Anchorage Assembly member Amy Demboski said Tuesday she was surprised to hear Mayor Ethan Berkowitz say he was trying to reach her in recent weeks, and said there had been a miscommunication.
In a Q-and-A interview Monday, Berkowitz said Demboski, whom he defeated in the May runoff election, had not been returning his phone calls. But Demboski said in an interview Tuesday that she has not heard from Berkowitz since right after the election, when she called and left a message to congratulate him, and he later left her a message in return.
Demboski said she "made a point" to drive to City Hall to speak with Berkowitz in person on Tuesday.
"I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot," Demboski said. She said she and Berkowitz had a good conversation, primarily focused on the SAP software project, the unfinished overhaul of the city's financial data systems that has cost tens of millions of dollars to date.
She said fellow Chugiak-Eagle River Assembly member Bill Starr told her he sat down recently with Berkowitz, and she had thought it was odd she hadn't been asked to do the same. She said it appeared to be a miscommunication on the part of Berkowitz and his staff.
"I just knew I haven't been ignoring him," Demboski said.
Berkowitz spokeswoman Nora Morse wouldn't directly answer Tuesday whether Berkowitz had indeed phoned Demboski, saying she didn't know the details.
"They've talked now, they've met, had a really great meeting today," Morse said. "Now everyone is on the same page."