News from Patrick Flynn

The Anchorage municipal election has come and gone, sort of, and those who follow local government could be forgiven for asking the question, “now what?”  As it turns out, quite a bit.

First off, the results.  It seems my idea for a bond holiday might have been a good one since it appears only two or three proposals, two of which were rather small, gained voter approval.  On the School Board side, two incumbents retained their seats, one appointed member has a small edge with ballots left to be counted and an open seat was won by a long-time community activist.  Unsurprisingly the mayor’s race resulted in a run-off the winner of which will be determined by factors that, in my opinion, will remain well below the radar (think turnout).  Meanwhile the Anchorage Charter dictates that the Assembly elect a new chair, which has it’s own set of complications.

Readers may be surprised to learn that Matt Claman, currently serving as acting mayor, does not return to the Assembly as chair – simply as a member.  What we do not know is whether the acting chair, Harriet Drummond, wishes to remain as chair.  What we do know is that Debbie Ossiander has expressed an interest in serving as chair prior to the conclusion of her tenure on the Assembly, with the hint that she does not intend to seek re-election next year.  And the open secret that Dan Coffey will resign his seat and take an administrative post should Dan Sullivan out-poll Eric Croft also colors the discussion.  Finally, Assembly members Coffey, Johnston and Starr have proposed an alternative 2009 budget that is under consideration concurrent with first quarter budget amendments, one of which needs to resolve Anchorage’s budget deficit for the remainder of 2009.  All that, and a rather full agenda to boot!

Last, but not least, we’re tasked with building a biennial budget in the coming months.  While the mayor’s race will certainly be the focus of local government watchers over the next month, there will be plenty going on at the Assembly level as well.

Regards,

Patrick