The Anchorage Assembly, at their Tuesday evening meeting, voted 9-3 to approve an amended ordinance that requires the Assembly to establish procedure to remove an elected official from office for breach of the public trust.
Prior to the ordinance’s adoption, Anchorage Mayor Bronson addressed the ordinance’s sponsor:
“As evidenced by the outcry of opposition, in the media and in the public, I firmly believe Mr. Constant has gone way too far. He clearly is ignoring the will of the people and who they have decided who their mayor is. There already exists a method for removal of a mayor, it’s called a recall. Why is this method not good enough? No mayor present or future should be subject to a coup by an assembly that doesn’t agree with his politics.”
The ordinance requires proof of ‘willful and knowing breach of duty or culpable indifference to official duties’ to constitute a breach of public trust. Related conduct includes, acceptance of cash gifts from doing business with the municipality, perjury, falsification of records, filing false reports, nepotism, personal use of municipal property, actual or attempted misconduct as defined by state law, ordering a municipal employee to undertake an unlawful act, substantial breach of statutory-, Code- or Charter-imposed duty and/or failure to faithfully execute the directives of an enacted ordinance.
Proceedings for the removal of an elected official from office may only be initiated by the Assembly or the Municipal Board of Ethics in a form of an accusation document submitted to the Municipal Clerk.
Click here for more information (note: search Ordinance No. AO 2022-60).