Assembly Regular - September 9, 2025 - 2025-09-09 17:00:00

Else it falls. Think I did something bad, I did something bad. Never question the ending. And say, if they owe me money, if they owe me something, let's go out and spend it all. Say, I'm not very lucky.

If they owe me something, let's go out and spend it all. Let me tell you a secret. Let me tell you, let me Let me tell you—. Oh! Let me tell you a secret...

Ahh! Secret? Ahhh! Oh, secrets! I keep it all alone, I keep it on my own, I keep it out of love, I'll keep that one up for later.

I keep it at home, I keep it under lock, I can't bear to let anyone know what's going wrong inside myself. Keepin' it off your mind keeps it alive within mine. Ooh-ooh-oo-hooo!

Let's go, buddy! Stay down! Stay! I'm not very lucky if they owe me something. Let's go, buddy!

Stay down!

Kick my feet up, watch the sunset. Now I'm done relaxing. Time's chasing after me. I need a little substance. Not sure where it's headed, but I know it's going somewhere.

Take a cab and don't look back. I'll move through all the silence. Now I'm colder than the weather. Steady going under pressure. I'm finally over being lowkey under these So, cuppers, now I'm back and I'm better.

Steady going under pressure. Sit back and watch the paint dry. Take time and watch the dope rise. In another world, I'd have control of my mind. Can't seem to get it through that things I do, but on my own time.

People waiting, slowly fading.

Under pressure, sit back and watch the paint dry. Take time and watch the dope rise. It's passing hours dancing. How the hell am I still standing? Trees are rusting.

I'm not playing. Maddies are infiltrating. Now I'm colder than a weather cleaver. Steady —under pressure. I'm finally over being lowkey under these old covers.

Now I'm back and I'm better. Steady going under pressure. Sit back and watch the paint dry. Take time and watch the door rise.

The sun's leaving. If I close my eyes, will it happen now? Sun's leaving. Another sun coming down. Do you ever think back, baby, when you were young and strong?

Do you ever think back, baby, you're the one that's wrong? Do you ever If I close my eyes, it never happened at all. Oh, the sun's leaving. Oh no, the sun coming down. Do you ever think back, baby, when you were young and strong?

Do you ever think that maybe you're the one that's wrong? Do you ever think back when you hear Another song will come— another sound coming down! Another sun will come and go... Come and go? [MUSIC] 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 does one love? How does one see?

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

How does one love? I get lost and I like it like that. Yeah, I like it like that. Love has its cost, now I'm all back 'cause boy, I'm back. How does one love?

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

The sun is setting on our love.

Somehow you kept me.

Guess I haven't cried enough. Let me love you down. Let me love you down. I never came over. I hate, I hate when I'm sober.

Let me love you down. Let me love you down. I never, I never came over. I hate, I hate when I'm sober. Let me love you down.

Let me love you down. Let me love you down! Let me love you down! Let me— let's go again...

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 all bad thoughts away.

Home sweet home is where I wanna be. Home sweet home, a place to find Sofie! Home sweet home is where I want to 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 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.

Hello.

Even though I know where I'm gonna go, I hope that you take me seriously. I hope that nobody Stays mad at me.

Oh, which way is up in your eyes? I hope I don't come down on Cuz we're dancing on the words we didn't get to say.

I know that you take me seriously. I know that Over these things, man, that me— and now 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. Head down, let you take me seriously. Here and now, I know that nobody stays mad at me. Head down, let you take me Seriously?

George, can you hear us?

Yes, sir. All right, we'll turn that up a little bit. Thanks. Is there anyone else with me right here?

I hope it's you. Okay, we'll be getting started in just a few minutes.

Oh! And keeps them talking— Oh! Oh-ho-ho!

Found out who wasted it... 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 getting tired of me yet?

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

Why don't you talk to me yet?

We'll be starting just a couple minutes.

All right, I think we will go ahead and get ready to get started. I can feel the buzz in the room. Are we on the record?

Okay, good evening everybody. I now call to order this meeting of the Anchorage Assembly. Uh, tonight is September 9th, 2025, is our regular meeting. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Member Myers? Here. Member McCormick? Here. I understand Member Martinez is excused.

Martinez is on the phone. Just kidding, on the phone. Member Martinez? Present. Member Baldwin-Day?

Present. I understand Member Johnson is on the Excused. He is excused. Chair Constantine. Present.

Vice Chair Brawley. Here. Member Walland. Happy to be here. Member Silvers.

Here. Member Rivera. Present. Member Gerker. Here.

And Member Presverdia. Here. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you.

Mr. McCormick, would you please lead us in the pledge? Yes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Miss Silvers, would you please read the land acknowledgment?

A land acknowledgment 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 Denina. Thank you, Member Silvers. Next we have minutes of previous meetings. Tonight, item 4A, regular meeting, August 26th, 2025. Uh, is there a motion to approve?

Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Meyer, seconded by Mr. Walland. Is there any discussion on the motion?

Seeing and hearing no discussion, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the adoption of the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, the minutes from the August 2026 meeting have been approved. Next, we have the mayor's report. Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good evening, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to update you all on the work we're doing before the evening's agenda. I attended the annual Alaska Defense Forum in Fairbanks at the end of August and participated in a panel with Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Hopkins and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, JBRR, Commander Colonel Mabbitt. This important conference highlights challenges facing our military installations and their communities.

JBRR is a key partner for the municipality and an economic powerhouse for our community. The base's global and strategic importance is only growing, and we support efforts to expand its role. Our conversations with JBRR and other Alaska military communities have underscored the Port of Alaska's strategic importance as a seaport. It is critical to keeping the installation supplied and ready for deployment. We share many priorities with JBear, from housing and childcare to the Port of Alaska and energy.

Personnel stationed there want and need the same things other residents do: a safe, vibrant community, good schools, childcare, housing, and public amenities, and a reasonable cost of living. I am proud to continue building our relationship with JBear and working together to build a strong, safe, reliant, and prepared community. And my thanks and gratitude to all who have served and continue to serve our country in the, in the armed services. As we head into fall, we're also heading into budget season, and we have our first work session this Friday. We've got many different priorities and services to fund, all while we're facing big fiscal constraints.

The municipality's funding structure relies largely on property taxes, and I expect some tough decisions will be made. I look forward to robust conversations with all of you on the assembly and members of the community about how we're funding the services, infrastructure, and amenities that our community needs. Next, I want to point out something we are not actively doing this fall. For the first time in several years, we are not scrambling to plan for winter shelter. Instead, with the Assembly's support, my team is working with our municipal— working with our municipal departments has established a year-round coordinated safety net shelter system.

That's a big deal, and I really want to thank members of the Assembly for your collaboration here. With the opening of Linda's Place last week, we have 300 year-round shelter beds at 3 different locations. And should we need to, we have the capacity to add beds this winter at two of these locations. It means we've effectively ended the costly, inefficient, and frankly harmful cycle of opening and closing seasonal shelter. For the first time in years, people experiencing homelessness can rely on municipal shelters remaining open.

And my team is continuing to seek out community-based homelessness interventions. Last week we convened leaders of local faith communities, and this was the second convening that we've had to discuss how we move Anchorage forward on homelessness together. I was really heartened by the interest, the ideas, and the energy that we heard at that meeting and the connections that we're making. Lastly, I want to remind everyone that we are celebrating Anchorage's 50th anniversary of of unification into a municipality. Thank you especially to Chair Constant, Vice Chair Brawley, everyone who joined for such a fun kickoff event last Friday at Town Square Park.

And I know Member Voland and Member Silvers, you were there too. More events are lined up. The full calendar of MOA50 celebrations and activities is available at meuni.org/50. That's all for now. Back to you, Mr.

Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Next, we have the chair's report. Tonight, I'll start with where the mayor ended.

Our 50th anniversary of the municipality is now upon us. In fact, I think it's later this week, the actual date at which the voters adopted the charter and we moved into our new government 50 years ago. So last Friday, as the mayor mentioned, we kicked off the big public celebrations at Town Square Park at the night market, and that was a great time. Thanks again to Zenita Stetsnova, who who had organized that amazing activation activity all summer long and stayed one more week to do it with us. The event was a great celebration.

There were vendors, there were kind of information booths, there was music, there was dancing, a lot of celebration. And that is a nice thing for the city to be doing as we continue the challenging work of running our city and trying to make improvements with the limited resources available to us. From now through November, as the mayor mentioned, we'll celebrate with activities and events. This weekend, I highly recommend Saturday, a history lesson on the historic neighborhoods of Anchorage by David Reamer at the Beartooth. You can go by the Beartooth, the tickets are free to pick them up, and it's going to be tons of fun.

I think it's 11 in the morning. And then also later in the month, if you go to muni.org/50 and through November 7th, you'll be able to see all the activities This is a great opportunity to learn about our roots and begin envisioning the next 50 years, so I hope you find a way to become involved. Also, I'd like to report on the budget season. This week we start the budget process for the 2026 municipal budget at the assembly. The mayor's team has been working on it for a while.

We received the 120-day member about 2 weeks ago, and while studying the government budget might not sound like fun to everyone, I really encourage folks to follow the process and be involved. It's actually very interesting and informative about the state of the municipality.

It's important for members of the public to understand the budget process and to be involved in the budget process because really our budget is a statement of our values. And every year we challenge ourselves to try to be as efficient as possible with the resources we have, facing the fact that the needs far outstrip the means that we have available to us. And every year it is a challenging and interesting process process. If you don't have time to read the budget, you can still testify or email the assembly to tell us about the municipal services you want to see and how to prioritize funding. We'll have a work session this Friday where the administration will present the 120-day memo, which is a 71-page memo that is the precedent to us receiving the hundreds and hundreds of pages of the budget, which details every line of operation of the municipality.

There are further work sessions that you'll be hearing about in October, November, as well as opportunities for public testimony along the way. These are open to the public and also live streamed and recorded for posterity. So learn more about our budget process at muni.org/assembly and look for the Budget and Taxes button on our home page.

Finally, I'd like to celebrate the fact that tonight, with the adoption of the consent agenda we will be bringing on board 3 new youth members, youth representatives to the assembly. They won't all serve at any given time, but maybe occasionally we'll have them all 3 here. They will circulate like we did with the last group. I'm very pleased to welcome them. I know they're here in the audience tonight, at least some of them are, and we look forward to welcoming you up after we pass the resolution and are able to swear you in.

I would like to add just a little bit of thoughts. You know, this project I think started really with Mr. Rivera and Mr. Martinez quite a while ago with several administrations back, and it's gone through a number of kind of twists and turns that bring us to today. We've had a number of excellent youth representatives. We've also faced some challenges that I'm grateful to the mayor when she was an assembly member for helping to stand up with us and get things squared away so that we have the functioning and thriving project that we have going on today. So tonight I welcome Kennedy Bowser from Chugiak High School, Gwyneth Eggleston from East High, and Jacob Laveras from West High.

To spend a better part of the school year with us as they learn and participate in our overall process. They're currently in the audience, and we'll put— pull them up when we get to the item, which is 10D2 on the agenda, and have their swearing in. Then you'll see them join us on the dais. All three will serve on tonight's meeting, and then they will rotate for the future. So welcome again, Kennedy, Gwyneth, and Jacob.

That concludes my report, except that to state the boilerplate material that this is a business meeting. I'll do my best to move us efficiently through the agenda. So we can conclude at the most reasonable hour possible. As this is a business meeting, we're here to do the work of the municipality. Please help us to create a climate of respect in the chambers and refrain from personal attacks or speaking out of turn or shouting or clapping and pacing, unless of course clapping is in order for the item.

Keep signs to 8.5 by 11 inches or smaller. Keep the aisles clear except when lined up to testify, and please don't approach the dais up here. But if you have something for the members, please hand it to our clerk up front. If a point of order is called, please stop speaking so the chair may rule on the point of order and the record is clear. If the rules are not followed, the chair may interrupt speakers to call for compliance.

If compliance with the rules doesn't occur, the chair may pause the meeting, and if there's an actual disruption, the chair will give a warning. But if the disruption persists or happens again, the person will be asked to leave. With that, then we'll go ahead and move on to the next part of our agenda, which is committee and liaison reports. We'll start with you, Mr. Mr. Myers. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. At last week's Community and Economic Development Committee meeting, we heard our standard updates from the Building Planning Department and Public Works, but also had a really great presentation from the Botanical Gardens of Anchorage from their executive director, Mike Monterusso. So if people are not familiar with that, I would encourage you guys to go up there, take a look, take a tour. There's a lot of great things that they offer for the community and for students around Anchorage. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Thank you, Mr. Myers. Mr. McCormick. Mr. Clark, nothing to report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clark. Mr. Martinez.

Thank you, Chair. Just a moment of privilege, just to flag for my colleagues, Item 14E, Chair, I will be asking folks to postpone the public hearing until time certain. And so we will get to that. I want to also offer my deep appreciation to Member Myers for being such a phenomenal Vice Chair and stepping up. The main reason that I'm the chair is because he's so supportive in the first place.

And so I'm just appreciative of the leadership that he steps up into. And thank you, Chair. All right, thank you, Mr. Martinez. Ms. Baldwin-Day. Thank you, Chair.

One update from the AMATS Committee. I'd love to let everyone know that the AMATS Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee is actually seeking new members. There are 4 open seats on that committee. If you are interested in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Anchorage and you would like a really direct way to influence federal policy and federal expenditures here in Anchorage, this is a phenomenal way for you to get involved and serve your community. The seats are actually designated, so one of those is designated for a business person, one is designated for someone who's representing a community or environmental organization, One of those seats is a public member, so no affiliation is needed.

You just need to care about bicycles and pedestrians. And then the fourth is designated for a bicycle organization. We do have one applicant for that seat, but that does not preclude anyone else from applying. So if you are interested again in federal expenditures on bicycles and pedestrians, please apply to the AMATS Advisory Committee. You can find the application on the AMATS website, which is part of the Muni website.

So if you go to muni.org and search for AMATS, A-M-A-T-S. It will take you to the web page. If you click through to the committees link, you will find the application. So, um, would love to encourage anyone who's interested to apply, and if you know someone who would be a good fit, please pass that information along. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Baldwin-Davis. Brawley. Um, thank you. Just one update today, um, for the Budget and Finance Committee. The next meeting is Thursday, September 18th, from 10 to 11 AM, City Hall, Room 1 155.

Um, the, uh, Chair has already stated, um, an update on the 120-day memo on the budget. Um, so really encourage folks to look at that. And, and, um, as was stated, there will be a work session this Friday from 1 to 2:30 PM, also at City Hall, Room 155. Um, and then from there we will discuss, um, priorities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Volland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also want to speak a little bit about AMATS and highlight 3 important work sessions, um, 2 that are past and 1 to come. Um, the first is we just had a work session on the TIP, that's the Transportation Improvement Program, our short-range transportation plan.

Um, that was on September 4th, and then we will have a second follow-up work session on that, um, coming up on September 18th at 1 PM. You can, as Member Baldwin-Day stated, you can go to the AMATS website publicinput.com/amats, A-M-A-T-S, #events, and you can see those meetings upcoming and you can watch them in real time. We invite you to join us. The third work session that I want to highlight is— was also recently held, and that I spoke about at our last regular assembly meeting, at sort of a preview that this was coming. And this was a special work session on the AMAPS operating agreement and boundary.

Um, I would like to encourage all of my colleagues to watch that meeting back because it was very interesting. It has become apparent that there is a, uh, some disagreement or some differences in interpretation between the Federal Highway Authority and Alaska State DOT and PF over who has authority over National Highway System projects within the AMATS boundary. We were fortunate enough to have a representative from the Federal Highway Authority join that work session and state that it is the MPO meaning AMATS, who has authority, not the state unilaterally. So I anticipate those conversations will be ongoing. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Thank you, Mr. Bohlen. Miss Silvers? Nothing to report, thank you. All right, thank you, Miss Silvers.

Mr. Abram? Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple items. There was a meeting of the Municipal Audit Committee last week where we had a presentation on the 2023 ACFR.

That's the Annual Comprehensive Actual Review, our big audit. Although I couldn't attend most of that meeting, I also understand that the 2024 ACFR was discussed, and good news is that we are way ahead of schedule compared to the last couple of audits. Um, we really hope to push through and get us back to a normal audit schedule this year. There was also a meeting of the Quality Municipal Services and Ethics and Elections Committee on July 27th, where we reviewed one of the items on our agenda later today and talked about language access in relation to our elections. The beginning of a longer conversation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right, thank you, Mr. Rivera. Mr. Gerker. Thank you, Chair.

Nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. Gerker. Mr. Presidio.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I'd like to report on the assembly Public Health and Safety Committee meeting that met on September 3rd. A few items I think are helpful to share. We had an update on the raid on the Chelsea Inn and more information around that.

We— the mayor's office also did a report on substance use response and treatment in Anchorage. And this brief report set the stage for what I think is going to be a series of conversations coming up around substance issues in Anchorage. We also had a presentation by the Anchorage Police Department on pre-arrest diversion program, which was very interesting, and I'm excited to see where that's going in terms of our ability to divert some folks away from the criminal justice system and into treatment and other opportunities. We had an update on the— on AO202574S2, which is the the camping ordinance. At this point, there's only been one arrest related to that.

And then we also had an update from the Anchorage Fire Department on AO-202561, which is the, the outdoor fire ordinance that was passed. It was very interesting because the chief reported that over the same timeframe, January 1st through August 31st last year compared to this year, the number of reported outdoor fires is up 70%. So there was an interesting conversation about whether that ordinance actually helped to deter outdoor fires or not. So more to come on that, but I think it's an interesting report in terms of, of how that law has impacted outdoor fires. And then finally, we had an update from the ACE Fund, which is the municipality's Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund.

If you don't remember, that is that where we're using tax dollars from municipal marijuana sales and using that to fund early care and education. It was our first real major update there, and there were some, some really key things. There's a, a fund that they put towards early educator child care subsidies for $1.25 million, and currently there are 76 families enrolled in that, 119 kids. Are being paid for at this time. There's also the operational assistance, which is $2.4 million, which is going directly into helping child care centers to deal with a variety of things from infrastructure to paying staff.

And then the final is a pilot project, capital funding project, which is $2 million, and there's a variety of really, really exciting projects coming out of that. So I, I encourage you to learn more about this, but money is going out to support early learning and child care, and I'm excited to see how that helps that industry. Thanks, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Presverdean. I would add just a couple of notes that I know this will be after our next meeting, but I'll just notify people now.

Our joint meeting of the Anchorage School District and the Anchorage Assembly, which is scheduled for 9/26/2025, 5 is actually going to be held in room 155 at City Hall instead of at the school board chamber. So we do of course need a quorum of assembly members at that meeting to conduct our charter required business with the school district. And so just note that that will be held at 155, which paves way for all of us to cross the street to the Denina Center and attend the career fair for ASD that's happening at the same time, in which a bunch of different organizations and entities across the municipality come to recruit and discuss discuss future potential careers with our youth. And so again, we'll have more of a meaningful brief at our next meeting, but just for calendaring purposes, please prepare to be at room 155 on 926. And also, I would note that our next meeting will occur over the high Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which runs from the 22nd to the 24th of September.

Our next meeting is on the 23rd, so we can anticipate some staffing kind of moving around as we accommodate folks for their holiday schedule. So with that, then I'm going to go ahead and move us on to the addendum to the agenda. Before we get to the addendum to the agenda, we'll go ahead and address laid on the table items. We have just a handful and they're all supplemental tonight. So we have item 10.

I'm going to read them all as they're supplemental. It just takes reading into the record.

All right, so we have item 10B3A, Resolution AR 2025-271S, Resolution of the Assembly supporting and committing to the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project in the Municipality of Anchorage. We also have item 10B3B, Resolution Number 2025-271S1, Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly supporting and committing to the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project in the Municipality of Anchorage. Then we have item 10F4, Information Memorandum, I am a numbered administration's answers to assembly questions. Then we have item 13C2 Which is information memorandum unnumbered regarding AO-2025-88, an ordinance amending the official zoning map and approving the rezoning of approximately 2.18 acres from I-1 light industrial district to PDC, Planned Community Development District, per AO-2006-46S for original townsite subdivision, Block 1, Lots 1 to 5, and Block 2, Lots 1A and 2-6.

Wave reading. Thank you. So that item is laid on the table. Um, to my friends on the legal counsel table, assembly counsel, there's one item not here, a substitute version for, um, I believe it's item 15E.

We have that prepped and printed, actually. We just need authorization. Can I just— can you do me a favor and read the title for me?

One second. Thank you.

Sorry, I didn't close the loop on that.

So that's AR 2025-2076-S. Is that correct? 15-E? Yep. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly approving an alcohol special land use permit with site conditions for BK LLC doing business as G Building in B-2B Central Business District Intermediate located at 420 West 3rd Avenue within Anchorage Original Townsite Subdivision Block 24A, Lot 2A, generally located south of West 3rd Avenue, west of C Street, north of West 4th Avenue, and east of E Street in Anchorage. Thanks, sir.

Those items are all supplemental and they are now kind of incorporated No, they're not quite yet incorporated. Um, they will be incorporated. So, um, now I'd like to ask for a motion to incorporate the addendum as printed and distributed and the laid on the table items. So moved. Second.

Motion to approve by Miss Brawley and second by Mr. Myers. Is there any objection? Seeing here none, I ask unanimous consent.

Seeing here no objection, then the addendum to the agenda has been incorporated. Next appearance request, we have none tonight. Next on the agenda, we have the consent agenda.

The consent agenda— actually, we'll just go ahead down the dais first. I don't know, ask members to pull items they'd like to pull. Mr. President Diaz. Thank you, Chair. 10A.5 for reading, 10B.2 and 10B.3.

All right, so I have 10A.5, 10B.2, and 10B.3. All right, Mr. Kirker. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, 10Alpha.1, 10Bravo.1.

10A1 and 10B1. All right, thank you. Mr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My items have been pulled. Thank you. Ms. Silvers.

10A3.

All right, I got 10A3. Mr. Voland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to pull 10A4 and 10B1.

All right. So we have 2 on 10B1. All right, so, um, Miss Brawley. Thank you. A few of my items have been pulled, so in addition, I will pull 10Delta1 and 10Delta2 and then 10Echo3 on behalf of the chair.

Thank you. All right, um, Miss Baldwin-Day.

In addition to the items already pulled, 10E7.

10E7, is that it? Thank you. Um, on the phone, Mr. Martinez? No items. All right, thank you, Mr. Martinez.

Mr. McCormick? No additional items. Thank you. Mr. Myers? 10A2 for reading.

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Chair, I would like to request that the body change the order of the items taken up to take up 10D1 and 10D2 after the 10As and before the rest of the consent agenda. Second. We don't need a motion. Hold on, I'm going to go ahead and direct it be done if there's no objection.

That way we don't have to go through the regular Okay, there's no objection, so we'll go ahead and call that. I do think that we should make 10A5 last so that we can keep all these amazing people here, but I won't do that. So, okay, any further? I'm gonna go ahead and read them off. I have 10A1, Skerker.

10A2, Mr. Myers. 10A3, Ms. Solvers.

10A4, um, okay, Mr. Volland, 10A5, Mr. Presverdia, 10B1, Mr. Gerker, Mr. Volland, 10B2, Mr. Presverdia, 10B3, Mr. Presverdia, 10D1 and 2, Miss Brawley.

Then we have 10E3, Miss Brawley on my behalf, 10E7, Miss Baldwin-Day. Okay, did I miss anything?

All right, so then, uh, yeah, okay, so, uh, with those items pulled, then I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda minus the pulled items. So moved. Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Voland. I'd like to ask unanimous consent.

Is there any objection to the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, the consent agenda minus the pulled items have passed. For the public's information, essentially, um, all the items on the consent agenda except those items which have been pulled are now passed and approved. So if you're here for action on those items, those items are concluded, and that's items 10A through 10D. G. So pulled, approved, or introduced.

Okay, so now we'll go ahead and start our way through the consent agenda items that have been pulled. We have first item 10A.1. Item 10A.1 is Resolution R2025-269, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing September 2025 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Um, this item was pulled by Mr. Mr. Gerker. Move to approve.

Second. Moved by Mr. Gerker, seconded by Mr. Bond. Like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection?

Seeing and hearing no objection, the item has been adopted unanimously. We have Mr. Gerker reading and Mr. Presverdia presenting. Please come forward if you're here to receive this item. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing September 2025 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Awareness Month. Whereas, National Suicide Prevention Month unites mental health advocates, prevention organizations, survivors, allies, and community members to promote suicide prevention awareness.

World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10th, which aims to raise awareness, bring attention to the issue, and reduce stigma. And whereas, the Center for Disease Control reported suicide was the 11th leading cause of death overall in the United States and leading cause of death among individuals aged 10 to 34. According to the CDC, suicide rates increased approximately 36% in the United States from 2000 to 2023. The number of suicide rates also increased 2.6% in the United States from 48,183 deaths in 2021 to 49,449 in 2022, and that was the highest number ever recorded in the United States. States.

The percentage increase in the number of suicides was greater in females, 4%, to males, 2%, but the overall number for males was 4 times that of females. In 2023, the CDC listed that people 85 years and older had the highest rates of suicide.

And, and whereas Alaska's suicide rate remains among the highest in the country, with around 30 deaths per 100,000 people, The Alaska Department of Health reported that in 2023, 213 deaths in Alaska were from suicide compared to the average U.S. rate, which was 14 per 100,000 people. According to the Alaska Health Analytics and Vital Records section, Region 8, which made up— which is made up of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Municipality of Anchorage, and the Kenai Peninsula Borough, has the highest number of deaths by suicide compared to other regions in the state. Whereas the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Alaska chapter focuses on eliminating the loss of life from suicide by delivering innovative prevention programs, educating the public about risk factors, and reaching out to those individuals who have lost someone to suicide, and encourages anyone who is experiencing suicidal thoughts to call the Alaska Care Line 24/7 Crisis Hotline at 877-266-4357 or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Now, therefore, the Anchorage Assembly recognizes September 2025 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and encourages all Anchorage residents to help promote suicide prevention awareness. Passed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly on this 9th day of September.

2025. Thank you. Welcome. Please come forward. The microphone's off.

Like to say some words. It's unusual there was no clapping, but it just doesn't feel like something to clap for. So the microphone is off. Press the button. There you go.

Welcome. Please state your name. Dennis Lasley. I'm the board chair for the Alaska chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Uh, Mr.

Chair, thank you so much for allowing us to be here. And Mr. Gregor, thank you for, uh, reading the resolution and the rest of the assembly for unanimously voting to approve it. Um, obviously an emotional topic. Thank you for the vulnerability there, and you're absolutely correct. I appreciate the fact that actually no one did applaud.

Um, it's, uh, it's a tough topic. It's a, it's hard subject to talk on, and I appreciate the fact that you guys allowed us to be here. Thank you for referencing the helpline 988 and the Alaska Care Line in that so that Alaskans know that if they do need help, there are people that are available 24/7. I want to thank the assembly for your guys' continued support, recognizing that this is a public health crisis and that there is work that needs to be done, work that still needs to continue to be done. And want to appreciate you guys for some of the out-of-the-box thinking that you've done in regards to mental health.

The Anchorage Police Department, the mobile MIT, mobile intervention teams that they have, the Anchorage Fire Department's mobile crisis teams that they have, recognizing that there's additional ways that we can outreach to the community and provide the help and services that they need. So thank you, guys. Thank you very much. All right. Oh, Mr. Presverdia.

Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to put on the record, I just really want to— I don't think we need to applaud, but I do want to applaud the organizations and the services that do important work work. My sister committed suicide 6 years ago, and it was organizations in this town that, that came and helped our family and supported us through that time. And, and so I want to applaud all the organizations, the people that do that work to, to support families and to ensure that, that there's less stigma and that we are all aware of it. So just want to make sure that I said that.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

All right, then next we'll move on to Item 10A.2, Resolution AR2025-272, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly Recognizing and Honoring the Chugiak Senior Center for 50 Years of Outstanding Service to the Community. Mr. Gerker.

Mr. Chair, I believe I have a conflict and I'd like to recuse myself. Can you briefly describe the conflict? I work at the Chugiak Senior Center. Uh, right, so the chair will find that you definitely have a personal interest in this item, and so we'd ask you can stay in the audience if you'd like, but that you would not be participating.

So this item was pulled by Mr. Myers. Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Myers, seconded by Miss Brawley. Is there someone here to receive this item?

I believe the— yes, Mr. Andy is here. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I would like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the adoption of the motion?

Seeing and hearing no objection, the item is adopted unanimously minus the conflicted item, remember. All right, so Mr. Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing and honoring the Chugiak-Sienderson for 50 years of outstanding service to the community.

Whereas, since its founding in 1975, the Chugiak Senior Center has been a cornerstone of support, care, and community for senior residents in Chugiak/Eagle River area and beyond. And whereas, for 5 decades, the senior— the center has provided vital services including independent and assisted living housing, nutritious meals, transportation, wellness programs, recreational activities that enrich the lives of hundreds seniors, and whereas the Chugiak Senior Center has delivered as a— or has served as a gathering place for foster friendships, reducing isolation, enhancing— enhances the quality of life for older adults, their families, and the broader community, and whereas the center staff, volunteers, board members, supporters have shown unwavering dedication to the mission of supporting the dignity and independence of seniors, creating a legacy of compassion and service, and now therefore the Anchorage Assembly resolves as follows: Section 1, the Anchorage Assembly recognizes and honors the Chugiak Senior Center on the occasion of the 50th anniversary and extends its deepest gratitude to the center's 5 decades of exemplary service to the community. Section 2, the assembly encourages continued community support of the Chugiak Senior Center to ensure the mission thrives for generations to come. Section 3, the resolution shall be effective immediately upon the passage and approval by the Assembly, passed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly on the 9th day of September, 2025.

The microphone is off. There you go. Please say your name and welcome. My name is Andrew Fiero. I'm the chair for the board of directors of the Chugiak Senior Center, and I just want to thank the assembly.

It's been a fantastic partnership the municipality and the senior center. I've lived in the area for 42 years. My mom actually lived at the senior center for 10 years. It was the best possible decision I could make to put her there. If you come in sometime, and I hope you do, stop by for lunch and you'll see a facility that works in a way that I think couldn't be outdone by any other facility.

Certainly nothing that I've seen here in Alaska or really anywhere else. And we just hope that it continues. We have received support from the mayor's office, individual support from Assemblyman Scott Myers. Jared, with his conflict— he does work there, he's our PR person— but we just hope that it continues. The building is getting old, it's been around a while, but the municipality is working with us.

We're trying to keep it up, keep it safe, keep it for the seniors. And like I said, it's— it really is, I believe, the centerpiece of the Eagle River/Chugiak area, and we want it to continue. So again, thank you for your support. Thank you for the resolution. I will take that back to the center, to the staff, to the board, and we hope to see you around sometime.

Before you go, Miss Brawley. Yeah, thank you. Just briefly to say, you know, we're celebrating the municipality's 50th, and I know One of the great things that's come of that process and really calling attention to our history is so many great community organizations that are also celebrating your anniversaries as well. So this one happens to coincide with the 50th, but it's great to see and just really learn, you know, all these institutions that have been around for so long that we all forgot, you know, where they're from, that a lot of them are not that old, but that they've been doing work for so long. So thank you again for being here and for all of your work.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. All right, thank you very much.

Next up on the agenda, we have item 10A.3. 10A.3 is Resolution AR2025-277, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing September 2025 as Library Card Sign-up Month and encouraging residents of the municipality to visit the nearest Anchorage Public Library location to get and use a library card. This item was pulled by Ms. Sowers. Move to approve. Second.

Motion to approve by Miss Silver, second by Mr. Vond. Uh, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the adoption of the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, the motion is adopted unanimously. I have Miss Silver reading and Miss Brawley presenting.

Whereas Library Card Sign-up Month has been celebrated by libraries each September since 1987 to unite in a nationwide effort to ensure every person signs up for their own library card. And whereas research has shown that individuals and families who develop regular reading habits are better prepared to meet the increasing literacy demands in our society, are better protected against age-related, related cognitive decline, and show an enhanced capacity for empathy. And whereas and whereas an Anchorage Public Library card gives each resident access to thousands of physical materials including print books, magazines, newspapers, and DVDs, and whereas an Anchorage Public Library card gives each resident access to hundreds of thousands of digital reading and instructional materials including ebooks, audiobooks, videos, digital magazines, digital newspapers, articles, and training courses through database resources, and whereas an Anchorage Public Library card gives each resident access to virtually any print and video material available nationwide through our interlibrary loan program, and whereas an Anchorage Public Library card gives each resident access to these resources regardless of their income or ability to pay at point of service, and whereas an Anchorage Public Library card gives each resident access to internet connections required for participation in our modern world, and whereas with duct tape and an Anchorage Public Library card you can fix 99% of life's problems. Now therefore, the Anchorage Assembly resolves: the Anchorage Assembly recognizes and celebrates the month of September as National Library Card Sign-up Month and encourages all residents of the municipality to visit their nearest Anchorage Public Library location to get their own library card. This resolution shall be effective immediately upon passage and approval by the assembly.

Welcome. Please state your name, you'll have the floor. The microphone is off. There you go. Thank you.

All right, thank you so much. My name is, uh, Marjorie Harrison, library director. Great crew here. So yeah, thank you so much for celebrating Library Card Sign-Up Month with us. Um, this crew here represents just a small part of the amazing team that helps our community make the most of their library card.

Our talented team works across 6 locations including Garish Library in Girdwood, Chugiak/Eagle River Library, Muldoon, Mountain View, our Express Locker in Diamond Center, and of course here at Lucek Library. We have a goal of 1,100 new card signups in September, and we are well on our way with over 200 just in the first week. So if you don't have a library card, now is a perfect time to get one. If you haven't used your library card in a while, then come use it and see— uh, we invite you to see what you're missing, whether it's the latest audiobook, a favorite print book series, or your next bedtime story. For an extra scoop of library fun, we invite you to help us celebrate a book-themed ice cream flavor with our friends at Wild Scoops now through September 14th.

You can get a scoop sheet from Youth Services here at LUSAC or from any library location the rest of this week, and you'll get a limited edition sticker for participating, and you can taste the winning flavor chosen by our community at the end of the month. And if you're into kombucha, join us for Buch for Books this Thursday where we're pairing craft beverages with library books for our third annual book tasting at Zip Kombucha. And of course, signing folks up for library cards. We can't wait to see you here at the Anchorage Public Library for #907LibraryLove. Thank you so much.

We appreciate all of you. We have a lot to offer and we hope to see you this week.

So I'll just, since there's no one in the queue, say Ms. Nezek kind of chided some of us, I think it was a couple years ago now, um, so I made sure I brought my library card. Yeah, don't be unprepared when the librarians show up. Thank you all. All right, next we'll have item 10A4, Resolution R2025, -279, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing September 14th to 20th as Alaska Adult Education Family Literacy Week in Alaska. This item was pulled by Mr. Voland.

Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Voland, seconded by Ms. Baldwin-Day. I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Is there any objection to the adoption of the motion?

Seeing and hearing no objection, the item is adopted unanimously. I have a Mr. Vollen reading, Ms. Baldenday presenting. Okay, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing September 14th through the 20th as Alaska Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in Alaska. Whereas all Alaskans deserve access to opportunities that allow them to gain the academic technical, and employability skills necessary to lead prosperous and productive lives. And whereas Alaska's adult education and literacy programs have served Alaskans since 1942 through services such as General Education Development Testing, resulting in high school equivalency diplomas for approximately 500 students each year.

And whereas more than 40,000 Alaskans aged 18 and older lack a high school equivalency diploma and over 19,000 residents require English language instruction. And whereas adult education and literacy programs assist more than 2,500 Alaskans annually through 14 adult education centers across the state, including Anchorage. And whereas these programs provide essential services to communities throughout Alaska, improving lives through education strengthening our workforce and economy. And whereas educators in Alaska's adult education and literacy programs make a meaningful difference in the lives of their students by supporting their educational and career goals. And whereas these critical programs benefit Alaskans from all walks of life, broadening opportunities and paving the way toward more prosperous futures.

Now therefore, the Anchorage Assembly recognizes September 14th through the 20th of 2025 as Alaska Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in Alaska and urges all citizens to become familiar with the services and benefits offered by adult education and literacy programs, including Alaska Literacy Program in Anchorage, and to support and participate in these vital initiatives. Passed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly this 9th day of September 2025.

Welcome. A little button on the microphone.

There you go. Hi, thank you so much. My name is Amy Facklum. I'm the co-executive director at Alaska Literacy Program, and I want to thank the assembly for recognizing the importance of adult education and family literacy in Anchorage. And across Alaska.

I want to say Alaska Literacy Program has been providing adult education and family literacy services to the Anchorage community for 50 years. A fun fact that we share with the Municipality of Anchorage and that Vice Chair Brawley brought up, that 50 years of service, and across the state for actually 10 years. We have seen how our services have that include reading, writing, test preparation, workplace skills, digital literacy, health literacy, family literacy, and much more have changed lives. Through our services, we have seen members of our community go to college, succeed in their career, enter the military, and participate in our community. I would like to pass it over to my co-executive director, Marisol Vargas, Marisol Vargas to tell her experience.

Hi, my name is Marisol Vargas. I, I work with together with Amy as a co-executive director operation. First, I want to say thank you for Anchorage Assembly for recognize adult education and family literacy.

LP has helped me through so many stages of my life. As mother of 4 kids born and raised in Anchorage, as English learner, as a professional and member of the Alaska community. I am a testimony that investing in adult education works.

I am extremely grateful for your time, for continued support of adult education, and I'm happy to invite you to to our open house on September— Wednesday, next Wednesday, September 17th at 1 o'clock. And Alaska Literacy Program, our address, you know, 1324 Rudo Kozirko. We happy to see you there to see what the service offer over there and how it's important to invest in adult education and family literacy. And thank you so much again for all the support you do. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Last item on the resolutions for reading, item 10A5. 5, Resolution AR2025-282, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing and celebrating September 15th through October 15th, 2025, as Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month in Anchorage. This item was pulled by Mr. Presverdia. Move to approve.

Second. Move to approve by Mr. Presverdia, seconded by Mr. Rivera. I'd like to ask unanimous consensus Is there any objection to the adoption of the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, the item is adopted. Although last meeting we had a special kind of presentation, and it's not usual we do them 2 meetings in a row, Mr. Rivera has asked for a moment of privilege.

Mr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, we have a little bit of a presentation for everyone today to celebrate this resolution, so I will turn it over to Cindy. And we'll do the reading after we do this part.

Hello everyone, thank you so much. My name is Cindy Mendez Espino and I am the board president for Enlaces. And today we have some really special presentations. I would love to start and introduce you to Carolina from the Dominican Republic, followed by Sarita from Colombia.

¡Azúcar! You know Celia Cruz.

De La Palma. Yo soy un hombre sincero, de donde crece La Palma, y antes de morir yo quiero cantar mis versos del alma. ¡Vamos allá!

Guantanamera, guantanamera, guantanamera. Cultivo una rosa blanca en junio como en enero.

Cultivo una rosa blanca en junio como en enero.

Are you ready for the next song?

¡Guantanamera! ¡Vamos allá! ¡Guajira, Guantanamera! Ahora sí, desde Cuba para Puerto Rico, Isla del Encanto, Marc Anthony.

¡Mi gente!

Ahora sí, esto no podía terminarse sin un veredicto oficial. ¿Qué hace? Que me compre un vestido.

I'm not going to love you. I don't know who you are. No, but it's the Lord. Mira, yo no voy a demorar y no voy a preocuparte. Eso.

Y como toda buena dominicana ¡Diciendo presente! Miriam Cruz, artista dominicana, orgullo nuestro, y esta servidora, Carolina Guzmán.

Soy una lover, no, I don't know, voy a gobernar.

Representing the USA, República Dominicana.

Arriba! Y sin más nada que decir, muchísimas gracias. Estamos celebrando el mes de la herencia hispana. Thank you very much.

Thank you all. We have Sarita here with a beautiful dance, Colombia representing.

Lavi ragua, lavi ragua, lavi ragua, lavi ragua. Me contaron los abuelos que hace tiempo Navegaba el que desesa una piragua, que partía del banco viejo muerto a las playas de amor en Chimichagua. Capoteando el vendaval se estremecía e impasible desafiaba a la tormenta. Y un ejército de estrellas la seguía, tachonándola de luz y de leyenda. Era la piragua de Guillermo Cubillos.

Era la piragua, era la piragua. Era la piragua de Guillermo Cubillos. Era la piragua, era la piragua.

La piragua, la piragua, la piragua, la piragua. Me contaron los abuelos que hace tiempo navegaba el que le se sabe una piragua. Que partía del banco viejo muerto a las playas de amor en Chimichagua. Capoteando el vendaval se estremecía e impasible desafiaba a la tormenta y un ejército de estrellas la seguía. Está llorando la de luz y de leyenda.

Era la piragua de Guillermo Cubillo. Era la piragua, era la piragua. Era la piragua de Guillermo Cubillo. Era la piragua, era la piragua. Majita, es para ti y con mucho cariño.

[APPLAUSE] All right, on this resolution I have reading Mr. Presverdia. That is a hard act to follow.

Ready? Muchas gracias. Thank you for being here today. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly recognizing and celebrating September 15 through October 15, 2025 as Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month in Anchorage, Alaska. Whereas Hispanic and Latino Americans have influenced all areas of American life from making important discoveries to excelling in science, education, law, politics, music, art, and sports.

And Alaska is home to approximately 49,000 people of Hispanic or Latino origin, making up over 7.7% of Alaska's population, with over half of Hispanic and Latino Alaskans living in Anchorage area. And whereas the United States economy heavily relied on workers from Latin America and the Caribbean over history, Hispanic and Latino immigrants have been essential for maintaining the growth of many key industries such as maintaining railroads, farming, and mining. They have also played significant roles within the fashion and entertainment industries. And whereas the United States Congress first recognized Hispanic heritage in 1968 with the enactment of Public Law 94-98 calling upon the people of the United States, especially the educational community, to observe a week with appropriate ceremonies and activities. In 1988, Congress passed Public Law 104-02, which amended Public Law 94-98 and established National Heritage— National Hispanic Heritage Month.

And whereas, September 15th was chosen as the starting date for National Hispanic Heritage Month because it marks the anniversary of the independence of 5 Latin American Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua— and the month-long recognition also including the Independence Days of Mexico, Chile, and Belize; and whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to reflect on and celebrate the history of Hispanic and Latino Americans and their contributions to our state, nation, and world, with community celebrations taking place throughout Anchorage and Alaska And now therefore, the Anchorage Assembly recognizes September 15 through October 15, 2025 as Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month. Passed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly this 9th day of September 2025.

Rodrigo.

My name is Rodrigo Sanchez. I'm going to be giving a speech on what it's like being a Latino in Alaska. It's in Spanish.

Aunque yo soy muy orgulloso de ser mexicano, crecer en Alaska me ha dado la libertad de desarrollar un sentido de mí mismo único, una individualidad que no se conforma con lo que esperan de mí. ¡Sí! Mi mensaje para la juventud de Alaska y los latinos de nuestra comunidad es que aprovechen lo más que puedan de este estado maravilloso y que sean atentos a lo que ven, escuchan y también lo que se esconde. Vivimos en un mundo donde organizaciones, gobiernos y negocios cargan la mayoría del control sobre la economía, políticas y noticias. Esto significa que el poder queda en las manos de muy pocos.

Y ellos no tienen ninguna intención de transferirlo. Afortunadamente, la ventaja de Alaska es que tenemos una población pequeña comparado al resto del país, lo cual refuerza la construcción de comunidad. Tal vez sus papás ya se lo han dicho, pero no olviden qué tan lejos estamos del resto de Estados Unidos. No creo que lo digan solo para hacernos sentir agradecidos, sino porque reconocen la riqueza en la diversidad y las diferencias en estilo de vida comparadas con cómo crecieron ellos en su país. Mi consejo es que no solo se familiaricen con la cultura latina, sino que también encapsulan los valores e ideas de otros países y los aplican a su propia vida.

Creciendo en Alaska, Anchorage, Compadres que empezaron una nueva vida sin nada. Aprendí de los esfuerzos que tuvieron que hacer para poder llegar a este país. Por eso las amenazas de deportaciones masivas del presidente Trump no son nada nuevo. He visto de primera mano el miedo y la preocupación que pasan los inmigrantes ilegales, lo cual explica por qué trabajan tan duro para lograr una mejor vida. Para ellos y sus hijos.

Pero algo que les quiero recordar es que muchas, muchas veces la gente inmigrante viene de países donde la situación económica es peor que en los Estados Unidos, lo que significa que ellos cargan con una mentalidad de "escasez". A consecuencia de esto, el gobierno ha aprovechado nuestros pensamientos para amenazar a la población con investigaciones de ICE.

Okay.

We just wanted to take a moment from our community to recognize and appreciate all of your support for this resolution today. Behalf of the community. Thank you for all the work that you do to support our community and to ensure that our voices are present and to hear, to hear us. So thank you all, we appreciate it. There's no one in the queue, Mr. Barrett, just you.

You're recognized.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate the assembly passing this resolution every year. This is actually going to be my last time seeing this resolution before the body, which is why I want to give give my comments surrounded by my communities and not on the dais.

Given the state of the world, I want to talk about power, power of our communities, the power of our communities. Like the resolution talks about, we are 7.7% of the state's population, but we know that there is at most a 5% undercount nationally of the Hispanic and Latino communities. That takes us closer to 10% of the state's population. There is power in our communities. We are an economic engine of our city.

We keep the trains running on time, literally. We create new businesses. There is power in our communities. We are a voting bloc that has yet to really flex its muscles in Alaska, but we're gonna change that. Yes, there is power in our communities.

Power of language. The Spanish language and its different dialects, accents, and cultural attenuations make up a key part of our culture and identity. There is power in language. It should never be a crime or cause for suspicion for someone to speak Spanish. Never.

You know, I was actually going to give this speech in Spanish and English today, but I just— thanks— but I just didn't have enough time to deal with the translation and practicing the speech. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "What do you mean you have to practice, Felix?" There is power in language, and there is power in suppressing that language. I don't want to cry throughout my speech, so I'm not going to detail my trauma, but here's my story in two parts. Before I moved to the big city of San Antonio, I grew up in a small rural military town in Texas called Killeen. Granted small rural in Texas standards.

There is power in language.

My parents have videos of me prior to starting elementary school in Killeen and a year in. In one of those videos, I'm speaking Spanish like you would expect from any young Latino boy who grew up in the culture. In the other video, you will see a young Latino boy struggling to speak Spanish. There is power in language, and there is power in suppressing that language. And there is beauty in the ways that we overcome.

For me, that's through song. Don't worry, y'all, I'm not going to regale everyone here with my rendition of Celia Cruz, Shakira, or Marc Anthony.

Power of fear. There is power in fear. If anyone is thinking, "We're different, there is no reason for people to be afraid here in little old Anchorage, Alaska," you haven't been paying attention. People are missing work, skipping school right here, right now. In this community because they are afraid that ICE might come in and tear them away from their loved ones.

There is a power in fear. It is a constant and ever-present fear that my community struggle with every day. There is power in fear, and we counter that fear through unity, strength, dignity, and grit as we always have. Power of words. There is power in our words.

I want to raise one word up: indigenous. I am indigenous to the island of Puerto Rico. My heritage traces back to the indigenous Taino people who have called my family's traditional lands Home. I'm sure many of us here today can trace their indigenous roots back to the lands that we now call the United States of America. There is power in our words.

Our communities love a good call and response opportunity. We love a good slogan. They galvanize us. They serve as a reminder of past struggles. There is power in our words.

Let me introduce you to two chants that hold great power.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. The people united will never be defeated. And you all know this second one: Sí se puede. Yes, we can. There is power in our words.

I want to close by invoking that power in our words. We ready? All right. Come on, Alexa. All right.

5 Times each. We're going to start with the longer one. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

Okay. And then last, sí se puede. Sí se puede. Sí se puede. Sí se puede.

Sí se puede. Sí se puede. Gracias. And thank you to my beautiful community for showing up today, and Mr. Chair, for allowing this mini program in an otherwise busy agenda.

Thank you.

All right, next up on the agenda we have item 10D1.

Item 10D1 is Assembly Memorandum AM663-2025, Executive Appointment Confirmation Hearing, Shanna Gamble. Uh, this item was pulled by Miss Brawley. Move to approve. Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Voland.

Any discussion?

Mr. Bond. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I enthusiastically am going to support the confirmation of this appointment, and I want to thank Ms. Gamble for all of her work and for being willing to, to step up into this new role.

And I think she's going to bring a lot of of knowledge and continuity and, and some fresh ideas about where we can go and perhaps what we can do even better. So I anticipate that all— well, I don't know if all my colleagues are going to support, but I'd be surprised if they didn't. I think she's doing a really great job. So thanks for stepping up. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Anyone else in the queue? All right, I would co-sign the comments of Mr. Walland. No one else. Members may proceed to vote.

Mr. Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, M663-2025 has passed the body. Confirmation of Ms. Shanna Gamble. If you'd like to come forward and make any comments, please, now would be be the time, Miss Gamble. We're going to do it a little in reverse. Normally we do the swearing-in first, but we have another— come forward— another swearing-in to do with the youth members.

So we're going to have you comment now, then swear you in, if you have anything to offer.

The vote's already done.

Through the chair, well, and those are very kind words, and thank you so much, um, Mayor LaFrance, Municipal Manager Wynn Pearson, thank you for your support, and thank you all for passing me with no— with all yeses. Thank you. All right, we'll now do the swearing in.

If you're friends and family, come on down, please.

Note, while we're waiting, at the confirmation work session there was a literal wave like at a football game when we were talking about the confirmation of this candidate. So that in fact did happen.

Is the mic on?

Please raise your right hand. I solemnly swear or affirm— [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] —that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States— that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States— the Constitution of the State of Alaska— Constitution of the State of Alaska— and the Charter of the Municipality of Anchorage— and the Charter of the Municipality of Anchorage— and that I will faithfully perform the duties— and that I will faithfully perform the duties— of the Director of Parks and Recreation of the Director of Parks and Recreation, to the best of my ability, to the best of my ability. Congratulations. Thank you.

And then, um, All right, next on the agenda we have Assembly Memorandum AM 676-2025. 5. Appointment of 2025-2026 youth representatives to the Anchorage Assembly: Kennedy Bowser, Gwyneth Eggleston, Jacob Lavaris. You pulled this item, Miss Brawley. Move to approve.

Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Voland. Any discussion? Miss Brawley. Yeah, I'll just say, um, on behalf of assembly leadership and, and the body, we are very excited to welcome 3 new youth members.

Um, for those who watch our meetings, we know They serve during the school year, so we had to say goodbye to our last cohort of folks back in, I think it was the end of April, and we had a great work session. It was hard to just to decide who we were going to choose, but we're very much looking forward to these members serving and to all of my colleagues on the body. They will be with us for the next few months, so please feel free to reach out and help them, help them along the way. Thank you. Mr. Walland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I'm very excited about these three who are going to be serving I also want to take a moment to thank all of the youth who applied. You know, it's, it's pretty inspiring that there, there were so many interested applicants. And I was so impressed by the panel that we had at the work session.

You know, I don't know what I was doing in high school, but it wasn't attending community council meetings and, and being involved in the way that they are. And so So yeah, the kids are all right. It's, it's a pretty good, a pretty good thing, I think, that we have an Anchorage where our youth are so invested in their future. And so I'm very excited to, to confirm these 3. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I'm gonna put my friend the mayor on the spot and ask for her comments on bringing on our new cadre of youth members, because I know you're a major supporter of our youth participation. Ms. Goss. [Speaker:MS. GOSSETT] Thank you, Mr.

Chair. And, you know, we were talking in our team meeting earlier today about just how exciting it is to see a group of young people stepping into these roles together as a cohort, and how you all in the assembly have done a really great job of recruiting and continuing to bring new people into these these positions, and I'm really excited to see what this group is going to do. And it's, um, it's nice to have some fresh perspectives— no offense, everybody— on the body. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Miss Baldwin-Day. Thank you, Chair. I wanted to point out something that, that was really consistent in each of the applications of the youth members, the— all of the prospective youth members, including the ones who are going to be serving with us for the next several months, and that was a deep and abiding concern for the mental health of their peers. And I think it's really fitting that we are swearing in this particular group on the same evening that we have talked about suicide awareness and suicide prevention.

And so I just want to commend these young people for their obvious care for their peers, for their community, for the, the importance of mental health. And just want to say how much I look forward to working with each of them as they serve out their term. So thank you.

All right, and anyone else? It was a difficult decision to narrow down the list from the, I think, dozen that we had to the 6 that we had in for conversations to the 3 that we landed on, all of them were qualified, and all of them were great. And so that is a good problem to have. Um, this year the administration will be taking the group under their wings for a day of adventures at the administration sometime before the end of the year, and our team is working on training already. Thank you to our Legislative Services Office, also Heather McAlpine of the Ombudsman's Office, who helped up until the beginning of this cadre.

And now, Miss Venaklassen, if you're out there, thank you, and the whole Legislative Services team. Um, I guess now if there's no further comment, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez?

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AM676-2025, appointment of 2025-2026 youth representatives to the Anchorage Assembly, has passed the body. Please come forward, um, Ms. Bowser. Ms. Aliston, Mr. Levarius, you can bring your friends and family. We'll do your swearing in.

I solemnly swear or affirm. I solemnly swear. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the State of Alaska.

The Constitution of the State of Alaska. And the Charter of the Municipality of Anchorage. And the Charter of —of the Municipality of Anchorage. And I will faithfully perform the duties—. And I will faithfully perform the duties—.

Of Anchorage Assembly Youth Representative— of Anchorage Assembly Youth Representative— to the best of my ability. To the best of my ability. Congratulations.

All right, now you would have a brief opportunity to make some comments if you would like. It's not a requirement. There will be plenty of time going forward. The microphone is off. If you would like to speak, just say your name.

Take a minute or two. You have the floor.

Hello, my name is Gwyneth Eggleston, and I just wanted to thank you guys for letting me have this opportunity, and I cannot wait to work with you further throughout this year.

Hello, I'm Jacob, and I thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to, to become the youth representative for, for the 2025 to 2026 school, school year. Uh, on the— you've mentioned the, of that, um, that among all of us that we do have a concern of, of mental health. And I just want to add that I, I've also, I've also— I can confirm, especially around with the people around me that, um, that this is in fact a relevant issue, especially since I've— I believe my own brother once had a, a period of, of a, of a mental crisis. And even in, uh, 2 years ago, I've, I've had a, a classmate, uh, who died by suicide. And so I'd like to affirm that this is is in fact a big issue among the youth in Anchorage.

Thank you.

Um, hello, my name is Kennedy Bowser, and I would first like to thank all of you for giving me this opportunity. It's great that I'm able to speak on things that affect my peers and just the youth in general, because— and once again, it's just a great opportunity because out of all the candidates, I was selected, and I want to make sure that my voices heard for the right reasons. Thank you all.

All right, that brings us back to item 10B1, Resolution AR2025-265, Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly Setting Policy Priorities for the Fiscal Year 2026 Municipal Budget. This item was pulled by you, Mr. Gerker. Ms. Brawley. Yeah, move to approve. Second.

Moved by Ms. Brawley, second by Ms. Baldwin-Day. Ms. Brawley. Yeah, I'll just briefly kick off. Um, thank you to everybody who participated in the discussions about our budget priorities. Um, I know this doesn't represent every personal priority of every member.

We really strove for kind of what was the big picture that we could potentially all agree on. Um, but thank you for engagement in that process. And then I know, um, my colleague has an amendment And so I will cede the floor. Is that Mr. Kirker? Mr. Voland.

Mr. Voland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Move Voland Amendment Number 1. Second.

So if I could speak to the— you bet. Motion to amend by Mr. Voland, seconded by, I believe it was Miss Brawley. Do we have that amendment?

All right, Mr. Walland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this just adds more context, um, to the, uh, the resolution incorporating some of the information that we received in the 120-day memo from the administration. And that is sort of part of this call and response early in the budget processes that the administration um, sort of lays out their vision of the budget, um, and provides us with information.

And then we also respond with what our priorities are and have the opportunity to, to work together in fleshing that out as we go along. I think this also speaks to some of the realities of, of where we are and, um, and can inform You know, the fact that we, we have these priorities, we want to do the most good that we can in the community, but we also are constrained by, by budget realities and limited resources. So I think adding these whereases just helps— well, hopefully will be helpful going forward, both for us and the administration as we work with them leading up to November. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right, any further discussion on the amendment? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 10 to 1, the amendment has passed. Okay.

So a question on the youth members: who is identified tonight as the one who's kind of the individual?

So, Miss Levaris, uh, the tradition will be— and all of you, uh, when it is time for one of these votes, except when we get to the alcohol and marijuana issue issues, I will ask, and the youth member votes, and you will say yes or no. And it's just easiest to use the mic. We have paddles, but, um, that's the tradition. So this time we didn't get you there. On the next one we will.

Now we have AR 2025-265 as amended before us. Anyone else? Okay, I'm not seeing anyone else. I'll speak briefly just to this. Um, traditionally traditionally, once this, once this tradition started not so long, maybe 2019, the goal was to have it done in July or August.

And I'm not chastising anyone. I didn't do this work, so it's not me complaining because the work takes work and I didn't do it. So I would hope though that members can think through the process a little bit earlier next year because ideally this resolution informs the mayor's drafting of the 120-day memo. Them coming out at the same time could lead to what could appear to be two trains on the same track heading in different directions. And so, um, it's fine that we make this resolution and put it forward now, and it just serves better in the process to be handed to the administration well before the drafting of the 120-day memo.

So just for the future, that was the purpose, not to set up a crossing of swords or a difference of opinion or any of that. So that's my advice for the future— aim for July if you can. All right, if no one else, then members may proceed to vote. The motion is to approve.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 9 to 2, and the youth member votes Approve. Yes. Then AR 2025-265S— excuse me, 265 as amended— has passed the body. Next, we'll have back before us item— or have before us item 10B2, which is Resolution AR 2025-270, a 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 tourist Tourism Promotion Nonprofit and Establishing Additional Uses of the Municipal Room Tax Dedicated to the Promotion of the Tourism Industry. This item was pulled by Mr.

Presverde. Mr. Chair, I, I have a question about this, but, um, so I'm going to move to approve unless there's, there's an action that others won't want to take. The sponsors are intending that the motion is to postpone to the meeting. That's right.

I think of September the next week. I want to let, let someone else make that motion, and then I'll use my time to ask a question. All right, um, move to postpone to the meeting of September 23rd. Second. So Member Arren Baldinde has moved to postpone, and Ms. Brawley has seconded.

Do you want to speak at all to that, Ms. Baldinde? I think there's a little more time warranted to flesh out the details and ensure that the communication or the suggestion to the administration clear. All right, thank you. Um, okay, Mr. Presidio, that's it. Okay, so I will also speak briefly to the motion to postpone.

Mr. Constantine, thank you. That, uh, it's fine. The administration is meeting, I believe, with members of the tourism industry and their supporters over the course of this week and maybe the next to give them some opportunity to think through what's proposed here. And in the end, this document is a guidance document document is going to dictate to the administration. If you read it carefully, it does not say you must do this.

It says this is the way we would like you to think about doing this. And so it's fine for us to take just a little bit more time. So I would ask members to vote yes on the motion to postpone. Anyone else? Seeing and hearing none, the members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, and the youth member votes yes or no? Yes. Yes. The motion to postpone this item is postponed to the meeting of September 23rd. All right, now we have before us Resolution AR2025-271, a resolution of the Anchorage Assembly supporting and committing to the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project, the Municipality of Anchorage Mr. President, you pulled the center.

Thank you, Chair. I'm actually going to cede my time to Mr. Volland to make the motion and use my time to ask questions. Thank you, Mr. Volland. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to move the S1 version. Second. So there's a motion to approve the S1 by Mr. Volland, seconded by Ms. Solvers. Mr. Volland. Thank you.

Um, so I appreciate the folks who, who brought this concept forward Um, I think I have a couple sort of concerns about the project as it's currently framed in the original version and the presentation that was given. Um, I think that there is an opportunity here though, and I want to make sure that, um, we can take advantage of that opportunity in a way that isn't out of sequence. Right now, our Legislative Affairs staff is doing a lot of work— excuse me, Legislative Services staff— a lot of work to enhance public participation, to get information out to the public in ways that I think are unprecedented. A lot of the major ordinances that we have, for instance, they will dedicate time to creating specific resources, you know, an individual web page, for instance. We also have had conversations about how do we— how can we have sort of mobile public town squares.

So there are multiple efforts underway in how we can engage the public to be part of our process.

I think, you know, we— you know, there is a major opportunity for community councils to look inward. Now we have an executive director who came on sort of recently, and one thing that I perceive across community councils is there's a sort of a lack of uniformity in their process.

And that can have to do with things like agendas or minutes being posted timely on community council websites, or, you know, some community councils will record their proceedings so that others who maybe can't attend because maybe they're a busy family or someone working a second job, you know, can they watch those meetings back. So I think that there's a lot of improvement that the community council, the Federation, can do. I think there's trainings that can be had.

And so I'm interested in how that process can be improved. I also— so my S1 version points out the fact that the charter acknowledges that community councils are the principal means and mechanism of affording Anchorage citizens opportunity for maximum community involvement and self-determination. Determination. So I'm interested in what the Federation is doing to expand their demographic. How are they reaching out to folks and getting new members?

I don't see— I don't think we have the director of the FCC in the room tonight. I did have some questions, so that's too bad. But, you know, how many community council participants, members, are renters versus homeowners, you know, what is the average demographic, how do we expand, how do we get more participation. I think that this is something that could help with that. And then also in terms of the sequencing, my version does point out that, you know, we've had this 10-year review of community council district boundaries that is still ongoing, and it was started in 2022, I think, when around the time I was elected for my first term, and it still hasn't been completed.

So with all of that, I think I would be interested in supporting an effort to improve FCC processes before looking to the FCC to tell us how to improve our processes. I really think that they have a lot of work to do, frankly, to get their house in order and to to really help people be part of their process. My S1 version does eliminate the commitment to fund this effort. I think, you know, we did, as part of bringing on a new director, executive director, we did increase the funding for the FCC by quite a bit already. So I just want to make sure, particularly as we move through the budget process, that we're thinking wisely about every dollar and how much do we want to essentially subsidize one stakeholder group versus others.

I know community councils are very important and they're in our charter, but there's a lot of other stakeholder groups who don't get necessarily subsidized via the municipality. I also eliminate the commitment to have 2 assembly members participate, understanding that anyone, any assembly members, if this effort does go forward, who want to participate certainly can do so of their own accord. I just know that my colleagues are, are pretty pressed right now. You know, we not only do we have our committee meetings and our work sessions and our regular meetings, many of us also serve as ex officio board members to groups like like the AEDC or the ACDA, etc.

It does envision supporting deployment and utilization of this— of the Civic Engagement Scorecard of community councils. How can we sort of accurately assess community councils and how good of a job that they're doing and also give them tools to improve and to grow and to evolve?

And so I guess that's what I would— the focus that I would encourage my colleagues to have is how do we improve the community council process. And then once we do that, I think that in the future perhaps there is a sort of feedback loop that happens with, okay, so now we've got that established, then we look at the assembly processes. So I hope I hope that folks can support this S1 version. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right, thank you. Ms. Brawley. Yeah, thank you, and thanks for the, the dialogue tonight. So I understand the concerns that are raised and, and what's brought up in the S and the S1 version which is before us, and I know so often— I was talking to one of my colleagues earlier— so often we have an item and then there's the debate about it or the discussion about it is not so much about the item, it's about kind of the bigger issue that this item happens to be attached to. And I would assert that that's really what's happening now.

It is funny, Legislative Services, some of our staff is actually with the executive director of FCC tonight in another location working on civic engagement and outreach. And so that is a partnership that has already been happening, not just with staff, I think, but really working to collaborate more there. Care. And so that's also why she was not able to participate. We communicated earlier today.

I think really, I guess I would caution my colleagues, if you pass this S1 version or any other version besides the original version, and I'm not saying without amendment, but if we pass that, then it fundamentally changes what we are committing to. So the context for this is the municipality and really the assembly was approached approached to ask if we would partner in a process that is not just about our meetings, but is using our meetings and our format as a testing ground to try out new ideas. And so that is really what we are asked to do. If we do not— if we take that part out, certainly it is saying that we support an effort of an external group to change its own external processes, and we can participate in that, but the meat of it is really is really changed. And so I would also put to the, to the body, I did review the S-1 and the S-1, or the S and the S-1 versions, incorporated a bit of that in an amendment that I would run on the original version if we have the opportunity that does speak to community councils.

The bottom line is we cannot force them to change. They are independent bodies, and we can strongly encourage things. We do have some influence over funding But they are independent, and that's what our charter says. And so I think it is important to recognize that we have to be cautious in really directing or strongly making statements about changing community processes. There is the Federation.

There's every community council, which has its own bylaws and its own method of operating. And I think the bottom line is with this ordinance— or sorry, with this resolution, is it's really asking, and the purpose of this project is that we all step back and look in the mirror and say, how can we do better? And I don't want to send a message that I believe this S1 version may inadvertently say, which is that our process is fine, others need to change. The purpose of this is to say that we need to improve our processes, or at least we need to try new things. We don't have everyone in our community showing up at our meetings or participating in our process.

That's not realistic that we're going to have every single resident of Anchorage showing up in this room to testify, but I think there's ways that we can broaden our outreach. We can ask people why they don't come to meetings, or, or if we change the way we're doing things, would you be more likely to participate? And so with that, I'm going to move to amend this item by substituting the original version. Second.

A motion to substitute by Miss Sprawley, seconded by Miss Baldwin-Day.

On the amendment, Mr. Presverdia.

On the amendment, Mr. Rivera.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I'm gonna thread the needle and you tell me if I'm off course, Mr. Chair. Um, so as I understand it, this was a grant or technical assistance that multiple parties applied for that allowed us to move forward to this process.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong there. I just want to make sure as we're going through this and considering the different versions that we're not stepping on anyone's toes, if that is inaccurate. There's one mischaracterization there. I'll speak to it, that the assembly has not agreed to nor committed to any element of any agreement with any party related to this. Some members have.

I don't want to call a point of order, but I didn't say that. Um, you did. No, I, I didn't say that the assembly. I said the, the parties in here, which are the FCC and the YWCA. I don't— so here, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to ask a question to Member Brawley. Um, so can you please speak to the, um, process that got us to this resolution that we have before us?

Yeah, just— well, actually, rather than me speaking to it, I would ask if my co-sponsor, Ms. Baldwin-Day, would speak to it, because I believe she was in a lot more of the conversations than I was. We'll move you up in the queue.

Yeah, thank you for the question, Member Rivera. So this, this resolution is the result of a process that began prior to my assembly service. It was a project that was undertaken by a number of members of our community, all engaged in various ways with the assembly, with community organizing, with policy advocacy, who were all noticing the same troubling trend, and that was a real homogeneity in the testimony that was being heard at assembly meetings and a real, a real lack of engagement from certain communities in Anchorage. And our goal, as we were sitting around an informal table was to do the legwork to actually reach out into the community and start to understand why more people were not actively engaging with the public process. That work was begun near, wow, 9 months ago or more.

And the FCC and the YWCA were two parties who were at that roundtable. So following that, there was a series of conversations actually that around that topic. As part of those conversations, this opportunity to engage with the National Civic League came to light. I was elected to public office, but the work among the partners has continued, and they are now bringing this with my support and Member Brawley's support to the assembly because one of the litmus tests for the National Civic League to do this type of project in a city is the concurrence of the municipal governing body. Okay.

Thanks. That buy-in is critical to them being able to execute this particular process. Great. Thank you. So as I understand it then, the two parties who engaged in the technical assistance, whatever it was, were the FCC and the YWCA.

So the Assembly was not really brought into this process until after that technical assistance was applied for. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thanks.

So then, I guess just to be perfectly clear because I think this is where the chair is getting to, certainly I don't believe that we should be forced to buy into this particular campaign. And if we want to make changes to the way that this campaign works, we should do that. But I want to make sure that if we make changes that we talk to the parties, specifically the FCC and YWCA, about changes before we pass a resolution. And I also want to make sure if— for both the S and the S1 versions, if we're going to make changes to really change the focus to a singular scrutiny of the FCC/community council system, and me, oh my, I'm one of the biggest critics of that system, I just want to make sure that we have a willing partner there who is is amenable to facing that type of singular scrutiny and making substantial changes to their system. So I think— I don't even know if I'm ready to vote on any of these versions today, particularly because we don't have the FCC or YWCA here.

But those are the questions that I'm thinking about as we have this motion before us right now. Thank you. Mr. Rivera, the YWCA is here. They are. Mm-hmm.

But that's okay. We'll proceed. Um, Mr. Presverio, you already asked you. I'm gonna put myself in the queue. Mr.

Constant, on the amendment. Um, so there's a statement, I don't want to send the wrong message about their process. I want to send a really clear message about their process. The community council, when I hear about homogeneity We get most of the testimony from that group, and it's always the same people, and it's a fiefdom of organizations that control access to the voice in our community, and it needs to be fixed. Look at Rogers Park last week.

Absolutely bonkers. The process is unhealthy. It needs to be closely scrutinized. And so I can't support this motion to substitute. And in fact, if it gets back on the floor, I'm going to strongly ask my peers to just put this whole thing down.

And come back and let's ask ourselves, what is the problem we're trying to solve here? This body works regularly. We have meetings all of the time. We update Section 230 of the code all the time to fix our process and make it more welcoming. And we do that with grants.

We do that with outreach. We do that with a ton of work. But we continue to find ourselves stymied by an organization of organizations that in my district, for example, there was an R2 code change change proposal that took 3 years to pass because my neighbors fought and fought and fought it. Resist, resist, resist. The small community council group— there were 5 single lots in our district.

There was less than 2% of the R-2 lots in town that would be subject to that. So they made that change, which passed unanimously in the end, hold— held back for years because a small group of very empowered individuals councils were that empowered. My fear in all of this is that what we're going to do is, through this process, make powerful community interests more powerful. That's what this effectively does. The community council system, in my opinion, needs to do the work to find out and could use great help by the YWCA or the National Civic League or the Bloomberg Philanthropies or anyone to ask itself How do community councils actually meet with their communities and hear from not just the 12 to 25 people who show up?

But in my district, I can point to you a number of community councils that do not look like the neighbors they exist in because they are the patricians of the neighborhood, the people who are elders and empowered. And so to me, the breakdown in our system is not here. We have ways to improve. We are a machine of constant improvement. The work here is based on generations of effort to make it more welcoming, but the community councils are the locus of trouble.

So to my perspective, if this motion to substitute passes and we don't support a proposal to go and let's look closely at the community councils for how they can be better, I would ask everyone to vote no on this and let's just send it packing. So that would be my two cents on the motion to postpone. Mr. Bond, for the motion Mr. Close is the substitute. Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair. I'm also not going to support the amendment or the original version, um, and I think for a lot of the reasons that you said, but also because I'm not sure why we need to be paying outside consultants to shepherd this process. I'm not convinced that it's the wisest use of municipal resources. I think a lot of this effort is happening, and I want to say thank you to the YWCA who's here tonight A lot of the conversations that you've been convening around housing, for instance, I think have been very impressive and very helpful. So thank you for, for convening those very important conversations.

But yeah, I don't necessarily think that we need to be joined up with, yeah, outside consultants to do this work. I think our Legislative Services team is well equipped. I think the municipality is well equipped. And I think groups like the YWCA are great conveners. So yeah, I hope— hopefully if any version of this passes, I hope it's the S-1.

Thanks. Ms. Brawley on the amendment. Yeah, I just had a question for Ms. Lavoy from YWCA, if that's possible.

And I'm going to keep this in the scope of the amendment because I think where we are right now is the, the amendment is really essentially should we take up the original version or not take up the original version, and the difference between them is really, um, who's essentially whose public meetings we're looking at, I think, um, or at least whether we are looking at municipal public meetings or if we're only looking at community council. So, um, as one of the folks who's been in development of if this amendment did not pass and we were back on one of the substitute versions that are similar, how— if or how this would change your project, because it's not our project.

Great. Thank you for the question. This is Jessie Lavoie, CEO for YWCA Alaska. I can't speak for FCC, but what I can do is speak to the project, and it would change it fundamentally because really the goal is to offer ideas for improvement and for change for an authoritative body. And my understanding is community councils are advisory.

So that's really where the National Civics League is coming from and why they're really targeting and wanting the assembly to be involved. For the YWCA, we obviously, we don't have an authoritative body either. So it's a little strange, I know, this partnership. But because of the community conversations and the things that— the conversations that we do hold that Member Vollen had alluded to and spoke to, we can take lessons from that. And because we're having those conversations is because the processes at the assembly level also aren't working.

So it was our hope to be able to come together and walk together with FCC and with the assembly and those that hold different conversations around policy to figure out a better way together. Thanks. And just one very brief follow-up, because, um, the other piece of this is timing. So I know this was on our agenda tonight. What would, um, I guess, is from the grantor's perspective, National Civic League, what would— is there more time to work on this, I guess, is the question.

I believe there is. Um, we would have to check with NCL specifically. The timeline can shift. We really we really had built that timeline, uh, Ari with FCC and myself, with the, um, the budgeting season for the assembly in mind, actually. So it's really built around your calendar, but it could be shifted.

Thanks. Then I would move to postpone this item to the meeting— oh, I can't move, so we're in the amendment. Okay, okay. So then I would just wrap up by saying that if given the opportunity, I would look to postpone this item to a future meeting. Thanks.

Ms. Baldwin-Day.

Thank you, Chair. I, I'd like to, I'd like to affirm the Chair's comments. Points are well taken with respect to the community council system, and also this resolution actually aims to access and activate new and different voices in our community assembly, while also asking community councils to examine their own processes. So I don't personally believe that this has to be an either-or proposition. I believe that the assembly can always be about the business of improving its public process and improving access points.

And I just want to, I just want to be candid. I think a lot of times people who operate out people outside of a system are the best critics of that system. And I think that there are members in our community who have feedback on why the assembly is not necessarily a place where they appear regularly or something that they track closely, that it would be helpful for us to know. And that is— that is, if you read the resolution in its entirety, there is a civic infrastructure scan and a community-wide survey that are part and parcel of this process. Project.

This is not simply about an ad hoc approach. This is a very specific— this is a very specific way of accessing our community in a different venue, in a different format, and allowing the community to talk back to us. Interestingly enough, it is Legislative Services who offered up the $5,000 out of their budget to support this project. They are fully on board with this and view it as complementary to the work that they are already doing. I don't know if we have any Ledge Services folks here.

Again, I think they are actually all with the FCC Director working on another civic engagement opportunity tonight. But these are complementary, not competitive processes. And so, I want to— I just want to make it clear that that as we are thinking about the future of public engagement, it is helpful to have an entity that has done similar work and asked innovation or asked for innovation in other communities to come and assist us with this project. Our capacity in legislative services is not infinite. It is— they are already working their tails off.

And so to pay only $5,000 from their budget For support in this fashion seems to me a very wise use of resources, and the ask from my colleagues on the dais is minimal. It is literally to just receive the results of what is brought back to us from the National Civic League, to potentially attend an event or two if the calendar allows, and then to allow two members of the assembly, who at this point would be myself and Member Brawley, to act as liaisons on your behalf. That is the ask.

It's— it is not insurmountable, and I believe it does two things at once. It asks community councils to self-evaluate, and it offers us an opportunity to hear from our community in a different way. Now, that is why I, I wrote this or this resolution to begin with, and why I urge my colleagues to back up to the original version and allow this process to, to move forward. I want to reiterate, if we vote this down or if we modify and limit this to just the community council system, we effectively scuttle the entire project. This is— there's not a pared-down version where they— where the National Civic League comes and works exclusively with community councils.

That's not the nature of this project. So I want my colleagues to understand that to pass the S or the S1 version is to essentially say This project is dead in the water. And I want us to be clear about the message that that sends to the YWCA, to the FCC, and to the whole cadre of other local organizations. If you remember back to the work session, there was a slide with the logo of other civic organizations, including the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and others, who are also partnered in on this project but are not taking the lead in the same fashion that the FCC and the YWCA are. Are.

So we are communicating to a whole group of organizations that we think that they had a nice idea, but we would not like to participate. And I don't think that that's a great message to send.

I'm in the queue. Mr. Constant. Thanks. Um, if 7 members vote yes to approve any version of this, it is not, not our project.

It is our project. First off, it is our project if we accept this. Second, I reject the notion that the processes at the assembly level aren't working. I just reject that at its base. I have evidence of 2 meetings a month at a minimum in which the business of the city continues.

People do show up. We hear from the public voluminously on any number of issues all of the time. So I would I would argue that that is not the case. And to the point that the ask is not minimal, I have the slide presentation from the work session, and it states the problem in big letters in the upper left-hand box. It says, residents get 3 minutes to speak to their officials.

These meetings reduce public trust in government and make it hard to make decisions— harder to make decisions. They reduce public trust in government and make it harder to make decisions, and they increase inequities. People most affected by the decisions aren't there. I resoundingly reject that framework of a problem statement for how this body works. I resoundingly reject it, and I believe if we adopt this, that is what you're agreeing to, in my opinion, what was put in the record on the dais at the meeting, at the work session.

And I hear about this survey We haven't seen the survey. We have no idea what the survey is. But if I were to bet, the survey is as loaded as this problem statement. That problem statement is so loaded. You don't get any more than 3 minutes.

That's inequitable. That's the problem. And it makes you mad. You don't want to come. That's what that statement says.

And I bet you money that that survey is a push-pull that exactly establishes that as fact so that some argument can be made to how we should change our process. I'm lost in how we could co-sign that problem statement. There are a lot of problems we tackle, but in my opinion, it does not do us well to concede here by majority vote that the fact that residents get 3 minutes means it dissuades trust and it breaks our decision-making process. Anyhow, Miss Brawley. Yeah, and, and I, uh, recognize that I've spoken multiple times.

My intent is to withdraw the motion to amend, and then if given the opportunity, um, I would move to postpone this to the meeting of October 7th. Motion to postpone has been made. Second. Yeah.

Seconded by Ms. Baldwin-Day.

The 7th of October.

Ms. Brawley. Yeah, just very briefly, the reason I chose that instead of the next meeting is, um, I do believe that, um, there is a way to find a version of this that, that potentially a majority of folks could support. It may take some time and working with organizations and having the organizations who who are intending to move forward with this, also reach out to other members just to hear concerns so that we can potentially craft this in a way that it is more, more reflective of our current process and what we can do. So that is my intent of looking forward to two meetings ahead.

Mr. Martinez, did you want in on this? I know it's moved on. I'm sorry I missed you.

No, thank you, Chair. Thank you. On the motion to postpone Small Land Day—.

No, no, no further discussion on that. Thank you, Chair. Mr. Walland. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Um, yeah, I, I, yeah, I guess we can postpone. It's interesting, your comments on the, the— so I What I would be interested— if we postpone, I think the framing that the chair pointed out, the problem statement needs to change. Some of the underlying framework needs to substantially change for me to get to a place where I can support this. You know, even the 3 minutes that you mentioned creating distrust, well, interestingly community councils get 5 minutes. We advantage community councils in several ways, and I think there's an argument that we should in some instances.

We, we put their— we frequently put their resolutions in our record, right, because we want them to inform us. They are advisory to us. They're, um, you know, they are, while not fully representative of the neighborhoods, they they do have engaged folks who we should weigh their advice carefully, and I believe we do that. But I guess I'm just, I'm interested in a different framework and casting a wider net, wider, W-I-D-E-R, because I am not convinced that the demographic of community councils goes far enough that it is representative of residents. I think there's a lot of folks out there who maybe could give us feedback who don't even know what a community council is, who have never engaged in that process.

So that's where I would start, is how can, how can we improve those processes and get more people involved. But yeah, I, I guess I just, I share some of the concerns that have been voiced tonight about the, the what, what this, this effort is sort of targeting. So yeah, I'll go along and postpone it, but I guess I just want to say that on the record before it comes back. Thanks. Mr. Martinez on the motion to postpone.

Thank you, Chair. I'll support the motion to postpone out of courtesy to my colleagues who often don't offer the same consideration. However, I would say hearing the testimony tonight was very different than the way the project was brought to my— to me in the first place. And I wonder about whether or not colleagues could just fund this out of their own and whether or not they could advance this as a project that they could advance. Chance.

So I'll support the motion to postpone. But as it is now, the way, the way from where it was originally described to me to the, to this discussion tonight, seemingly very different in a different place, I don't see myself supporting it in the long run unless, unless there's a reorganization of, of the concepts in the first place in the framing. But I'll support it tonight. Thank you, Chair. Thank you.

And I'll speak one last time. Mr. Councilman. Mr. Chair, I've been in the queue for quite some time. I was just wondering when you were going to go back to me.

You're up. Okay, appreciate that. Um, yeah, I just want to share a few thoughts as this, um, it looks like we're going to move to postpone, and, and I'm fine with that. Um, I, I am, I am, uh, confused as to what we're talking about. I'm confused as to whether we're talking about rehabilitating the, the, um the community council system, whether it's about how the assembly itself engages in public dialogue, or whether we're looking for a whole new way of engaging the public.

And I would just say that as somebody that literally runs an organization that thinks about this every day, I am interested in the comments about lots of organizations, and it sounds like some of them are part of this project, which is great. Have been thinking about and working on this for a long, long time. And so, um, and I'm familiar with most of the organizations that the folks are talking about here, but I think that for me, I'm really interested in a reach out to learn more about this project so I fully understand it and understand the role that this would play in influencing the Assembly, the Assembly's work, community councils, and what role the broader community can play with it. I'm also really interested in this survey as I mean, I'm very familiar with, you know, the National Civic League and the National Conference on Citizenship and the Civic Health Index, which we talked about doing for years here in the city. And so I'm wondering sort of how this wraps in a lot of the conversation and work that's happened over decade to really think about how we can better engage the community and what the target audience really is, if it's really community councils and that's the focus, or whether it's a broader sort of look at how the city can better engage the community in its work.

And so would appreciate more conversation about it. And I was a no vote tonight tonight because I just didn't think it made much, much sense. And so I'm, I'm looking forward to learning more about it. Thanks. Thanks.

Now I have myself in the queue. Mr. Constantine. I would like to see the survey. Please share that with the members. I think before we have been asked to join this project, we should understand the questions we're being asked to ask the community.

And I look forward to seeing the voice that that survey is in and its kind of direction. Ms. Baldwin-Day.

Thank you, Chair. I'm, I'm not sure where the, where the hyperfocus on community councils as a part of this comes from, but I do want to speak to the fact that the FCC's involvement in this project is because the director of the FCC, who I really wish was here tonight, recognizes the limitations of the community council system and wants to see what Member Perez Verdia just described, which is a, a coming to fruition, a blossoming of other mechanisms by which people communicate with the assembly. I, I don't know where that got lost in translation, but it's It's clear to me after this conversation that the, the values around the dais are shared and we have the same desire. And I, I'm— I commit to having some additional conversations with members to understand how this or this resolution can better reflect those values, can better reflect our priorities as the assembly having stated our commitment to the promotion of civic engagement and get us to a place where everyone is on the same page. And I have to say, I, I wish that some of these questions had come out in the work session that we held.

It would have been really wonderful as the, the sponsor of this resolution to hear those concerns directly, to be asked some of these questions directly in the context of the work session, and to have been given an opportunity to to flesh out what are clearly misunderstandings that have now fomented about the nature of this project. So, um, I, I, I don't know how we have this conversation in a more fruitful way. If a follow-up work session is necessary for members who want to sit around a table and hash things out, I'm certainly open to doing that if that's, if that's what my colleagues would like, and I would love to receive some communication about that. Appetite for that kind of gathering. But I will say it's really difficult to put a project forward and then after a work session get radio silence and then arrive at an assembly meeting and it's clear that there were questions lingering.

Point of order. Point of order has been raised by Mr. Martinez. Just, just a germaneness to the question. Oh, I think we'll give her some leeway. Um, I'll just say the motion is to postpone, Ms. Baldwin-Day.

Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Thank you. No further comments, Chair. All right, um, I guess the motion before us is a motion to postpone the S-1 version. So on that question, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez?

Sure, yes.

On a vote of 7 to 4, and the youth rep votes yes, yes, the motion to postpone has passed. We want— sure, I'm actually— can I make a motion to reconsider. One sec.

Yeah, okay, a motion to reconsider is in order. Um, it has been made. I'll second. Mr. Speaker:KARUBAS] Yeah, I just— I think this is sort of a— I guess I know what I'm willing to support and feel comfortable moving forward with the S1 version if that's where the will of the body goes. And I would— I guess I would just take this opportunity to, from my vantage point, issue that should be the direction of the project.

So Yep. All right, so the question before us, the motion reconsider. If there's no further discussion, members, I proceed to vote.

Member Martinez?

No.

On a vote of 5 to 6, the motion reconsider has failed. Therefore, we will have this back back before us on the 7th of October.

Okay, um, next we have item 10E3. I'll go ahead and read it, and then, um, actually I'm going to go ahead and let you read it. Yeah, 10E3, Resolution Number AR-2025-268, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly— or sorry, resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage appropriating a reimbursable grant in the amount of $30,000 from the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Office of History and Archaeology to the state grant fund 231900 and appropriating historic preservation revenue in an amount not to exceed $15,000 to the historic preservation capital improvements CIP fund 49040s, all for the historic preservation fund program Government Hill Wireless Station Phase 2 within the Planning Department.

Mr. Constant, I'd like to declare a conflict on this item about personal interest. What is the nature of your conflict? The home that I own directly abuts this property, and any changes to that property will have some impact of value on my home's value. Therefore, there is a specific and direct connection to my personal financial interest.

Thank you, Mr. Constant. I will rule that you do indeed have a conflict, and I believe you need to step out of the room as we run this item.

So Mr. Constant is leaving the room. Um, so what is the will of the body? Move to approve. Second.

Okay, moved by Mr. Volland, second by Miss Baldwin-Day. Is there any discussion on this item?

Okay, I don't see anyone in the queue, um, or hearing discussion, so members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez? Yes.

Okay, thank you. On a vote of 10 to, uh, 0 with one member recusing, um, that item has passed the— oh, sorry, I'm sorry, uh, I also need to hear the Youth Rep vote. How do you vote? Yes. Okay, sorry, on a vote of 10 to 0 with the youth rep voting yes and Mr.

Constant recusing from this vote, that item AR2025-268 has passed the body. Next, we have item 10E7. Resolution, which is AR-2025-284, Resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage Adopting Substantial Amendment 1 to the Home Investment Partnerships America Rescue Plan Allocation Plan, and appropriating an amount not to exceed $4,064 in reimbursable HOME-ARP funds allocated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as reprogramming HOME-ARP reimbursable entitlement funds in the amount not to exceed $256,356 from the Development of affordable housing to tenant-based rental assistance, all to the federal grants fund 241 in the Anchorage Health Department. This item was pulled by Ms. Baldwin-Day. Thank you, Chair.

Move to approve. Second. Moved by Ms. Baldwin-Day, seconded by Ms. Brawley. Ms. Baldwin-Day. Yeah, thank you.

I just, um, I wanted to ask a couple of questions of the administration about this, um, about this particular movement of funds. And I'm, I'm curious about the intent of how these funds are going to be leveraged going forward, and I'm wondering if this is potentially a follow-on to the rental assistance program that the Health Department has been administering.

Kimberly Rash, Anchorage Health Department. So these funds were originally put out for RFGP. We received no bids on that RFGP, so they are currently in our account, and we are using them— we're hoping to use them to extend part of the rental assistance that you all received a briefing on at the last Housing and Homelessness meeting. They are not new funds that we have received recently.

Great. And And would we see, uh, would we see a separate appropriation request if that were to be the case for the utilization of these funds, or would— is this, is this that appropriation that says yes, these funds are going to be used for rental assistance? Hi, Chase Burgrave, lead planner with Community Safety and Development. There would be an assembly memorandum to amend contracts for the recipients of these funds, whoever they may be. Great, thank you.

That's helpful. No further questions. Anyone else? Let's— no, seeing, hearing none, then members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AR 25-284 has passed the body. I believe that completes our consent agenda, which means we will take our regularly scheduled dinner break now. Be back in about 20 to 30 minutes.

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Yes. Okay, we'll come back to order.

Next we have item 11A. Um, the administration has asked us not to move this item, so we'll go ahead and let it die for lack of action. We took up an item on the consent agenda that addressed this. Then we have item 11B, Assembly Memorandum AM 656-2025, recommendation of award of a contract with Callan LLC for investment consulting and advisory services for the municipality. Miss Barley, uh, move to postpone to the meeting of, uh, September 23rd.

The motion to postpone is our second Second. Moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Miss Baldwin-Day. Miss Brawley. Yeah, just very briefly, I understand, um, that the— this item is going before the Trust Fund Board, um, and it relates to their professional services, so they wanted extra time to evaluate this and review because they are an independent board and it is in the category of independent boards who are working with contractors. All right, any further discussion on the motion to postpone?

Seeing and hearing none, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. Any objection to the motion? Seeing and hearing no objection, this item is postponed.

Next we have item 12A. Item 12A is, um, Ordinance Number AO-2023-82, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly formally dedicating approximately 8 acres of new Municipal land, commonly known as the Upper Bench, shown as a buffer zone located within the property legally described as Port of Anchorage Subdivision Addition Number 2, Track J. Miss Brawley, thank you. I'd like to move to amend AO-2023-82, which was adopted on August 8th, 2023, with constant amendment number 1. Second.

So the motion is to amend something previously adopted. Miss Brawley has moved, Mr. Voland has seconded. And shall I speak to it? I will also just briefly add that no action has been taken to implement this ordinance since it was adopted, so it is considered eligible for amendment. And with that, I would turn to Mr.

Constant. Thank you. So I was going to say much the same. The motion to amend something previously adopted, it's a tricky motion and it's not really generally usable. As you can see, what's kind of wild about this, this is AO 2023-82.

And nothing has happened on this project because there's been a difference of opinion between the parks and the port and the neighbors about the exact function of the dedicated access to the port for the emergency access road. And so what this amendment will do, if approved by the members, is it will remove a small portion that was previously dedicated in the original action from the eastern section and it will give that section to the port because ultimately it will be the port's access road. It adds essentially an equal amount of land to the northern part of the property, which will allow for the fencing that will ultimately go in to be below the line of sight. There will be an access easement provided to the Parks and Rec Department so that the parks can use the, the road when it's not being used as an emergency access road, but ultimately it will mean that the port maintains the road access, so Parks doesn't want to be in the business of maintaining roads. And so that's ultimately the action that is being requested of you here.

Anyone else? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, the motion to amend something previously adopted has passed. AO 2020— and the youth member votes yes. Yes. AO 2020— we'll get in the hang of that, it's been a while. AO 2023-82 has been amended, so it's now as amended.

Okay, next we have item 13A. 13A is AO 2025-59, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code Chapter 3.90, Access to Public Records, and AMC Section 3.30.016 to update the public records request and response procedures. Miss Brawley. Oh wait, I'm sorry, the public hearing on this item is now open. Miss Brawley.

Move to continue the public hearing until the meeting of October 7th. Thanks. Second. Sorry about that. Motion to continue the public hearing by Ms. Silver, seconded by Mr. Buland.

Any discussion? Um, it's a work in progress, um, so I would appreciate you, uh, supporting the motion to continue the public hearing. Thanks. Any others? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed.

Well, actually, I'd like to ask unanimous consent. It's not a final action. Any objection to the motion? Hearing no objection, and that motion carries. We'll have that back before us on the 7th.

Next, we have item 13B, 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 cab services. The public hearing on this is now open. Miss Brawley, move to, uh, continue the public hearing to the meeting of October 7. Second.

Motion to continue by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera. Any discussion? Miss Brawley. I'll just add we continue to speak with the administration and work with, uh, them and industry folks on this item. Thanks.

All right, any others? Seeing and hearing none, motion to continue. I'll ask unanimous consent. Any objection? Seeing and hearing no objection, the item is continued to the meeting of 10/7.

Next we have Item 13C.

Item 13C is AO-2025-88, an ordinance amending the official zoning map and approving the rezoning of approximately 2.1 acres from I-1 Light Industrial District to PDC, Planned Community Development District, per AO-2006-47. S for original townsite subdivision, Block 1, Lots 1 to 5, Blocks 2, Lots 1A and 2 to 6, generally located east of C Street, south of West First Avenue, west of Cordova Street, and north of West Third Avenue in Anchorage. 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 postpone to the meeting of September 23rd. Okay, there's a motion to postpone to the 23rd, moved by Miss Brawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera. Okay, any discussion?

Miss Brawley. Yeah, thank you. Um, part of the reason for postponement is we got some new information about this item, so we just want to make sure, uh, that there is time for members to review that. And also, I would like to request, um, given that we already have a legal briefing on the calendar for, uh, Friday, that that any legal issues regarding this item that can be— that should be shared in executive session be briefed of the members, and only those legal issues. Thank you.

All right, any further discussion on the motion to postpone? Is there any objection to the motion to postpone? Seeing, hearing no objection, that item is postponed to the meeting of 9/23.

Okay, that brings us now to item 14A, which is AO-2025-91, an ordinance, Anchorage Municipal Assembly, updating Anchorage Municipal Code Chapter 1.25, Public Meetings, and amending Chapter 4.05, AMC Section 2.30.030, 2.30.036, 2.40.035, 27.20.040, and 29.10.050, and related code changes. Public hearing on this item The public hearing is now open. Anyone wish to be heard on this item? Anyone at all?

Seeing none, public hearing on this item is now closed. Let's swell the body. Move to approve. Second. Moved by Ms. Sprawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera.

Ms. Sprawley. Yeah, actually, because this is an item sponsored by Mr. Constant, I'm going to turn to Mr. Constant. Right.

And really, this work product is quite an extraordinary effort over many years by the previous clerk who now works on the 8th floor and the current clerk and attorneys, attorneys, attorneys to review every section of our code to ensure that we start to create alignment and kind of uniformity among our various entities having public meetings, which include our boards and commissions, which include our various offices. And so what this is, is kind of a major overhaul of that process. And I think I'm gonna put the clerk on the spot because she's done a lot of work and just ask her to add anything that I might have missed, or if there's anything she wants to add at all. Thank you, Chair Constant. Um, I don't think there's anything I want to add.

It was definitely a process and a lot of review. We also reviewed it with some of the internal departments requirements before we brought it forth to, uh, find a chair or find a sponsor. So we appreciate your support. [FOREIGN] Thank you. So in the memo, it talks about the new requirement that all board and commission meetings are to be recorded, um, and I just think that's really great from a transparency, open government standpoint.

Point, and again highlight some of the efforts that we are making internally to facilitate robust public process. I just really want to say thank you to the Clerk's Office. Yeah, thank you. Mr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Just want to report that this ordinance was reviewed at the August 27th Quality Municipal Services and Ethics and Elections meeting. We went through the ordinance section by section, and we interrogated a few of the items. Um, we didn't take any formal action, but I think the discussion was generally supportive of the proposal. And just like the chair stated, I know that this ordinance has been in the works for a while now and just want to thank everyone who got it across the finish line.

Thank you. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah, I want to also say thanks to the sponsors and all of the staff who worked on this. One question that I did have that I'm going to briefly state on the record, but I've already gotten answered, is my understanding is that in in state law, there are certain exemptions to the Open Meetings Act for service area boards if they are acting administratively. So I was curious, how does that interact with our city? And the answer that I got from, I believe, from Council was essentially that, that even though that is allowed in state law, our charter is more strict, and it says that all of our meetings need to be done in public.

And so I just wanted to put that on the record, um, that there are many places where local law is, is stronger in state law. And in that case, we are ensuring that we are doing our, uh, business in public, uh, even among our service area boards. Thanks. Ms. Baldwin-Day.

I just wanted to note that the crosswalk that was provided was extremely helpful, so whomever is responsible for that, you are a saint. Thank you. It's Mr. Wheeler, who's now in the prosecutor's office, who long ago figured out to to communicate to people like me. He has to make it real basic. And so, um, thank you, Dennis, if you're listening.

And maybe the attorney can pass the good news of that along to him. Anyone else? Seeing hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez? Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, and the youth member votes Yes. Yes. AO 2025-91 has passed the body.

And the clerk and clerks before her and all of the clerks through time now cheer. Item 14B, AO 2025-92, an ordinance authorizing acquisition of real properties legally described as Lots 31 and 32 of Block 2, Laurel Acres Subdivision, Plat 71-4. 44 For placement into the Heritage Land Bank inventory. 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. Would swell the body— move to approve. Second. Move by Miss Brawley, second by Mr. Voland.

Miss Brawley, any— so if anyone else wish to be heard? Seeing hearing none, members may proceed to vote. Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AO 2025-92 has passed the body. Next we have item 14C, AO 2025— I'm sorry, I did it again. And the youth member votes yes. Yes. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Okay, now we have AO 2025-95, an ordinance authorizing a revocable use permit on a portion from Lot 7, Section 4, T-12N, R-4W, between Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility and SELCO Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless. 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 say all the body? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Miss Sprawley, second by Miss Baldonday. So I'm going to speak briefly.

Mr. Kostin. So now, after— oh, never mind, actually it's revocable use, not movable. Okay, with that then, anyone else? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, and the youth member votes yes. Yes. AO 2025-95 is passed the body. Next we have AR 20— item 14D, AR 2025-261, resolution of the municipality of Anchorage appropriating $2,704,800 of Convention Center Capital Reserve Fund 202030 fund balance within the Convention Center Capital Reserve Fund 202030 4030 as a transfer and appropriating said transfer to the Areawide General Capital Improvement Project Fund 401800, all within the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, for the addition of multiple 2020-2025 capital improvements at the Denaina and Williamette Egan Convention Centers, amending the Denaina and Egan Centers 2025 Capital Improvement Budget and the 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Programs. Public hearing on this item is now open.

Anyone who should be heard? 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. Move by Ms. Spraulley, second by Ms. Baldwin-Day. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez. Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, and the youth member votes Yes. Yes. AR 2025-261 has passed the body. Next we have item 14E, which is AO 2025-96, an ordinance of the Anchorage Assembly submitting to the qualified voters of the Municipality of Anchorage a ballot proposition amending the Home Rule Charter to authorize a 1% sales tax to fund the Pennies for Progress strategic investment program. The public hearing is now open.

Mr. Martinez.

Move to continue the public hearing to the meeting of October 21st. It's a motion to continue to October 21st, moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Ms. Brawley. Do you wish to speak to that at all, Mr. Martinez? Just briefly, appreciate the, uh, the opportunity to have this go through committee and potential work sessions, and, uh, and I just encourage the, uh, the continuation on October 21st. Thank you.

All right, any further discussion? Seeing, hearing none, members may— I'm just going to ask unanimous consent. Any objection to the motion? Seeing, hearing no objection, the item is continued to the meeting of October 21st. Okay, so the rest of the items are quasi-judicial relating to alcohol and marijuana, so we will now invite our youth member to go to the audience.

If you want to stay or go home, do whatever you want to do, but not be here on the dais. While we deal with these issues. So next we have item 15A, which is Resolution AR-2025-262, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the renewal of package store license number 3973 for Holiday Alaska LLC, DBA Circle K, located at 10630 Old Seward Highway, Anchorage, 99515. All right, 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. Would it swell the body? Move to approve.

Second. Moved by Ms. Brawley, seconded by Ms. Baldwin-Day. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, your 2025-262 has passed the body. Next we have item 15B, Resolution R2025-263, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the renewal of beverage dispensary license number 670 for OTL Enterprise Inc. DBA Long Branch Saloon located at 1737 East Diamond Boulevard, Anchorage 99507.

So the public hearing is now open on this item. Anyone wish to be heard?

Uh, yeah, any— thank you. 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 Ms. Brawley, seconded by Mr. Rivera. So I'm wondering if anybody knows whether— yeah, can we just do it really quick? Yeah, oh, I think we were looking at what is clearly a typo. It is not Diamond Boulevard, it's Diamond, uh, like the name.

So, uh, in the title it should be D-I-M-O-N-D. Let me just make a kind of a fix it, a little scribbler there. Actually, Mr. Chair, it is, it's one of those— is it? That's what I wanted.

Weird. It's right, it is correct. Yeah, okay, so don't do it. Yeah, that was my question because it's like at Diamond and which is strange. Thank you all.

I was just verifying the record. Okay, okay. On this then, if there's no further discussion, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez?

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AR 2025-263 is passed the body. Next we have before us Item 15C, Resolution AR 2825-264, Resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the renewal of beverage dispensary license number 635 for Serrano's LLC, DBA Serrano's Mexican Grill, located at 201 East Northern Lights, Anchorage, Alaska 99503. The public hearing on this item is now open. Anyone wish to be heard? Anyone at all?

Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed. Oh, the public hearing is now closed.

I'll let's roll the body. Move to approve. Second. Moved by Ms. Baldwin-Day, seconded by Mr. Voland. Any discussion?

Seeing and hearing none, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes. On a vote of 11 to 0, AR 2025-264 has passed the body. Next we have before us AR 20— uh, number 15D, AR 2025-274. 4, A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly approving an alcohol special land use permit for sporting activity or event with license number 16585 for Nano Management Services LLC, DBA Avis Alaska Sports Complex, in the PLI District, located at 2801 Spirit Drive within UAA Subdivision, Tract 1A, Plat 2014-78, generally located south of Mallard Lane, east of UAA Drive, north of Spirit Drive, and west of Seawolf Drive in Anchorage. Public hearing on this item is now open, and no one should be heard on this Anyone at all?

Seeing and hearing none, public hearing on this item is now closed. Would someone move to approve? Move to approve. Second. Was that Mr. Myers?

Mr. Myers moves and Ms. Baldwin-Day seconds. Any discussion on this item? Seeing and hearing none, public— members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez.

Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AR 2025-274 has passed the body. Next we have before us item 15E, resolution AR 2025-276, resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly approving an alcohol special land use permit for beverage dispensary number 4531 for BK LLC, DBHG building approving the B-2B Central Business District Intermediate located at 420 West 3rd Avenue with Anchorage Original Townsite Subdivision Block 24A, Lot 2A, generally located at the south of West 3rd Avenue, west of C Street, north of West 4th Avenue, east of East Street in downtown Anchorage. Now I have to read the other one. There is an S version, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly approving alcohol special land use permit with site conditions for BKLLC DBAG building in the B-2B Central Business District Intermediate, located at 420 West 3rd Avenue within Anchorage Original Townsite Subdivision, Block 24A, Lot 2A, generally located south of West 3rd Avenue, west of C Street, north of West 4th Avenue, and east of E Street in Anchorage. 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 is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve the S. Second.

Thank you. Motion to approve the Yes, version by Mr. Walland, seconded by Ms. Brawley.

So, um, I'm going to briefly speak to it. Thank you. So the newer members won't have memory of this, but there was an extraordinary process for this location. Extraordinary process. I can't even tell you how challenging it was.

The neighbors had a real and meaningful concern about a proposed nightclub going into this location because it directly is adjacent to senior housing, to a number of other uses that are incompatible with late-night nightclub uses. And the petitioner's previous location was not very conducive to good public process and having a bar in your neighborhood. And through an extraordinary process of the assembly protesting including going to AMCO, winning the protest, AMCO denying the license, then going to the administrative hearing officer, and then getting appealed to the state courts, and then a threat of appeal to the Supreme Court. The licensee was not allowed to transfer the license to this location. So what's changed?

So there are certain conditions that are applied in this proposal that the buyer of this license, the new potential operator has committed to with the community, which include just a handful of requirements that they would not operate a nightclub, no nightclub uses, that they would close the operation at 1:00, that it's a restaurant essentially, not a nightclub. And with that, they got unanimous support of the community council. And in fact, Mr. Hurt, we dropped the ball here. We need an AM.

There is an AIM to be associated with this from the Community Council. Oh, is it attached? Did you get it in there? Okay, so we didn't incorporate it. Do we need to incorporate it, or do we need to do anything?

Okay, so I would just ask— or I'm going to read the title of the AIM. We'll consider that incorporated. It's, um, from Chair Constantine, subject: ARRA 2025-276 Resolution Anchorage Municipal Assembly approving an alcohol special land use permit for beverage dispensary license number 4531 for BKLC DBA G Building in the B-2B Central Business District located at 420 West Third Avenue within Anchorage Regional Townsite subdivision, Block 24A, Lot 2A, generally located southwest Third Avenue west of C Street, northwest Fourth Avenue, east of E in Anchorage. And if you look, there's a wet ink signature from the Community Council president and and the owner of the transferable license agreeing to all the terms that are in the special land use permit S version. So that's all a long way of creating the record here to say all the parties agree, and we ask for your agreement as well in adding these conditions to the special land use permit and then approving it so that he can open a restaurant.

So if there's nothing else, members may proceed to vote.

Member Martinez? Yes.

On a vote of 11 to 0, AR 2025-276 has passed the body, the S version. Thank you, Madam Clerk. That concludes our business agenda. Anyone from the public wish to be heard? Please come forward.

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

The microphone's off. There you go. I'm William Baxter, I'm from Fairview, and, uh, I went to the fair this, uh, Saturday the 30th and went to the, uh, FFA auction and they had a turkey went for $3,600, and that's not including the add-ons. So the add-ons was more. And, uh, and I, I was talking to the Brian Scorby, the, uh, Director of Agriculture for the state.

He said— I asked him, why is there so many cows, cows here? And more than here, he said, well, they did really good last year. They at the 4-H and FFA auction they did at the fair, they did $570,000.

And it was pretty exciting, but it went more this year. So it's every year it's more and more. And the other thing I think one time, one reason why I think that there's not agriculture in Alaska is because you see people with their four-wheelers driving down the road here with trailers and you see people with boats going around, but do you see tractors and that? And you don't see it. And it's kind of like, I think agriculture is kind of hidden, but there's a lot of agriculture.

If you go out in the valley, you'll see it, and you just don't see it that much. And when I was at the fair, you know, there's the barn, but there's a lot of people that don't go in a barn. And, and there's the rodeo place, and they do other things at the rodeo. And the horses are like— when they do the horses and that, they're kind of like hid back there. And so it— I think a lot of times it's just we get— I, I helped expose it more than anybody, I think.

And, uh, thank you.

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

All right, uh, all right, there we go. Jamie Lopez, East Anchorage, uh, formerly Coalition for Homeless. So, uh, unprepared remarks today, and, uh, I was going to talk about something else, but, uh, I think what I'll talk about is, uh, the 2 people who died about earlier today. Uh, CJ and Lizzie, um, pretty much some of the nicest people. Um, you know, didn't have any enemies, uh, didn't owe anybody anything.

They just happened to be outside in dire straits and not have any place to go. And I first met CJ, I want to say it was about 2 years ago, and he was in the pavilion at Lions Park and he was under a tarp and he had a cat and, uh, you just a funny guy, a little weird, but you know, that's not a crime. And so the unfortunate nature of things as it is, is, you know, people that are outside for so long, they have PTSD built up and things like that. You deal with it in the best way you can, but he always had a smile on his face and he always said good things. And so yeah, essentially what happened was I've been taking out food, you know, the entire week, and usually I'm going, you know, 12 to 2 AM.

And so I saw him Sunday/Monday, and I go out yesterday. And so sure enough, you know, today I get a text and calling different people to see who it might be, and it was someone I knew. And so it's, it's sad. I wish I could say that I think things are going in a better direction right now, but they're not. And, you know, the, the things that are lost lost typically right now is that, you know, we have policies and those policies drive how people are treated, how people are supported, and whether they live or die.

And in this case, you know, snow dump was abated. You had people in tents and they had some form of stability. And then when they lose that stability, even less stability than they had, they essentially went into the neighborhoods of Mountain View and then they were endless displaced by police, and CJ and Lizzy were part of those people that were continually moved and moved and moved along. And so generally speaking, if they were in Snowdump and there was a group of people, I don't think they would have ended up being shot because there's more eyeballs. And while things do happen, there's less of a chance of it happening unless somebody has a reason to do it, and they had no enemies.

And so ultimately, all that said, um, yeah, uh, they will be remembered. And, uh, you know, obviously the media hasn't disclosed who they are yet, but their family was outside, uh, not so much, you know, people that are inside who sort of abandoned them at some point. So that's pretty much all I have to say. Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard?

No, no. All right, seeing and hearing none, we'll move to to member comments. Mr. Presidio. No comments, thank you. Mr. Kirker.

No comments, thank you, Chair. Mr. Ryan. No comments, thank you. Ms. Zargarpur. No comments, thank you.

Mr. Walland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, you know, I think some of the sort of weightier subject matter, particularly at the top of the meeting, just makes me really thankful for my colleagues, um, doing this work. I think it's really meaningful, and I appreciate you, those that kind of shared from their personal lives.

Yeah, I just, I don't know, we are elected officials and we're up here on the dais, but we're also people too. And yeah, this, this job is challenging at times, but I appreciate the humanity that you all constantly bring to it. Thank you. Ms. Brawley. No comments, thanks.

Ms. Baldwin-Day. No comments, Chair, thank you. Ms. Martinez.

No additional comments. All right, Mr. McCormick. No comments, thank you. Mr. Myers. No additional comments, thanks, Chair.

All right, thank you everybody for an interesting meeting, and, um, tomorrow is another day full of meetings, so talk to you soon. We are adjourned.

Is it just me?

Whoa.

All of my life, waited for a sign.

To arise. Painted lights.

Ground arise. Horai.

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 trivia. 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? Yeah, 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.

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, so far the police no chasing.

Peace, I must chase green, but honestly I feel the 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.

Promise the good guys coming to save us. Promise the 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.