The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday overrode two vetoes from Mayor Dave Bronson related to the Eklutna River restoration as the two sides continue to spar over the project.
The first veto was in response to an Assembly resolution requesting the subpoena of an agreement made between the city and two electric utilities as part of the Eklutna Hydropower Project. The agreement was signed without input from the Assembly or the public.
The Assembly and mayor disagree over the plans to restore fish habitat in the Eklutna River, with the Assembly wanting a full removal of the Eklutna Dam, and the mayor in favor of a partial restoration, aimed at limiting the impact to ratepayers and drinking water.
The Bronson administration says the agreement is confidential, and raised concerns that the Assembly would make the document public if it was provided to them.
“That is something of a concern to me,” Municipal Attorney Anne Helzer said during Tuesday’s Assembly meeting. “I have to take the precautions to protect the documents that, if released, may subject the municipality to liability. I need to make sure that I have done everything I can in the chain of custody to guard that possibility.”
Helzer’s comments drew a fiery rebuke from Assembly vice-chair Meg Zaletel, who asked Helzer, “Are you saying I’m a liar?”
“I would like the municipal attorney to answer whether or not she can’t take me at my word that I will keep it confidential because that’s what I’m hearing,” Zaletel said.
Helzer responded that she wasn’t accusing anybody, and didn’t think that Assembly members were being dishonest.
“The debacle I’m in is that I sat through a public work session where the motive of the Assembly at that time to issue these subpoenas was to obtain confidential documents for the purpose of discerning whether those documents should be made public,” Helzer said.
Several other Assembly members took issue with that position during a tense back and forth, including West Anchorage member Kameron Perez-Verdia.
“Frequently we are given information as members of this body, that we know that we are bound to keep them confidential,” Perez-Verdia said. “This is a common practice for us. So the idea that we would not be able to maintain that is offensive.”
The Assembly voted 9 to 2 to override the mayor’s veto, with Randy Sulte and Scott Myers opposed. In a statement Tuesday night, the mayor’s administration slammed the Assembly’s vote, saying members “seemed to lack basic understanding of confidentiality.”
The second veto from the mayor nixed an effort from the Assembly to assert that they should be involved in decisions related to the Eklutna River and any water restoration projects.
While the mayor described the effort as overreach, Assembly Chair Chris Constant said prior agreements related to the Eklutna Hydropower Project went through the Assembly before they were approved.
The veto was overridden by an 8 to 3 vote, with Karen Bronga joining Sulte and Myers in opposition.
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.
