The mayor introduced AO 2013-37 a mere month ago with the intent of drastically amending AMC 3.70, the ordinance that manages relations between labor and the administration.
This ordinance was last updated starting on Jan. 3, 1989 and after being tabled for a period of time was reintroduced with amendments and then approved on May 24,1989. This equates to four months and 23 days of public process.
In August the mayor hired, under a veil of secrecy, an attorney, Tom Owens, for $29,500 of taxpayer money. When asked why they hired this attorney, the administration reported that he has experience with this type of thing from the 1980s and 1990s. I wonder what this says for Mr. Owens' ability to add to the mayor's stated desire to update the ordinance to reflect "current municipal operations and modern effective management techniques." If the mayor wishes to emulate actions and thoughts from 20 to 30 years ago, maybe he should slow this down and give an opportunity for almost five months of public process like they did in 1989.
— Gerard Asselin
Anchorage