Anchorage Assembly: Public Naming Commission - October 14, 2026

Chair Hess. Here. Vice Chair Harrison.

Here. Commissioner Gupta. Here. Commissioner Heller. Here.

Commissioner Gilbert. It's my understanding that Commissioners Harrison and Morgan are excused. Yes. You have a quorum. Thank you.

Thank you, Jasmine. Could I get somebody to read the land acknowledgment, please?

Well, I'll volunteer. Or you can. I can do it since you're doing the sharing. A land acknowledgement is a formal statement recognizing 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 Public Naming Commission would like to acknowledge that we gather today on the traditional lands of the Dena'ina Athabaskans. For thousands of years, the Dena'ina have been and continue to be the stewards of the land. It is with gratitude and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations, and contemporary perspectives of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina.

Thank you, Jen. Could I get a motion to approve the agenda, please?

I get a second? Second. Is that Kevin that seconded? Yes. All right.

Any discussion?

Any objection to the agenda being approved?

Seeing and hearing none, it is approved. Could I get a motion to approve the minutes of the September 9th 2026 Commission meeting.

I motion to approve.

Um, any discussion?

Seeing and hearing none, any objection to approving the minutes as written?

Seeing and hearing none, the minutes are approved. That brings us up to our first item of unfinished business, which is the continued public hearing for the Northeast Connector Trail honorary naming for the late Karen Branga. I did want to make a comment. I know some of members of the Commission, we've had concerns about the provision in the code that talks about the 36 months posthumous. Our role as a Commission, we advise the Assembly.

The Assembly makes the final decision. So our role is to determine Does an applicant— does a group or an individual that submits an application for an honorary naming, have they made the case? Do we believe that facility should be named for that individual or family or group? And we would make that recommendation to the Assembly. It would be up to the Assembly how they name.

They can name by resolution, which is the normal way to name, and the resolution could say that it does not take effect until 36 months posthumous, or they can name by ordinance, which would take effect immediately, and they do a notwithstanding clause regarding the 36 months. So, so our job is to advise them whether or not we support the proposed naming. It is up to them how they name. I just wanted to clarify that before we start the continued public hearings. Any questions?

Cool. So we're going to continue. We'll open the continued public hearing for the Northeast Connector Trail honorary naming for Lake Karenbranga. We discussed this last month briefly. We heard a lot of testimony in our packets.

Now there are resolutions from 2 community councils that both support the naming. I think one The vote was 23 to 1. I believe some more public comments were received by Jasmine that all supported the naming. The community councils have supported it. The Parks and Recreation Commission passed a resolution supporting the naming.

So far, there have been no objections from any of the comments or testimony that have been provided.

Does anybody have any— would anybody like to discuss this proposed naming?

This is Commissioner Heller. I had a point of clarification. In the application process, so we do allow the resolution to be passed by the community council, and just to clarify, Once it is passed by the community council, they do have to submit the material, which they have, but they do not have to fill out the application additionally. It's just a community resolution passed with additional material that's requested via the process, but they do not have to complete the full application. I just want to clarify that process for more open—.

So neither one of these community councils submitted the proposal, We are required by the public naming code to solicit comments from community councils for a facility proposed for naming where it is located. We need to reach out to the community council and give them the opportunity to provide a recommendation or comments. And in this instance, we reached out to all 3 of the community councils that touch on the trail or within 1,000 feet of the trail. 2 Of the community councils submitted resolutions. The 3rd one did not.

Um, so there also— the application was submitted by Parks and Rec, and based on comments from members of the community, the family, uh, the proposed— they changed the proposed name to the Karen Bronga Chugach Foothills Connector. So at this time, is there anybody here that wants to testify on this item since we are Continuing the public hearing, please come forward. State your name and you have 3 minutes.

Karen. I'm Karen Brunga's sister. Karen was a force of nature. She touched so many people in Anchorage. She was a champion for education and her students.

She helped the homeless and at the same time pushed to clean up our parks. She coached and mentored young athletes. She helped build trails in Anchorage, not just the Connector Trail, but in our teens, our family helped build the Kincaid and the Northeast Russian Jack Trails.

Since her death, I have received so many emails and people come up to me and tell me, just random strangers, how Karen touched their lives. And because Tom and Karen were so instrumental in planning and building the Connector Trail, Renaming it in her honor would be such a nice gesture for someone who worked so hard for the city. And I was going to talk about what she talked about, about the 36-month rule, and I just would really ask you to please recommend, advise the assembly to pass it earlier because of the tragic and sudden circumstances of her death. I just really think it would be a good thing for the assembly to do. Her passing really shook a lot of people, and I think that renaming sooner than later would help us all heal.

Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify on this item? Please come forward, state your name.

Hi, my name is Rachel Dooley.

Sorry, I'm not a good public speaker. Karen Brunga was my aunt, and I just wanted to touch on the change in what the name change was going to be. I know it had originally been proposed as the Karen Brunga Northeast Connector Trail. The reason that it was changed to what you guys have the most updated is because the signage that is already on the trails is listed as the Chugach Foothills Connector Trail, which is why it was changed to the Karen Brunga Chugach Foothills Connector Trail instead of the Karen Brunga Northeast Connector Trail. So that's the reasoning for the name change there.

And then on the note of the community councils that met, the Basher Community Council was the one where there was the vote, and it was actually— I pulled it up on the, probably the packet that you guys have, and it was 23 in favor with 0 opposition. So I just wanted to let you guys know on that.

But we, as part of the family, were honored by the fact that people are wanting to do this, and we really appreciate it. I think it's not only, you know, very much appreciated by us, but also by the community. She was a large, a large presence, not only in East Anchorage, but in Anchorage in general. And she was a strong believer and supporter in access to trails for anyone and everyone. And so I think that her involvement in getting the trail made, as well as just kind of, you know, the way she lived her life of advocating for healthy activities and access to for everyone, I think it would be a great honor for her and would help not only the family, but more importantly, the community heal as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify on this item? Anyone at all? Anyone at all?

Seeing and hearing none, the public hearing is closed. What's the will of the body?

Commissioner Heller moves to approve the motion to name the Northeast Connector Trail after, after who we just spoke about. Would—. After—. So the revised application was the Karen Bronga Chugach Foothills Connector Trail. Is that what you're moving?

Yes, I move to approve— to— I approve the name change— move to approve the name change to the Karen Bronga Chugach Foothills Connector Trail. Trail. All right, can I get a second? Okay, any discussion?

Jen, the question is, I see in the parks and rec— the Anchorage Parks and Recreation letter, it just says that the change the proposed name to the Karen Bronga Chugach Foothills Connector. It does not say trail after it. I just want to ask the author of the letter. So Jen, was it— did you intend to put trail in there?

I think we could move.

Okay, so through this— no trip. So Kevin, your original would be with no trip. Sorry, on the record, because it's not going to be They can't hear it on Teams. They can't hear it on Teams.

Oh. Hi, this is Jennifer from Parks and Recreation, and we submitted a letter to revise our original submission, and the revision would be the Karen Bronga Chugach Foothills Connector. OK, so you were correct. Thank you. So is that what you're moving?

Yes, I move to— I move the motion to approve.

Okay, and Aisha, is that what you're good with seconding that? All right, discussion. Jen, I was just going to say, I really have struggled with this one because of the 36 months, and part of me still wants to say no, just so that people will show up at the assembly meeting.

Um, but the 36-month thing is— it has been a struggle for me. But I think I really like the name change. I like matching signs that are already created so you don't have to do new signs. Um, there's a lot of pluses on how much community support is behind this. I can see how they're pushing, you know, for it to be an exemption.

But I, I just wanted to go on the record that it's— the 36 months is a struggle for me because I I feel like that's what this group was set up to prevent our city from continuing to do, our municipality from continuing to do. Um, but I think one of the things that, besides the overwhelming public support that I hope to see more of at the assembly level, um, I think her, uh, being a project champion for this project makes— pushes it over the edge for me. She's not just someone that had— like, I've never met her, I don't know her, but she obviously was a phenomenal person that really made a lot of connections with a lot of people. And besides just being an amazing person that they want to name something after, she was the one that was the project champion for this specific project. And that, to me, pushes it over the edge of me getting past my 36-month obstacle because it's not just someone that you love that you want to name a building after.

She's the one that like made this trail come into existence. Thank you, Jen. Any other comments from commissioners? I'd like to echo the same reasoning that I'm moving the motion for approval that Jen has given, that she was connected to this in a more instrumental way and actually the project lead for making it happen. So I just wanted to echo Jennifer's sentiments, and I know the camera is being fixed right now, but I do see the ceiling.

I'm not sure if that needs to be fixed.

All right, any other comments from Commissioners? Yes, this is Cuckoo speaking. I wanted to second what Jennifer was saying around the apprehension around 36 months. I am a fan of Karen Branga's work. I have followed it as someone who's been in Anchorage for 8 years, and I think the apprehension is again coming back to this commission was formed.

One of the first conversations we'd had was naming places after people. And where those boundaries lie. And I can see that we have a lot of honorary naming proposals on our docket currently, and it just— I think my concern is that we're falling into a place of naming things in, in spaces and community spaces after people across the board. That does not mean that I'm not in support of of the name change. I just wanted to share my apprehension around the trend or the pattern that's coming up.

And yeah, I think that those are my sentiments. Thank you. Any other comments? I'll just make a couple of comments. As I stated, we are not As a commission, we're not going to say that we support overriding the 36-month rule.

We're, we're just advising the Assembly whether we believe that the facility should be named for the individual. It is entirely up to the Assembly how they name and if they name.

Even if we vote down a proposal, we still have to send a memorandum to the Assembly advising them that we didn't support support a proposal and they can still name it if they want to. So we advise the assembly, they— that the action they take is entirely up to them. I, I did want to comment, I actually helped draft this code. It used to be 12 months in the old code. I was the one that pushed to put 36 months in, but I think as Assembly Council Dean Gates pointed out, at a recent meeting that he attended.

The code also recognizes there are times when you will override, you know, the assembly will override if they believe there are exceptional circumstances. They can override that provision. And I will say, I worked with Karen as ombudsman when she was on the assembly. I was disappointed she didn't run for reelection. I enjoyed working with her.

She was, you know, a public school teacher, a passionate advocate for for East Anchorage, where I lived in Chugach Foothills for several years. And so I personally will support this proposal. Are there any other comments? I will entertain a motion from Kevin. Moved.

Ayesha seconded. Um, so would you call the Vote, please. Jasmine.

Chair Hess? Yes. Vice Chair Harrison? Yes.

Commissioner Gupta? Yes. Commissioner Heller? Yes. Commissioner Gilbert?

Yes. That passes 5 to 0. All right, we will send a memorandum. Jasmine and I will prepare a memo and a packet to send to the assembly. That brings us to our next item of business which is the continued public hearing for the proposal to rename Eagle River Commons Park.

I believe it's Pepples Fields Park.

Pepples Field Park. We had extensive documents to review at the last meeting. The community council, Eagle River Community Council, I reached out to them 3 times. They declined to provide any comments. The Eagle River Parks and Recreation Board of Supervisors, which is the parks and recreation authority for Eagle River, passed a resolution supporting it, and the Parks and Recreation Commission passed a resolution supporting the name change.

So I am going to open the continued public hearing. Is there anybody here that wishes to testify on this item?

Hello, I'm Patty Wilson on behalf of the Chugiak/Eagle River Historical Society, which is the sponsor and submitted this petition. And I wanted to—. I thought that I was not the only one who had received something from the Eagle River Community Council. I thought it had gone—. I did not receive anything.

Okay, well, I thought I had it in an email string, but I did take this to the Eagle River Community Council, received their, their support in the meeting, and they followed with a letter. Should I Yes, could you provide it to Jasmine, please? Okay. So the Eagle River Community Council supported the proposal? Yes, yes, they did.

Great.

Thank you. I don't know how I didn't get that. Well, it's— there's a lot of emails. And I also wanted to submit a document that the Historical Society did that's called A Brief History of Pipples Field, just so that it would be in the record. For the commission.

And, uh, you did receive, um, the resolution from the, the Eagle River Chugiak, um, Parks and Rec Board of Supervisors? Okay. Yeah, it's in our— it's in our packet. Get that one. So no, it's in our packet and the resolution from the Parks and Rec Commissioner.

Okay, great. Well, I just really would— I think that this has wide support in the community and honors the early history of the area and the original purpose of that space. Now it's a beautiful park where, where kids play and people walk, and it's very reminiscent of the the, the former uses of it after it stopped being a field. It became the first park, informal park, in the area. And I just—.

We would—. The Tugiak/Eagle River Historical Society and the members of the community would be very pleased if you would support this. Thank you. Thanks. Any other persons wishing to testify on this item?

Anyone at all? Anyone at all? And hearing none, the public, um, hearing is closed. What's the will of the body?

Um, this is Jenny— Jennifer Harrison. I'll make a move to change the park's name from Eagle River Town Square Park to—. It's Eagle River Commons Park. Eagle River Commons Park. Oh, that's right, they're doing the one next to it.

Okay, the Eagle River Commons Park to the Pipples Field Park. All right. Any—. Can I get a second, please? All right.

Discussion?

I did want to share that I have talked to several people from Eagle River that grew up there, and they said everyone calls it that already, and that they've called it that, like, their whole lives. And so, to me, that is what I'm looking for in an application is for people to say, well, we already call it that. That's what everyone calls it.

And so let's make it official. So I was really excited to hear that from longtime community members that grew up there. Any other commissioner comments?

Well, I want to say 56 years ago, I remember playing football in Pipples Field, and we call it a park back then, and we played baseball. I walked my parents' dogs there, and I was always fascinated I think it was Lee Jordan told me the story of the family and how they grew the vegetables, and, you know, they, they moved there in the 1930s. It was, uh, it's a fascinating piece of local history in Eagle River, and everybody does call it Peoplesville.

And the naming code does recognize that one of the things we need to look at is common usage. Is it, is it this something that people already call a location or call an area or facility? And in this case, people, thousands of people for decades have called it Pepple Field. So I'm going to support the proposal.

Any other comments?

All right. Could you call the The vote, please. Jasmine. Chair Hess. Yes.

Vice Chair Harrison. Yes. Commissioner Gupta. Yes. Commissioner Heller.

Yes. Commissioner Gilbert. Yes. That passes 5 to 0. Thank you.

Um, Jasmine will work on a memo and packet for the assembly. That brings us to our First new item of business, which is a public hearing on the proposal to name the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility headquarters building for the late Mark Primo. Is there anyone here who wishes to testify on this item? Please come forward, state your name.

Thank you. My name is David Persinger, and I'm the current general manager of Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, and I'm here today because of Mark Primo. I was hired as a an intern, a student intern while I was going to school at UAA over 20 years ago, and Mark Primo was the general manager then, and his legacy and foresight for the utility has really put the utility on the forefront in Alaska as well as internationally, and wanted to give a little bit of a background on Mark. So, he started up here in Alaska in the late 1980s, and actually, before he came to Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, he was very instrumental in working with the city on locating the Anchorage Regional Landfill, which is currently at its current location. They were trying to pick a site for that, and Mark was very instrumental in that.

He then moved into the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility as the engineering director and quickly became the general manager and was appointed by Mayor Fink. He was the longest-serving general manager at Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility with over 20 years of service, 6 municipal administrations, and he really set the utility on the path where we are today. With his forward thinking, his strategy, looking at the big picture. He was always looking 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, and not only for Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, which was his baby for many years, and the building that we are petitioning to get named after him was where he consolidated the entire headquarters of the utility. He was also instrumental in purchasing our operations and maintenance campus over on King Street.

And what that allowed to do was the utility consolidate into areas. We had staff in more or less one location, two big facilities that could better serve the public as well as being able to do our emergency response activities. Before we had our warm storage building, we had equipment parked outside. We had several instances where we weren't able to get equipment out and respond to emergencies, and so he saw that as a need and set us on the right path for that. He also was very instrumental in setting us on a long-range financial trajectory, which is still in place today.

Looking at our capital improvement programs, and always making sure that our rates are affordable and that they meet the needs of the community. In addition to that, Mark was really bigger than Alaska. We talk a lot about his footprint within the municipality of Anchorage as well as his work throughout the state of Alaska, but he was also involved in a lot of professional organizations like the American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Water Environment Federation, and the, the international organization Water for People, which he was treasurer for, for several years, and went internationally to provide water and sewer services to underserved communities. Wrapping up, Mark had a much larger than life legacy that is still being played out today, and we would be honored to name our headquarters building at 3000 Arctic as the AWWU headquarters— Mark C. Primo Headquarters Building. Thank you.

All right, thank you, Dave. Thank you, David. Anybody else wishing to testify on this item, please come forward.

Please state your name.

Just as I have, I'm sure that many of you have reviewed the 59 pages of letters of recommendation.

The names that lie within those signatures are compelling enough, and the words written by those great many great people are even more compelling, to say the least. They inform this commission of a great many deeds, titles, accomplishments, and awards of my father. They speak to his prowess as a charismatic business leader, and his ability to dissect large, complex problems and come up with creative and practical solutions. They speak to his greatness. But I ask you, what is it to truly be great?

Is it our accomplishments, accolades, strengths, merits, or is it merely the reputation that precedes us? Those all play into defining a man, but Mark was a lot more. There was courage to do what was right. To fall on his sword, refusing to give in to nearsighted political agendas that sought to undermine what he and his team built at AWU over his tenure of two decades, thus resigning his post. He and his people quite literally built the national golden standard for how municipal infrastructure-based departments should be run and operated.

There was a devotion and actual love he held for his employees, of which I can personally attest that I saw. I never saw him walk into a room or a job site and not know everyone's name and what their personal story was. He understood that this organization was only as good as its people. He made sure to know them all. And then there was his mentorship.

To me, his son, this rings true above all others. He was wise beyond measure and a technic— and as technically proficient as the best of them. When he saw potential in you, he understood that in order to unlock that, meant unshackling the keeper of that potential, you. He would invest heavily both in time and effort. He did all this in earnest.

His mission, your mission was his mission. Your fight was his. As long as you showed your effort and interest, he would match you lockstep. All the while, his intention was for you to succeed and surpass him in every way possible. The wards that he chose know of what I speak.

I know I'm not the only one here this evening.

When the— this is why 3000 Arctic deserves the name of Mark Charles above the doorway.

When the dust of his generation settles and someone, perhaps a young engineer, a newly hired administrator, or his granddaughter sees the name Mark Charles Primo above the door, they will ask, who was he? We will remember and tell their stories. We will tell the inspirational leader and charismatic charismatic man that he was, and that he taught us everything we know. I will tell not of only the greatest man I've ever known, but of the most decent, kindest, and most compassionate. His legacy written above those doors will embody what we should all strive to be.

He will teach us as long as 3000 Arctic shall stand. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to testify on this item, please come forward, state your name.

Thank you. My name is Frank Rast. I'm a retired civil engineer. Mark Primo hired me 43 years ago to come to Alaska. He was my friend and mentor, and I can't— I could tell you an hour what I learned from Mark, but through Mark, I was involved in the Klutna Pipeline Phase 3 project, the Klutna Water Treatment Plant, the Ship Creek Water Treatment Plant expansion, reservoirs.

And Mark transformed the water utility. He brought in the greatest people to transform that water utility and make it into the organization it is now. Without Mark, the water utility would still be in the Dark Ages. So I think it's fitting they named the headquarters building after Mark. And thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else willing to testify? Wishing to testify on this item, please come forward, state your name. Okay. Last but not least, I'll try and keep it short.

All right. Uh, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission, my name is Tim Potter. I was a, um, city planner and development specialist at Dow Engineers for 40 years, uh, before I had a stroke and then retired. But Mark, as everybody has said and has endorsed the idea in this document, was so special, and we were lucky to have him because, as has been indicated, he set the tone and the direction of the utility in a great direction. He understood the importance of data.

In making decisions, in mapping, and accurately having access to that information. He also understood and knew and really promoted the utility as a municipal asset of the customers and the city itself, and that approaching it that way as an asset that needed to be managed that way was the best way to maintain its sustainability well into the future.

And, you know, it doesn't seem like that should be such a mystery, but it was a huge transitional time as far as AWWU goes, as far as I'm concerned, that, that looking at the utility and its infrastructure And proposed improvement as an asset management system meant that you would repair, maintain, extend as appropriate for the needs of the city and the bankroll. If you simply put the pipes in the ground and let them rot, then you get to replace them all at a much bigger price. And you have the downfalls that occur when, say, all the wood-stave pipes in downtown fail, and you basically have to shut down the downtown in the middle of winter trying to deal with that situation. And he found a way to, through a phased approach, get that taken care of. And you'd replace the required pipes and infrastructure on a scheduled basis that made sense and allowed you to do it before the system failed.

Lastly, one of the most impressive things that anybody, an employee at AWWU, ever said to me is that, you know, when it snowed or we had weather And the mayor and the state would announce that only essential personnel would need to be at work.

Everybody, secretary, techs, everybody believed because Mark believed it, that they were essential personnel. And everybody stayed. Nobody left early. On the days they would come into work because they were essential part of the team. And Mark was amazing, as his son indicated, knowing everybody's name of the employees that worked for him.

And he, he led by example, and I miss him very much. This is an appropriate honor. To he, his family, and the city as a whole. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. Anybody else wishing to testify on this item? Anybody? Anyone at all? Seeing and hearing none, public hearing is closed.

What is the will of the body?

I'll, I'll go ahead and make the motion. Let me make sure I say it right, to name the AWW headquarters building after Mark C. Primo. So it's now Mark C. Primo AWW headquarters building. Can I get a second? Second.

All right, discussion.

Um, I just wanted to say that one of the things that I really appreciated reading about was the way that he knew all of his employees' names, and also that there's so many, um, long-term employees and, um, national, uh, partners that, that submitted letters. That just shows that he really cared about people and that people wanted to work for him long term. And Alaska is not an easy place to recruit engineers to and to encourage them to stay. And so to hear that he was successful at recruiting engineers here and convincing them to stay in Alaska and be part of his team— I never met the guy, but he sounds like he was a great guy. And so that's why I did the motion.

All right, any other commissioner comments?

Just want to say I appreciate the, uh, one thing that stuck out to me, um, uh, echoing Jen, but is, uh, it's what dads do, and a man is only as good as his word. And, um, I think that's extremely true. And it's, uh, one thing that's nice about a lot of this is seeing the, the history of how things have been brought up and, uh, Again, as we kind of talked about with the Connector Trail too, you know, it seems that Mark was just super instrumental in building out the Anchorage Wastewater Utility and kind of expanding it, kind of that project base and building it out and things like that. So, yeah, but great submission. All right, any other comments from commissioners?

All right, I will say I first met Mark when I was president of the Fairview Community Council. He impressed me then, and then I worked with him. I learned more about FOG, fat, oil, and grease, than I thought I would ever need to know. And the stories of people throwing brooms and towels and bicycles down into the pipes. In my day job as ombudsman, I deal with a lot of complaints from members of the public, and I frequently interact with AWU, but you would be surprised at the small number of complaints we receive regarding AWU, and I believe that's directly related to Mark's leadership to the organization that he built over his 21 years, and his impact still affects AWU to this day.

So I, I personally will be supporting this proposal.

Jasmine, can you call for the vote, please?

Chair Husa? Yes. Vice Chair Harrison? Yes. Commissioner Gupta?

Yes. Commissioner Heller? Yes. Commissioner Gilbert? Yes.

That passes 5 to 0. Thank you. Thank you for coming to testify, Jasmine. You and I can prepare a memo and a packet to send to the assembly. So when we recommend these, the way it works, we will send them to the assembly.

They will calendar them on a consent agenda for introduction, and then they can't hold their public hearing any sooner than 21 days after introduction. So if we get these to the assembly for the November 4th meeting, then they would schedule a public hearing in December. Um, that brings us to our final item of new business, which is a proposal to name the Anchorage Assembly Chambers for the late Dick Trainey. Um, is there anybody here who wishes to testify on this item? Please come forward, state your name for the record.

And we're not going to hold you to 3 minutes, Sandy. I appreciate that. I could go on a long time if I go on. Mr. Chair, members of the naming commission, is your microphone on?

Okay. All right, this is— can you hear me better now? Can you move it closer to possibly—. Maybe it's my short—. Yeah.

Okay. So, Mr. Chair, members of the naming commission, I'm— thank you for the opportunity to come and honor that is being proposed for my deceased husband Dick Draney. When we first moved from mid to Midtown, we attended a community council meeting, our first meeting there, and we were a little surprised to see a proposal that would take a road into two neighborhoods from Lakotas to go out to Tudor to avoid the Tudor-Lakotas intersection, which was not— it was one way each way at that time. And so we got him involved.

Dick got involved in that, and he ended up as a chair of the community council for some years. And he just got involved, and he was well educated to be involved. He had a bachelor in political science, he had a master's in public administration, and a professional certificate certificate of planning. So he had the knowledge and the work ethics that he wanted to do to make our city, make the municipality better.

And people urged him to run for the assembly, and when he was elected, he worked hard. He did a lot of research on, on ordinances. One in particular that I remember he spent months doing this, it was on the drunk driving law, which at the time when it was passed from the Assembly, it was the toughest law in the nation. And he spent a lot of time contacting other cities to see how they worked their, their drunk driving ordinances and how, um, what could be improved or what they saw that worked and didn't work, and it took a good time for him doing it. He's the one that did the research.

I'm sure he had assembly staff to help him too, but he did a lot. I could remember him calling and talking to people, and he printed out all these ordinances or these laws that had been passed in other cities, and that was how he took his job as, as an assembly member. He researched and studied. He did quite a variety of, of things, and some of them came from neighbors, a mom calling to say we need this, seeing things around. As a list of some of the things he did: the city anti-stalking law under law Preventing underage dance, which was a phone call from a mom, said, hey, what can we do?

My 16-year-old daughter's doing this and I can't, can't do anything. Youth court, soliciting prostitutes from automobiles, tougher penalties for uninsured and unlicensed drivers.

And when he was there, they made another community council, Midtown Community Council, which wasn't in existence then. He did American Disability Commission, off-leash dog parks, and that one's kind of interesting. He'd gone to San Diego for a conference for the Assembly, and they'd been talking about dog parks, and there was a lot of controversy both ways on that. And he visited the dog park, and he came back and they wrote it in ordinance and it passed in 2 weeks.

So he did quite a variety of different things. Abbott Loop Community Park and ball fields, laws pertaining to carbon monoxide detectors, tobacco tax to discourage tobacco use by minors, secondhand smoke in workplaces, expanding time for veterans to to obtain their disability exemption.

The list would go on and on.

He served as a chair for many years, and sometimes the— it had been a kind of a thing that you would serve for one year. Well, at least several times I know he served for 2 or 3 years. That—. And he, he liked that. He had the time for it.

He worked, came down and spent a lot of time here every day. And he, one of his things that he really strongly believed in was that working with everybody. And a lot of people have commented to me and their family over time that he doesn't look at people, what party they belong to or not. It's supposed to be part nonpartisan, and that's how he treated it. He worked with people, and no matter where they're at, and he didn't let that stop.

In fact, one thing that one of my sons remembered, because he was there with it, assembly person, they were talking about getting the, um, oh, I lost my word, um, getting tasers for the police department. And one of his fellow assembly members said she would not do that unless she saw it done in person. And so he was tased by the police department, and she agreed that was the vote they needed to pass to get tasers for the police department. That they really wanted. One of the strong things he really felt is that everybody should be able to testify.

They take their time to come out and testify, and there was one ordinance that was very controversial at the time, and they did— I'm sure you remember that— they did weeks of testimony. If they wanted to talk, he felt that they should honor their talking and let them have their say in what they wanted. And that, I think, was his whole idea in both working with other assembly members and with the public. He was very— thought the public policy is very important. And a comment I often heard when people would comment to me throughout the years is that he, he was very polite when he called as assembly chair, and I think as assembly member too, that He wanted them to talk because they want— they took their time and effort and part of the public process.

And I think that as I was listening on the other naming things that he put a lot of time— my children remember a lot of time being at the assembly. One in particular spent a lot of times in the back room and would, even the time she was little, she would remember we'd go down the road, oh, that's a zone exemption, you know, zone violation, and she would remember things. So they grew up with this, and when we were talking as a family and planning my husband's funeral and celebration of life, they remembered that, and they had good— somebody asked him, how did you feel? He said, that was our life. We didn't take it for granted for anything else, and You know, he would— kids would be out in public with him and they'd get a little deterred for their time-wise going because people would stop and talk to him and tell him the things they liked.

Neighbors would drop in the house and he respected everybody and he worked on a lot of, a lot of issues that people brought to him that and then found that they were important to them. And so I think this, the time that he spent was, seems like a lifetime of his, for sure many years between the community council and then the Ceremonial Assembly. And we moved to the valley a few years ago because our children moved there and our grandchildren, we have out of our 8 children, we have 5 in the valley, 1 in Anchorage, but But in order to be part of that, we moved in. He got involved too. He remembered that when he was on the assembly, they made two positions for valley people to be on the Port Commission.

And so up to the time that he had a stroke, he was attending the Port Commission meetings and was involved in our local community council still there. So I think it would be a good way to honor his legacy and and be an example of his life that he did as his public servant to let everyone work together and have their time to speak.

Thank you, Sandy. Anybody else wish to testify on this item?

Thank you, I'm Rick Traini. Thank you, uh, um, Chairman and Commissioners, I just wanted to speak on behalf of my family and support, urging support for this resolution for my father. You know, my mom did a great job, you know, recounting some of his time on the Assembly, and I don't want to recount that. I do want to speak though to my perspective of my father was that he wasn't a politician, he was a policymaker. He cared about policy, he cared about good policy, and it didn't matter, you know, as people have said, whether, you know, you were Republican or a Democrat, the Assembly is nonpartisan.

And I believe that he exemplified that approach, which is consistent with the municipality's charter. And he spent the better part of, you know, 40 years in Assembly chambers and was the chairman many times. And you know, when the Assembly, you know, honored my father after his passing, there was a lot of testimony from Assembly members that, you know, he modeled how to be a chairman, how to be involved, how to listen to constituents, how to, you know, as my mom said, extend the hearing, you know, multiple weeks. I don't believe anybody could come forward and say, you know, my dad made them feel less than when they testified. And that was very important to him.

And I think it's appropriate that he modeled behavior that, you know, I would expect, you know, from, you know, citizens representing, you know, the Anchorage districts and communities. And I think that example of how to be nonpartisan, how to work across the aisle, how to make policy at that first level that affects people's homes and schools and police and security and education. I think that's important, and I know that there is a, you know, a 3-year requirement, and I mean, I appreciate your consideration of this and consideration of, you know, what he did, and I think it would be a fitting memorial to my father that there are, you know, and people do come from communities and they do care about the communities, and that type of character and behavior is, I think, is what I believe should be modeled, and you as a commission can send that message as well, that, you know, this is what we want as a representative democracy from, you know, community and community people and how to represent the citizens of Anchorage. Thank you, Rick. Anybody else willing to— wishing to testify?

Tim, come forward and state your name. My name is Tim Potter. Um, I didn't know this was on the agenda, but seeing it on the agenda, I felt I needed to say, because as the assembly and Dick indicated, when I retired, that I had probably set the record for sitting through more assembly public hearings than anyone in town. And with that knowledge, and I don't disagree with him, I did. He was a nonpolitical, extremely active and focused person.

And the general public has no clue how much time a good assembly person spends focusing on issues, dealing with constituents and the general public, the administration on issues.

Whether you like Dick or not, you had to respect him because he respected you. And he was fair. He listened. That's all I could ask and want. Of an assemblyperson as I was getting projects through the city.

I will say that he, in looking back over time, he was likely the most effective chairperson of the Anchorage Assembly that I ever witnessed. He ran a good meeting. He kept people on task. He let people speak. He went out of his way to be fair, but also called people out that weren't playing by the rules.

And we actually, when he ran a meeting, the meeting usually got done and it usually went very well and people got their chance to speak and were heard. I think that this is a very appropriate memorial for Dick Trainee, so that when I go back to the Assembly Chambers, which I don't do as anywhere near as much as I used to, I usually watch it online. But to see his name on the wall or the door over Assembly Chambers, it would definitely make me feel good because more than anyone that served on the Assembly over the 40 years that I was actively involved on an almost daily basis, he exudes what we would want any Assembly member to do and, and do that job. So thank you.

Thank you, Tim. Anybody else wishing to testify on this matter? Senator Gray Jackson, welcome. Thank you. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman and commission members, for this opportunity.

And I also want to thank you for providing my notes from my form that I submitted because it's going to make it easy. I'm just going to read them. Dick Trainee's service to the municipality of Anchorage represents an extraordinary chapter in the history of our local government. Naming the Anchorage Assembly Chambers the Dick Trainee Assembly Chambers would permanently recognize a public servant whose decades of leadership, institutional knowledge, and commitment to the people of Anchorage helped shape both the assembly and the community it serves. Dick came to Alaska in 1971 while serving in the United States Air Force and made Anchorage his home.

Before seeking elected office, he became deeply involved in his neighborhood, serving for 8 years as as president of the Campbell Park Community Council. That community-level service reflected an approach he carried throughout his public life. Government works best when elected officials remain accessible and connected to the people they represent. Dick was first elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 1991. Over several periods of service spanning nearly 3 decades, he served a combined 19 years on the Assembly, making him the longest-serving Assembly member in Anchorage history.

His colleagues repeatedly entrusted him with leadership of the body, elected him as Assembly Chair 5 times. He served as Chair during portions of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, giving him a unique role in the evolution of Anchorage municipal government. His influence extended far beyond the number of years he held in office. Dick was known for his command of municipal government, his respect for the legislative process, and his ability to work with colleagues who held different political perspectives. He understood that the Assembly Chambers belong to the public and that every person who came before the body deserved the opportunity to be heard and treated with respect.

And I can't think of anybody in Anchorage or in this state more deserving of having their name on the, uh, on the Assembly Chambers. So I'm hopeful that this board will support that effort. Thank you again for the opportunity. Thank you, Senator Gray Jackson. Anybody else wishing to testify on this matter?

Anyone at all? Anyone seen and hearing? None. The public hearing is closed. What is the will of the body?

Hi, this is Commissioner Hale. Um, I For myself, I vote to approve the Assembly Chambers renaming as the Dick Traini Assembly Chambers. So are you introducing a— making a motion? Uh, yes, I apologize, I motion. All right, can I get a second?

All right, Ayesha seconded. Any discussion?

I just wanted to clarify, it has not been 36 months, right? No, that was going to be my next question. So I will make some comments. I need to compose myself here. I first met Dick when I was president of the Fairview Community Council.

At that time, Downtown District had one assembly member, we felt a little cheated, but we knew with Dick we actually had a second assembly member. And he always would tell me that he was Fairview's second assembly member. He worked extensively with our council, and at the time Sandy was teach— a special education teacher at Fairview Elementary School, taught there for many years. So they were very involved in my community, my neighborhood. And later I was hired by Mayor Begich to work for the city, and in 2012 I became the municipal ombudsman, which is part of the legislative branch, and technically my, my boss was Dick, and I think he reappointed me 2 or 3 times, but what I really appreciated about Dick was, as others have said, he was not a politician, he was a public servant, and with him it wasn't about power or authority, or it was about making a positive difference in this community.

And I know he worked with our Community Council, he and Alan Tesche, which was a unique partnership. And then he had a partnership with Elvi Gray-Jackson later on. And, you know, I would say with those two partnerships, he managed to make some tremendous differences in this community. He and Alan, with help from the Community Council, crafted AMC 8.80, which is excessive police responses that we use to help get rid of some terrible absentee landlords in Fairview. He— the smoking ban in public places.

And more importantly, I remember personally a story. I remember Dick and Elvi standing right over there where Senator Gray Jackson is sitting now in September 2015. When he signed the Equal Rights Ordinance, adding gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes under Title V. And he used 4 pens to sign it, and he handed out 3 of them. And I think I was sitting there looking kind of pathetic, and he tossed me the 4th pen that I have framed on my office wall to this day. So I don't think people realize most members of the public how much of their everyday lives in the municipality are shaped to this day by a lot of the work that Dick did with, you know, some of his colleagues like Alan Tesche and Elvi Gray-Jackson.

And when you think about it, when he finally left the assembly, I think it was in 2019, um, the municipality had only existed for 43 years and he had served nearly 20 of those 43 years as a member of the Assembly. And I have always been grateful for his friendship and his leadership and his mentorship. And what I really appreciated about Dick, he knows how hard my job can be some days as ombudsman. You know, when people threaten to kill you or yell at you or cuss and swear at you or the administration, you're on their bad side. And he would come by the office and sit down and say, how are you doing?

Are you okay? Do you need anything? And I knew that he really meant that. For Dick, what was important to him was faith, family, friends, public service, and his gun collection. So personally, I think this is— and I will note that it's not naming the building our entire building after him, it's naming an interior feature, which is one of the preferred things, policies in the public naming code is to name interior features.

And I, I would love to see the chambers named for Dick so that when people, young people in the future come in and they read his story and they learn about him, they will have an understanding of how one person's public service can impact an entire community.

Any other comments?

All right, go ahead. I, I feel like I should make this comment before we do the votes. Um, I would really like to see more, um, come out about him, and I feel that if I vote no because of the 36 months, that it will encourage, uh, more discussion about him and more stories shared about him when this goes to the assembly. And so I just wanted to, I guess, explain why when it comes around, why I'm— because I think it will pass anyway. I think the assembly will pass it, but I would just like to see more stories, uh, come out about him and more letters and just more, more in the record so that 43 years from now people will know why it's, why it's named after him.

So the Assembly will hold a public hearing, and once again, I just want to remind you, we're not— we're commenting on whether or not we believe the facility should be named for somebody, not how the Assembly does the naming or whether they name it. That is entirely up to them. So the 36-month rule if it's up to them whether or not they name by resolution or they name by ordinance. So we're not commenting on that when we make the recommendation. We're just commenting on whether the case has been made to name or not.

Uh, any other comments?

Jennifer, uh, this is Commissioner Heller. Jennifer, does that change your potential vote. The only reason I ask is because I, I know that we're making a recommendation. Like, for example, I personally believe that the Assembly Chamber should be named after him. I think it's, I think it's great.

So what I'm hearing, though, just to clarify, is that we're making a recommendation for it to be named, but we're not actually making the determination for the 36 months, and that's actually up to the assembly if they choose to waive the 36 months or not. That's not us saying that we recommend that it doesn't because of the 36-month rule. We're saying that we recommend it gets changed, and then the assembly is the one who's actually deciding on that. Is that correct? Correct.

And in the memo that— and the packet that goes to the assembly for this proposal and for the Karen Branga proposal, We will point out that we are not recommending how the Assembly names it. It is entirely up to the Assembly. That is not our role.

So, Jennifer, if I could ask for maybe some more clarification on that part from you, if you have more insight. Sure. I just— I just don't feel like the case has been made. I feel like, um, I mean, I just feel like there could be more Community Council support for this, for this body that represents the whole city. It's not just a park in one neighborhood.

This, this room, this assembly chambers represents the entire city, um, and I just feel like there could be a stronger case. But our code says that we only contact, reach out, and ask for an opinion for our feedback from the community council where the facility is located, and the Midtown Community Council did support it. So I did not reach out to any other community councils because the code doesn't require it, but at the assembly's public hearing, when they hold a hearing, other community councils could potentially weigh in if they choose to, but we are not required to reach out to any other community council.

Um, hi, this is Cuckoo speaking here. I, again, but do we really— do we see the, the issue that, that Jen's bringing up is that this space is— I understand that it's not in our code But does it really? I mean, at this point I feel like it really doesn't matter as much of whether, whether we are fully convinced on the naming of this very public Anchorage-wide space.

Yeah, I'm actually not sure where I'm going with this, but I just, I just wanted to validate, I guess, or second Jen's note about getting a little more support from Anchorage-wide community members about this. And I also acknowledge, Darryl, that at the public hearing, when the assembly does have it, that there will be other people.

But at this point, I'm just not, not, not clear as to then what is—.

I don't know. I guess, yeah, thank you for your time.

I will also note that this hearing was publicly noticed in multiple locations, and if other community councils had desired to weigh in, they could have. Um, can I get a motion?

Okay. Um, Jasmine, call the vote, please. Chair Hess? Yes. Vice Chair Harrison?

No. Commissioner Gupta?

Yes. Commissioner Heller?

No. Commissioner Gilbert? Yes. That passes 3 to 2. Thank you.

That concludes our business for the evening. Now it's— we'll go to member comments.

I guess I just wanted to share, um your comment that you made earlier about being concerned that all 4 of our public hearings are all people. I really hope that other proposals come our way that have more names that aren't just people. I am concerned about the trend. And I'm not sure if later we should have a work session about how to encourage more involvement, I guess, in the naming of things. I appreciate that.

The good news is in November we'll be having a public hearing, holding a public hearing for a proposal that doesn't include anyone's name.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind having a— I wouldn't mind referring this to maybe more of a— I wouldn't mind referring this maybe more to a committee conversation or like thinking a little harder about it because I, again, I for myself, I understand why it went from 12 to 36, but at the same time I'm kind of like, does it really need to be 36 or should it go back to a lesser time? Frame for like a year and things like that. So I think getting the clarification that it's the Assembly making decision does help, but I think that there's also like the honoring the spirit of like what was put forward prior, but I'm not— I'm also opening— I'm also open to like reopening that conversation up and talking through maybe things maybe need to shift again because that's a, you know, we're constantly changing and that's what we need to kind of evaluate. So I'm open to having that larger of a conversation as a kind of smaller group.

All right. Any other comments?

Any public comments? Any comments from members of the public?

Miss Hodge-Growden, come on down.

Welcome.

I just want to say thank you.

Okay, I'm Celeste Hodge-Growden, and I just want to publicly say once again thank you for moving in this direction. Dick Traini, as I've shared and will continue to say, has done more for Alaska, not just Anchorage. He is the rock for so many and for so many communities, and so I'm excited and I am hopeful, and again, I just say thank you.

Thank you, Celeste. Any other members of the public want to comment?

Um, seeing and hearing none, can I get a motion to adjourn?

Second. And I'll second. Any opposition? Seeing and hearing none, we are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks everyone, have a wonderful evening.