OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Rules Committee Meeting Summary - May 14, 2026

Assembly & Committee Meetings — Thursday, May 14, 2026
BodyAnchorage, Alaska
SessionAssembly & Committee Meetings
DateThursday, May 14, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:33:59
Transcript — Verbatim
4:06

Okay, everyone.

4:07

I'm going to call this rules committee meeting to order.

4:10

So today is uh Thursday, May 14th.

4:14

We are noticed.

4:14

Uh well, the agenda says one PM to three PM, but I'll note that we shortened this meeting to end at two twenty PM because we have a work session at two thirty.

4:30

So first we will do introductions and we'll move into our business.

4:34

So starting with um and I should also say the tradition in this committee other season.

4:43

So um I might forget, but feel free to use your first name.

4:46

But introduce yourself with first and last.

4:48

Go ahead.

5:00

Whisper with these on.

5:01

Uh Cameron Perez Radio.

5:02

Donald Handelon.

5:03

George Gerker.

5:04

Aaron Baldwin Day.

5:05

Zach Johnson.

5:06

Sydney Scout.

5:08

Shoot.

5:08

Anna Brawley.

5:10

Yaro Silvers.

5:12

And on the phone, we have uh George Martinez.

5:16

Yes, George Martinez.

5:18

Thank you, Chair.

5:18

And is anyone else on the phone?

5:20

Any other members?

5:21

Okay, not seeing any.

5:23

We're also joined by a number of folks.

5:25

We have our clerk staff, legislative services, assembly council, members of the administration, and some members of the public and others.

5:32

So we will go ahead and get started.

5:35

So our first order of business is the um service awards.

5:40

So we've got a couple of awards today.

5:42

Um and of course, this is my first time giving these awards, but I will note I'll do them, I think one at a time.

5:48

Um so first we'll start with uh, and it's a tradition I should say in the municipality, uh, that folks who have been with the municipality uh in either branch uh for five years or more will get a service pin.

5:59

So these are two five year service pins.

6:01

Um the first one I will start with that was actually in January, as my note says, and that is Krista Walsh.

6:10

Not here okay, and then she also has a pin, so I will leave that in staff's care.

6:19

Um do that one, and then the second one I do know is in this room, and that is Miss Brandi Heasley.

6:26

If you'd like to come forward, yeah.

6:34

So I think we usually do pictures.

6:35

So we are presenting with a certificate, and then the pin, which she can show you at her convenience.

6:59

Thank you for nice.

7:20

Yay.

7:26

So yeah, congratulations to Brandy.

7:27

Um, if you do not know Brandy yet, she is our uh essentially paralegal for uh assembly council and has been doing a great job keeping Matthew and Dean organized and keeping all of us organized.

7:38

Um managing a lot of emails, I imagine.

7:41

So thank you, Brandy.

7:43

Thank you for your service.

7:43

And thank you also to Krista, who is not here, but uh has also given five years of service to the municipality as of January.

7:50

So next, let's move on.

7:52

Um, we will do our reports from the assembly chair and the mayor.

7:55

I see we have uh Miss uh Fleet Green from the mayor's office, so I'll pivot to you first.

7:59

Uh, if you want to go ahead.

8:00

Great, thank you very much.

8:02

Um keeping with informality, I am Suzanne.

8:07

Um not not the mayor, Susan, just Suzanne.

8:11

Couple of quick updates.

8:12

Uh the mayor actually, right now it's upstairs participating in a mini launch event for the Bloomberg Mayor's Youth Climate Awards, which we were very happy to be selected for that.

8:26

I think all of you got the press release on it, but it's kind of fun because there's literally mayors from around the world on the Zoom call right now that she is participating in, and that will be a great way to get more youth involved in improving our community.

8:42

So very exciting.

8:43

And that will be handled by Rochelle Johnson, who works at Solid Waste Services.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural██████████████████████████████30%
Public Engagement████████████████████████24%
Homelessness██████████10%
Affordable Housing████████8%
Economic Development██████6%
Short Term Rentals█████5%
Data Management█████5%
Youth Programs█████5%
Personnel Matters████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Rules Committee Meeting Summary - May 14, 2026

The Anchorage Assembly Rules Committee met on Thursday, May 14, 2026, from 1:00 PM to approximately 2:40 PM (originally scheduled to end at 2:20 PM but extended for a public comment). The meeting included service awards, reports from the mayor's office, clerk, legislative services, and ombudsman, followed by a discussion on constituent email management and a comprehensive review of committee assignments and liaison positions. No formal votes were taken; the meeting was primarily informational and deliberative.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • David Donicovsky (Anchorage resident) spoke about his experience being homeless for two and a half years with his wife, who has seizures. He expressed frustration with being moved around and threatened with arrest, and requested help in obtaining housing without being separated from his wife. The chair acknowledged his comments and said the assembly would follow up offline.

Discussion Items

  • Service Awards: Five-year service pins were presented to Krista Walsh (absent) and Brandi Heasley (present), who works as a paralegal for the Assembly Council.
  • Mayor's Office Report (Suzanne Fleet Green):
    • The mayor was participating in a Bloomberg Mayor's Youth Climate Awards launch event.
    • A large barge for pile driving arrived at the Port of Alaska; first shipment of pilings received.
    • Groundbreaking for the Ship Creek Trail to Coastal Trail connector project (federally funded).
    • Legislative session updates: $25 million for Port of Alaska (first $15 million solid, $10 million contingent on oil prices above $80/barrel); pension bill passed both houses and is on the governor's desk.
    • The mayor's office continues to work on housing and education funding.
  • Assembly Chair Report (Anna Brawley):
    • Reminders about office moves, Memorial Day holiday deadlines, and the upcoming joint meeting with the school board on June 5 (requires quorum of at least seven members physically present).
    • Encouraged members to attend community events.
  • Clerk's Report (Jamie):
    • Short-term rental registration: 734 registered, approximately 65 applications per day. Processing is heavier than anticipated (about 1 hour per 20 applications; estimated 125 hours for 2,500 registrations). Address validation issues with GIS.
    • Risk-limiting audit completed on May 7; report to be presented at the May 26 meeting.
    • Title 28 update in progress; new municipal code platform goes live May 26.
    • Clerk will attend the International Institute of Municipal Clerks conference next week.
  • Legislative Services Report (Claire):
    • 13 applications received for the youth representative position; review underway.
    • Pre-approved ADU project: two designs created by UAA engineering capstone (300 sq ft loft and 2-bedroom), to be released this fall. Site preparation costs remain high ($100k-$150k).
    • Civics workshops for 140 students in April; summer break planned.
    • Civic Anchor website launched with resources including current plans, volunteer opportunities, deep dives, and youth civic action.
    • Legislative Services staff changes: Allie will be on parental leave June–August; Noah will cover full-time.
  • Ombudsman Report (Daryl Hess):
    • Over 500 entries in case management system so far in 2025; 7-8 open investigations.
    • Hosted a difficult conversations workshop for municipal employees; positive feedback.
    • Room 105 will become an ombudsman training room; planning future workshops.
    • Deep dives on housing/homelessness and employee First Amendment rights.
    • October: start of three-year strategic plan for the office.
  • Unfinished Business – Constituent Email Form:
    • Jasmine presented a mock-up of a Form Stack-based form to direct constituent emails to district members. The form would send to all members but highlight the district. Features include optional contact info, district selection, and Google Translate.
    • Members discussed potential changes: adding district map image, photo upload option, link to public appearance request, and renaming fields.
    • Debate on whether to retire the current "assembly@muni.org" email address. Some members (Aaron, Allie) favored removing the mass email option to encourage use of the new form.
    • No decision made; further edits to be submitted by next week.
  • New Business – Committees and Liaisons:
    • Chair Anna Brawley proposed a two-step process: first fill vacant leadership positions so committees can meet, then over summer review schedules, frequency, and possible restructuring.
    • Proposed changes: Donald Handelon to replace Jared Gerger as AMATS alternate; Daniel Voland temporarily chairs Quality Municipal Services, Ethics and Elections (committee may be restructured).
    • Members discussed ideas: stacking committee meetings on fewer days, reducing meeting lengths, combining committees (e.g., moving infrastructure to transportation), and creating a dedicated housing committee.
    • Cameron expressed interest in focusing on affordable/transitional housing within the Housing and Homelessness committee.
    • Aaron supported stacking meetings and suggested moving AMATS to the permit center.
    • George Martinez noted that CEDC often handles housing permitting while Housing and Homelessness deals with homelessness; he also offered to discuss the NACO liaison role.
    • Liaison positions: Anna recommended Zach Johnson as second AML liaison; Aaron Baldwin Day for National League of Cities; George Martinez to continue as NACO liaison.
    • Other liaison roles (Federation of Community Councils, ACDA, Chamber, etc.) discussed as opportunities for member involvement.
    • No final assignments made; discussion to continue at future meetings.

Key Outcomes

  • Service awards presented; no other formal votes or decisions taken.
  • Next Steps:
    • Members to send additional feedback on the constituent email form to Jasmine by next week.
    • Committee structure and liaison assignments to be finalized over the summer, with a target of August/September for a final schedule.
    • The AMATS policy committee will consider moving its meeting location to the permit center.
    • The chair will follow up with David Donicovsky offline regarding his housing situation.
    • The next Rules Committee meeting is scheduled for June 11, 2026 (note: CEDC may be rescheduled to that date).

Meeting Transcript

Okay, everyone. I'm going to call this rules committee meeting to order. So today is uh Thursday, May 14th. We are noticed. Uh well, the agenda says one PM to three PM, but I'll note that we shortened this meeting to end at two twenty PM because we have a work session at two thirty. So first we will do introductions and we'll move into our business. So starting with um and I should also say the tradition in this committee other season. So um I might forget, but feel free to use your first name. But introduce yourself with first and last. Go ahead. Whisper with these on. Uh Cameron Perez Radio. Donald Handelon. George Gerker. Aaron Baldwin Day. Zach Johnson. Sydney Scout. Shoot. Anna Brawley. Yaro Silvers. And on the phone, we have uh George Martinez. Yes, George Martinez. Thank you, Chair. And is anyone else on the phone? Any other members? Okay, not seeing any. We're also joined by a number of folks. We have our clerk staff, legislative services, assembly council, members of the administration, and some members of the public and others. So we will go ahead and get started. So our first order of business is the um service awards. So we've got a couple of awards today. Um and of course, this is my first time giving these awards, but I will note I'll do them, I think one at a time. Um so first we'll start with uh, and it's a tradition I should say in the municipality, uh, that folks who have been with the municipality uh in either branch uh for five years or more will get a service pin. So these are two five year service pins. Um the first one I will start with that was actually in January, as my note says, and that is Krista Walsh. Not here okay, and then she also has a pin, so I will leave that in staff's care. Um do that one, and then the second one I do know is in this room, and that is Miss Brandi Heasley. If you'd like to come forward, yeah. So I think we usually do pictures. So we are presenting with a certificate, and then the pin, which she can show you at her convenience. Thank you for nice. Yay. So yeah, congratulations to Brandy. Um, if you do not know Brandy yet, she is our uh essentially paralegal for uh assembly council and has been doing a great job keeping Matthew and Dean organized and keeping all of us organized. Um managing a lot of emails, I imagine. So thank you, Brandy. Thank you for your service. And thank you also to Krista, who is not here, but uh has also given five years of service to the municipality as of January. So next, let's move on. Um, we will do our reports from the assembly chair and the mayor.

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