OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Anchorage Board of Ethics Meeting – September 2, 2026

Assembly & Committee Meetings — Wednesday, September 2, 2026
BodyAnchorage, Alaska
SessionAssembly & Committee Meetings
DateWednesday, September 2, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:39:14

Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

Okay, you are recording.

0:05

All right, beans, that is four o'clock.

0:07

Go ahead and call this meeting of the Board of Ethics to order.

0:09

Uh Ms.

0:10

Sleppy, would you please call roll?

0:14

Mr.

0:14

Bel Reef.

0:15

Present.

0:17

Miss Mogadam.

0:19

President.

0:20

Ms.

0:20

Guess.

0:23

Present.

0:24

Mr.

0:25

Cacher.

0:26

Present.

0:28

I believe Mr.

0:29

Drama's excuse.

0:31

That's correct.

0:32

Right, or you have a quorum.

0:35

Thank you so much.

0:36

First item we have up next, then is approval of the minutes of our previous meeting.

0:42

Believe the board would entertain a motion to adopt the draft minutes of our meeting of July 9th, 2026.

0:54

So move.

1:02

All right.

1:02

Any discussion.

1:06

Seeing and hearing none, the motion is to approve the draft minutes of the July 9th, 2026 meeting.

1:13

All those in favor, please say aye.

1:15

Aye.

1:16

Aye.

1:17

Aye.

1:19

And with none opposed, the motion carries.

1:22

Next item we have on today's agenda is disclosure.

1:24

So given the subject matter uh before us, both for our unfinished business and we have a new request for advisory opinion at 2026-04.

1:35

Do any members of the board have any potential conflicts or other disclosures this afternoon.

1:46

No.

1:49

Well, seeing and hearing none, we can move down into item five here.

1:57

I think we do have Ms.

1:59

Gardner available with us today.

2:04

To speak to request for advisory opinion 2026-02.

2:09

Then we also have ethics complaint for potential violation 2026-01.

2:16

Um, I would leave to the board whether we would want to take up zero two while we have Ms.

2:20

Gardner so that we can take up less of her time, or if our preference would be to to conclude zero one and then move on to zero two.

2:32

Um Mr.

2:34

Chairman, this is uh member cater.

2:38

Um the draft regarding zero one references our response to zero two response I haven't seen yet.

2:49

So I think we I would move that we go into executive session and hear from the municipal attorney regarding zero two, uh, which may help inform how we deal with zero one.

3:05

Yeah, well, the motion is to move into executive session to hear from the municipal attorney regarding 2026-02.

3:13

Do we have a second?

3:14

Oh, Mr.

3:15

Chair, I was just gonna note quickly.

3:16

So I believe the municipal attorney has waived confidentiality on the request for advisory opinion.

3:21

Um so since we're not going to be discussing the ethics complaint, uh, it's just the response to the advisory opinion.

3:28

There would not be a need to move into executive session.

3:32

This should be done during the open session unless you'd like to deliberate your response first, but I believe just from hearing from the municipal attorney, that would be an open session unless there's uh a reason to go into executive session or uh that that's it that's a point well taken.

3:51

I would draw my motion.

3:53

All right.

3:53

Well, I think with that we can go ahead and take up item five and hear from Ms.

3:59

Gardner regarding 2026-02.

4:12

And I do apologize.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████66%
Ethics Training████████████████████29%
Conflict of Interest███5%
Summary of Proceedings

Anchorage Board of Ethics Meeting – September 2, 2026

The Anchorage Board of Ethics met on September 2, 2026, to consider a request for an advisory opinion on the use of municipal resources for ballot measure advocacy, deliberate on a pending ethics complaint, and handle routine business. The board voted to draft an advisory opinion interpreting relevant ethics code provisions and to recommend a code change if needed, and also advanced a revised response to an ethics complaint.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes: The board unanimously approved the draft minutes of the July 9, 2026, meeting. The motion carried with all members present voting aye.
  • Disclosure: No board members reported conflicts or disclosures related to the agenda items.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public were present. The board noted no participants for public participation.

Discussion Items

  • Advisory Opinion Request 2026-02: Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner presented a request seeking clarification on whether elected officials (mayor, assembly members, school board members) and the school superintendent may use limited municipal resources for ballot measure advocacy through op-eds, email newsletters, and social media under two subsections of the ethics code. Gardner explained the ambiguity in the 2017-drafted code regarding modern media and urged the board to provide guidance. Board members debated whether to issue an abstract interpretation or recommend a code amendment. Member Cacher expressed reluctance to interpret without a specific case, while others noted the board’s past practice of offering interpretations. The board also discussed defining “limited use of municipal resources.”
  • Executive Session: The board moved into executive session to deliberate on both the advisory opinion request and Ethics Complaint 2026-01. Upon returning, they took votes on next steps.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion on Advisory Opinion 2026-02: The board voted unanimously to direct staff (Paul) to prepare a draft advisory opinion interpreting subsections 1 and 2 of the ethics code and recommending a code change if the board’s interpretation conflicts with the assembly’s intent. The motion carried with all ayes.
  • Motion on Ethics Complaint 2026-01: The board unanimously directed staff to prepare a revised draft response to the ethics complaint, incorporating changes discussed during the meeting, for review at the next meeting.
  • Administrative Items 6A1-4: The board approved four routine items (not detailed in the transcript) as a block without discussion.
  • New Advisory Opinion Request 2026-04: The board tabled this item to the next meeting and agreed to invite the requester to participate.
  • Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:50 PM after a motion to extend the meeting was approved.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, you are recording. All right, beans, that is four o'clock. Go ahead and call this meeting of the Board of Ethics to order. Uh Ms. Sleppy, would you please call roll? Mr. Bel Reef. Present. Miss Mogadam. President. Ms. Guess. Present. Mr. Cacher. Present. I believe Mr. Drama's excuse. That's correct. Right, or you have a quorum. Thank you so much. First item we have up next, then is approval of the minutes of our previous meeting. Believe the board would entertain a motion to adopt the draft minutes of our meeting of July 9th, 2026. So move. All right. Any discussion. Seeing and hearing none, the motion is to approve the draft minutes of the July 9th, 2026 meeting. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And with none opposed, the motion carries. Next item we have on today's agenda is disclosure. So given the subject matter uh before us, both for our unfinished business and we have a new request for advisory opinion at 2026-04. Do any members of the board have any potential conflicts or other disclosures this afternoon. No. Well, seeing and hearing none, we can move down into item five here. I think we do have Ms. Gardner available with us today. To speak to request for advisory opinion 2026-02. Then we also have ethics complaint for potential violation 2026-01. Um, I would leave to the board whether we would want to take up zero two while we have Ms. Gardner so that we can take up less of her time, or if our preference would be to to conclude zero one and then move on to zero two. Um Mr. Chairman, this is uh member cater. Um the draft regarding zero one references our response to zero two response I haven't seen yet. So I think we I would move that we go into executive session and hear from the municipal attorney regarding zero two, uh, which may help inform how we deal with zero one. Yeah, well, the motion is to move into executive session to hear from the municipal attorney regarding 2026-02. Do we have a second? Oh, Mr.

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