The Anchorage Public Naming Commission met on May 15, 2026, at 5:40 p.m. ADT. Initially lacking a quorum, the commission later achieved a quorum and approved the agenda as amended, approved minutes from previous meetings, and addressed three naming proposals. Commissioners re-elected the chair and vice chair and discussed outreach to fill vacant seats.
All right, good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting of the May meeting of the public naming commission to order. Jasmine, could you call the roll, please? Member Harrison. Here. Here. Chair has. Here. Chair, you do not have a quorum. Thank you. Would somebody like to volunteer to do the land acknowledgement? Okay. All right, Jen. Just the two. A land acknowledgement is formal statement recognizing indigenous people of a place. It is a public gesture of appreciation for the past and present indigenous stewardship of the lands that we have. It's an actionable statement that marks our collective movement towards decolonization and equity. The public naming commission would like to acknowledge that we gathered down the traditional lines of the deny and a half passions for thousands of years of the deny and a half and continue to be the stewards of the Senate. It's with gratitude and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations and contemporary perspectives of the upper companion tonight. Thank you, Jen. We don't have a quorum, so we can't approve the agenda or bar the minutes of the November, December, and March meetings. We don't have any unfinished business. Well, first new item, item of business, new new business is to elect the chair and vice chair. We don't have a quorum, so we can't do that. But we can hear the request, the proposal if anybody would like to speak on the request to rename to name the new downtown library. Oh, Chair, can I just mention who's absent real quick? Pardon me? Can I just mention who's absent? Okay. Members Heller, Gupta, and Khan are absent. Thank you. Come forward. Grab a microphone, introduce yourself, please. Not that we don't know who you are. Hello, my name is Elizabeth Nikolai. I'm the assistant director of the Anchorage Public Library. Um to name the downtown library, or the proposed downtown library, which is open to hope to open in early 2027. Um, the Anchorage Original Town Site Downtown Library. This library is funded entirely by a grant from the state of Alaska, as well as a bequest from Ms. Janet Getz and within her will and bequest, which not only which will fund 12 years of operation, was the name Anchorage Original Townsite Library. We have added the downtown as it is the policy of the Anchor Foul Library to, as we named locations added geographic distinction to the library. We do, I do understand you don't have a quorum. I'm so excited to learn about the future steps. Um we expect to begin construction this summer on this library, and we need to order a sign. So I'm curious as to what the steps are for the naming. Thank you, Elizabeth. Um the way it would work, somebody submits the proposal, the commission looks at it, and we would set a public hearing, at least one public hearing. Uh the public hearing has to be properly noticed. Um at the end of the public hearing, then the commission, we would discuss what we heard, discuss the proposal, and we would vote a recommendation that we go to the administration, the mayor, and the assembly, and the assembly would take final action by resolution on the name. And it's part of the public hearing and as part of the process, we would also consider any other names brought forward by members of the public.