Assembly Report for December 12, 2006

EAGLE RIVER-CHUGIAK COMP PLAN UPDATED BY ASSEMBLY: The Assembly updated the 1993 Eagle River-Chugiak Comp Plan Tuesday night with plenty of help from the Planning and Zoning Commission and the municipal planning department. Members considered and ultimately approved some 41 amendments proposed by the Planning and Zoning Commission and several others drafted and presented by Assembly member Debbie Ossiander. The ordinance is AO 2006-93(S)(1) and the vote was 9-0. Assembly debate focused on maximum density standards in the new plan and language encouraging connectivity of roads between subdivisions.

FAIRCLOUGH TO RESIGN; TO BE FETED IN SPECIAL EAGLE RIVER MEETING ON JANUARY 5TH: Eagle River Assembly member Anna Fairclough announced Tuesday night she will resign effective January 5, 2007 in order to claim a seat she recently won in the state house of representatives. At her request, Assembly chair Dan Sullivan will call a special meeting of the Assembly for Friday, January 5th in Eagle River to introduce legislation she has been working on for several years resolving a land use issue in her community. Although the location of this special meeting has not been announced, it will take place at noon. A retrospective on Fairclough’s career on the Anchorage Assembly will appear in the next issue of this Report, after the meeting of January 5th.

ASSEMBLY UNANIMOUSLY PASSES NEW ETHICS CODE: Six years in the making, the Assembly on Tuesday passed AO 140(S)(1) which sets higher standards for ethical conduct of elected municipal officials and municipal employees.

The new code outlaws those notorious "consulting contracts" between assembly members and private companies on municipal issues and prohibit those same officials from representing private interests before the Assembly, School Board and appointed boards. The code also bars members of the state legislature from representing or lobbying for private interests before the Assembly. The code also contains more explicit definitions of "financial interests" which will disqualify a member’s participation in voting; standards governing gifts and gratuities, and procedures governing investigations conducted by the Board. An amendment previously adopted by the Assembly prohibits members from voting on matters where the body has found they have a "substantial financial interest" even though their disqualification makes it more difficult for developers to muster the eight votes necessary to pass a protested rezoning action.

Municipal lobbyists are prohibited from fundraising for candidates for municipal office and, along with members of their immediate families, from contributing to municipal campaigns. Municipal employees cannot register as lobbyists, excempt for members of a city union's exectutive board. New rules are in place governing gifts to elected officials, meals, and political activities of municipal employees and executives.

In several areas, particularly those prohibiting "consulting contracts" involving elected officials and their participation in legislative matters where they have financial interests, the new municipal code is more stringent than comparable laws governing state legislators.