After the Anchorage Assembly hastily ended its meeting on Wednesday without taking up any business on the agenda except its new mask rule, it rescheduled the meeting to Thursday at 5 pm in the Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, on the main floor Chambers.
But after Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance gaveled out on Wednesday, a woman in the audience shouted the question, “Are you going to arrest us?”
It was the question of the hour. The public attending was not amused by the antics of the Assembly, as it tried to enact a rule that everyone in the chamber be masked, and then tried to bully the Mayor’s Office into enforcing that rule, which is not compatible with the emergency ordinance the Assembly passed one week ago, requiring people to mask when in public. The rule for the Assembly Chambers says there are no exemptions to the mask ordinance, and City Manager Amy Demboski said she would work to enforce the law the Assembly passed, which does have exemptions.
The problem for the Assembly is that it wants the Mayor to use police to enforce its “room rules,” which do not have the force of law. The police are under the control of the Mayor’s office and city Manager Amy Demboski said she will enforce the law.
On tonight’s agenda, should the Assembly be able to get out of its own way and conduct business, is the big-ticket item of the year: The annual budget. This, and numerous other items that typically interest the public, await the Assembly and whether it can actually conduct a meeting.
