach. We want, we want, thank God.

We want, we want, thank God. We want, we want, thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God. Always the good guys coming to save us, promise a good life. Thank God that you came.

Always got Uncle Sam ready to save us. Thank God you came, thank God you came, thank God you came.

Be a friend till the end, we'll fight.

The good fighting and the lives you've changed, the effects you've Is this the life you made for me? Always the good guys coming to save us. Promised a good life, thank God that you came. Always God, Uncle Sam ready to save us. Thank God you came, thank God you came, thank God you came.

Always the good guys coming to save us. Promised a good life, thank God that you came. Always got Uncle Sam ready to save us. Thank God you came, thank God you came, thank God you came.

The air's so fresh where I'm from. Palm trees, ready-made goods. Don't front, 'cause you was on your own time coming. Don't stop running, burning the leaves in the backyard. Summer's flower scented breeze keep warming me.

Tired of the priests keep warning me. Seconds from release, it's hard to treat. I'm too scared to breathe. From my beliefs. The land of freedom, the land for me.

Too scared to seek, too scared to be my own, you see. But I know I just need some selfish time. I need my relics that give me truth to what I know. Give me ruthless weight, all these paperweights, all these sacred spaces, basics placed in strangers' wasted blood. Oh, while you fall across the gap, no bridge stood, no man could reach.

I pray 3 times at night, hope you hear it. I'm nearing heights I dreamt of. Heights I fear, and since nobody else can hear me, let my ears bleed, let my heartstrings rip. Following the tide, never was assigned to align to the ceiling on the moon. My stride, low Gs, low weight, low everything.

Cheap these lights, these streaks, my guy. Too bright, can't vision, need my lenses. Blue ball in the sky, Keep turning on and on and on and on and on— I'm too scared to breathe! From my beliefs. The land of freedom, the land for me.

Too scared to see, too scared to be on my own, you see. But I know I just need some selfish time. I need my relics that give me truth to what I know. Give me ruthless weight of this paper. Weights of acres, aces, aces placing, changes placing.

The air's so fresh where I'm from. The air's so fresh where I'm from.

Well, I tried to think them away, but nothing could keep them at bay. In the town, I fight, they come right back again.

Seem nothing would stop them or last. Last, last, last. Ah. You can love it. You can choose to accept it all.

Try to feel it. Don't try to control it. You can do it.

Are we about ready?

Good evening, everybody. I will go ahead and call to order this regular meeting of the Anchorage Assembly. Tonight is October 7th, 2025. It's now 5:01 PM. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Member Myers? Here. Member McCormick? Here. Member Martinez?

Present. Member Baldwin-Day? Present. Member Johnson? Here.

Chair Constantine? Here. Vice Chair Brawley? Here. Member Boland?

Happy to be here. Member Silvers? Here. Member Rivera? Present.

Member Gerker? Here. Member Perez-Verdia? Here. And Youth Representative Lavarias?

Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you. Next, we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Myers, would you please lead us in the pledge?

Yes, Chair. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, Mr. Martinez, would you please read the land acknowledgement? Yes, Chair. A land acknowledgement is a formal statement recognizing the Indigenous people of a place.

It is a public gesture of appreciation for the past and present Indigenous stewardship of the lands that we now occupy. It is an actionable statement that marks our collective movement towards decolonization and equity. The Anchorage Assembly would like to acknowledge that we gather today on the traditional lands of the Dena'ina Athabascans. For thousands of years, the Dena'ina have been and continue to be the stewards of this land. It is with gratefulness and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations, and contemporary perspectives of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina.

Thank you so much, Mr. Martinez. Next, we have minutes of previous meetings. Tonight there are no minutes of previous meetings, so we'll then move into the mayor's report. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good evening, everyone.

I appreciate the opportunity to give an update before we get into tonight's agenda. First, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of a municipal staff member, Paolo Faamuli. Since March of 2023, Paolo worked in our public transportation department. He washed, fueled, checked fluids, and staged transit buses nightly. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and his colleagues in the public transportation department He will be missed.

Tonight, my team's 2026 budget proposals are on the agenda for introduction. The proposed operating budget funds our core municipal services. It also continues targeted investments to address our community's biggest challenges. My team and I are committed to building a stronger, safer, and more affordable Anchorage for all. Our 2026 proposal is a continuation of our current budget We are largely flat over last year aside from required increases and adjusting for inflation.

Our proposed bond package is also skinny compared to the need we see. We want to do more for our community. We receive tens of millions of dollars in budget requests for more services and projects that we simply cannot fund. The challenge is clear. We have lost a lot of outside funding over the last two decades.

This leaves the municipality overly reliant on property taxes. If we do not address our revenue structure, our departments will face cuts. Anchorage residents will see service reductions. I urge every resident to review the budget proposal and provide feedback over the next few weeks. I also urge all community members to join the broader fiscal conversation over the next several months.

This is our community. It is up to us to figure this out together, and I look forward to engaging with members in our discussion and consideration of the budget— and your consideration of the budget. The Performing Arts Center is a prime example of a municipal asset with significant capital and operational funding needs. It is one of several facilities built in the 1980s without a sustainable plan for maintenance. Many assets like the PAC need upgrades that we can no longer defer.

This center is a core piece of our arts and culture infrastructure. It's a vital gathering place downtown. I love seeing school buses out front when students are visiting for a performance or the statewide spelling bee. My team has been working diligently to find a way to keep the PAC open, and I want to extend thanks to our Chief Administrative Officer Bill Falzy for doing a lot of that heavy lifting. Tonight you will see an item on the agenda for an 18-month extension of the management agreement.

This includes an increase to the management fee by a little over $1 million, but not from general government funding. We've also included in the proposed capital budget some critical fire safety upgrades. Finally, we are introducing an ordinance tonight that would require registration of short-term rentals Owners of short-term rentals would need to provide some basic information to the municipality, such as the location, the type of housing unit, whether it's rented seasonally or year-round, and so on. This proposed ordinance has no anticipated cost impact. The municipality already collects bed taxes via hosting platforms like Airbnb and VRBO.

Instead, this registration requirement will help us learn key information about the potential impacts of short-term rentals on our economy and on the housing market in our community. Thank you to Assemblymembers Baldwin-Day, Johnson, and Bolen for joining me as co-sponsors. That's all for now. Back to you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good evening now, everybody. It's the Chair's report. Welcome to our regular business meeting. I'll start by discussing the budget briefly.

The big item before us This fall will be the 2026 muni budget. Thank you to the mayor's team who's been working diligently on the budget behind the scenes this summer and through the fall, and now it's before the assembly and up for public review. The budget documents are being introduced tonight, and there are several ways the public can be involved. First, you can watch the September 12 work session on the 2026 budget projections. The mayor and her team did an excellent job of laying out the challenges ahead with the muni budget.

You can find a link to that recording on the assembly's budget and taxes page. Public is also welcome to view online or attend the assembly's budget work sessions in October and November. It's always interesting to hear from each municipal department on their challenges and goals for the upcoming year.

We're still in conversations about that challenging CASA program. We're looking forward to more discussion on the CIP and CIB for that program, but we do appreciate the work that's going into that. And finally, your voice is welcome in the process. You can email the assembly with your thoughts on the budget at any time, and there are at least two public hearings scheduled held, one on October 21st and one on November 4th. All this information and tips for how to follow the budget can be found on the assembly's website.

Go to muni.org/assembly and look for the budget and taxes button on our home page. Next, I'll pivot back to the 50th anniversary of our municipality. I've been pleased to see so much participation in the 50th anniversary. There have been really fun events, activities, and reflections in our history, who we are as a community, and what lays ahead in our future. I encourage you to visit muni.org/50.

That's 5-0. To get the maps for the Hidden Gems and Neighborhood Time Machine scavenger hunts and to read stories of the history of the community groups and leaders who've been working in our community for the last 50 years. Celebration will conclude First Friday at the museum on November 7th. Parks and Rec is also having some fun activities through Halloween. They have Haunted and Enchanted Trails.

To end on a fun note, the Parks and Rec Department's hosting the Haunted and Enchanted Trails event at Goose Lake on October 17th and 18th. You can get a fright on the haunted trail on Friday night or embark on a magical adventure in the woods Saturday afternoon. They're also looking for volunteers to dress in costumes for both events. You can purchase tickets and sign up to volunteer at the Muni Parks and Rec Department website. We have a busy meeting before us tonight, so I'll conclude my remarks just by saying this is a regular business meeting of the municipality and the assembly.

We're here to do the work of the Muni. Please help create a climate of respect in the chambers and refrain from personal attacks. Speaking out of turn or shouting or clapping and pacing unless clapping is in order. If you have signs, keep them to 8.5 by 11 inches or smaller. Please keep the aisles clear unless you're lined up to testify.

Please do not approach the dais. But if you have information for members of the assembly, please hand it to the clerk for distribution. Also, if a point of order is called, please stop speaking so I may rule on the point of order and the record is clear. If the rules aren't followed, the chair may interrupt speakers to call for compliance. Compliance with the rules doesn't occur.

Chair may pause the meeting. There's an actual disruption, the chair will give a warning. If the disruption persists or happens again, the person may be asked to leave. With that then, we will go down the dais for committee reports from members. So we'll start with Mr. Myers.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing to report. Right, thank you. Mr. McCormick?

Nothing to report, thank you. Mr. Martinez? Thank you, Chair. The last meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee, uh, was last Thursday, and a couple of the items that that folks may want to look up on our website for that were discussed were the Penny for Project Strategic Investment, third-party review that will continue at the next meeting on November 6th, and then also work that the administration has been advancing and held a work session on as well around RDUs and the other exciting news about what's happening on the housing front there. And then, Chair, I just wanted to just share a note from the Chamber of Commerce.

Tomorrow they'll be hosting a conversation, a Q&A with myself around the Penny for Progress strategic investment initiative. And then one note just to the mayor, a word of solidarity. As I kind of sit and communicate with counties all across the country as the liaison to the National Association of Counties, counties everywhere all across America are confronting being overleveraged from times in the past when other dollars were building infrastructure, and now those dollars are no longer there. So finding new revenues, finding ways to be more effective and efficient with economic development patterns is really what's important as well. So we're not alone, but growing an economy is what's important, that communities all across the country are having that conversation.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Ms. Baldwin-Day. Nothing to report. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Baldwin-Day. Mr. Johnson. Yeah, thank you. The next meeting of the Assembly's Legislative Committee will be on October 23rd at 2:30 PM at City Hall. And then the October meeting of the Infrastructure Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee has been canceled this month.

So see you all in November. Thank you. Next, Miss Brawley. Yeah, thank you. Just briefly, um, the Budget and Finance Committee is normally scheduled for the third week of the month, and we have canceled our October 16th meeting.

Um, so we will see you in a future meeting, and otherwise, uh, members will be spending their time with the FY26 budget in the work session on Friday. Thank you.

Miss Froeland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, currently there is a Transportation Committee scheduled for next week, Wednesday, October 15th. My co-chair and I are working with the clerk's office to get that rescheduled for the following week, Wednesday the 22nd at 1 PM, immediately following the Quality Municipal Services Committee.

Thank you. Thank you, Miss Solis. Nothing to report, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr.

Chair, nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. Gerker. Thank you, Mr. Chair, nothing to report. Thank you.

Mr. Presverdia.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a brief update on the Assembly Public Health and Safety Committee. We met on October 1st. We had an overview of the new crisis response system metrics, a new dashboard that's being created.

It's really exciting to see that the data coming forward. I encourage you, if you weren't able to make that meeting, to listen to it. Some really wonderful information that's going to help us to really make that system stronger and stronger. We also had updates from Red Cross and the Tsunami Warning Center giving us an update on the work that they're doing. And finally, we had Chief Case come and review the draft policies for the Real-Time Crime Center.

You probably have heard some of this on the news about the new technology coming to our city to really help APD. So we had some time to review that, that policy, made some suggested changes, and we'll see more of those policies coming forward in future meetings. Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you. Anything to add, Mr. Levaris? I would like to comment a bit about student life in West Anchorage High School. Go ahead. With the turn of October ends Suicide Prevention Month, and earlier that September, the school held an assembly in its auditorium for a celebrity visit.

His name is Alex Boye. And he is a Nigerian musician from London who played for America's Got Talent. Other than show off his music, he also talked about his own past experiences when he was abandoned by his mother and faced abuse from his own uncle when he was a boy, which led to suicidal thoughts. However, his experiences with abuse did not stop him from pursuing his dreams of playing music, and he would go on to find success chasing it. In his presentation, Boya told us that our stressors only burden ourselves, and we must let go of it in order to maintain happiness.

He asked us to rate ourselves on a scale from 1 to 10 based on our self-worth, and then he told us that the only correct answer is a 10 because we all are our perfect selves. With such a positive message, it followed us after the assembly. In the classrooms, we were telling each other that we are 10s. At the homecoming dance, they wrote that we are 10s. Even last week, students were telling each other the message that you are a 10.

Therefore, his positivity lingers on with us, and I feel quite optimistic about mental health in our school. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. LeVice. And I'm going to take back the microphone briefly just to note, um, usually we would have introduced and passed tonight a resolution welcoming Alaska Federation of Natives into town, and somehow this one slipped by. So I will say that this year, um, the Alaska Federation of Natives convention is happening October 16th the 18th, and I think the 17th and the 15th and 14th for the Youth and Elders Conference as well.

So welcome AFN to Anchorage, and by the next time we meet, we'll have had the biggest gathering of Native people in Alaska, and it's going to be a great time. So please come down to the Dena'ina Center, and thank you to the Federation for continuing to meet in our fair city. So with that, then we will go ahead and move on to our addendum to the agenda. The addendum to the agenda has a number of items tonight. I'll read the supplemental items first.

Uh, 10F7, information memorandum, AIM, unnumbered, administration's answers to assembly questions. That's 10F7. Then I have unfinished items. I have 11A8, assembly memorandum, AM, unnumbered, resolution error, number 2025-271S2, a resolution of the Anchorage Assembly supporting and committing to the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project in the municipality. 11A.9 Assembly Memorandum AM numbered 2025 Resolution AR2025-271S2, Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly supporting and committing to the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project.

Also 11B.2 Resolution AR2025-270S1, Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly proposing a formula for allocating a portion of the municipal room tax Dedicated to the promotion of tourism industry to a designated tourism promotion nonprofit. That's the supplemental items. Next we have a couple of— 1, 2, 3 items that need to be, um, introduced with a motion, a second, and a concurring third. So, uh, these are relative to the budget. So 10G14, AO 2025-110, an ordinance amending Anchorage Municipal Municipal Code Chapters 135, 320, and 330 relating to the organization of the executive branch, setting forth the duties and responsibilities of executive branch agencies.

Is there a motion? Move to lay on the table. Second. Third. So I think the motion is moved to introduce, right, Madam Clerk?

So that's what I meant to say. Yeah, it's kind of weird, that one. So moved by Mr. Johnson, I think seconded by Mr. Bohannan, third by Miss Sprawley. Did I get that right? Yes.

Okay, did I get it backwards? Um, next we have item 10G15 AO unnumbered 2025, an ordinance of the Municipality of Anchorage amending Anchorage Municipal Code 11.60.200 to increase mandatory airport charges and fees. Is there a motion to introduce? Second. Third.

By Miss Brawley, second by Mr. Mullins, third by Mr. Johnson.

We have item 10G. 16 AO 2025-106, an ordinance of the Municipality of Anchorage adopting and appropriating funds for the 2026 general government operating budget for the Municipality of Anchorage. Um, this public hearing is set for 10/21/25 and 11/04/25. Is there a motion? Moved to introduce.

Second. Moved by Mr. Wallen, seconded by Miss Brawley. Was that third by Miss Silvers? Uh, that was, that was Baldwin Day. Yes.

Okay, thank you. So then we have one last item. I think last item will require a vote but not a supermajority vote because it's simply a resolution for introduction, not for hearing tonight. 10G.17, Resolution AR 2825-297, a resolution adopting the 2026 to 2031 Six-Year Fiscal Program. Public hearings on 10/21 and 11/4/2025.

Is there a motion? Move to introduce. Second. Third. Moved by Ms. Bry, second by Ms. Baldwin-Day, third by Mr. Walland.

So I think that takes care of our laid on the table procedure.

Oh, I'm sorry, I would like to ask for unanimous consent. Is there any objection to adopting that item? The item was— we got a third, but it's— I just needed the motion, the second. So that's moved by Brawley, seconded by Ms. Baldwin-Day. Is there any objection?

Hearing and seeing no objection, item is introduced. Thank you, Madam Clerk. And Mr. Johnson.

All right, so now I'd like to go ahead and ask for a motion to incorporate the addendum as printed and distributed and the laid on the table items. So moved. Second. Mr. Myers has moved, Mr. Volland has seconded. The motion is to incorporate.

I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the motion? Seeing, hearing no objection, the addendum and laid on the table items have been incorporated into the agenda. That brings us now to item 9 on the agenda, which is appearance requests. Mr. Whitaker, please come forward.

Please, when you get up, state your name and what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes.

And the microphone's not on. There's a, I think, a green or yellow button there.

Microphone on. Good.

49 People died outside last year. That is totally unacceptable.

There should not be a single homeless people in the state of Alaska with $60 billion in the Permanent Fund.

This community must do better.

How many people are going to die outside this winter?

This mayor is doing crisis management, and she's enriching certain people, specifically Mark Baggage and Sheldon, his business partner. They're not adding any new beds.

I encourage all of you, including the mayor, to go down to the corner of Second and Orca Street, where the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has built their storage facility. It is 60 by 175. If you put a second story on there, you could double the space.

I want to remind you all that the largest earthquake in the North American continent happened right here in 1964, and we're going to have another one sometime.

This community is not ready for that earthquake. If the municipality built a building like it is at Second and Orchid Street, I estimate the cost to be about $7.5 $7.5 million, that's less than you're paying Mark Biggage and Sheldon Fisher, then you would have a building that you could put people in and get them out of, several hundred people easily. If the city had more money, you could build 10 of them. And then when the big earthquake hits and nobody has power, you have these places where people can go and be safe and be warm. You have to have a vision of the future, and I don't see that vision.

I don't see that vision happening. This community should be ashamed that anybody's dying outside.

It should not be enriching Mark Begich. He has enough money already.

I ask at this time that we all take our hats off and say a silent prayer. Time has expired. For those who are outside, your time has expired, and threatened with not being able to be able to walk through this court. Mr. Walker, your time has expired.

Just a minute, that's all I'm asking.

Mr. Whitaker, your time has expired. Mr. Jesse is the next. My time has expired, but those people are still out there and they're at risk. We got to do Mr. Whitaker, your time has expired.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I'm giving you a warning that you are being disruptive.

The microphone's off.

We have Jeff Jesse. Please state your name, what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes. Uh, thank you, Chair Constant, members of the assembly. My name is Jeff Jesse.

I live on the Lower Hillside. Uh, first I want to apologize. I'm sorry that we were not able to resolve this Performing Arts Center alcohol issue. It's been 6 weeks. I really thought that when you amended that resolution that it would lead to a series of discussions and some sort of reasonable compromise, but that just hasn't happened.

We've asked over and over to have a meeting with ACPA. We were not given that opportunity. I did note that Cody Costello sent you an email last night saying that Oh, well, they met with Tiffany Hall from Recover Alaska. Well, that wasn't a meeting. There was no discussion.

That was a tour. And during the tour, ACPA announced to Tiffany that they intended to have 97.8% of all the theaters be wet and would allocate 43 seats for people that weren't drinking. There are a lot of ways that you could look at trying to figure out what the right ratio of wet to dry would be. You could look at how many people are buying alcohol now and extrapolate that to the increased demand. Uh, you could do a survey of patrons.

You could look at what other venues in town are doing. None of that was, uh, done. None of that seems to be of interest to ACPA. Well, I did talk to the other venues, uh, and I will say that both the Alaska Airlines Center and the Sullivan Arena independently have come to very reasonable and balanced approaches to allocating between wet and dry. They look at each event.

If it's an event focused on younger children, there's less or no alcohol. If it's an adult event, there's more alcohol. It's clearly not that difficult to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office won't do anything with your resolution because it's not an official legal act of the body. So what we're asking is that you conduct a work session, that you listen to what the Sullivan and the Alaska Airlines Center have done, and that you pick a— I know you don't want to get into the details and the weeds of allocating between wet and dry, But I think if you picked a maximum that was close to the maximum that those public venues already use, that would be plenty of, uh, wet seats.

It would be certainly way more than half of the audience would be wet, but there would be considerable space for people that didn't want to be next to drinking. This is our facility. It's a public facility. It needs to be open and welcoming to all, and I hope that you will put this issue to rest as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Jesse.

All right, next on the agenda we have the consent agenda. So the consent agenda, for the public's knowledge, are items 10A through 10G, other than items— excuse me, 10A through 10G— and are typically routine or non-controversial items such as bid awards, new business information reports, Ordinances and resolutions for introduction. The items on the consent agenda may be accepted, introduced, or approved by the assembly by a single vote on a motion to approve the consent agenda. Prior to approval, items may be pulled by members for discussion and separate vote on each item. Under the rules of procedural ordinances and some resolutions, we'll have an opportunity for public hearing.

So we'll go ahead and start with Mr. Presidio. No items. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Presidio. Mr. No items, thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Kirker. Mr. Rivera. No items, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Rivera.

Miss Overus. No items, thank you. Thank you, Miss Overus. Mr. Voland. No items, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Voland. Miss Braley. Thanks, uh, just a few items. First, uh, 10A2 for reading, and then, uh, 10B3 and 10C1 and 10D14, and then the last is not, um Pulling, but I'd like to request that the public hearing for item 10G4 AO, uh, 2025-114 be set for November 4th instead of October 21st. It is so directed.

So I have 10A2, 10B3, 10C1, and 10D14. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Johnson. No items, Mr.

Chair. Thank you. Miss Baldwin-Day. Thank you, Chair. 10C2 and 10F 10F2, please.

So that's 10C2 and 10F2. Thank you. Mr. Martinez? No items. Thank you.

Mr. McCormick? No items. Thank you. Mr. Myers? Thank you, Mr.

Chair. No additional items. Thank you. Run through the list then. Uh, did somebody pull 10A1 or have 10A1 to pull?

Oh, okay, I didn't get that. So, okay, so we have 10A2, Ms. Brawley, 10B3. Ms. Brawley, 10C1. Ms. Brawley, 10C2. Ms. Baldwin-Day, 10D14.

Ms. Brawley, 10F2. Ms. Baldwin-Day. Any other items? Seeing and hearing none, then I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda minus the pulled items. So moved.

Second. Moved by Ms. Baldwin-Day, seconded by Mr. Voland. I'd also like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to adoption of the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, the motion is adopted.

The consent agenda has been approved. For the public, for your information, any of the items 10A through 10G, um, that were not pulled have now been passed and approved by the assembly. So next we will move on to the fun part of the night. We have item 10A2, Resolution AR2025-303, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing October 2025 as Filipino American History Month "The Time to Celebrate Filipino Americans and Their Cultural and Historic Contributions." This item was pulled by you, Ms. Sprague. I move to approve.

Second. Moved by Ms. Sprague, seconded by Mr. Voland. I would like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the adoption? Seeing and hearing none, this item is adopted.

Who is reading and who's presenting? I'll be presenting and Mr. LaVarious will be reading. Mr. LaVarious, you have the floor.

AR number 2025-303, resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing October 2025 as Filipino American History Month, a time to celebrate Filipino Americans and their cultural and historic contributions. Whereas the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the United States was on October 18, 1587, and the first Filipinos arrived in Alaska in 1788 on the fur trading ship Ifigenia Nubiana, with Filipinos settling in Alaska in the early 1900s in the coastal villages in Southeast and Bristol Bay, and by the 1930s in Anchorage; and whereas Filipino Americans have a rich history of public and military service and participation and leadership in social justice movements, including the United Farm Workers movement, the fight for ethnic studies, the Washington Yakima strikes, and the anti-martial law movements; and whereas, the Filipino American National Historical Society's 2025 Filipino American History Month theme is "From Quotas to Communities: Filipino American Migration and Movement," commemorating the 90th anniversary of the 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act and the 60th anniversary anniversary of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act; and whereas, in 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Filipino Repatriation Act, offering free one-way transportation for Filipinos in the U.S. to return to the Philippines if they agreed to never return. At the time, there was an annual quota of 50 Filipinos who were allowed to enter the U.S. Filipinos were not allowed to become citizens or own property. The intentions behind the law were rooted in anti-Asian sentiments and Asian exclusion. And whereas, 30 years later, the U.S. Congress passed the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, which was the first federal immigration law to eliminate national origin quotas that had favored Europeans, while barring or limiting Asians from entering the U.S.

This legislation opened the doors for thousands of Filipinos to migrate to the U.S., reuniting families and establishing multigenerational communities across the nation. The act has allowed the number of Filipino Americans in the U.S. to grow from 176,000 in 1960 to over 4 million in 2025. And whereas, the State of Alaska recognizes the advocacy, leadership, courage, and service of Filipino Americans in Anchorage and Alaska, whose struggles, resistance, solidarity, and resilience have helped to sustain our community and state during challenging and transformative times, by formally recognizing Filipino American History Month in 2023. Now therefore, the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizes and celebrates October 2025 as Filipino American History Month. Passed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly this 7th day of October, 2025.

All right. Hello, my name is Adler Dauphin, and I'm a school counselor at West Anchorage High School and the proud sponsor, sponsor of West Filipino Club. I started Filipino Club in 2022 to encourage students to learn more about their Filipino culture, identity, and history. It has become a safe space where many of our students can connect, build community, and feel a strong sense of belonging. Belonging.

West Filipino Club is honored to recognize Filipino American History Month with, with you all. We are deeply thankful for this opportunity to celebrate our culture, our stories, and our Fil-Am community. I'm excited to introduce one of our dedicated Filipino Club members who's been a part of this for 3 years and currently serves as a club secretary. He's a proud senior, deeply connected to his Filipino culture, and has been actively involved in FCC FCAA for 3 years. He's also now one of your Anchorage Assembly Youth Representatives.

It's my honor with gratitude to introduce you to Jacob Lavarias.

Youth Member Lavarias, you have the floor. Thank you.

As a Filipino youth representative, the secretary of West High Filipino Club and a member of FCAA's cultural dance troupe. I would like to express gratitude to the Anchorage Assembly and the Filipino community for the celebration and recognition of Filipinos as a part of U.S. history. From the first alaskeros who worked the salmon canning industry to the migrations of the late 20th century during the Marcos dictatorship and the loosening of immigration restrictions, we have come from across the Pacific for better economic opportunities and a better life. This includes my own family, from my great-grandparents to my own parents, migrating from their homes around Manila and Bulacan to settle in California, Virginia, and mostly here in Anchorage to build a new life in the North. I am glad that the Filipino community is getting representation in Alaskan politics, from the first Filipino American legislator, Thelma Buchold, to the present with Representative Genevieve Mina.

I am also glad that the city of Anchorage and the state of Alaska kindly welcomes its Filipino residents with celebrations such as the Pista sa Nayon to the celebration of Filipino American History Month right here in the assembly chambers. Personally, being involved with Filipino groups has greatly enhanced my life, from connecting socially with other people of common backgrounds to opening doors for more opportunities. Joining the Filipino Club I was able to connect socially with fellow Filipino students and with Ms. Dauphin. As a club, we participated in events such as the Manda Convention at the museum and collaborations with other groups such as the UAA Kabayan Community to discuss and share our identity. Later that— during that period, I also joined the Filipino Community of Anchorage, Alaska's cultural dance troupe, where I connected with more Filipino adults and learned many dances that come from our people.

Being with FCAA, we connected with other Filipino diaspora communities around the country, gained scholarships to fund our education, and I even joined the assembly with the recommendation of our president, Lorna Garcia. Overall, joining West Filipino Club and FCAA has fostered a greater sense of identity and self-improvement. I am once again glad and thankful to the assembly to pass this recognition resolution, and I am proud to live in a city that embraces its diverse ethnic background. Or yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lavarias. Um, I'll be very brief. Um, just wanted to highlight that Mr. Lavarias is one of our 3 youth reps, and if any of the other 2 youth reps are listening, I would invite you— we pass resolutions like this throughout the year, as well as people write ones that are not just our annual ones but what we call pop-up resolutions. And I would also encourage members, especially working with the youth reps in your district, um, if you want to work with them on one of the items that we do have coming up on an agenda or a separate one.

I reached out to Jacob earlier because I thought this was timely and a good learning experience. And so I hope that for the other members, for the other youth reps as well. And if it's not me working with, with you, certainly I think others on the dais would be happy to. So, and again, thank you, everybody, for being here. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Emery Dadoag. I'm currently the president of Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans, Inc. And the Art Association and the rest of the Filipino groups is having a— will host the Filipino History Month. That's on October 18th.

It's from 1 to 4 o'clock over at AAACC. That's in Northwood Elementary School. So if you have the time, please be there. Thank you.

Representative Mena? Nope, no one? Anyone else? Okay, thank you everybody. Are you sure you don't want to speak, Representative Mena?

I mean, please. Good evening, members of the assembly. Magandang kabehisa inyang lahat. I'm just really grateful for the Anchorage Assembly to continue recognizing Philippine American History Month. It's a really great honor to really uplift this community, uh, on a statewide level and to have all these different celebrations and to really recognize the complexities of our community, our contributions, and the ways that we continue to step up.

And I am just so heartened to see the next generation of Filipino Americans to be involved. So thank you. Thank you.

So, um, I'm going to go ahead and read the next two items. They're proposed for a postponement and for the same reason to the same time, so I'll go ahead and read both. Sorry, Madam Clerk. Item 10B3, which is Resolution AR-2025-308, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly authorizing the use of MLNP sale proceeds to retire ACPA roof bond and CAMA tax system municipal debt. And then I'll go ahead and also read 10D14, which is Assembly Memorandum Number AM-759-2025, a memorandum of the Municipality of Anchorage seeking Assembly approval to amend the management agreement between the Municipality of Anchorage and Alaska Center for Performing Arts by extending the contract term to June 30th, 2027.

Miss Brawley. Move to postpone both of these items to the meeting of October 21st.

Second. A motion to postpone by Miss Brawley. It's October 21st, seconded by, uh, Miss Baldwin-Day. Miss Ms. Braly. Yeah, um, we have requested a work session on both of these items.

They are related, um, and that would be proposed for October 16th, and so that would give time before the next meeting. Thanks. And I would note October 16th is a tricky day because it's during AFN, and we've had some cancellations, but the LSO, Legislative Services staff, is working on parking arrangements for members to be able to park in the parking garage right next door. So we're making plans to make sure there's a space for everyone there. As well, uh, telephonic participation is allowed.

Um, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the motion to postpone those two items?

I'm seeing and hearing no objections. Those two items will be back for us at our next regular meeting.

So next we have item 10C1. 10C1 is Assembly Memorandum AM732-2025, recommendation of award. Wait, this one is no action. The administration has asked us to take no action on this item, so we won't actually read it. Next we have item 10C2, Assembly Memorandum AM 737-25, recommendation of award of Ryan Construction for the Alaska Center for Treatment project.

This item was pulled by you, Ms. Baldwin-Day. Uh, yes, move to accept—. Approve. Oh, approve, excuse me. Second.

A motion to approve by Ms. Baldwin-Day, seconded by Ms. Brawley. Ms. Ballandé. Thank you, Chair. Yeah, really, really grateful to see this coming forward. I actually had a question about the scope of the project, particularly the new HVAC units and the interior roof access.

I'm curious if someone could speak to whether that is only going to happen in the portion of the building that is going to be used for treatment, or is that throughout the Golden Lion? Is the HVAC system in its entirety going to be revamped or just that particular spot? Mr. Tripp from the, um, maintenance and operations team will come up and respond to that question.

Welcome, Mr. Tripp.

Is this on?

Yeah. Okay, uh, through the Chair to Member Baldwin-Day, I missed part of the, the end of that question, but the beginning was about the HVAC units and what they serviced. Correct. It says that the project will incorporate new HVAC units, and I was curious if that was only going to be occurring in the part of the Golden Lion that's been earmarked for treatment, what used to be the lounge upstairs, or if that HVAC work is going to extend to the entirety of the building.

Those units provide air to the entirety of the building, not necessarily inside the units, but the communal hallways, laundry rooms, service areas, all that stuff. Okay, um, yeah, thank you. That was, that was really all I was curious about. I was trying to square the, um, square the expenditures with the scope of the project, and that makes a lot more sense. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further questions on the item? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0 in the youth member votes, yes, yes, AM 737-2025 has passed the body. That takes us to Last item on our consent agenda, which is item 10F2. 10F2 is information memorandum AIM 192-2025, Board of Ethics Annual Report. Miss Baldwin-Day, you pulled this item. Yes, move to approve.

This one is accept. Accept. Second. Thank you. Moved to accept by Miss Baldwin-Day, seconded by— was that Mr. Vong?

Miss Baldwin-Day. Thank you. Um, yes, I, I'd love to, um, ask Mr. Arvasti a couple of questions if he's here with us.

Thank you. Welcome. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions. First, I want to express my appreciation for this report and the breakdown of how the Commission, the Ethics Commission has spent its time. I'm, I'm particularly interested in the recommendations for improvement that you made and would like to understand from you a little bit more what specific language would actually be helpful to you and to the officers in really nailing down what a prohibited conflict of interest might be.

Is the language that you mentioned in Griswold v. City of Homer, is that enough, or is there something more that should be added or could be added to clarify and code?

I think you just turned the mic off, Mr. Ervasti. Oh, I'm sorry. There you go. My name is Paul Ervasti. I'm one of the two municipal ethics officers that were appointed by Mayor LaFrance, I think about a year ago, and I'm also the legal advisor for the Board of Ethics.

So as we discussed earlier today, I think what the— what we did in our annual report is we kept those recommendations for improvement a little bit too vague. So what might be helpful is for us to come back and work together and have the board come up with concrete provisions that we think are in need of improvement. And then what I understand is that, you know, as we all are, you would be happy to work with us and get those approved so we can provide greater clarity in the code of ethics. So the first provision dealing with conflicts of interest, it was just the board maybe a little bit struggling with trying to define that line between what a potential conflict of interest is and one that's not even— doesn't even have the potential for being a conflict of interest. So if we could provide greater clarity in that provision, that would be helpful.

And as far as the municipal ethics officer's roles as well, sometimes there's almost a safe harbor provision where a public servant can go to the Board of Ethics, seek their advice, and then is able to rely on that, and they're not able to be sanctioned for relying on the board's advice later on. And there's specific provisions where the conflict of interest section, for example, was written before the municipal ethics officer position was appointed. So it has this procedure where they go to the department director to make a determination on whether an employee has a conflict of interest. And we think maybe there's areas like that where we could clarify the role of an ethics officer and allow a department director to have that sort of safe harbor where they can kind of rely on the advice that's given. So there are potentially a couple areas where we could improve and provide greater clarity for the, uh, code of ethics, and we'd be happy to work on doing that.

Yeah, I think that would be very welcome. Obviously we all have a vested interest in keeping the business of the municipality above board in every way, and, and so I, I would definitely be interested in receiving a memo of some sort from the board outlining, you know, what that could look like in code. I'd be really pleased to support that. So thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Baldonado, I would say— I'd say wait to read it before you decide whether you're happy to support it, but just a thought. That members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, yes, AIM 192-2025 has been accepted. So now the question before us is, do we take our regularly scheduled dinner break now, or do we wade through 11A?

I think we're gonna go ahead and take dinner. We'll come back. Yeah, thank you everybody.

How does one love? How does one see? How does one be anything at all? How does one love? How does one see?

How does one be anything at all? I get lost and I like it like that, I like it like that. Love has its cost, now I'm all back, cuz boy, I'm back. How does one love? How does one see?

How does one be anything at all? How How does one love? How does one sing? How does one be anything at all? How does one love?

But it isn't there, but it isn't there. How does one love?

I get lost and I like it like that. Yeah, I like it like that. Love has a cost. Now I'm all back, cuz boy, I'm back. How does one love?

How does one see? How does one The sun is setting on our love.

You kept me. Yes, I haven't cried enough. Let me love you down. Let me love you down. I never, I never dream over.

I try to dream so Nothing's better than being home with your loved ones. You won't be alone. When it's cold out, you'll be in warm in your own bed and from the storm. Home is calling when you feel adrift. It'll always be there and never miss.

Life has got you all around. You never feel you got your feet on the ground. Home sweet home is where I wanna be. Home sweet home, a place to find some peace.

You are worried of what's to come, but you never know until it's all said and done. You can stay home all night and day, resting your mind, keeping your bad thoughts away. Dear Assembly members, let us do the work of the Assembly. Before we get started, we'll take up our tradition, I think, I think there's one of them missing though. Our young people, are we missing one?

Okay, have her come back.

Just in time, she disappeared. So we'll hold for just a few more seconds while we wait for this individual to return.

No pressure.

Yeah, you can tell your teacher the whole city government came to a halt.

Wasn't a young lady, it was a young gentleman. Why don't you all come forward and please introduce yourself? We have a tradition at the assembly to welcome forward any high school students who are here for a class. Please tell us your name, what class you're here for.

And then we'll have the clerk take a picture down there if we can. We are from Lumen Christi High School, specifically a U.S. government class, and so we're just going to be sitting in and paying attention to what it is that you guys do. And what's your name? I'm Rita Medland. Hi Rita, welcome.

Nice to meet y'all. Um, I'm Molly Sillers. Welcome. I'm Vincent Everard. I'm Porter Brady.

And I'm Nicholas Boring. Thank you for having us. The one, the one who held us up.

Just kidding, just kidding.

Thanks for making it tonight. Your government in action. One, one last question. Who is your teacher at Lumen Christi? Miss Katherine Hazlett is our teacher.

Excellent. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, so now we get on to the business. 11A is Resolution AR 2025-271, Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly Supporting Committing to Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings Project in the Municipality of Anchorage.

Uh, there is a motion to approve on the floor. Mr. Walland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to postpone item 11A in its entirety.

Second. So we have a motion to postpone item indefinitely. A indefinitely. So you want to speak to that, Mr. Roland? Yeah, thank you.

So we had, I think, what was some good discussion about this project, um, at a recent work session. I know there's multiple versions that have been brought forward. Um, I'll, I'll just say from, from my perspective, um, at the work session I didn't seem to hear a lot of interest or willingness on the part of the project sponsors or advocates to, to pivot the focus and scope of the project. Additionally, I did have the opportunity to look at one of the Better Public Meetings projects that was done in a different jurisdiction. And I found some of the recommendations that were brought forward curious, including there was one to do like rotating meetings.

And, um, you know, not only then would the public have to know what time the meeting was, but they would also have to know when or where the meeting was. And so I just, I don't know that I perceive a lot of value in this project moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Solvers.

Yeah, um, I really love the concept. I think civic engagement and better meetings are important. I think that this resolution misses the mark for a couple reasons.

First of all, so I spent a lot of time reviewing the website, reviewing some of the other cities that have kind of taken on this pilot project. And what I found is that this is less of an evaluation or a civic snapshot, as they call it, and more of a validation of confirmation bias. And it's also an opening for advancing a broader agenda. So if you look at the website of the org leading this, the National Civic League, problems and solutions have already been presented. More interestingly, The final recommendations are essentially the same across communities that have participated.

So it doesn't matter if it's a city council in Boulder or a school board in Mesa, Arizona, the recommendations are the same. So what that tells me is that this isn't really lis— planning to listen to the public. It's kind of just leading to a foregone conclusion. And I can read those recommendations well enough online without actually funding a year-long pilot to get to a predetermined end.

The Better Meetings Pilot is also included as a part of a larger agenda, which includes a model city charter that makes recommendations for things like elections, city attorneys, and city managers. So it really feels like less of an opportunity to truly listen, engage with the public, and more like the advancement of a model city agenda. Then the second problem that I have with it, or the second concern, is that I think it's community council-centric. I really appreciate the community councils, but they are often not representative of the community as a whole. I want to hear from the community beyond community councils, and I want to know how we can get more people involved in civic engagement, but I'd like to do this without an outside organization really pushing an agenda on us disguised as listening and learning from the community.

Ms. Baldwin-Day.

I find myself, um, I find myself exceedingly disappointed, um, and I think I'm disappointed for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the genesis of this resolution was a group of deeply committed local organizations who, who came to the conclusion, the precise conclusion in fact, that many of my colleagues on the dais have articulated, and that is that there is a lack of engagement, representative engagement, here in Anchorage And we aren't exactly sure why that's true.

And I don't think it's an overstatement to say that there is not existing capacity at this level to do the work of discovery to understand why that is.

And I think that the fact that we have a group of community organizations that are excited to move this project forward, and all they need from us is for us to say yes, at least two of us will participate meaningfully, will contribute in a very, very small financial way, and then we'll simply be willing to listen to whatever recommendations come forward in terms of how we might understand better the barriers that our community faces in accessing their city government. And that's too— and that's too large of an ask. Like, I— that's, that's really, really deeply disappointing to me that we would, that we would cut this off at the knees without even giving an opportunity for the groundwork to be laid. And, and I think we've made it clear— myself and my co-sponsor have made it clear over the course of this conversation that this is a process by which We are invited to customize literally everything to fit our community. And I'm, I, I'm feeling really, really disappointed that we cannot give a group of organizations a, like, thumbs up and a high five to go and do the work that we ourselves don't have the capacity to do in partnership with another entity that has done this elsewhere.

And I think it's a little bit spurious to say that any of this is coming with an agenda other than to understand more, more deeply what keeps our community from coming and showing up here. And so I, I am disappointed, but given the conversations that we've had over the course of the last several weeks, I can't say that I'm entirely surprised.

And I hope that in the future when the community comes to us and says, hey, we'd like to partner with you, we'd like to help you, we would like to generate additional understanding, that we will be more open to that opportunity, to that possibility, rather than saying this project doesn't meet a very, very narrow set of desires and therefore we, we will not empower the community to do self-discovery work. Um, I, I sincerely hope that there is a time where this can move forward. Mr. Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think we all know we're at on this item, so I would ask to call the question. Second. So there's a motion by Mr. Myers to call the question, seconded I think by Mr. McCormick. Um, the question is before us.

On a vote of 8 to 4, the question has been called. The question is the motion to postpone indefinitely.

On a vote of 9 to 3, the item has been postponed indefinitely. Indefinitely. Next, we have item 11B, AR 2025-270, resolution of the Anchorage Assembly proposing a formula for allocating a portion of the municipal room tax dedicated to promotion of tourism industry to a designated tourism promotion nonprofit, establishing additional use of municipal room tax dedicated to promotion of tourism industry. This item was before us on the 9/9/23, and there's no motion pending.

Move to approve.

Which version? Uh, the original version, please. Motion to approve the original version, and there is a second. So Miss Baldwin-Day has moved, there's a second by Miss Sprawley.

You wish to speak to it? Um, I would defer to one of my co-sponsors. So, um Mr. Constant. Thank you.

I brought forward an amendment that's in your packet.

If you want to look at the amendment language, this project was intended to send a clear message to the administration that they look— need to look closely at the formula by which this funding is approved under the next 10-year contract. I can tell you in the process— and I'm sorry, Ms. Baldende and my other sponsors, I didn't run this amendment by you. This just kind of happened over the kind of afternoon after seeing additional items and hearing some additional feedback. And I think that this amendment works for any of the items that are before us. Um, and the intent— it mirrors the true intent that I had from the beginning and the process by which we got to the original draft it was pretty painful because everybody always wants to default to the finish line, to come up with the conclusion and have that before us.

My intent at the beginning was always to provide advice to the administration that we need to see a reallocation, not that it needs to be in form X or form Y or form Z. And, um, the original item as we introduced it I fully intended, if you read through the language, for it to also be in the language of please consider doing something like this, not please do this, right? And so I am going to propose, since I have the floor, uh, my amendment. I move Constant Amendment 1. Second.

So Constant Amendment 1 moved by Mr. Constant, second by Mr. Boland. So the purpose of this amendment is to strip away all of the what it's going to do, how it's going to do it, and empower the administration to come up with a fair deal for the incumbent contractor who is providing these services and for other matters that might be necessary. And then they will bring back to us the proposal in the form of a draft contract. And so, um, instead of us trying to micromanage the nature of the request to them, I think that the mission is accomplished essentially by simply forwarding this to them to say, please come up with a way to balance the equation.

So I'm asking your support on this amendment and on the main motion so that we can just get this off of our table, let the administration make a proposal, and come back to us with a proposal that works. So that's the framework that I have presented before you. Mr. Johnson. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the amendment.

I intend to support it. I had prepared an S and an S1 version, which are functionally the same, really. But really, I had those because I had some concerns about how the original version could have significant impacts to an organization that does a lot to promote tourism, which is a very important economic engine for Anchorage. I think this amendment mitigates my concerns and allows for more dialogue to take place and gives the administration, I think, more room to figure out where the right balance lies. So I think with that and with the adoption of this amendment, I'd feel pretty comfortable about where we land.

Miss Brawley. Thank you. I also support the amendment, and I appreciate the explanation. I, I will say what I've said several times before on this point, which is I would be hard-pressed to find another organization in this state that has gotten an unlimited increasing grant with no additional expectations or other requirements attached to it. And I think that is not to denigrate the good work that that organization is doing, but I think as we look broadly at our budget overall and how to utilize our funds and really revisit decisions that have been made many years ago, I think it is worth considering what the— how basically how this percent of the bed tax should be used.

And so I think it is a valid question, and I also totally acknowledge that the assembly is not in the negotiation, and so the best we can do is offer guidance, offer ideas, offer direction to the administration. And direction is even probably too strong of a word because again, we are not the negotiators. But that was the intent of the original item. I support pulling back on what was a very specific idea in order to again really urge the administration to, to engage in that negotiation and come to a result that is for the public benefit as well as for the benefit of that organization. Thanks.

Anyone else on the amendment? Any objection to the amendment? Seeing and hearing no objection, the amendment is adopted. We have the main motion back before us. Any further discussion on the main motion?

Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, yes, AR 2025-270 as amended has passed the body. Next we have item 13A, which is AO 2025-49. This public hearing item, ordinance of the Anchorage Assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code Section 21.03.070 to establish 3 distinct procedures for amending the comprehensive plan based on the proposed amendment's anticipated scope and impact. Um, Miss Brawley— oh wait, the public hearing is now open. Now, Miss Brawley.

Move to postpone indefinitely. Second. Motion to postpone indefinitely by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Mullen. Do you want to speak to that, Miss Brawley? Yeah, just briefly, and I recognize we are in the space of the code that we recently passed, um, so I am not a sponsor of this.

The sponsor of this is no longer on the body. Um, I think it is asking a valid question And I would offer that in my opinion, this is not the way, and that's why I urge postponement indefinitely. Any further discussion? Motion is to postpone indefinitely. Members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0 on the youth member votes. Yes. Yes, AO 2025-49 has been postponed indefinitely. It brings us to Item 13B, which is AO 2025-59, an ordinance, the Anchorage Municipal Assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code Chapter 3.90, Access to Public Records, and AMC 3.30.016 to update the public records request and response procedures. Public hearing on this item is now open.

Miss Sprawley, move to continue the public hearing to the meeting of November 18th. Second. Motion to continue to the meeting of November 18th, moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Miss Silvers. Want to speak to that, or do you want me to? Mr.

Constant, go ahead. I guess, Miss Silvers, you can. You were in the room. We're still working on it. Simply put.

Thank you. Any, any objection to the motion to postpone to the meeting of November 18th? Hearing and seeing no objection, that is— that motion carries unanimously. Next we have Item 13C, which is AO 2025-83, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code Section 11.10.050 to increase the maximum amount allowed to be charged for processing credit and debit card transactions for tax cab services. The public hearing on this item is now open.

Miss Brawley, move to postpone this item indefinitely. Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera. Do either of you wish to speak to it? Yeah, Mr.

Chair, I'll speak to it briefly. Thank you. Member Brawley and I have been talking with the industry and think it's probably best to go back to the drawing board on this idea. Thank you. Any further discussion?

Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Mr. Myers. On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, AO 2025-83 has been postponed indefinitely. Next we have item 14A. 14A is AO 2025-77, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly to reauthorize certain boards and commissions by amending the sunset provisions in Anchorage Municipal Code sections 4.40.125, 4.40.150, 4.60.150, 4.60.210, 4.60.240, and 4.60.260. Public hearing on this item is now open.

Anyone wish to be heard on this item? Anyone at all? Seeing and hearing none, public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve.

Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera. Are there amendments on this item, Miss Brawley? Um, or Mr. Rivera? I guess.

Yeah, I'll turn actually to Mr. Rivera first. Okay, Mr. Rivera. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll go ahead and move Rivera Amendment Number 2.

Second. Okay, there's a motion to amend by Mr. Rivera, seconded by Miss Brawley. Mr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Uh, so based on my conversations with the administration, I'm bringing this amendment forward. So some of y'all know, um, that I've been on a mission for the last few years to try to streamline and reduce the number of sunset audits that our internal audit division has to complete annually. So this amendment will reduce that number by 1. Um, the administration is in support of that goal. This is a particular, um, board which has very strictly defined code requirements.

Um, as a quick aside, um, I was planning on including UDC in an amendment, but that conversation has shifted and So we have a different amendment on that. Thanks. Any—. Miss Brawley? Sorry, not on this amendment.

Okay, so any further discussion on the amendment? Is there any objection to the amendment? I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Seeing, hearing no objection, the amendment is adopted. Miss Brawley?

Thanks, I'll move Brawley Amendment 1. Second. So there's a motion to amend by Miss Brawley. Seconded by Mr. Buland. Go ahead, Miss Braly.

Thanks. Um, yeah, just briefly, uh, this proposes a brief extension of this, uh, commission for purposes of essentially a transition period, um, in which it would be repealed. That is my proposal, at least. I've been working with the mayor's office on this one and speaking with planning staff. It was mentioned recently in a— I think it was in the prior meeting's, uh, answers that this this board has met 7 times in the last 16 months, and for comparison, the Planning and Zoning Commission has met 31 times in the last 16 months.

And if you go way back to the Title 21 rewrite, there were questions about kind of what the function of this board would be. And so this is really picking up an older conversation. So, so any other kind of consideration of what happens with this board would be dealt with in another item. And certainly the folks who are serving on this board, I would hope that they would be interested in service on another board. We always need folks, um, and so that's the proposal, is to give time for that runway.

And I've been told that February, the end of February, is sufficient time for staff purposes. Thank you.

All right, anyone else on the amendment? So, all right, if there's no one else, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to adoption of the amendment?

Seeing, hearing no objection, the item is adopted as an amendment to the main motion. Main motion now before us as amended. Any further discussion? Seeing, hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, yes, AO 2025-77 as amended has passed the body. Now we're back on the next item is 14B, AO 2025-103, an ordinance of the Anchorage Assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code Section 23.70.710.6 to specifically authorize foreclosure to enforce dangerous building code abatement liens. The public hearing on this item is now open. Anyone wish to be heard on this item? Anyone at all?

Seeing and hearing none, public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Ms. Baldwin-Day, seconded by Mr. Johnson.

Ms. Baldwin-Day, would you like to speak to it? Sure, um, yeah, I think, um, I think we've, we've heard actually in a work session, um, goodness, was that last week? Um, just last week, about the challenges for enforcement of dangerous buildings and, and how, how how difficult it has become to actually collect on the fines that accrue sometimes over the course of years on dangerous buildings. And so for the, for the municipality to explicitly have this tool in its toolbox to be able to foreclose and make good on those liens is, I think, a step in the right direction towards helping our city get a much-needed facelift. So I urge my colleagues' support.

Any further discussion on this item? Seeing, hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, AO 2025-103 has passed the body. Next we have item 14C, AO 2025-104, an ordinance amending Anchorage Municipal Code 21.09.040, Zoning Districts, and AMC Table 21.09-2, Table of Allowed Uses, to allow office and retail uses in the GC-10 Gridwood Upper Alyeska Highway Commercial District. The public hearing on this item is now open. Anyone wish to be heard on this item? Anyone at all?

Seeing, hearing none, public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Johnson.

Second by Ms. Molden Day. Any discussion?

Mr. Voland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I have, I think, a couple questions for the planning department.

Welcome. Hi, Ms. Babb, um, thanks for being here. Um, I think my, my first couple questions are how many parcels or properties would this apply to, and how does this comport with the recent update to the Girtwood Plan? Through the chair to Member Voland, um, this would apply to 3 parcels. And it is in alignment with the Gridwood plan.

If I could follow up, Mr. Chair, so are there other properties that would be essentially upzoned like in a similar fashion? I guess I'm just trying— and are the properties are all sort of together on the map? Are they all side by side? Yes.

Okay, um, if I could ask, maybe to the best of your understanding, how, how is this not spot zoning if it's just applicable to these 3 parcels? Through the chair to Member Voland, um, this is not a rezone, um, to start with, so it would not technically be considered a spot zone. It's a change of allowed use. Right, exactly. And, um, it is, um, it is in alignment with the comp plan.

Um, it is, it is supported by the Girdwood community and by all of the owners, the property owners who are impacted by it. Okay, thank you. That answers my question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to ask a quick question then. So, Miss, uh, thank you. Um, Interesting, and I support this. This is more of a philosophical question.

Your answer, technically it's not zoning, so maybe it doesn't quite count as a spot zoning, but the question really becomes if the use changes for those 3 and it's an outlier to the use of all of the others around it, isn't that functionally spot zoning?

Chair Constantine, is it a gray area? Let me just put it that way. Chair Konstantin, I would have to leave that to the legal department to answer. It is a very concentrated tool in that area, but it does— it is in line with all of them. Yeah, and that's why I don't have any problem supporting it.

It's this philosophical question, and, you know, we hear a lot about these concerns when you have a single or small area within a larger neighborhood, and so I certainly I don't want to put the attorneys either on the spot, but there's some exploration of that idea that's probably in order. When does a tiger still be a tiger if it has spots, you know? Like, is it— I don't know how to put that right now on the floor, but I do support this. So everybody knows, I just— there's a philosophical layer here that I can't quite wrap my head around. Thanks, Ms. Babb.

Mr. Johnson. I just want to kind of follow up on the line of question that The chair was speaking to you there. So this is Zone GC-10, right? And that is— exists within the Table 21 space. And we have different classifications of zoning, in this case 10 different zoning classifications for commercial.

But we tend to distinguish between different classes of zoning for different reasons, right? So there is something about GCT why it was decided that would be unique from other zoning classes. I mean, there's a reason why we break it down that way, right? I guess that's what I'm I'm kind of getting to. And I assume there's something about where that area is situated that makes it reasonable that it was classified through a prior action to make it GC-10?

Through the Chair to Member Johnson, um, yes, I believe so. I think the intent was to create a zoning district that the community as a whole agreed was a good idea based on the comprehensive plan for the, the area. They do have a new comp plan, and I do believe that they are contemplating a different approach to their zoning districts. So your questions, I think, will be probably addressed as part of that process. Yeah, thank you.

It's a conversation I look forward to. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing, hearing none, then members may proceed to vote.

On a vote of 12 to 0, and the youth member votes yes, yes, AO 2825-104 has passed the body, which concludes our regular agenda. Next, we'll have audience participation. Anyone wish to be heard, there's your chance. Please come forward.

Welcome. Please state your name, what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes.

Will Walker, Spinard. I'm coming up here to comment on frankly my disappointment and frustration with regards to this body postponing indefinitely the Better Meetings projects, Better Public Meetings projects. I've been involved with this since January, just a group of citizens who looked around, saw kind of the lack of participation of many members of our community at public meetings, at community councils. And we're asking, what can we do to engage those folks? What we can do to improve civic engagement, public processes in this community?

My interest is especially like, I'm very concerned and interested in government and governance, and how can we kind of make government more responsive to people and better in general.

I think we can look around and see that so many people are jaded and cynical about government. I think part of that's because people aren't fully aware of what goes on. You know, by now you've seen me at these meetings. I'm quite aware. I try to fight against some of the cynicism that folks show and demonstrate.

And feel towards government.

But that doesn't mean that we can't do better. I recognize the efforts that this body and Legislative Services and the Muni has done to try to increase civic participation. I've participated and done a talk at City Nerd Night. I'm excited about the Civic Town Square project that is upcoming. But that doesn't mean that we can't do more.

It doesn't mean that we can't learn from other communities. It doesn't mean that we can't try to experiment with new things and see maybe there are things outside of just our code revisions that we've done to really, you know, engage the public more to see what is the issue, why can't— why are more people not participating, and how can we better engage with those folks. And this was, still could be potentially, an opportunity to, you know, utilize a you know, outside third party and additional resources that the community doesn't necessarily have in-house to do all that effort and to see how we can improve as a city and how we can, you know, continue to improve our processes. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else wish to be heard? Welcome. Please state your name, what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes. It's on.

You're good to go. My name is Lisa Bricker. I live in District 1. I am here because of the Anchorage Police Department's new technology and the rush with which the assembly is allowing them to move. I found out about the license plate scanners via the Anchorage Daily News last week.

What's noticeable— notable about that is that Police Chief Sean Case came to my council meeting, community council meeting, on September 3rd And he talked about the technology updates that they were doing, the video footage and how it would be sent to APD directly. And he didn't mention the license plate scanners. I actually went back and rewatched his entire presentation afterwards, sure that I'd missed something. I did not. I found it notable that in the article it also mentioned that that is one of the greatest concerns that people have.

And he did not mention it. And it's nowhere in the notes that I have found other than in the newspaper articles. So I was also startled to see that the plate scanning technology is already in APD vehicles, and that the assembly was willing, over the recommendation of the ACLU, to go ahead and continue. The Alaska Public Media added a quote that the cameras will automatically be running all of the plates, though it will only notify the officer in dispatch if there's a higher-level issue. And it doesn't specify what happens to all of the other information that isn't considered notification worthy.

Um, the article quoted the chief as saying that the department will finalize policies to determine how and when the new surveillance system will be used. So what are the guardrails on APD's data gathering, plate scanning, and camera usage? And what public input have you solicited from the community regarding how they want their information used? I see the Chief's statement that access to license plate information will be limited to officers and staff at the Real Time Crime Center, a name which makes it clear how they view the information they are receiving as evidence of crimes, and that it will likely be retained for less time than the body camera footage. The information that they're gathering is not evidence of crimes, and it should not be a department-level policy.

This is community information that the department is gathering without sufficient public input and without oversight. And oversight of APD has been suggested here before. Um, I am concerned about the plate scanners as I just go around town doing whatever I do and not knowing whether the scanners have actually already been turned on or not. I see that the police chief will present these policies to the Public Safety Committee for their feedback, and that's where I was encouraged to provide feedback as well. The Public Safety Committee meets 11 to 12:30 on a weekday, so I'm here after the fact to voice my concerns with the hasty process and my disappointment in your vote to continue at speed.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard?

Come on down, everyone who wants to talk. Come on down. Welcome. Please state your name, what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes.

Yeah, Jason Norris, South Anchorage. Appreciate the opportunity. And sorry for the walk-up. Uh, I was here until— in these chambers last night until 10:30, 11 o'clock at Planning and Zoning Commission as they heard 2025-0030134 for the third time, and they did recommend to pass it. And that is the Transit Supportive Development Overlay.

It's a grassroots effort that is seeking to place greater density and mixed use along corridors and town centers that were identified in in the Comp Plan 24 years ago and then in our 2040 Land Use Plan. So I just want to say that we're going to continue to engage the public from our grassroots end, and this will eventually be before the body. I hope that you'll give it due consideration and hopefully that we can get to something that pushes Anchorage forward and makes housing more attainable. I know you put in a ton of work over the last few years trying to make housing better. And, uh, look forward to working with all of you to try and get something that can move us forward even more.

Thank you. Quick question for you, Mr. Constant. Absolutely. So, um, how was testimony last night?

Were a number of people here to testify? I'm sorry, last night there— I would say, yeah, I don't have a good number. I would say it was probably 50-50 for and against. Took a while, so there were probably 10 or 15 on each side, I would say. Did you see anyone stopped at the door?

Did they take testimony until everyone was done talking? Uh, was anybody stopped from testifying? Right. No. Okay, so everybody who wanted to had a chance to be heard when it was before the Planning and Zoning Commission for the third time?

Yes, sir. I mean, yeah, we were— some of us were here for a third time as well. Okay. I just read some headlines in the Daily News about democracy dying and And sounds like democracy worked. Thank you.

Democracy was alive last night. Thank you. Right. Welcome. Please state your name, what part of town you're from.

You'll have 3 minutes. Okay. Jamie Lopez, East Anchorage, formerly Coalition for the Homeless. So this has to be one of the fastest meetings I've ever seen. You're right about 7:15.

Apparently I'm a gaffe machine. So last special assembly meeting, you know, just a quirk, I said I have time to kill. Not my finest moment. I was like, oh God, CJ probably would have laughed. But yeah, not the first dumb thing I've said, probably won't be the last either.

And so I'm going to move on from that. And so to take a page out of Ron Aleva's, you know, book from the free books cart, we have Red Hot Mamas. I don't know if somebody will get a laugh out of this, but, you know, it might be a good read. So aside from that, let's move on from that one. Uh, so I did want to talk about, uh, AR 2025-271.

So, um, during the work session, Mr. Volland made a comment, and that comment was, uh, you know, he'd recently been at the Mountain View Community Council and mentioned how somebody got kicked out of that meeting. But the curious thing about it is he didn't mention the context and the details. And wine. And so, generally speaking, you know, I show up to meetings and I take food to people in the area, and I go at all hours. And so, more or less, Thea had shown up to that meeting.

I've been talking to her at length, and I had personally told her I think the policies that are being pushed right now are going to get people seriously injured and killed. And so I was not personally trying to attack her integrity, but the judgment of certain things that will lead to bad outcomes. And so more or less, you progress to the end of the meeting, and Tia was saying, somebody's saying, I don't care, I don't care. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, uh, let me just respond to this. And Phil Cannon, what he typically does is he, uh, protects people from scrutiny, even himself.

And so more or less, I said, I think I have the right to say this, uh, and, uh, more or less he said no. And I said, why don't you call the cops? Uh, I'm thinking, call the mobile crisis team, you know, they can come out and sort of negotiate this one. But literally, if he just let me say it, I would have said no, this is why. And so I was questioning the fact that she didn't have field experience or the fact that she has been making mistakes.

And, you know, if, if you would have let me say it, it would have been fine, let alone 2 to 3 minutes later when you get to public comment for the meeting. But no, he wanted to kick me out just to shut me down. And so that's kind of where you're going with this, is that You know, the dog and pony show continues, and that's sort of what this is, is kabuki theater. If you limit people to 3 minutes of discussion, you're not getting real debate. It essentially is the Overton window of political discourse that you're allowed acceptable speech, and then everything else behind it is just shoved to the side.

And so maybe in time, you know, things will change, the makeup of the body changes, but at this time it doesn't appear you guys are ready. And so I think a lot of people have good ideas, but you have to be willing to listen. Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to be heard, please come forward.

Welcome. Please state your name, what part of town you're from. You'll have 3 minutes.

Thank you for your time. My name is Kim Barite. I'm on the west side, Huntington Park. This is about the TSDO. I know that many people have been working very hard And there's also many said people who have no idea as to what is going on, and most of us are just finding out.

We feel like we need more— we need to pause and more exploring on this issue. It's an important issue. Housing is an important issue, but it's also multifaceted, and I encourage the assembly to take that pause because this is very serious. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Anyone else wish to be heard? Anyone at all? All right, I'm not seeing or hearing anyone else, so we'll move to assembly member comments, and we'll start with our youth member, Mr. LaVoyce.

Any last words for the meeting? You don't have to. Uh Well, I'm just glad that we got that recognition bill passed for the FAHM again. All right. Thank you.

Mr. Presidio. No comments. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Kerker.

Thank you, Chair. Just real quick, I just want to acknowledge that today is the 2-year anniversary of a horrific terrorist attack in the state of Israel. I just want to acknowledge and continue to offer our prayers, support for the Jewish people. Thank you. All right, thank you, Mr. Herrera.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, no comment. Miss Silvers. No comments, thank you. Miss Folland.

No comment, thank you. Miss Brawley. I learned a lot, thanks. Mr. Johnson. No comments, thank you.

Miss Baldwin-Day. No comments, Chair, thank you. Miss Martinez. No additional comments. Mr. McCormick?

No comments, thank you. Mr. Myers? Thanks, Chair. I appreciate the night off. So on that note, I'll just say enjoy it tonight because our next meeting has 21 public hearings on it, including the budget.

And so, uh, what you're enjoying tonight, you're going to pay for in 2 weeks. On that note, we will be adjourned. Oh, are you getting in the queue? No? Okay.

But that will be adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Good night.

The mirror is telling me I got to grip it right in front of me.

Secure the seat and don't release the opportunity. Now I'm colder than the weather, steady going under pressure. I'm finally over being lowkey under the.