Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson’s chief of staff has resigned. Adam Trombley’s last day with the city was Tuesday.
The mayor’s office announced the resignation in a statement Wednesday morning. It said Bronson has named lawyer Mario Bird as acting chief of staff. The Assembly in September rejected Bird as Bronson’s pick for city attorney. Bird was later hired as a senior policy advisor, a position that doesn’t require Assembly approval.
The chief of staff job is a high-level executive post, and mostly deals with policy coordination and overseeing certain executive functions.
Bronson named Trombley as his chief of staff in September, after Alexis Johnson moved out of the job to become the city’s homelessness coordinator. Trombley is a former Anchorage Assembly member who has been a key part of the mayor’s executive team since he took office in 2021. Trombley began as executive director of Community Development, later taking on the responsibilities of Real Estate director.
The mayor’s statement Wednesday said Trombley “voluntarily resigned to focus on his family and personal matters.”
“I have nothing but gratitude for Adam, and the work he has accomplished for the people of Anchorage over the last number of years. He is a consummate professional, diplomat, and experienced leader,” Bronson said in the statement.
Trombley’s resignation is the latest in a series of high-level executive departures during Bronson’s tenure. Municipal manager Amy Demboski was abruptly fired in December. Shortly after, she accused the Bronson administration of numerous unlawful and unethical actions in a scathing 11-page letter. In February, Anchorage’s Chief Human Resources Officer Niki Tshibaka abruptly resigned, citing an “increasingly toxic, hostile, and demoralizing work environment.”
Bird joins Kent Kohlhase, who was named acting municipal manager after Demboski’s departure, as another temporary head of a major city department. Bronson has not yet submitted a full-time municipal manager candidate to the Assembly.
“He is considering all options to make the positions permanent in the near future,” Bronson spokesman Corey Allen Young said in an email.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
