Anchorage Assembly: Salaries and Emoluments Commission Meeting

Okay, I'll call to order the meeting of the Salaries and Emoluments Commission. It's June 16th at about 12:05 noon. So, Jasmine, could you take roll, please? Member Hayes.

Present. Member Norsworthy. Present. Member Jesson. Member Redmond?

Present. Member Rieger? Here. Chair, you have a quorum. Okay.

Hey, thank you. I think— I hope you all got by email a copy of a draft agenda. And assuming you do, is there a motion to approve the draft agenda? I'll move to approve.

Second. Okay. Is there any objection to the agenda? Hearing none, the agenda is approved. The first item of business is on the agenda is, or the next, I guess, is the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting.

Those are also in your packet.

I'm wondering if there's a motion to approve the agenda— or sorry, approve the minutes, and then if there are any additions or corrections, we can take that up afterwards. This is Karen. I move to approve.

This is Pat, second. Okay. Are there any additions or corrections? To the draft minutes?

Hearing none, the minutes are approved without objection.

So next on our agenda is disclosures. Does anyone have any disclosures to make?

Okay. We'll move on to unfinished business, which is the election of the chair and the vice chair. I think maybe for past benefit, this was discussed a little at the last meeting. We decided to defer it until there was a larger quorum than just the bare quorum that we had this time.

I know that from my vantage point at that time, I think Matt maybe mistakenly informed me that my term was ending this year, and then I got a subsequent follow-up message that it was not ending, but— [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I do, you know, what I did say then is that I was planning probably not to apply for another term once my term ended. So with that in mind, I guess maybe where I'm coming from is that I'm willing to serve, but also quite happy if someone else wants to serve as chair. And there is a chance, because I guess now it's an open question whether I serve out this term or not, I'm happy if we elect a different chair, but if you do want me to serve, I'd do it, but there's always that chance that I might go off before the term ends. Karen. Jasmine, can you just kind of confirm if you have the information what all of our end dates are, the 5 of us?

Through the chair, let me Check real quick and I'll get to you.

If this is correct, I apologize since I'm jumping into this, but if it's correct, it says that member dress-in is until 2028. Member Rieger is until 2026. Member Hayes is 2028. Member Redmond, I'm assuming yours is not updated because it said 2025, but I assume it's out of date. And then Member Norworthy, it says 2026.

I can check our internal record too. This is just— Oh. Your record— just to be clear, so this is still confusing to me. Your records show that my term expires this year. Yes, let me check the internal.

That's just what they have updated online, but let me see if we have a different note. Sorry, I'm jumping into this.

Matt has a note in here, but I don't— he didn't clarify what his notes meant. So he has a note that says that Member Hayes is 2029, Redmond is 2028, Rieger is 2028. Norseworthy is 2026 and Jesson is 2028, but I don't know if that means he had intended to submit new memorandums or if that is the correct days. So I will have to get back to you. Well, that's fine.

And it's— so I think that the— what I said previously probably still Still holds, at least as far as my position on this is that at this point I do not intend to reapply. And I don't know whether I would, you know, ask for them to find a replacement because I was proceeding on the assumption it was 2026. But I did get a follow-up message from Matt also saying, hey, there was a mistake on that. So just, I mean, people need to know, if we choose someone whose term expires 2027 or beyond, it's not a concern. But just, I guess, for full disclosure, if you choose someone whose term expires 2026, you might then have to have the vice chair fill in or do something else, you know, if it turns out there's a vacancy midterm.

So that's— I just want to make sure everybody knew that when you decide what you want to do.

This is Karen. On— Judy, I don't know that I've ever met, and I'm not sure if she's attended— I think on the phone maybe one meeting. So I was wondering if maybe somebody can reach out to see if she still wants to be on the committee.

'Cause I had told, now what's his name? Matt. Matt, that I was not interested in continuing after my term expired, which is this year, which I think is October. So if Steve is out, potentially myself and Judy, has not participated much. And then I'm not sure what Pat's situation is, and we kind of have Kim, so we may be in a little bit of a pickle on—.

Through the Chair, I just found another note from Matt. I'm so sorry. He said that your term, essentially they only appointed you for 2 years in the memorandum, but it should have been longer. So you'll either need to be reappointed to finish out the 2024 to 2028 term, or someone will fill the remainder of the seat depending on how you want to move forward. But technically you should have been till 2028.

You are, you're referring to me or to Karen Northworthy? To you. To me. Oh, okay. So actually my term really does expire this year.

It should be 2028. Okay. Yeah. It should have been 2028, but it actually does expire this year unless I'm reappointed. That's correct.

Got it.

Okay. So—. Miss— Yes, go ahead. Actually, I was wondering, you don't— Karen, you don't want to continue either? When does your term expire?

This year. My term expires this year. Well, I just was wanting to give somebody else an opportunity. Right. I mean, if—.

Yeah, I'm wondering if— my thought was to— I was going to like nominate you for chair and then Kimberly for vice chair, or Kimberly for chair and you for vice chair, but I don't know what we should do there. Well, I would like to nominate Kimberly for chair. So we need a second. I'll second.

That sounds good to me. Kimberly, do you have any— are you willing to serve? I assume you're willing to serve as chair.

This is Commissioner Hayes. Yes, I'm willing to serve as chair.

So are there any other nominations?

Hearing none, is there any objection to the motion?

If not, congratulations, Kim, you are chair of the commission.

We also have vice chair.

Now we have, in this case, we have 3 members who, if I'm understanding the lay of the land correctly, all 3 officially expire this year, but one member has kind of just in the discussion indicated that she may apply for reappointment. Is that a fair summary, Pat? Yes. Okay. I will nominate Pat for Vice Chair.

You need a second. I'll second it. This is—. Oh, go ahead.

What did she say? Oh, Kim was going to say something, and then probably what she was going to say was that probably she should be the one calling the roll at this point. So you know what, Kim, I'm going to hand it over to you. Oh, no, I was actually just going to— I was going to second the motion. Okay.

Through the chair, since she's telephonic, whoever becomes the vice chair will actually run the meeting in person. So because she's on the phone, it will be whoever the vice chair is. Oof. Okay, so for the moment, I'm gonna continue to run the meeting until we have a vice chair. Are there any other nominations for vice chair?

Hearing none, is there any objection to the motion? Hearing none. Okay, we have Vice Chair Pat Redmond, and at this point I'll just, because we have a chair and vice chair and the chair is telephonic, I will hand the meeting over to Pat from this point forward to run the meeting. Okay, well, and then when it's time to, to move on to new business, which is compensation of elected officials. And because I was not at the last meeting, is this just to— is this new discussion?

This is my understanding, so anyone can correct me. Everything from this point forward is new business. We did not bring up compensation of elected officials except for a discussion that we might want to bring up compensation of school board, and that I think, but no action was taken if I remember right, but just that that was something that might happen at the next meeting when we had more of a quorum. Karen, this is Karen. We talked about why we wanted to have this meeting was that if we were going to change any compensation, we're always waiting till the end of the year and jamming things through and rushing.

We need to start earlier and take a look at it. I think some of the discussion was, is, you know, we just did the assembly, did their benefits. We increased the school board not too long ago. And I suggested, you know, the one thing that we haven't looked at in a while was probably the mayor. And if we were going to do anything that— Mm-hmm.

Potentially we might want to take a look at that. I stand corrected. Who is the mayor? Okay, sorry. Does anybody have a comment on— there's any suggestions regarding the mayor?

This is Commissioner Hayes. I remember that as well. I would also like to look at the mayor's compensation. Secondarily, I reached out to Member Jessen. All of the emails had been flagged as spam in her inbox.

She is interested in continuing service and is going to attempt to join this meeting via telephone. Oh, okay, good. Member Jesson, are you on the phone?

I am. Oh, good. Okay, welcome.

Kimberly, you said that you would— you were interested in following through on looking at the compensation of the mayor. So how do we want to go about that? Do we want to look at the cell— the existing salary and benefits and then make any changes or compare it to similar situations in the lower 48, or do we want to just figure out here.

This is Commissioner Hayes. I'd like to look to Karen because I know she's the one who brought it up in the last meeting, and so I don't know if there were— I don't have any of the paperwork in front of me because I'm sitting in a conference room, but Karen, I'd ask you, when was the last time we updated it, and what do you see that has happened since we last updated that?

I am taking a look to see when the last time— the current salary for the mayor is $145,000 a year plus a little bit of change on that. And I think it has been— it was— I'm looking back in the notebook the last time we looked at the mayor's compensation. And I think it looks like it was in 2020 when we went to the $143,000. And prior to that, The last time it was increased was in 2015. So in 2015, it was $132,000, almost $133,000 a year.

2020, In April, we advanced the salary to $145,000. And here we are at 2026. I'm assuming this information was accurate that we have. Mm-hmm. This is from the December 22nd, December 2022 meeting that we had.

So it seems to me we're kind of at that timeframe where we might want to take a look and making an adjustment there.

So what is the wish then of the body? Do you wish to pursue it? Do we need— what information do we need to make it— to have a good discussion about it?

I personally, I'm thinking about my own thought here, is given the state of the current economy, which is a mess, no, I don't know if we If we made a change this year, it would be effective next— it wouldn't be effective until the next mayor, or the next election. So it'd be 2 years out? When's— how long is the mayor's term? This is Commissioner Hayes. It would be April 2027.

So we should— so we have time to look at it. We don't have to make a decision this year even. So this is Karen, and I, I know we have time, but at the same time we don't have time, right? If we are able to make a decision here sometime this summer to get it taken care of, then when the budgeting season starts, um, which that whole thing starts in October, they have time to prepare for the following year. So it's important, I think, for us to do this early rather than waiting, because then everybody is we're kind of pushing up everybody's deadline at that point.

Okay. Do you have any suggestions as to what range we might want to look at? I would suggest somewhere around 5%— 5 to 8% would be my suggestion on making adjustment on the salary. When I look at some of the— and granted, they're union employees— some of their contracts have given as much as 8% on increases. So you have a fair amount of employees that are making more than the mayor now.

Not that that's necessarily an issue, but it's, I think, something worth considering.

Yes, Steve. So I just have a procedural question, and I really don't know the answer to this, but it might be the case that what we need to do is make a decision about whether to discuss it almost and then calendar it, public notice it, and then have the kind of discussion that we're starting to get into here before we actually have the discussion. So basically, the only— if I'm right, the only threshold decision that we have to— in fact, the only decision we can do is whether to decide to have a meeting to take it up. So maybe— sorry to spring this on you, Jasmine, but you might have to make a ruling on that. But I think—.

I think you're correct. I think you are correct. So because we really can't do anything until we have a public meeting, we— when we need to have some— but we do need to have some information to provide the public to discuss.

Yeah, this is Carol. I do, and I would just push for, I mean, I know it's summer and it's a gorgeous day today, but our meetings are typically about an hour. I'd like to suggest that we maybe try and schedule something in maybe end of July, first part of August, and then maybe we can look at over the last like 5 years, get information on— let's just look at the workforce with the municipality, I think is worth looking at, is how much, you know, along with the assembly, what's the percentage of increase that has happened there. When you look at comparable positions within the municipality, I think it's worth looking at. I mean, I know it's extreme on some of the salaries, but maybe the school district.

I think we can look at the governor. I think we can look at the chancellor of UAA and some other comparable positions within the city. I mean, I know those salaries are going to be significantly larger, but I still think it's worth looking at. I, I agree with you. I think that that's a good idea.

So can you have a note to Jasmine as to what kind of information we're going to want to look at?

In her comments about the different salaries around the state or around the city and the state. I'm not 100%. So this is Karen. So for the municipal workforce, you can do by collective bargaining, you can ask employee relations or human resources to provide you, you know, over the last,— let's say 5 years, what's the percentage of increase by collective bargaining units for the employees. Also the assembly, what the percentage of increase— I don't remember what that was that we gave them.

And then get information on the salary from what the governor makes, I would say the chancellor, the school district superintendent, because looking at other government employees and not diving into the private sector. Yeah, I will work with the clerk because she'll be more versed in the process, so I'll coordinate with her. Okay, good. Yeah, and then I would say the mayor of Fairbanks, Juneau as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there any other suggestions that we might want to look at? Do we want to look at any from the Lower 48? I did I don't, I don't think we need to. I think it should be within Alaska.

So any other comments on that? Through the chair, to Member Rieger's point, it does say in the code that the commission shall afford an opportunity for the public to be heard before rendering any decision that changes compensation.

I—. And, you know, that could be interpreted multiple ways because— but I do think the way we have done it in the past is that at the second meeting, you know, the first meeting you decide to take something up. At the second meeting, you develop a proposed decision, and then there's actually a third meeting and a third opportunity for public comment before you actually make the resolution, you know, pass or fail the resolution that would make the change. So the language you read probably could allow either of those, but I think it has been our past practice to notice that we're gonna have a discussion and then it'd be another notice that we're actually gonna make a decision.

Typically, we try to keep similar procedures. So if that's how you handled it, that's typically how we would move forward. I'm sorry, I couldn't hear her. Oh, you said if that's— I'm going to paraphrase Jasmine, that if that's our past practice, their preference is to continue the past practice. And I— I agree with that.

I mean, obviously I agree with that. It's what we've done in the past and that's what we should, we have to.

Any other comments on the, so we'll be looking then at the, we will be looking at increased compensation for the mayor. Are there any other, and we will not be looking at the assembly or school board. Is that— do I understand that correctly?

Yes, okay. We're set there. All right, is there anything else to come before us today at this point? I don't—. Go ahead.

I have no other new business to offer. No other new business. Member comments.

Karen? I would just like to comment on, as we move forward, because if Steve and I are going off, that we try and schedule meetings to take care of this. Oh, yes. Be mindful of so we're not jammed up and then you have a new commission trying to pick up from where we are off. So I would just hope that we could have the meeting scheduled sooner rather than later.

Do you have a— I guess what we need to know is what dates. Well, do we have— I can't remember. I always had Steve figure out the date. So will the— or does the clerk's office figure out a proposed date for us, or do—. The way it worked, at least in the more recent years is that the staff, the municipal clerk's staff, would send out a poll and figure out days that everybody said was an okay day.

Most likely, yeah. And then they try to optimize that and see if we could at least get, you know, ideally all the people that, you know, and generally we've been able to get some date that all members of the Commission have said they could make that date. And it's— and sometimes it comes down to actually what time of the day and the date before you can get something that everybody can commit to being available for. The next question I— not question, the comment I have is with, is there a preference to the end of July or should we move into August, or do we want to scope for July? If nobody—.

This is Commissioner Hayes. If I could give a comment, I would prefer if we could do it late July because we're going to have to have another meeting. And to Karen's point about people turning off and budget season, I would prefer to do it as soon as everybody can, which sounds like sometime in July. Okay, that's, that's actually what I was thinking too. So if you can we will have them, have you do a poll to schedule a meeting in July.

Through the chair, yes, I'll send a poll out and look at available dates. Any other, okay, we have Kim, Karen's comments. Steve, any comments? Kim, do you have comments?

This is Commissioner Hayes, looking forward to serving as chair on the go-forward. Thank you. And Judy? No comments. I think that sounds great.

I'm excited to see what the data is, and I'm glad we're going to be scheduling the meeting sooner rather than later. Okay. All right. Is there— there's— is there anybody— there is nobody here for public participation. Is there anybody on the line for public participation?

All right, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I move to adjourn. The motion's been made and seconded to adjourn. Any objection? Hearing none, everybody enjoy summer today.

Thank you, Pat. Bye, everybody.