ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Anchorage Assembly is set to consider a host of issues at its meeting Tuesday night, ranging from dissolving the city-owned utility’s board of directors to equipping more city buses with traffic-light controllers like those used by emergency vehicles.
Two of the ordinances scheduled for a vote Tuesday deal with Municipal Light & Power, after claims by Alaska Native corporation Cook Inlet Region, Inc. that ML&P’s board of directors was ignoring CIRI’s proposed Fire Island Wind Project. Three members of the board resigned Monday, citing ML&P’s failure to consider the project as a factor in their decision.
One ordinance before the Assembly would grant it the ability to bypass ML&P and directly negotiate with CIRI, while another would dissolve ML&P’s board of directors. While both remain scheduled for a Tuesday vote, some Assembly members say votes on one or both may be postponed for a few weeks.
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Electronic participation in Assembly meetings is the topic of another ordinance before the body Tuesday, which would only allow members to do so in the event of an emergency or a conflict with municipal work. The ordinance would prevent members from remotely participating in meetings while on vacation.
Another ordinance the Assembly will consider would expand People Mover buses’ use of traffic preemption devices, which let them keep green traffic lights on longer and shorten red lights -- slowing down traffic headed in other directions.
The devices, which are usually fitted to emergency vehicles, have been used on some city buses as part of a pilot program; the ordinance would widen the program to more buses and allow it to continue indefinitely.
A few items recently in the spotlight will also be introduced for future consideration at Tuesday’s meeting.
Among them is an ordinance to require any store in town to require identification from anyone who buys alcohol. It arrives in the wake of last week’s advisory vote on requiring package liquor stores to do so, which passed in the city elections with 67 percent of the vote.
The Assembly’s long-running dispute with the American Civil Liberties Union over homeless campsite removal procedures could end under another ordinance, which proposes a compromise set of rules for the process.
The ACLU had sued the city over both its original rules and a revised version, saying they unconstitutionally violated property rights of the homeless. The new ordinance gives 72 hours’ notice before an illegal campsite is removed, and stores removed items so they can be claimed.
In addition, mill rates for school and city property taxes are slated for introduction Tuesday, although they won’t be voted on.
The Assembly will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Assembly chambers at the Loussac Library.
