A special meeting of the Anchorage Assembly has been called for 1 pm Monday in a small conference room in City Hall.
The agenda for the meeting is strangely vague, but it relates to as-of-yet unpublicized efforts by the liberal Assembly to take over the executive branch functions, including declaring an emergency or enacting emergency orders on the city.
The agenda item listed only says, “Introduction of Assembly Ordinances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and executive appointments and confirmation.” According to Clerk Barbara Jones’ note on the items: “This is not a public hearing item.”
The Assembly last week attempted to persuade Mayor Dave Bronson to enact a mask mandate in all municipal buildings, something that Bronson said he would not do.
The liberal Assembly, led by Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance and Vice Chairman Chris Constant, has posted no public documents for this meeting, which may be an effort to prevent activists in Anchorage from weighing in on this topic.
Any such ordinance would have to eventually go through the public process, something sure to be contentious in a city that has just elected a mayor who is opposed to the abuse of power that took place under former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, and Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson.
The next regular Assembly meeting is not until Sept. 28, when the ordinance would likely be subject to public testimony. But the meeting on Monday does have a time allotted for public participation after the mystery ordinance is revealed. The meeting, however, is scheduled to end at 2 pm, thus cutting short any participation by the public.
More details about the meeting at at this link.
