Assembly Votes to End Public Testimony on AO-37

Unions offer deal if assembly tables ordinance

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By Lacie Grosvold

Story Created: Mar 12, 2013 at 6:23 AM AKDT

Story Updated: Mar 12, 2013 at 6:31 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - The Anchorage Assembly voted not to extend public testimony after hearing over five hours of public comment on Monday night. The Anchorage Assembly heard public testimony for the fifth time on AO-37, the ordinance that would change how the city deals with it's workers, although this was the first opportunity for the public to have its say since several amendments were added to the ordinance.

The assembly proposed cutting testimony off last week, after 15 hours of public testimony. The ACLU responded to that proposal by saying it was infringing on Anchorage residents' rights. They claimed the assembly set a precedent in 2009 when it heard over 37 hours of public testimony on a gay rights ordinance.

At about 10:30 p.m., Assemblyman Dick Traini proposed continuing the testimony at a later date. That motion was voted down 6 to 3 with just Paul Honeman and Patrick Flynn supporting more public testimony.

That doesn't mean that the public can't comment. Assembly Chair Ernie Hall said in an interview before the meeting that people could still submit written comments about the proposed changes to AO-37.

Monday night's testimony was very similar to the past four meetings. Most who testified were either one of the city's over 2,000 employees or their family members. Though the meeting was noticeably less crowded than past meetings, over 100 speakers signed up. That was too many than the six hours could accommodate.

Before Monday's meeting, the assembly had already heard 15 hours of testimony and held two work sessions. Last week, the members drafted a response to what they had heard so far. This was called the "S" version, and members said it addressed some of the specific concerns of employees.

This included preventing emergency services from being outsourced. The new version is also more favorable to the union's stance on arbitration than the last measure.

Still, Gerard Asselin, treasurer for the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, said the new version is not what they want. "I think there were about six bullet-points of changes, and two of them were something they told us up front was going to happen, so really we got a couple changes in verbiage. Nothing real substantive... I don't think it's being responsive to the testimony that's being heard."

To counter, unions offered the mayor's office an alternative.

On Friday, a letter signed by eight municipal unions was delivered to Mayor Sullivan. In it, they pledged to extend their current contracts for a year if the assembly "indefinitely tables" the ordinance.

Jason Alward of the Operating Engineers Local 30 said, "There's a lot of things that need to be worked on, out in the future, so this would just buy both sides that time to do everything, to make sure this is being done right."

The union reps said "indefinitely" doesn't mean forever. They said they want the conversation to continue without the deadline of a vote looming.
 

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Anonymous said on Tuesday, Mar 12 at 10:00 AM

As long as there is one person that wants to testify,they should be allowed to do just that, in front of the public and assembly.

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Opr8r said on Tuesday, Mar 12 at 8:03 AM

Who is the puppeteer from the lower 48 pulling the strings for the mayor? Why is it that this ordinance is being forced through? Why did the Assembly, (Mr Hall), suddenly decide to hault public testimony? What is the going rate for a mayor and half a dozen assembly members?

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