Assembly Regular - May 26, 2026 - 2026-05-26 17:00:00

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In some other way.

Hey, everyone. We'll get started in just a couple minutes.

Member Preserve. Can you hear us?

Yep, I can hear you. Thank you.

It.

Okay, everyone, I'm going to call this meeting to order. Tonight is Tuesday, May 26, and this is our regular assembly meeting. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Member Handleand. Here. Member Martinez. Present. Member Gruker.

Here. Member Silvers. Here. Member Prez Verdilla.

Here. Member Brawley. Here. Member Voland. Happy to be here.

Member Baldwin Day. Present. Member scout. Present. Member McCormick.

Here. Member Park. Here. Member Johnson. Here.

Madam Chair. You have A quorum. Thank you, madam clerk. Will Ms. Park please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to. The Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. And Ms. Baldwin Day, will you please read the land acknowledgment? Yes, Madam Chair. A land acknowledgement is a formal statement recognizing the indigenous people of a place. It is a public gesture of appreciation for the past and present indigenous stewardship of the lands that we now occupy.

It is an actionable statement that marks our collective movement towards decolonization and equity. The Anchorage assembly would like to acknowledge that we gather today on the traditional lands of the Denina Athabaskans. For thousands of years, the Denina have been and continue to be the stewards of this land. It is with gratitude and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations and contemporary perspectives of the Upper Cook Inlet Denina. Thank you.

Next, we will move to minutes of previous meetings. So we have two minutes tonight. First, the special meeting of Wednesday, April 22, 2026, and the regular meeting of Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Is there a motion move to approve the previous minutes? Second, moved by Vice Chair Volin.

Second by member Baldwin Day. Is there any objection to adoption of the minutes?

Hearing and seeing none. These minutes are now adopted. Next, we will move on to the mayor's report. Madam Mayor, go ahead. Thank you, Chair Brawley.

And good evening, everyone. Special welcome to the students and staff from Eagle River High School and Diamond High School. Nice to see you here tonight. It's the final week to participate in the citywide cleanup which wraps up this Sunday, May 31st. And member Martinez, I did note that you would like to see some way to extend that through the summer.

Happy to have that conversation. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has already pitched in to pick up trash in their neighborhoods. Our community is looking so much better because of your hard work. After a long winter of snow, there's still some spots around our community that could use some extra care. And if you haven't had a chance yet, it's not too late to pick up an orange bag or two and help us spruce up our community.

Yesterday we held the annual Memorial Day observance. And thank you to everyone who joined us at the Delaney park strip to honor and remember our fallen military members who gave their lives in service to our country. Anchorage is incredibly proud to be a military community, and we are home to thousands of active duty service members and veterans. In fact, here at the municipality we are privileged to employ nearly 300 veterans. I also want to thank the American Legion, Jack Henry, Post one and New Vision Credit Union, whom I joined this weekend to help clean up veteran headstones at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

Finally, as sunshine and warmer weather arrive, you might start to notice our Parks and Rec Horticulture team planting flowers and truly brightening up our community for the summer season. Thank you all. I look forward to a productive meeting tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Next, we'll move on to the Chair's report. So good evening everyone. Welcome to our regular business meeting. I hope everyone had a safe, enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

Monday's ceremony on the park strip that the mayor mentioned and ceremonies like it across the country reminded us that freedom requires sacrifice and that it is our responsibility to honor those who sacrifice their lives for our nation. What's said less often but is equally our responsibility as a nation is to ensure that in asking our fellow citizens to make these sacrifices, the reasons are worth the heavy price that they and we have to pay. Next, I'll move on to End of Legislative Session so welcome back to all of our legislators to Anchorage and elsewhere who are heading home, or most of whom are heading home. Last Wednesday was the end of our regular legislative session. We're still reviewing everything that happened last week, but we can be happy to see that a number of Anchorage priorities successfully moved forward in one way or another.

Several wins for Anchorage included the capital funding for the Port of Alaska, the additional opening of ada, funding for workforce housing development, expanding our options to incentivize new and affordable housing, and one time funding for our school district and others around the state. A technical matter that impacts our budget was the passage of a provision that slows the growth of local contributions to schools relative to state funds, which will mean a lesser hit for the amount that we will need to pay out of our general budget next year to go to school. More on that in the coming months. Two bills that the municipality has supported for several years, the defined benefits for public employees and an election reform bill that would have cleaned up our voter rolls and protected Alaskans right to vote no matter their geography, did manage to pass both houses and we celebrate and thank the legislature for that. But both were vetoed by Governor Dunleavy, so we know there's more work to be done there.

The municipality will be sharing a more detailed reporting on how we fared this legislative session and of course we'll wait to see what happens in the special session regarding the gas line development project. Next, I'll move on to mention that we are although it doesn't feel like it, we are well into the summer festival season and I encourage everyone to put on a coat and participate, to be in the community with your neighbors and to enjoy the people and events that make Anchorage special. A few events this Saturday, May 30th. First we have cultural Flag Day and Festival on the park strip, noon to 6pm to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And then it's also Merrill Field Aviation Celebration this Saturday from 10am to 3pm rain or shine with music, activities and food trucks at the UAA Aviation hangar, UAA ramp, Stoddard's Ramp and North Edge hangars and ramp.

And then just a couple more quick items, two quick procedural announcements. First, we have a work session coming up on AO2026 72 regarding HLB Heritage Land bank disposal for a natural burial cemetery. This was originally scheduled for this Friday, May 29, but it's been moved to the following Friday because of staff schedules. Friday, June 5th at 1pm following our joint meeting with the Anchorage School Board, which is at 10am to noon next Friday, June 5th. Next, if you're here to testify on item 14D, AO202662 to create a Public Safety Commission, the sponsors of which I am one, the other is Mr. Perez Fridilla, intend to open the public hearing and continue the hearing to the next regular meeting of June 9.

So anybody in the audience, just to be aware of that last, I will read off our usual announcements so that we can conclude at the most reasonable hour possible. This is a business meeting. We are here to do the work of the municipality. Please help to create a climate of respect in the chambers. Please refrain from personal attacks, speaking out of turn, shouting, clapping and pacing except when it is in order.

Please Keep signs to eight and a half by 11 inches in size. Please keep the aisle clear except when lined up to testify. Please do not approach the dais, but if you have something to share with members, please hand it to the clerk for distribution. Please stop speaking. If a point of order is called so that I may rule on the point of order and the record is clear, if the rules are not followed, I may interrupt speakers to call for compliance.

If compliance with the rules does not occur, then I may pause the meeting. If there is an actual disruption, I will give a warning. If the disruption persists or happens again, the person will be asked to leave. And thank you. With that we will go to committee reports and I will start with Mr. Handlent.

Nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Thank you, Chair. The Quality, Municipal Services and et cetera committee for May 27 has been canceled. So make note of that and stay tuned for June scheduled date.

The next meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee is scheduled for June 11, the second Thursday of the month, 9am at the permit Center. And one of the items that I wanted to flag will be lessons learned from the Lahaina fires. Resiliency, recovery and preparedness, especially as we go into our summer season and with the preemptive work around the Wildfire interface service area exploration that the municipality is going to be conducting. I think this is a good time to learn lessons from Lahaina and how they are recovering from their disaster of the wildfire. Additionally, Chair, I just wanted to flag that.

I do appreciate the mayor highlighting that a clean community is an economically vibrant community. And when Anchorage works, it works together. And so I do look forward to that conversation of extending potentially the citywide cleanup with our community partners. I know that there's a lot of folks in our community that really do look forward to working together to make this place very beautiful and vibrant. So thank you.

Nothing else to report. Thank you, Mr. Gerker. Thank you, Madam Chair. Nothing to report. Ms. Silvers?

Nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. Voland. Nothing to report. Thank you, Ms. Baldwin. Day.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I'd like to report on the Infrastructure Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee meeting last Thursday, 21st May. We got a rather sobering look at our stormwater system, which, by the way, is not, in fact, managed by Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. Our stormwater is a completely different set of pipes, and it is managed by our Municipal Project Management Engineering Department. It's funded primarily through bonds.

And we have reached the point where all we can do with this system is essentially emergency intervention and the most critical repairs, but not necessarily the maintenance that's needed to keep the system functioning appropriately. It's an invisible liability. Liability essentially under our feet, something like $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance because we have never created a mechanism apart from bonds by which this system can be regularly upgraded and maintained. That is, in fact, the story of most of Alaska, isn't it? Water is, in fact, the single biggest part.

It is the single single biggest culprit of roadway decay. And so addressing our stormwater system is really important. Stay tuned, because we have ceded, if you've been paying attention, a stormwater commission. And we hope to have recommendations forthcoming from that group to help us understand how we can better deal with our stormwater for the future of Anchorage. We also got a report from the Anchorage Regional Landfill Closure and Post Closure Board for the new members primarily.

And the great news there is that the fact that we've modernized and made the operations at the Solid Waste Services landfill more streamlined means that we have some savings, some cost savings that we have now rolled into an investment in further streamlining our waste system through a waste to energy project, which many of you are already already aware of. We received another update on waste to energy. We are through the planning or in the middle, I should say, of the planning and the feasibility stages of that and have have an RFP out for the preliminary design and we hope to have a plan of finance for that project as early as next May. So efficiency at the landfill means more efficient systems to come in the waste to energy project. So that is my report for IE UOC Committee.

And then secondly, I will report that the Municipal Audit Committee will meet Thursday at 1pm we are looking at the internal audit for the McDonald Memorial Center. And we'll also get an update on our annual consolidated financial Report, the status of that report from 2024, as well as some other pending business. Thank you, madam chair. Thanks, Ms. Scout.

Nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. McCormick. Nothing to report. Thank You, Ms. Park. Nothing to report.

Thank you. And Mr. Johnson. Yeah, thank you, Chair. The next meeting of the Assembly Legislative Committee will be tomorrow, May 27, from 10:50 to 11:50am at City Hall. Topics on the agenda include a recap of the 2026 regular legislative session in Juneau, as well as a presentation on the Basics act.

That is the Bridges and Safety Infrastructure for Community Success. That is a piece of congressional legislation. It's a bipartisan transportation bill. So look forward to learning more about that. That is all I have.

Thank you. And on the phone, Mr. Presverdia, do you have a report?

Thank you, Chair. No report tonight. Okay, that concludes our reports. Next we will move on to the addendum to the agenda. But before we get to that, we will address laid on the table items to incorporate those into the agenda.

So we have multiple laid on the table items tonight. Currently they are all supplemental. So I will read some them into the record briefly. Then we will deal with the addendum. First we have.

Make sure I got them in order. First we have item 10E1. That is a resolution, an S version resolution AR2026 139S. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly appropriating a reimbursable Grant when tendered in the amount of $70,000 of Community Block Community Development Block Grant COVID 19 funds from the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development administered through the state of Alaska to the State Grant Funds 231900 for non congregate shelter in the Anchorage Health Department. And then there's also an unnumbered assembly memorandum that is attached to that as well.

Under the 10 Fs. We have an item you just received. It is a Scenic Foothills Community Council resolution. Unnumbered AIM from assembly members Silvers and Martinez for information. Then next we have under 14I, we have AIM unnumbered for Ordinance 2026 71, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal assembly amending anchorage Municipal Code 2105 and Section 214-5350 Old Code to permit the retail sales of agricultural goods at large domestic animal facilities and waiving planning and zoning commission review.

So that was laid on the table. And I believe that's all of the items at this time.

Yes. And I would like to direct the clerk to consider the informational Scenic Foothills resolution that I read. Unnumbered AIM to be attached to an item that was passed at our previous meeting regarding the fence at jbar. And we will look up the number later. Thank you.

Okay, so having read all of those, then.

One second. Then I will ask for a motion to incorporate the addendum as printed or distributed, including the laid on the table Items. So moved. Second moved by Ms. Baldwin Day. Second by Mr. Boland.

Any objection to incorporating the laid on the table items and incorporating the addendum? Okay, Seeing and hearing no objection. Then those items are incorporated.

Next we have appearance requests. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped a step. One second.

Okay, thanks for your patience. Next we will. We do not have any appearance requests on the agenda, so we'll move to the next item, which is the consent agenda. So consent agenda Items are numbered 10A through 10G. They're typically routine or non controversial items such as bid awards, new business information and reports and ordinances and resolutions for introductions.

These can be approved by a single vote of motion to approve the consent agenda. Prior to approval, items may be pulled by an assembly member for discussion and separate vote. And under assembly rules of procedure, all ordinances and some resolutions will have an opportunity for public hearing at a future date. So we will go ahead and go down the dais to pull Items starting with Mr. Johnson. No items.

Chair. Thank you, Ms. Park. No items. Thank you, Mr. McCormick. No items.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Scout. No items. Thanks, Ms. Baldwin.

Day yes, I'd like to pull 10G8 and set the public hearing for the meeting of June 23rd, please. Okay, thank you. So. So for awareness, if you would only like to change the public hearing date, you can ask the chair to direct the clerk to do that. Unless you also want to pull it for other reasons.

No. Lovely. Let's. If you would direct the clerk to set the public hearing for June 23rd. I would appreciate that.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. So directed.

Yes.

Oh, and also 10 A2 for reading and 10 E1 also.

Okay. I have 10 Echo 1, 10 Alpha 2 and then directing on 10 Golf 8 for the public hearing on 623 without polling. Okay, thank you. Mr. Volant. No items.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Ms. Silvers. No items. Thank you.

And Mr. Gerker. 10 Alpha 1. Thank you, Chair.

Sorry. 10 Alpha 1. Next Mr. Martinez. 10 D2. Okay.

10 Delta 2. Mr. Martinez. Mr. Handleand, my item has already been pulled. Okay, thank you. And Mr. Perez Fridia.

Thank you, Chair. No items tonight. Okay, thank you. I will read back through those Items. We have 10 Alpha 1 and 2.

10 A1 pulled by Mr. Gerker. 10 A2 pulled by Ms. Baldwin Day. Then I have 10 Delta 2, Mr. Martinez, 10 Echo 1, Ms. Baldwin Day. And then I believe that's it. Did I miss any other items?

Okay. Seeing and hearing none. Then I will. Then those items have been polled. So I will look for a motion to adopt the remainder of the conjunction agenda.

So moved. Second moved by Mr. Bullen. Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Any further discussion?

Okay. Any adoption to approval of this motion?

Okay. Seeing and hearing none. Any objection? Any objection? Hearing and seeing no objection.

Then the consent agenda has been approved. So folks who are here for any of those items, except for those items that have been pulled, those items have been approved, passed or accepted. So with that we will move on to our items. So first we have 10A1. So who do I have read or.

I'm sorry. First we need a motion move to approve. Second moved by Mr. Gerker. Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Any further discussion?

Okay. Any objection to adoption? Okay, seeing and hearing none. This item is adopted. This is a reading resolution.

So who is reading and who is presenting? Madam Chair, I am reading and it says Perez Verdia is presenting. Okay. I believe there was some trading and then.

So because Mr. Perez Verdian is on the phone and because we have a diamond high alum, then I wouldn't. Then I would invite folks who are here to receive the first resolution to come forward and then we will have it read, and then, Ms. Scout, you're welcome to go down and present with them. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

Okay, go ahead and read, Mr. Gerker. Thank you, Madam Chair. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing the Student governments of A.J. Diamond High School and Eagle River High School for earning the 2025-2026 National Gold Council Excellence Award. Whereas the Student governments of A.J.

Diamond High School and Eagle River High School have each been recognized as a 2025-2026 National Gold Council of Excellence by the National Education of Student Councils and whereas the National Gold Council of Excellence Award is the highest level of recognition awarded to student councils and honors exemplary leadership, service, civic engagement and activities that strengthen schools and communities. Whereas the Diamond High School student government has earned this distinction for 10 consecutive years. Reflecting a sustained commitment to student leadership and service, student leaders at Diamond High School organized freshman orientation, school dances, assemblies, leadership activities and community service projects, contributing more than 2,000 hours of service to their school and community this year. Whereas the Eagle River High School Student Council organized and supported numerous school and community activities, including homecoming events, community carnivals, spirit weekend, prom, safe driving week, food and personal care drives, faculty appreciation and student leadership conferences, contributing more than 400 hours of annual community service to the Eagle river community. And whereas both student organizations have demonstrated the importance of student voice, civic participation, volunteerism and collaborative leadership, helping to foster stronger school communities and preparing the next generation of civic leaders.

And whereas the municipality of Anchorage benefits when young people are empowered and willing to lead, serve and actively participate in their schools and communities. Now, therefore, the Anchorage assembly congratulates the Student governments of A.J. Diamond High School and Eagle River High School and their dedicated staff advisors, Liam Wheels and Danielle Lewis, on earning this award and commends their dedication to service, leadership, service and civic engagement. Passed and approved by the Anchorage assembly on this 26th day of May, 2026.

Thank you. And I'll invite anybody who is present who would like to make some remarks to please come forward. And then I would also encourage students, even if you don't want to say a whole lot, to come forward and say, we know which schools you're with, but say your name as well, and your grade.

And I'm sorry, I should have said to please turn on the button so that. Yep, now it's on. Thank you. This is why we have a first time. The guinea pig.

Okay. My name is Aurora Preston. I'm a freshman at Eagle River High School.

My name is Lizzie Rush, and I'm. A sophomore at Eagle River High School.

My Name is Sam Smith. I am the student body president at Eagle River High School. And I'm Assassin Grader.

My name is Colin Rushin, freshman at. Eagle River High School.

My name is Annika B. I'm a sophomore at Eagle River High School.

Good evening. I'm Danielle Lewis. I'm the outgoing advisor at Eagle River High School. I'm an original Eagle River High School staff member and I am retiring from the Anchorage school district after 27 years. And I just want to thank you all for honoring us today and let you know that I couldn't do this without my fellow advisor and friend, Lem Leelis.

So we work in tandem together and I'm really going to miss all of my students and my good friend and colleague. So thank you very much.

Hi, my name is Lenora Smith. I am a sophomore at Diamond High School and I am vice president.

Hi, my name is Kelly Daudis and. I'm a sophomore and I was a sophomore class treasurer.

Hi, my name is Emily Bookman and I'm a freshman. I was class president.

Hi, my name is Raina Swartwood and. I was a sophomore and I was sophomore secretary.

And my name is Lem Wheelis, and it's been my pleasure to be the student government advisor at Diamond High School for the last 16 years. I really appreciate the assembly taking the time to honor our students this evening. Nice to see diamond graduate and former students sitting up there as well as a few other diamond graduates in the room. But it really is fantastic to see students engage as leaders in their school and community and really appreciate that you have taken the time to honor them. We have some fantastic students, but none of this happens without, you know, the advisors and faculty as well.

And I want to just thank Danielle for her long service as a student government advisor and as a teacher in. The Anchorage School District. Her work also includes we work together as the student advisory board faculty directors for the last six years for the district. So we also work with student government students from all across town as well as worked with some of your assembly student reps as we work together. But really, the Anchorage school district and our community is really losing a gem in Danielle and the work that she's done over the last many years.

So thank you for taking the time to recognize us tonight. Yeah. Thank you all for being here. We have a couple, and before you go, we do have a couple folks in the queue, so first Ms. Baldwin Day. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.

I would just like to be added as a co sponsor, if I could please, and offer My congratulations to all of you for the work that you do on behalf of your schools. And Danielle, thank you for 27 years as the daughter of an educator. So much gratitude for the work that you've done and the way you've invested in this community. Thank you. Thank you.

And while we're on that topic, I will just ask briefly, are there other members who would like to. To be added, or does anybody have objection to being added? Okay, I think everybody can be added to that one, including the mayor, it sounds like. Okay, thank you very much. And then Next we have Mr. Martinez.

Thank you. Chair, congratulations. Thank you for being here for the staff and thank you for your hard work all the years for the young folk. Thank you for bringing your presence and your ideas to education and to this body today. But I wanted to take the opportunity to promote the youth summit that this body has paid for.

We have legislatively identified the need to gather young people with our youth representatives at some point during this coming school year. So we have some resources to do that. I wanted to make sure you heard about it now before the summertime comes. And as you all think about it, we're going to have a youth summit because we believe from this body that investing in our young people's leadership opportunities is a way we build the pipeline for tomorrow. So keep that on your radar.

A youth summit with this legislative body is going to be coming, and hopefully that helps shape the agenda for our community for years to come. Thank you, guys. Next I have Ms. Scout. Thank you.

I wanted to reiterate my thanks and congratulations to the students and teachers and especially shout out Mr. Wheelas, my student government and US history teacher. I registered to vote in Mr. Wheelis classroom and I also want to share with the students. I graduated high school 14 years ago. This could be you. So, you know, you don't need to go to a fancy college.

You don't need to go to a fancy high school. Our public school kids are the future. And thank you for your service and please stay engaged.

All right, thank you. I don't have anyone else in the queue, so again, congratulations and thank you for being here.

Okay, Next we have 10A2. Let me roll back up the agenda really quick.

An ordinance of the anchorage assembly recognizing June 5, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in Anchorage and June 5 through the 7th, 2026 as Wear Orange weekend to honor all victims, survivors and families of gun violence. This was pulled by Ms. Baldwin Day move to approve second moved by Ms. Baldwin Day, second by Mr. Voland. Any additional discussion on this one. Any. Yes, Madam chair.

Go ahead, Mr. Ban Handle. I'd like to offer amendment to strike the first two whereas clauses.

I'm sorry, I was. No, we. Yeah, we were just making sure we had a motion to approve. Okay. Ms. Parker, if you can come up briefly.

We need to. We have an amendment on the floor, so we're going to need to vote. Before we can move forward.

I move that it be accepted. Sorry. We have a motion to approve. We have to do some other business. Yeah.

If you want to come back up really quick, then we'll come back to this. Yeah. If you want to come back to your seat, please. Yeah. And just a few minutes, folks.

We need to move through a procedure. So we have a motion to strike two of the or. Sorry, sorry. The first two whereas clauses for. Mr. Handlen.

Do we have a second Second. Okay. Motion by Mr. Hanlon. Second by Mr. Gerker. Do you want to speak to your amendment?

Yes. The first two, where. The first whereas clause should be removed because it mixes different categorical data in a way that blurs this issue. It starts with gun violence, but the 125 deaths per day include all firearms death, including suicide. It then shifts to injuries, homicides and international homicides comparison.

Those are not the same categories. When we talk about gun violence, the data should be clear, consistent and not lumped together. Different causes of death that make the number seldom larger. The second warehouse clause should be removed because it relies on advocacy group data and presents an extremely misunderstood. The resolution says Alaska is the fifth highest rate of gun deaths, but that includes all firearm deaths, most of which are suicide.

On every Stat's own website, Alaska ranks 26th for gun homicide deaths. While an average of 39 homicide deaths per year and a rate of 5.2 per 100,000. This tells a very different story. It also claims that this crisis costs the state $2.5 billion every single year. This is not a direct cost to the state of Alaska.

It is a modeled sociological impact estimate from an advocacy group. To put that number in perspective, this is in the range of what Alaska spends annually on education from the state, federal and local sources combined. If it sounds ridiculous, it's because the number is not an actual cost. It is an inflated number by gun advocacy group assigned very large dollar to social impact. Gun violence is real and we should always be working to reduce violence and protect victims and keep families safe.

But we should do so in a way that isn't misleading. With statistics and presenting advocacy group estimates as if they are straightforward. Public costs. If we're going to ask the public to trust us, we need to be honest about what the numbers actually say. I also want to note that it is important to clearly state that suicide is a violent and tragic act and those death matter.

If someone is feeling that way, feeling this way, they should seek help immediately and call or text 8989-8 to reach the suicide and crisis lifeline. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there other members in the queue? I don't see any right now seeing hearing none. Then members may proceed to vote on this amendment.

Member prez riddie yes.

Okay. On a vote of 6 to 6 that amendment fails. So we are back on the main motion and I will ask again, is there any objection to adoption of this or. Actually I think it seems like there there may be desire to vote on this. So I will ask for members to proceed to vote unless there's the further.

Oh, I'm sorry. Just noticed Ms. Baldwin Day is in the queue. Go ahead.

Thank you Madam Chair. I appreciate my my colleague's comments on the importance of using of statistical accuracy. And so I would propose to amend the second whereas clause to strike all of the wording up through the first sentence and to leave. Alaska has the fifth highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S. remaining second. Okay.

Motion by Ms. Baldwin Day to strike most of line 13 through 15 up to the sentence. Alaska has the 5th highest rate of gun deaths in the US and second by Mr. Voland. Any additional discussion?

Okay. Members may proceed to vote on the amendment.

Member prez rudilla. Yes.

Okay. On a vote of 12 to 0 that amendment passes, the resolution as amended is now before us. Any further discussion? Okay. Members may proceed to vote on the on the resolution as amended.

Member preserve yes.

Okay. On a vote of 9 to 3 AR2026 144 passes the body. So next we will move on to.

Okay, so now we will move on to reading and presentation. So I believe we have Ms. Baldwin Day reading and Ms. Park presenting. And folks who are here to receive the resolution may stand up at this time as well.

Whereas every day125People in the United States are killed by gun violence and more than 260 are shot and wounded with an average of more than 19,000 gun homicides every year. And people in the United States are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high income countries. And whereas Alaska has the fifth highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S. and whereas mayors, assembly members and law enforcement officers in partnership with local experts know their communities and are best positioned to understand how to keep their citizens safe. And whereas, in April 2025, the Anchorage assembly passed AR2025 116S1, as amended, calling on the state, municipality, school district and police department and the community to employ equitable, community based and proven solutions to keep students in our schools and neighborhoods safe from violence. And whereas, in January 2013, Hadiya Pendleton was tragically shot and killed on a Chicago playground at age 15.

And whereas, where Orange originated on June 2, 2015, what would have been Hadiya Pendleton's 18th birthday and has since evolved to take place annually on the first Friday in June. And whereas, the idea was inspired by a group of Hadiya's friends who who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange. They chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods and orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life. And whereas, there has been a recent and concerning uptick in political violence using guns and whereas, anyone can join this campaign by wearing orange on June 5 through 7, 2026 to help raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the anchorage assembly recognizes June 5, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day and encourages all residents to honor survivors, victims and their families during Wear orange weekend on June 5 through 7, 2026.

Be it further resolved that the Anchorage assembly renews their commitment keeping families and communities safe from gun violence and encourages all citizens to honor the lives of those impacted by gun violence and join local efforts, efforts to prevent further tragedies passed and approved by the anchorage assembly this 26th day of May, 2026.

Thank you. And I'll note, before you speak very briefly, I'll note to folks who got printed copies of the resolution. Obviously, those were done in advance before the amendment. So we can make sure to get you an updated version of that first page to reflect the amendment.

Yes, you can leave them here and then we can make sure to get them to you with the corrected version this week. And then I'll also ask folks, if you would like to speak, please come forward. And then please turn on the microphone and. Sorry, there's a button on the bottom of the microphones. Okay.

Okay. Well, thank you. Go.

Thank you. My name is April Ratchford. I'm the Anchorage local lead for Moms Demand Action. So we do a lot of gun violence prevention advocacy and I really want to thank members Park, Baldwin, Day and Martinez for sponsoring this resolution. It means a lot to us and our work to recognize what we do here in Anchorage.

I just wanted to give you guys a quick plug because we are bringing the conversation of gun violence in Anchorage and what we, as community members, assembly members, city leaders, can do to reduce gun violence in our own communities. So we're going to have a public conversation about it on June 15th at the Beartooth Theater. And we'd like everyone to be there, especially if you happen to be in a position to enact change, which is everybody in this room. So. And you guys, but thank you.

I'll leave that there.

Hello, my name is Erica Taylor, and. You guys gotta excuse me. I get a little shaky every time I speak, so I wrote something so I didn't mess up too bad. Good evening and thank you, assembly members, for recognizing June 5 as wear orange Day. This day means so much to my family, to so many families like mine, who live every day with the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence.

My daughter, Juanita Locil, was an innocent victim taken from us January 15, 2018. She was born June 22, 1998, and she should still be here today living her life, loving her family, and sharing. Her beautiful smile with the world. Where orange is about wear, Orange is about honoring every life lost, standing with survivors, reminding our community that these lives. Mattered and will never be forgotten.

Thank you for helping keep. Keep their memories alive and for standing with families like mine. Thank you guys so much.

My name is Rachelle Parker, and I'm a volunteer leader with Anchorage Moms Demand Action. I want to thank you all for your support and also share a little bit about the work that we have been doing throughout the state with the Be Smart for Kids program, which encourages secure firearm storage. And we have partnered with the Anchorage School District and the association of Alaska School School Districts. So working with districts statewide, we've worked with pediatric offices and really any entity that's focused on child safety to encourage and educate responsible behavior around guns and model that secure storage really is the best way to keep our kids and loved ones safe. And we do a lot of suicide prevention work.

We recognize that the majority of gun deaths in Alaska are suicides and that we can take care of each other and look out for our loved ones by encouraging secure firearm storage. So if anyone would like to learn more about the Be Smart for Kids program or our work encouraging secure storage, you can contact us, and we would love to make that a bigger presence in our city. Thank you.

All right, would anyone else like speak? Okay. Thank you so Much for being here.

Okay. Next we'll move on. We have two other consent agenda items. The first one is 10 Delta 2. I'll read it briefly.

AM 351 2026. 2026 Economic development grant to the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation AEDC for the purpose of operational fees in the amount of 254,000 dol. There's also an A version on the agenda. I believe you pulled this, Mr. Martinez. Yes.

Move to postpone this item to the meeting of June 23rd.

Okay. Motion to postpone to June 23rd. And just to be clear, is that the A version? All versions. All versions.

Okay. Second for discussion. Okay. The. The motion to postpone to the meeting of June 23rd moved by Mr. Martinez.

Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Go ahead, Mr. Martinez. Thank you. After speaking with Cao Falzi and even getting a message from the new executive director, I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation and their new executive director to come to the next CEDC meeting which is on June 11th. They've agreed and so this is not a time sensitive item.

They are fine to postpone it to the 23rd so that we can have a more fulsome discussion of their relationship with the municipality. Thank you. Okay. Any other discussion for members?

Okay. Seeing hearing none then I will. Let's proceed to a vote on postponing to a time search to June 23rd.

Member preserve.

Yes.

Okay. On a vote to of 12 to 0 item AM 3512026 original and a versions are postponed to the meeting of June 23rd.

So our last item is 10E1. That is AR. Now it has a number. AR2026 139. A resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly appropriating a reimbursable grant when tendered in the amount of $70,000 of CDBG CV funds from the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development HUD administered through the State of Alaska to the state grants fund for non congregate shelter services in the Anchorage Health Department.

This was pulled by Ms. Baldwin Day. Yes. Move to approve the S version. Second motion to approve the S version by Ms. Baldwin Day. Second by Mr. Boland.

Ms. Baldwin Day. Yes. Thank you. I didn't. I didn't think I had questions about this one until.

Until we got the laid on the table version. And so I'm wondering if perhaps we could ask a couple of questions of the administration.

Yeah, I would invite. It looks like Ms. Rash from the Health Department is coming.

Hi, Director Rasch. Thanks for being with us. Tonight, I think you can probably anticipate my question. So the $70,000 that we are receiving in CDBG CV funds, if they're not expanding the number of shelter beds, then how are we putting this funding to work? Great question.

Through the chair. So as we all know, we received a grant last year from the state of Alaska to provide the non conductor shelter sheltering at the Alex Hotel. So through a contract with mash. And so this is just additional funding that they were able to free up and give to us. And so really what we're doing is we're just paying the invoice with this $70,000 knowing that it won't fully pay for the whole entire invoice.

Will pay a portion of it and then. Which will free up additional dollars that we're currently paying, which is is through alcohol tax funding.

That is my only question. So is there a planned use for the a tax dollars that are being freed up? We are still trying to figure out what the plan is at this time. Considering we just received notice a couple weeks ago. We actually were very quite efficient in getting this on the agenda and moving forward.

And so I'm assuming then that the. The fact that this grant term expires on June 16 means we will be able to pay an invoice prior to that date. Lovely. Thank you. Correct.

Yes.

Okay. I don't see any other members in the queue, so members may proceed to vote on this. It's.

Member presbyterian.

Yes.

Okay. On a vote of 12 to 0. Item. Sorry, keep flipping away.

Sorry. Item AR2026,139 passes the body unanimously. That concludes our consent agenda. So we will now break for dinner. So we'll be back in about 20 minutes.

Hey, everyone. We will get started as soon as we confirm that we have Mr. Perez Verdea on the phone.

I'm here. Perfect. Okay, everyone, let's go ahead and call this meeting back to order.

So we are moving on to our public hearing items. And before we do that, I'm going to do a couple quick housekeeping things. The first one is we have one additional S version for item 14H that was distributed already and hopefully Mr. Perez Ru Dia, you have it in your email. So that is AO2026 70s, an ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal assembly amending anchorage Municipal Code 440170 to require a public comment period for certain board members, address residency requirements for the MOA Trust Fund, Board of trustees, and time limited temporary service when the chief fiscal officer is not available to serve. That S version is just supplemental, so it is now in the record.

And then I will also remind folks of our usual public hearing rules. So if you are here to testify on a public hearing item, when you come forward, please state your name, the community council or area of the municipality in which you live. Please stay on topic and direct comments to the chair or to other people on the dais. And I will be interrupting you if you are off topic. It's helpful if testifiers can provide comments on any opposed amendments, if that's relevant.

You'll have three minutes and then community council representatives have five minutes. So please identify up front if you're in that category. Lastly, I'll say Assembly members don't typically answer questions during the public comment period or during the testimony period. That comes later during the debate portion as public testimony is the public's time to speak. And so with that, we will move on to our first public hearing.

Item 14A, Ordinance AO202659, an ordinance amending the zoning map and approving the rezoning of approximately 1.47 acres from CEB3SL Chugak, Eagle River General business with special limitations District to CEB 3 Chugiak, Eagle River General business for Lot 101B, Old Glenn Subdivision, Plat 2024, 2047. Public hearing on this item is now open. Would anyone wish to testify?

Please come forward if you would like to testify. And seeing and hearing no one in person and no one on the phone, the public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve. Second move by Mr.

I'm sorry, Ms. Baldwin Day. Second by Mr. Boland, Ms. Baldwin Day. Would you like to speak to it? Okay. Checking if there's anyone else in the queue.

Would anyone else like to speak to it? Seeing and hearing. None. Members may proceed to vote.

Member Perez, rda. Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0, this item AO202659 passes the body. Next, we have item 14B, AO202660 in ordinance amending the zoning map and approving the rezoning of approximately 0.7 acres from R2 Mixed Residential District I1 Light Industrial District for T12N, R4, Section 12, Parcel 21, Plat P341, move to approve. Oh, we have to open the public public hearing first. I'm going to open the public hearing. Public hearing is now open.

Would anyone wish to testify? Please come forward. State your name. And then, of course, make sure to turn on the microphone. Yeah.

Hi. You'll have three minutes assembly through the chair. This is Ron Thompson with Scope Permian Engineering. I just wanted to tell you this is the first abbreviated rezone that took place for my firm to go through. And I just wanted to say that we appreciate the option of being able to do that.

It saved two months on the process. It allowed us to get through the purchase of the property and also move on a shorter due diligence period and everything. So I wanted to just say the positive nature of what I think the abbreviated rezoning process that matches the 2040 land use map means, and it does make a difference. So thank you. Thank you.

Would anyone else wish to testify? Anyone at all? Seeing and hearing? None in the room and none signed up on the phone. Public hearing is now closed.

What's the will of the body now? I'll move to approve. Second move to approve by Mr. Boland. Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Mr. Bowen, would you to like to speak to it?

No, thanks. Okay. Any other comments, questions from members? Okay. Seeing and hearing none.

Then members may proceed to vote on this item.

Member Pres. RIA.

Yes.

On A vote of 12 to 0, this item, AO202660, unanimously passes the battle. Next, we will move on to Item 14C, Ordinance Number AO2026 61, an ordinance amending several sections of Anchorage Municipal Title 21 to correct errors, fix inconsistencies and provide for better implementation of the comprehensive plan. Public hearing on this item is now open. What's the will of the body or. Sorry, sorry, Misspoke.

Sorry. My head is not in this today. Would anyone wish to testify in the room? Okay. Seeing and hearing.

And no one coming forward. And no one signed up on the phone. Public hearing on this item is now closed. Now, what is the will of the body to prove? Second move by Mr. Bolland, second by Ms. Baldwin.

Day, would you like to make any comments? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did have the opportunity to look through this and I appreciate the work of the planning department.

This, as is stated in the title, just fixes some inconsistencies, fixes references, makes some corrections to typos. So definitely please to support this and hope my colleagues will too. Thank you.

Okay. Any other comments for members not seeing in the queue? Then members may proceed to vote.

Member Perez, R.

Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0, item AO202661 unanimously passes the body. Next we have item 14D, ordinance number AO202662 in ordinance of the Anchorage Municipal assembly amending anchorage Municipal Code 4.50 to enact a new section 45 0.120 and establish the Anchorage Public Safety Commission. Public hearing on this item is now open. Please come forward and you have three minutes.

My name is Michael Patterson. I live in District 1. I'm an organizer with the Party for Socialism and liberation. Anchorage PSL does not support AO2026 62 since the George Floyd uprising, the people of Anchorage have been clear with demands for more transparency and accountability from apd. These demands have been consistent, concise and material.

One, the people demanded body cameras. Two, the people demanded automatic release of body camera recordings and three. The people demanded independent civilian oversight at every step of the way. Apd, the apdea, the assembly and City hall delayed, obstructed and denied meeting the people's three demands for transparency and accountability. Even when the people left the municipality with no choice but to concede to these demands, the assembly and City hall diluted any real progress toward oversight.

The Muni allowed APD and the APDA to delay the deployment of body worn cameras. For years the Muni ignored calls for the automatic release of body worn camera recordings and 3 AO202662 is the continuation of the Muni's conduct of delaying, obstructing and denying the people's will, ultimately denying justice. This ordinance is not civilian oversight. It's a deal between politicians and the police. This is not justice.

This is just a rebrand of the Public Safety Advisory Commission. Any politician or nonprofit who supports this ordinance is a self serving opportunist and they do not serve the people. The truth is APD can kill anyone. They'll have politicians and nonprofits lining up to give cover for killer cops. AO202662 should serve as an example to the working class in Anchorage.

These politicians do not serve you. They serve their own interests. The municipal government is a club and the people are not in it. Respect the democratic will of the people and create civilian oversight that acts independently of APD, can compel APD's cooperation and can recommend disciplinary actions for APD officers. Anything less is anti democratic.

Also, yesterday was the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. And the fact that for six years you've had thousands of people marching in the streets committing acts of civil disobedience, testifying. And the city wasted tens of thousands of dollars on a task force just to ignore its own recommendation from its own task force. The people have been asking for independent civilian oversight. Not an advisory board.

A board that can actually investigate APD for allegations of misconduct. You cannot have a police department that kill, that shoots over a dozen people within two years, kills a 16 year old girl and then say you know what, we just need advisory. All you reimagined was you took the A and PSAC and you moved it to the front. That's all you did.

Thank you. Next person, please come forward. And I apologize, I should have said this up front. The sponsors have indicated that they intend to bring forward a substitute version. And so we are having the hearing tonight.

So as a reminder to testifiers, including Mr. Patterson, I apologize I didn't say this before you started that you would. You're welcome to testify tonight. You can testify again on this item, but the second time would only be to the changes. So just if that changes anybody's decisions, you're welcome to testify, but make sure that the second time would be to the changes. So with that, thank you.

Please come forward, state your name and you have three minutes. Hi, my name is Cynthia Gachepin, I live in District 1 and I'm here speaking as the Executive Director of Empowerment Advocate Alaska. I'm here today because AO 20262 as it is currently written is not enough. This ordinance is being presented as a major step towards accountability and public trust. But the reality is that this commission would have no real power to investigate misconduct, no authority to independently review complaints, and no ability to hold anyone accountable.

An advisory only commission is not oversight, it is optics. For years, MMIP families, families impacted by officer involved shootings, and community members across Anchorage have come forward with concerns about the failures within the Anchorage Police Department and public safety systems. Families have testified, filed complaints, attended meetings and begged to be heard. Yet too often these concerns appear into internal processes with no transparency and no answers. This ordinance does not fix that.

A commission that can only recommend changes while APD and the municipality retain full control over investigations is not meaningful civilian oversight. It creates the appearance of accountability without requiring accountability itself. Communities do not build trust through advisory boards with no authority. Trust is built when there is independent oversight, independent investigations and transparency that does not rely on police policing themselves. Right now this ordinance asks that the public to sell.

Ask the public to celebrate the creation of a commission that cannot subpoena records, cannot conduct investigations, cannot compel testimony and cannot independently review misconduct allegations. Families who have buried their loved ones are being asked to accept the bare minimum and call it reform. That is unacceptable. If this assembly truly wants to address the growing distrust between the community and public safety, then this commission must have investigative authority. It must have the ability to review complaints, independently, examine patterns of misconduct, assess information necessary for oversight, and provide transparent findings to the public.

Without those powers, this commission risks becoming another place where grieving families are invited to the speak. While nothing structurally changes, we are tired of symbolic gestures. We are tired of being told to wait. We are tired of commissions and processes that look good on paper but fail to produce accountability in practice. The people of Anchorage deserve real civilian oversight, not a watered down version designed to avoid discomfort or protect existing systems from scrutiny.

I urge the assembly to either substantially strengthen AO 2020, 2662 with real investigative powers or acknowledge honestly that this ordinance does not provide the accountability this community has been demanding.

Thank you. Next, please come forward. State your name on the record and you will have three minutes with the timer.

Marcella here is going to state her name. I'm going to read for her due to her sight. Is that okay? Hi, I'm Marcella Boscoski Grounds. I'm from Anchorage District.

Hi, my name is Marcella Boskoffski Grounds, and I'm here today about my first cousin, Cassandra Lee Boskovsky. In September 2019, Detective Lee contacted me asking if I had seen or heard from Cassandra. I told him that the last time I heard from her was in August 2019 when she told me people were after her. I tried to get more information, but she didn't want me involved. At the time, I was also struggling with homelessness and couldn't help the way I wanted to.

A few days later, he called again and suggested filing a missing person's report. And I agreed because the more people looking for her, the better. Years passed with little information. Then, on July 6, 2004, Detective Lee called me and asked if I had heard of Brian Steven Smith. He showed me photos recovered from his phone, and within seconds, I identified Cassandra.

What hurt the most was learning that other agencies had already believed the photos were Cassandra years earlier, but no one showed them to me. We also found out the missing persons report was delayed before being submitted. That was devastating to hear. After that, my family and I started pushing for answers ourselves. With the help of Michael Livingston, we spent months gathering evidence for Cassandra's presumptive death trial.

The jury came back in about 40 minutes and ruled that Cassandra was deceased and that her death was a homicide. Since then, we've organized protests, searched for her remains, and continued fighting for justice. We are still searching for Cassandra today. Our family wants accountability, real changes within APD and better protocols for identifying victims and notifying families. If we had Been shown those photos years ago.

We could have been searching for Cassandra sooner. Cassandra mattered. She still matters deeply to our family. And no family should have to fight this hard just to be heard. Thank you, Leanna Chinook.

Thank you. Next person, please come forward. State your name. Hello. My name is Kaylin Pass and I live here in Anchorage.

To the members of the Anchorage assembly, my name is Kaylin Pass. I was born and raised here in Anchorage, Alaska. This city is my home, my roots, my family, my history. After my parents divorced, my father married my sister's mother, who was from Dillingham, Alaska. Through that, I deeply became deeply connected to the native community.

I grew up learning, literally listening and loving people who embrace me as her own. To this day, my sister's family is my family. In January of 2011, I met my girlfriend of now 15 years, Marcy Buzkoski. She is the second cousin of Cassandra Lee Buzkoski. Because of my last name, I cannot hide who I am in this state.

My father has been a correctional officer at Highland Mountain for 26 years. My aunt is a retired probation officer of 27 years. My grandfather was also a probation officer of 15 years in Alaska. Public service runs in my family. When I first met Cassandra in 2012 at Marcy's grandfather's trailer, she was shocked to learn I was Officer Pass's daughter.

Our very first one on one conversation is something I'll never forget. She told me she respected my father and another fellow officer because in her words, they wanted the best for people who were out there. That mattered to her and it mattered to me. Marcy and I got our first apartment together in Fairview at 447 E 13th Ave just down the block from Cars on Gamble, where I'd worked. We were young and excited.

We had no idea what we would witness in the years to come. We walked that neighborhood every single day. We saw things no one should have to see. In 2018, 2019, Marcy's mother, grandfather, uncle and Cassandra were living on the streets in Fairview during the we allowed them to keep their food at our home during the day, they would come in to warm up, shower and sleep. Our landlord did not allow additional people to live with us, but there were times we quietly let them in anyway because it was heartbreaking to turn family away.

On August 7, 2019, I had to file a police report that exists because of what we witnessed. Marcy, her mother, Marcel, and I were in our bedroom when we heard a woman yelling in the distance in Fairview. At the time, yelling was common, but this Voice got closer and closer until it was right outside our broken window. We ran to look. It was Cassandra.

She was screaming, holding a cinder block over her head, tears streaming down her face. We ran outside as fast as we could to stop her before she damaged property, but we weren't in time. Marcella tried to calm her down and asked, what's wrong? Cassandra could only say one thing. They're after me.

She kept crying. I tried asking questions. I asked her if I needed to call my aunt, but she wouldn't say anything else. Our neighbors saw what happened. The landlord contacted me, and I was the one who filed the report.

After that night, we never saw Cassandra again. And one month and 10 days later, she was reported missing and years later, presumed dead. And unfortunately, I can't finish. It's a little longer. I had a couple questions for apd.

Thank you. If you have one more sentence you'd like to say. We don't typically you. You're welcome to ask a question, but you cannot get an answer at this time. Okay.

It just says, what is devastating, infuriating is that Marcy, Marcel and I were not formed until July 2024, despite having put in a police report. And I'm just urging both the Anchorage Police Department, this assembly, to fully acknowledge the. The damage that has been done not only to my family, but to every victim's family affected. No family should wait for answers. No loved one should be left without dignity, and no woman should ever feel that she's less protected because of her circumstances.

Thank you. Thank you. Next person, please come forward.

And please state your name on the record, and you will have three minutes to testify. Thank you. Madam Chair, my name is Jason Laard. I live in District 4. I'm here with soft support for the motion before.

I'm happy to hear that there's potentially some substitute language coming forward. I hope that it strengthens this measure. I feel it's a move in the right direction, although I would agree with some of the previous testifiers that I'd like to see more teeth in this. However, this should be considered one part of a broader strategy of strengthening public safety in the community, and extremely important one. But I do understand that sometimes things take compromise to get going.

And so my experience in this. I helped Meg Zalotel, when she was on the assembly, create the mobile Crisis Team. I've trained. I'm a CIT graduate from aapd, and I used to help train the Crisis Intervention team. I was a board member of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute for four years.

I created the ethics committee there and chaired that committee for a long time. I've been working in Public safety in various forms for quite some time.

I would just ask that the assembly view this as extremely important. According to the testimony you heard before this, right? This is not a box to check off. We created the commission. I think this is a start.

There will be bylaws that will be need to create it, and so on and so forth. But I really think that there should be attention paid to this as it's created informed in these early years. And I would hope that there's some opportunity to potentially strengthen it. I do think that accountability is important, but I do believe that accountability comes with trust and understanding, and that comes with communication first. And this advisory board has the opportunity to act as a conduit in both directions, both out to the community and from the community, up to both you and APD in its own.

A really important step, but it's not enough. And it's really just one step forward. So I won't belabor my points any further. I look forward to seeing new language and perhaps we'll add some more at that point. Thank you.

Thank you. Will the next person please come forward to testify again. State your name, what part of town you live in, and you'll have three minutes. My name is Monty Handy. I've been a resident here since 1969, January.

I've probably been a resident longer than most of you up there have been living here in Anchorage. I've seen assemblies come and go over the years. I want to welcome these new assembly members, and I want to charge you to do the right thing. It's about time that this assembly got on the ball and started doing the right thing. This ordinance is a step in the right direction, but it lacks a lot.

It lacks good oversight. You cannot have the police department policing the police department. And you've got to come to that realization.

I charge all of you to make this ordinance work, but make it work for the people, not for the assembly and not for the police Department. Thank you.

Thank you. And anyone else wish to testify, please come forward. State your name on the record. You'll have three minutes.

Hello. My name is Emily Clock. I live in District 3, and today I am testifying on behalf of the Alaska Coalition for Justice, also referred to as acj. ACJ is a statewide group of organizations and individuals advocating for police accountability and transparency. We've been meeting weekly since June 2020, and I serve as the coordinator for ACJ.

First, we would like to thank assembly members Anna Brawley And Cameron Perez Rudia and former Assemblymember Felix Rivera, for all your work to move this ordinance forward, we appreciate your continued focus on police accountability and transparency as an essential component of public safety here in Anchorage. ACJ acknowledges that this ordinance is an improvement from past public safety commissions, especially with the additional duties of the commission, including system level reviews of policies. We support the existence of a commission because it is simply better than not having a commission at all. However, our central concern is this. The proposed commission does not include the oversight mechanisms that community members voted in favor of during the 2025 Municipal Task Force process.

This process was publicly observed, it ran for six months and it produced a clear majority vote in favor of investigatory authority, subpoena authority, and enhanced access to information, none of which appear in this ordinance. This commission, for all intents and purposes, is still an advisory only model. ACJ does not oppose the passage of this ordinance, but we urge the assembly to recognize this commission as proposed as a floor. It's the bare minimum. It is not a ceiling.

Because the community has already done the work of telling you what real oversight looks like. The Alaska Coalition for Justice remains committed to seeing a community oversight body with investigatory authority, subpoena power and meaningful access to information. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next person, please come forward and put your name on the record. And you have three minutes.

For the record. My name is Mercedes Arceniega and I am a resident of West Anchorage. I'm here today to talk about the skepticism I have about this ordinance. While I know this has been repeated multiple times from other fellow Anchorage residents, yes this is a step in the right direction, but the advisory only model makes this no better than what the PSAC was, the Public Safety Advisory Commission, which eventually, not too long ago was sunset because of its being ineffective and actually not doing anything and it was audited out. So in order to not keep chasing our tails, we have to do something different.

We can't keep trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We, we all know that saying, so let's be wiser and let's look at the benefits of why you would even have a more than advisory only commission. If you look at what Nacole, which has been referenced multiple times, I'm sure the Assembly, a lot of you are aware of it. If not, look it up. I will not spend the time to do the acronym, but they had these principles that a lot of communities across the country already follow with their towns and their police departments.

And what was found by having Those commissions, not only did it hold accountability to the law enforcement and their departments, but it also proved when proper policing was happening, it was able to discredit reports that were found false or that the officer was actually working in the like did their job, for instance. But as it is right now, I'm looking at the most recent officer involved shooting and the way that things are being reported out out of the community relations unit, who always crafts all of those statements and then that goes through to the chief and all of their command staff very purposefully is leaving out information that we always know where the talk of the body cams, where is the talk about the release of the footage within the mandatory time frame that is supposed to be. If you look at other officer involved shooting reports, there's always a formula that they follow and when that information is missing, we have to raise eyebrows. Furthermore, three of those officer or two of the three officers were involved in a combined six officer involved shootings. Now I understand that certain circumstances happen that the officer will arrive and that's what you need to do.

But considering what the case history of those shooters, the Easter laughter case, the Chris Handy case, and then the fact that there's just two other additional stuff might make you feel like, why don't we have extra eyes on these folks? Why are we not using these tools to both benefit, not only gaining public trust back, but the police itself and what that connection is. And I know that the big fight is going to be between the union between the upper echelon. That's going to be beyond us. But that's why we depend on all of you to listen to the entire community.

Why did we do a whole year of sessions last year just to tell you what we wanted? And then we get this as watered down. You can rub your face in exhaustion, but until you actually represent us, you are failing your community. Thank you.

Would anyone else wish to testify? Please come forward.

And state your name on the record what part of town you live in. And you'll have three minutes. All right. Jamie Lopez, East Anchorage, Formerly Coalition, formerly Homeless. So the task force, you know, more or less all the people that were put on that thing were cherry picked.

And there was a lady from the NAACP who said, hey, we're having this in the middle of the morning. I am privileged. I'm able to come here, I'm getting paid to come here, but most of the people can't. And so that thing sort of played out for any number of months. And I went to a number of the meetings and I brought up some sort of topics during those meetings.

Who has the highest number of interactions with police? It's pretty much the people outside, the homeless that are in this town, that are unsheltered, that don't have telephones, that fear retaliation for reporting things, and more or less, yeah. So should. Should this sort of board or commission be evaluating those policies and seeing if they're for the public health and safety of those outside? Yes, they should.

And it was discussed and somehow it was not actually put in the final report, which is kind of interesting. There are other things that are sort of playing out. I don't know if I can get to all of them in the next two minutes. But what I will say is this. I have some deep concerns that this is not going to represent the best interests of the people outside who are continually running to the ground right now.

And you need to have investigative authority. I'm hoping somebody shows up here later. But more or less what they're doing right now is inhumane. And they push people out of camps, they cite them, they tell them that they cannot go back to that camp within a span of 48 hours or any other public park in town. And so the shelters are full.

Where are people supposed to go? You know, almost get the impression they want to create criminals. And with them driving people out of the streets, they're almost forcing people to go into abandoned buildings where then they will be charged with felonies. And so I would ask you again to please reconsider your policies, Ms. LaFrance. It is not good for anybody and people are dying.

You need to consider that. So the other thing that I'll mention, 49 seconds left. So you had the homeless lived experience Pius report that was supposed to sunset in the fall of 2024, yet right in the spring of 2024, what happened, more or less, is two members of the assembly contacted people on that board and said, we don't want you to meet anymore. And then you get to July of 2024, and more or less, I had to watch our sort of things play out with zoomer policy for electric assisted scooters. And then you get to the end of that meeting, and more or less the chair of the assembly at that time said, hey, it's costing us $25,000 per meeting.

They're not meeting their objectives and they're not even showing up. So we're going to disband this thing before October 2024. Now, if that commission had still been in regarding homeless issues, my guess is they would have said all the policies that have been pressed and pushed this past two years are not good for people outside or their public health and safety. So build some safeguards into and probably pay the people that are going to do the work, work on this thing. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else in the room wish to testify at this time?

Okay. Seeing and hearing no one and no one listed on the phone. Mr. Boland, move to continue the public hearing to the meeting of June 9th. Second, moved by Mr. Volin to continue the hearing to. To the Regular meeting of June 9th.

Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Any objections?

Okay. Seeing and hearing none. This item will be postponed to the meeting of June 9th. And again, I will state the intent of the sponsors is to bring a substitute version. And so folks who did testify tonight would be welcome to do so again on those changes.

And if you did not testify tonight, then that hearing is still available. Next, we'll move on to Item 14E, AO2026 69, An Ordinance of the Anchorage assembly, amending Anchorage municipal code, chapter 16.55, Anchorage Child Care Licensing Code, to reduce burdens on licensed child care providers. Public hearing on this item is now open. Please come forward if you would like to test.

Anyone in the room to testify on this item this evening.

Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to continue public hearing of the meeting of June 23rd. Second motion by Mr. Gerker to continue the public hearing on this item to the meeting of June 23rd. Second by Ms. Baldwin Day. Would you like to speak to it further? Yeah, just real briefly.

We've got a few things we're working on with the administration, and we just wanted to bring a few more ideas to the table. We just need a little bit more time to flush it out. So that should give us enough time to make sure we've gone through the process and talk to everybody that needs to be involved in it. But I think you're going to love it. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Okay. Any other comments on this? Okay. Any objection to postponing this item to the meeting of June 23rd and continuing the public hearing? Okay.

Seeing and hearing none. This item, this public hearing is continued to the meeting of June 23 for 14E. So next we will move on to item 14F, resolution AR2026 115, a resolution approving a collective bargaining agreement between the municipality of Anchorage and the plumbers and Steam Fitters UA Local 367. Public hearing on this item is now open. Please come forward if you would like to testify.

Anyone wish to testify.

Okay. Seeing and hearing none in the room and none signed up on the phone. Then public hearing on this item is now closed. What is the will of the body? Move to approve second motion to approve by member Scout.

Second by Mr. Boland. Scout would to you like. Like to speak to it. Proud to support our plumbers and steam fitters union. Okay.

And I have Mr. Gerker in the queue. Go ahead, Madam Chair. Yep, he's already standing up. He knows what's going on.

So we've done this song and dance quite a few times. Again, this should be absolutely zero surprise what I'm about to ask. Good sir, what did we get from this contract? Yeah. Thank you.

Through the chair. Assemblymember Gerker. I think from a high level, before I go into some specific operational wins, is that by the end of this contract, we really believe that this kind of entire bargaining unit will be caught up kind of with the market rates. And we found that that was very important because with this unit in particular, about 93% of it is AWU that deals with our water and our sewage. That it's very technical.

We've been concerned about some brain drain. I hope I can share this. But at the end of the contract, we actually had somebody on the other side that had a job offer to go to a different utility outside of the municipality, and as a result of kind of what this contract would look like, had turned it down and decided to stay. And this was an employee that has over 15 years of experience that we don't necessarily want to use lose. So again, very technical.

We want to keep a lot of that institutional knowledge now to some specific operational wins. Again, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago with the L302 contract similar to this one, we were successful in kind of removing the language in there regarding the performance pay, or as in this contract, it's called service recognition. So we were able to remove that. And then one other kind of, I think small one that we believed it was an operational win is in the contract, anytime that somebody had to be called out for longer than two hours, they were paid at a much higher rate. We were able to kind of negotiate and say, hey, when those types of instances happen, you actually have to be called out for at least a half of what your normal shift is before any of that would pop up.

So I think from that level, those would be kind of the things that I viewed us getting out of it. Yeah, excellent. I would agree with that. Thank you. I really appreciate that.

In the interest of brevity, obviously, last week, last. Last time. You recall the conversation we had around Janus rights and my concern around it not being very clear in the contract that there is. There is a third option per, you know, the United States Constitution. And I just wanted to make sure that we were protecting employees constitutional rights, that employees are fully informed of what their constitutional rights are going into it.

If they want to be in the union, great. If they want to be a dues payer or agency fee payer, great. If they don't want to do any of the above, great. It's their constitutional right. Again, I don't want to belabor this point, but I will offer an analogy to my colleagues, and it is an analogy.

So it has limitations, but I think it has some applicability as well. Picture this. I'm walking down the street. Somebody's walking towards me. Now, I am bigger, taller, stronger, and while not necessarily relevant, more handsome.

And I go up to this person, I say, hey, you've got two options. You can give me your lunch money, or I can take your lunch money. And they go, well, shoot, this guy's bigger than me, taller than me, stronger than me, arm's a little bit longer than me. And so he. They give me their lunch money.

Now what I didn't tell them there's a third option, which is they say, no, I'm keeping my lunch money, and I go away. This is a rhetorical question. Did that person really have. Did that person really consent to give me their money if I didn't tell them there was another option? I would argue no.

So this would be the conversation I think we need to have a little bit more broadly around Janus and Janice Wrights within our collective bargaining agreements. I appreciate the hard work you've done on this. To the union representatives. Appreciate the hard work you guys did on this as well. I will unfortunately be a no vote due to the Janus language.

I think we need to tighten that up a little bit more. And I would have been happy to support this, but I appreciate the hard work nonetheless. Thank you.

Okay, Next. I have Ms. Baldwin Day. Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to note that I am really, really excited that we are continuing this pattern of adding paid parental leave to our union contracts. That is so important.

And I am. I'm really grateful that this is part of what we're bringing to the table in these negotiations. I do want to say that I think the lunch money analogy falls apart a little bit if the guy who is bigger and stronger and ostensibly better looking Says, hey, you can give me your lunch money. There's a bunch of guys over here that are all pooling their lunch money together so that later on when we're all hungry, we can all go out to dinner. Do you want to do that?

I'd say that's a pretty good deal. So there is potentially a flaw in my colleague's argument. I will pause it. That makes the story sound slightly different depending on how you tell it. Happy to be a no vote on this, and I want to express gratitude to our folks in HR for bringing us this contract.

Thanks. Sorry. I will be a yes vote. I will be a yes vote, not a no vote. Yeah, reverse.

Everybody's like, what? I'll be a yes vote.

Okay, next, Mr. Martinez. Thank you, Chair. I will absolutely be a yes vote. I'm really excited that we're finally able to begin catching up in being competitive to the marketplace. And that last anecdotal story is the word that we're getting there.

To Mr. Goker's point, though, Chair, I would just reflect that not every part of our community has sidewalks, and so walking down the street is a dangerous thing we want to have. Sidewalk infrastructure is important. Sidewalk infrastructure is important. But to the point here, I respectfully disagree with both of my colleagues. I just think it's a bad analogy.

Using the analogy of the bigger kid. The lunch money, I think, is terrible. I think labor has a stronger history. It's much more complex. It's much more important to give it once over quickly, that fast.

I think from my vantage point, this is good business for us to take care of the workers that take care of our community and our city, full stop. If folks do want to have a longer labor talk, I invite that conversation offline as it goes to understanding what labor unions mean, how they evolve, and to the point of Mr. Gawker's point, of the rights and obligations that they have and the rights that people who are employed have as well to not become labor members. But I just think the analogy of a big kid down the block was terrible. But of course, I hope that the sidewalks are improved down that block. Thank you, chair.

Next, Ms. Scout. Thank you, Chair. I would like to join with member Martinez in rejecting the analogy and reframing it as a fellow worker walking up to. To another worker and offering to join together and pull together, maybe just to buy groceries or afford a necessary medical visit.

I also, similarly to our last contract, would like to voice my concern over the inclusion of no strike, no lockout provisions and want to learn more about that from our union members perspectives and also have reached out to our legal team here to learn about why that's in our general guidance, if it's included. Thank you. And Ms. Park, again through the chair,. Without belaboring the point, legally the language. That says may has standing in the law is well defined and well cited.

And the law does not deal in hypotheticals of people walking down the street. This is a legal contract and I. Will be voting for it.

Okay. Seeing no other members in the queue, then members may proceed to vote.

Member preservedia.

Mr. Presreadya, are you there?

Okay. For awareness, Mr. Pres on the phone and has periods of. Of not having service. So he's going to miss this vote. So on a vote of 9 to 2, AO or sorry, AR2026 115 passes the body.

Next we'll move on to item 14G. AR2026 116, a resolution approving an administrative agreement APDA AA number 20002601 between the municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage Department Police Department Employees association regarding a change to collective bargaining agreement language. Public hearing on this item is now open. Please come forward if you'd like to testify.

Would anyone like to testify?

Okay. Seeing and hearing. None in the room and none signed up on the phone. Public hearing on this item is now closed. What is the will of the body?

Move to approve. Second.

Moved by. Sorry, who was the mover? Oh, Mr. Johnson. Second by Mr. Vollins. Mr. Johnson, would you like to speak to it?

Yeah, just briefly. I think this is a fairly modest change to the existing contract. It is very reasonable in my eyes. One, it is encouraging former officers who wish to return to municipal employment incentives to do so by crediting them for their prior years of service. It also includes things that we generally supported like parental leave, as well as it also reduces probationary periods for those returning officers.

So again, when people choose to come back to employment with the city, especially as police officers, I think it's important we welcome them with open arms. And finally, I'll just note towards the end, as noted, that this is not expected to have any significant economic impacts. So I am happy to support.

Okay. Anyone else wish to speak to it?

Seeing no one else in the queue. And I'll check one more time if Mr. Peresvidia is on the phone. Okay. He might join when we're back. So with that, members may proceed to vote on this item.

Okay. On a vote of 11 to 0, AR2026 116 passes the body. Next we will Move on to item 14H. And before I open the public hearing, I neglected to mention when reading the substitute version into the record earlier that there's also a memo attached to it, unnumbered AM for that S version. So with that public hearing on this item is now open.

Who would like to testify?

Please come forward if you'd like to testify.

Okay. Seeing and hearing no one in the room to testify. No one signed up on the phone. The public hearing on this item is now closed. What is the will of the body?

Move to approve.

The s version, please. Second motion by Ms. Baldwin Day to approve the S versions. Second by Mr. Volund. Ms. Baldwin Day, would you like to speak to it? I will defer to you chair.

If you would like to do that. Then I'm going to pass the guy. Ms. Brawley. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So this is a substitute version that makes two changes. The main one is adding an additional public comment period for these board members who are not currently MOA employees. Basically that is something that is not required for all of our boards. But as the memo notes, there are other boards that has this requirement. And the idea being that if we are going to have non residential serving on our board to manage our trust fund board that having at least an additional process step and opportunity for the public to raise concerns would be in order.

The other thing I will note is very briefly.

I think it's still in here. Yeah. The other thing that it does do is it deletes language at the very end of page two that says that the board needed to have a quorum after, within one year after this board was created as a result of a vote in 2023. And so that language essentially describes a time in the past. And so I would urge support.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other members wanting to speak, go ahead, Mr. Gerker. Thank you, Madam Chair. I. I will say that I'm struggling with this one just a little bit because you know, when we have the work session we have the conversation about the need for this and the administration candidly communicated this was the result of a one off situation for a single individual who does do tremendous work. And I do think very highly of.

I'm just not a big fan of rewriting code for one off individual situations. So I'm personally really struggling with this one. I'm honestly truly not exactly sure how I'm going to come down on this. I think I'm going to have to decide pretty quickly unless I can keep talking for a while and maybe it'll make sense to me. But yeah, I'm honestly truly not sure where I'm coming down on this, but I do just want to voice.

I don't think that's a good. I don't think that's a good process. I don't think that's a good practice for us to be in. But I just wanted to throw that out there. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Martinez, thank you, Chair. I wanted to second the consideration that member Galco just mentioned with respect to making ordinances around the accommodation of one. I also understand that in Alaska and especially here in Anchorage, where, where the amount of time it takes to build such kind of expertise is unique. And then when we lose folks, we often have gaps in knowledge. So I recognize that.

I think some of this is to address the immediate gaps. I'll be supporting it today because I give the benefit of the doubt that this is a change that is being requested because it's needed. But I do have a problem with that as well. I think a broader, more coordinated, kind of thoughtful approach is important. And I just would flag in the work session it was mentioned that what if one of the Warren Buffett, I believe, was the example.

What if Warren Buffett wanted to be on our board? And my answer would be, why would he want to be on our board? Heck no. But Warren Buffett, if you're listening, you're more than welcome to make a donation to the municipality of Anchorage's general fund. We have a lot of needs in our community.

If you think that some of the financial underpinnings that you are dealing with can help us. I think local talent is important. Building that pipeline is important. And maybe this is an indicator that the gap between the knowledge base of the person accumulating it and the one that's going to pick up the baton after needs to be closed. Thank you.

Next, I have Mr. Johnson. Yeah, thank you. I want to say I hear my colleagues concerns, but I'm not sure I share them. I mean, I recognize that as a particular individual that sort of the catalyst for this conversation. But it does seem like a circumstance that that could arise in other cases down the road.

So I'm not overly concerned about this being a one off situation. I do think for most of our boards and commissions, having people who reside in Anchorage, who live in the city and are daily part of that shared experience is pretty important. I feel a little differently about the MOA Trust Fund board because in this case, first and foremost I care about their ability to perform their duties and managing that trust fund that above all else I think is top of mind for me because when the fund is well managed, when it's making smart investment decisions, that is of direct benefit to the municipality and one of the things that helps keep our reliance on other sources of revenues in check. So first and foremost to me, it's whether or not the people we put on this board are able to perform their duties well, that that matters to me and where they reside is definitely a secondary concern. So I'm more than happy to support this.

Next miss Scout.

Thank you. I want to express my appreciate appreciation for the S version of this AO and also express, similar to member Martinez, that I would not vote in favor of Warren Buffett or any out of state billionaires serving on our MOA Trust Fund Board. I also have a question, question for the chair, which is does this S version, and apologies that I don't see this in the language, but does this S version require that an out of state appointee to the board have lived in Alaska ever?

I don't. I can probably rephrase that.

Yeah. Thank you. So this S version adds the public notice requirement. It doesn't make changes to the underlying item, and to my knowledge, it doesn't require prior residency. Okay, thank you.

Okay. I don't see any further members in the queue, so members may proceed to vote. And just one more time, I will check. Mr. Perez. Verdia, are you on right now?

Yes, I'm on. Thank you. Okay, great. So we're on item 14H, if you missed it. Okay, then members may proceed to vote on this item.

Member Presverdia on AO2026 70s.

Yes.

Okay. On a vote of 12 to 0, AO2026 70s passes the body unanimously. And next we will move on to item 14i. And again, before I read that one into the record, I'm going to read. Actually, I'll read it.

No, I will read the supplemental item. Another laid on the table item. So for clarity, there are two aims. One of them I did read into the record earlier. It was a set of two letters from the Alaska Farm Bureau and the Alaska Village Initiatives on the this ordinance.

So I'm also now reading into the record a second aim also from member McCormick for this item, AO202671 from the home and Land Hillside Home and Landers association, or halo. So that is now read into the record as supplemental unnumbered aim. So next we'll move on to this item. So AO202671, an ordinance of the image. Anchorage Municipal assembly amending anchorage Municipal Code 2105 and Section 2145, 350 Old Code to permit the retail sales of agricultural goods at large domestic animal facilities and waiving planning and zoning commission review.

Public hearing on this item is now open. Please come forward if you would like to testify on this item.

And then I'll remind you to please turn on the microphone. And then you have three minutes. State your name and where you're at, what part of town you live in. Thank you. Thank you.

My name is Dalton Baines. I'm just here to sort of go. Over some of this. So we're trying to just allow for something that's already been existing going on. All of them are already being inspected by zoning.

They're already being enforced by animal control. It's already being approved before any of. This can happen anyways. It's just ensuring. Because current code states anything two bales.

Or more, every large animal has to work together. It's an ecosystem to stay alive up here in Alaska. Just to ensure that food security is. Prominent, ensuring that all animals are protected. And able to be fed, especially when barges are late, crops are late.

Like this year, very cold spring, it's gonna be a late crop. So ensuring that we're able to work together and sell hay and feed to. Each other, ensure that quality of the. Animal care is prominent. That's everything I have at the moment.

All right, thank you. Next person, please come forward to testify. And are you speaking or. I'm sorry, Hilo does not have that the rules. So go ahead and state your name on the record and you will have three minutes.

Hi, my name is Katie Nolan. I'm speaking today as a private citizen. A private citizen who has been doing these kind of things for years. Unfortunately, I just discovered. 150 Years ago, I served on Mayor Begich's Animal Control Advisory Board.

When we first rewrote Title 17, which is our animal control laws and that laws, we used a lot of information, took about a year to do the rewrite and brought the community together on them to work on the ordinances to make sure that we had things just right. Then about 20 or 30 years ago, sorry, it just seems like everything's been busy. We came together as a group to create the large domestic animal ordinance. Again, we brought in representatives from every part of our community, worked together with residents, animal owners, non animal owners, crafted an ordinance that was a very well thought out and well received and very successful ordinance. And together with the large domestic animal ordinance and Title 17, we ended up with something that worked for our city for decades.

Unfortunately, along the way, somebody reinterpreted code, and because of that, we had a glitch that needs to be fixed. This is simply a glitch that needs to be fixed. It's a very simple glitch, and I do encourage passing AO 2006. 71. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Would anyone else like to testify? Please come forward and again, state your name, what part of town you're in, and then you'll have three minutes. Hi, my name is Ron Thompson.

I live at Minnesota in 100th. So I wanted to say I work with a lot of people on the hillside for permitting, and this has been a very big issue and really became an issue because exactly like the last testifier said, it was a change in interpretation. And this, I think, clarifies a change in interpretation. So there will be no interpretation change. It clears it up and makes it back to what it had been for many, many years until just recently.

And since that time, we continue to not be able to provide the services to different people on the hillside and different lots. And so this helps clear it up. So I agree that it was a change interpretation. It's been. It's.

Some people see it in the code, and some people see it differently, and that's just where we got. So I think this clarifies it. So I appreciate. And hopefully you can pass this. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify? If so, please come forward.

And again, microphone is already on. So please state your name, which part of town you're in, and then you'll have three minutes.

Hi. I wasn't planning to do this, but what the heck. My name is Rose English. I own rock and bee ranch in south Anchorage. I just want to say that over the years, we have gone from a ranch to a farm and then back to a ranch again.

During the time of COVID when we became a farm, we were raising pork. We had chickens, we had dairy goats. We were providing the community with goat milk and eggs when eggs weren't available in Costco. We were providing people with pork and piglets if they wanted to grow their own pork. So that when there were shortages in the.

In the grocery stores, we provided a lot of people with the goods that they needed. There have been times in the past that we grew no hay in Alaska because of the weather. We have imported containers full of hay and feed, which we shared with our community. We would sell off, you know, half of our container to our neighbors so that they could feed their animals as well. So it's very important for these, these places like mine to help provide for the community where there are gaps.

And, you know, if you change that and make it where domestic animal facilities can't sell part of what they are producing or what they are bringing in to share with the community, it's going to be very difficult in the future. If anything ever happened, like an earthquake or something that, you know, these situations need to be available to help people make ends meet.

Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify? If so, please come forward. Anyone at all.

Okay. Seeing and hearing none in the room and no one signed up on the phone. Then public hearing on the side item is now closed. What is the will of the body? Move to approve second motion by Mr.

McCormick to approve second by Mr. Fallen. Do you want to speak to it, Mr. McCormick? Thank you. Yeah.

This ordinance is going to correct a gap in Title 21. Our code defines the large domestic animal facilities use. It permits boarding, training, writing lessons and on site feed storage, but does not,. In plain language, permit the. The retail sale of hay, feed and compost at those facilities.

And this admission otherwise leaves compliant operators exposed to code enforcement for activity that. Anchorage has allowed in practice for decades. So, for example, to put it in context, these sites are boarding someone's horse, they're feeding that person's horse. The person comes to get their horse, they cannot purchase any hay to take with their animal. So this has been going on in practice, like I said, for decades.

We're just moving to codify it, protect these few, very few large domestic animal. Facilities that we have and allow the. Retail sale of hay, feed, compost, and other agricultural goods. It applies only to those facilities that. Are already permitted to have more than four animals and do those activities.

So we're not opening up any large. New areas for this. No new uses or traffic or infrastructure. Is being required for this. It aligns us with the state better as this session, the legislature confirmed that.

Hay now qualifies for farm use. So moving to align us with that as well. So this is just a small technical. Amendment that we're looking to move forward. I hope I get support.

Thank you. Okay. And I'll just. Technical note. We are having issues yet again with our system because it's that time of the night.

So I know Mr. Bolan would like to be in the queue and just visually make eye contact with me if he would like to be in the queue at this point. So, Mr. Bohlin, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I know it may seem like we are making A lot of hay out of this ordinance. But I want to be clear that I do not see it as a bailout.

As member McCormick has stated, this has been going on for some time. And so I urge my colleagues to vote yes, not to vote nay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I will note it is the position of assembly leadership at this time that puns are in order to a point. You make it point of order. And it does look like the queue's working, so Mr. Gerker.

And puns are not required? No, sorry. I was just testing the queue for the clerk. But I would like to note that those are all awful puns, so thank you. Okay.

Mr. Martinez, I would just note, I appreciate Rockin B. Thank you for coming today. One of my little ones is a rider over there, too, so I appreciate that. I'm familiar with the operation. But I really appreciate you raising the food security aspect in the first place.

Something that this body has really looked at. Food security is critical here in Anchorage. And any way, shape or form we can have that conversation, I think it's a good thing. So thank you for being able to step up when you could, when you had the opportunity to, in real time. But thank you for bringing that conversation today as well.

Appreciate it. And Mr. Johnson. Yeah, thanks. I think member Martinez largely stated the point that I want to make, but that this fits within, I think, what has been a theme for this body and our commitment and support for promoting agriculture and full food resiliency in Anchorage. And so I see this as a small but meaningful step to continue us on that path.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other members at Ms. Park, through the chair, I suggest we stop horsing around and call the question.

Just for clarification, are you moving to call the question or. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, that was not actually intended to be attention, but. But for real, do we.

Do you intend to move? Because then we'll need to take a vote. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

I would suggest, since there's no one else in the queue, that we could skip that vote. But we are welcome to do that. Yeah. Yeah. I think calling the question, it's important to remember is its own motion, and so it has a place.

But. Okay, let's go ahead and stop talking. And members may proceed to vote.

Member preserve.

Yes. And Member park, you're having troubles with. Your computer, so you can tell me verbally.

Member Park. Yes.

Thank you.

Okay. And a motion or on a vote of 12 to 0, item AO202671 passes the body, double checking the number okay, so last we move on to. Almost. Last, we will move on to our quasi judicial items. So these are applications, typically applications for a liquor or marijuana license or special land use permit for alcohol or marijuana.

The process to review these is different. They're administrative or quasi judicial hearings. Not always, but often, and require the assembly to be impartial, refrain from ex parte communications, accepted liquor license applications and make decisions about the record before us in testimony today, I will note that that short speech does not apply to every single item, but it is good practice practice when it comes to licenses. So next we will move to Item 15A, Resolution AR2026, 135, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating its conditional protest regarding a new sporting activity or Event license for NANA Management Services, LLC, DBA Fine Arts Building located at 3700 Alumni Drive, Anchorage, Alaska, 99508. Public hearing on this item is now open.

Would anyone wish to testify, please come forward? Anyone at all. Okay. Seeing and hearing. No one in the room and no one signed up on the phone.

Public hearing on this item is now closed. What is the will of the body? Move to proof.

Second. Okay. Motion. Motion by Mr. Volin. Second by Mr. Gerker.

Any discussion on this item?

Okay. Seeing and hearing. None. Members may proceed to vote. Member preserved.

Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0. Item 15A, AR2026, 135, passes the body. Next we have item 15B, AR2026, 136, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating conditional protest regarding a new sporting activity or event. License number number 60395 for NanoManagement Services, DBA, LLC. Sorry, LLC.

DBA Wendy Williamson Auditorium located at 2533 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508. Public hearing on this item is now open. Would anyone wish to testify, please come forward.

Seeing no one in the room to testify and no one signed up on the phone. Public hearing on this item is now closed. What is the of the body move to approve? Second motion by Mr. Bolan to approve. Second by Ms. Baldwin Day.

Any discussion?

Okay. Seeing and hearing. None. Members may proceed to vote.

Member Presford, dia. Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0, this item AIR2026, 136 unanimously passed, passes the body. Next we'll move on to Item 15C. Resolution AR2026, 134, a resolution of the Anchorage assembly stating its conditional protest regarding a new restaurant or eating place. License 60498 for MP2 Alaska, LLC. DBA Pizza Hut Express Airport located at 5000 W. International Airport Blvd.

South, Terminal 2C2536, Anchorage, AK 99502. Public hearing on this item is now open. Would anyone wish to testify, please come forward. Anyone at all seeing and hearing. None in the room, and no one signed up on the phone.

Public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body? Move to approve. Second motion by Mr. Mullen to approve. Second by Ms.

Scout. Any discussion on this item? Seeing in hearing None. Members may proceed to vote. Vote.

Member Pres. Vir.

Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0. AR226, 134 passes the body unanimously. Lastly, in this category, we have AR2026,133, a resolution of the acreage assembly stating its conditional protest regarding a new restaurant or eating place. License number 6421 for Faux Load Lotus LLC, DBA Faux Lotus, located at 3826 Bernard Road, Anchorage, AK 99517. Public hearing on this item is now open.

Would anyone wish to testify? Anyone at all seeing and hearing. No one in the room to testify, and no one signed up on the phone. Public hearing on this item is now closed. What's the will of the body?

Move to approve. Second motion by Mr. Boland to approve a second by Ms. Park. Any discussion on this item? Item seeing and hearing None. Members may proceed to vote.

Member Pres.

Yes.

On a vote of 12 to 0. AR226, 133 passes the body unanimously. That takes care of our regular business. So next we'll move on to audience participation. If you would like to participate, please come forward.

You will have three minutes.

Okay. And as a reminder, please turn on the microphone, state your name, what part of town you're in, and then you have three minutes. My name is Donnie Spiel. I live in Anchorage, Downtown. The Anchorage voters just paid $1.8 million for surveillance infrastructure.

Now the state's approving a facility on the North Slope Slope that will require significant infrastructure and won't say what data it possesses. Who owns the data being processed at this facility? Where will the power come from? North Slope Bureau is building a natural gas power plant. What's that actual cost to Alaskans?

Will this facility process surveillance data, foreign data, US Intelligence technology changes, the facilities become obsolete. But we're locking in for 50 years. Well, tundra damages forever. The math is 60 permanent jobs, Alaskans locked in for 50 years. That's not an economic development.

It's a giveaway. Germany's required their operators to disclose energy use, water consumption and the grid impact before approval. Why isn't Alaska doing that? The Anchorage assembly should urge the state to reject the lease and demand local utility approval before the infrastructure is built. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else was to participate, please come forward. State your name. Microphone is already on. You will have three minutes.

All right, Jamie Lopez, D San Cruise. Formerly coalition, formerly homeless. I'll save the improv routine for the next one. Attrition warfare is typically reserved for enemy combatants, but now it's being used against the vulnerable and the poor. In this town, you deprive people of resources as a matter of strategy, and it is wearing people down to the point they break.

Typically when you go in the armed services in basic, you know, you have drill instructors, you have sergeants and other people that are watching on the condition of whoever's going through. And so that way, if they do reach physical or mental collapse, somebody is there to make sure that they don't die. You don't have that outside. And so again with basic training, you go through, you get food, you get water, you get a cot to rest in a night, and you get medical care. But the people outside do not get that.

And they're being pushed over and over and over again to the point of breaking mentally and physically. And I have to attend another funeral on Friday. Don't know if you're going to come, Ms. La France. But, you know, this is kind of what's happening in this town. And so there are things that I could talk about.

I don't know if I'm going to right now. I think I might save it for another day. But I will say the police in this town right now, they are being given instructions and orders to sight people. And the pressure is being applied from command. And so literally there was no place left to go.

They're pushing people and then they will react eventually, whether it's committing suicide, committing acts that they normally wouldn't in terms of crimes, or, you know, just going into abandoned buildings and then being church with families. And I think that's the strategy here, is to put people away because housing them or supporting them is much more expensive and that actually leads to good opportunities. But anyways, apparently my phone's going off right now and also save it for another day. So thank you for your time. Thank you.

Would anyone else wish to participate?

Okay, please come forward, state your name and you will have three minutes. Good evening. Phil Cannon, Mountain View Every I'm the pastor of church in Mountain View. Called Mountain View Hope. I'm the community council president for the Mountain View Community Council.

And every week through our church we serve meals, we provide food pantry and hygiene pantry services. We spend a lot of time in relationships with a lot of really vulnerable people.

So I want to begin by saying very clearly, like, I don't believe that people experiencing poverty or homelessness are the enemy. They are human beings with dignity, people with stories. They're people who have struggles, who have experienced trauma, but they're people of value, people who our society also needs.

Because I spend a lot of time in these relationships. I also want to say something that I think is important for the public conversation, because I think that we, if you consistently come to these meetings, we consistently hear from some voice that nearly everything that the city does is harmful and oppressive and bad. And I understand some of that frustration. There are absolutely situations where people are being pushed around from place to place without good enough options available to them. But I also think that it's important to acknowledge that a lot of people within our system who are responsible for things like relief and outreach and behavioral health, public safety departments, there are people who are trying very hard to respond compassionately and in a really difficult situation.

And I think that we have to be careful not to reduce this highly nuanced conversation to two false choices. Really. It's either criminalization on one side, or it's unmanaged encampments on the other.

I think neither one of those is a good long term solution for anybody, our city as well as our vulnerable neighbors. I think what a lot of us actually want is more stability, deeper relationships, better support systems, more treatment, more behavioral health options, more places for people to. Land. In trusting relationships. And I think honestly, what we need is more people going out.

As much as I may disagree with other people who are doing this philosophically, they're doing good work. And I want to affirm that we need people going out and building relationships of trust who will walk with people through relapses, through setbacks, through triumphs, too. Right? But just like people who will walk through people with it. And so, like, I just.

I don't know, I'm running out of time. So to sum it up, people rarely move towards stability because of systems. I think they move towards stability because of relationships. So anything we can as a city invest that will take advantage of that, we should do that. Thank you.

Would anyone else wish to participate? Please come forward. State your name and the record, and you have three minutes. Roger Branson, out of districts, District 2, Eagle River a longtime mental health advocate and I going on eight years ago now, since I got my disability and committed myself to full time advocacy working in the field when I'm able to. And we have come a long ways and these past several years have been challenging, but we've covered some ground that had to be covered.

I appreciate both the previous speakers and I look forward to working with both some finding the solution that I know we will find and we are working towards. We need to hold steady, not send ripples into the community of this or that, but do the best we can and meet everybody where they're at and come to understand them. So thank you all for the work that you continue to do and.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to participate?

Okay. Seeing and hearing none, then we will move on to our assembly comments. So I will start with Mr. Johnson tonight. No comments. Thank you, Chair.

Ms. Park? No comment. Chair. Mr. McCormick? No comments.

Thank you, Ms. Scout. No comments. Ms. Baldwin Day. I wasn't expecting to get horse puns today, but I'm grateful for that moment of levity.

As we do the business of the municipality, it's, it's good to remind ourselves that we are also human and it is good to laugh in the midst of the work. Thank you, Mr. Voland. No comments. Thank you, Ms. Silvers.

No comments. Thank you, Mr. Gerker. No comments. Thank you, Chair. Mr. Martinez.

Thank you, Chair. I do want to say I remind folks that we are working with imperfect tools on very complex challenges. But having said that, the word of the day for me was trust. And thank you, Pastor Phil, for mentioning trust as well. It was mentioned earlier on, throughout the course of the night at various occasions.

And when this assembly opens up the transparency and we want folks to learn about our program process, I think that's meaningful and I think it's important that when folks learn about each other's work, we can learn about each other's worth. And I mean that across all the sectors of the public sectors, the public servants, the folks that we're approving contracts for the apd, the fire department, the folks in the community, when we learn about each other's work, we often can learn about each other's worth. And I just appreciate the folks that are doing the work as well. Building trust is important. Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Handlen. Yeah, I got beef with all the members making bad puns.

And Mr. Perez Verdilla.

Thank you, Chair. No comments tonight. All right, thank you. I will just briefly note ending that certainly puns are welcome, but it sounds like they can create some concerns controversy on this D. And also, I will remind. Thank members for a very efficient meeting.

I will say we. We can't always promise that we'll end before eight, but sometimes we do. So with that, I'm entertaining a motion to adjourn. So moved. Okay.

And with that, we're adjourned. Thank you, everyone.