Assembly overrides Bronson. Covid mitigation plan to be enforced.

Today, at a Special Meeting of the Anchorage Assembly, the Assembly overrode Mayor Bronson's vetoes of AO 2021-92(S) and 2021-113(S). Both ordinances related to director confirmation and the Assembly asserting its authority over the Assembly Chambers respectively, had been passed by large enough margins that today's actions by the Assembly were not totally unexpected.

The vote to override Mayor Bronson's veto of AO 2021-92(S) related to director confirmation passed 9-2, with the vote by the Assembly to override AO-2021-113(S) also passing 9-2.

On Tuesday, Mayor Bronson wrote in a Facebook post that he vetoed AO 2021-113(S) because the ordinance violated Alaska State Statute and the Charter of the Municipality of Anchorage.

"It's clear that this power remains with whomever the Mayor is," Bronson wrote.

The Assembly, leaning on the legal advice of former Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey, overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Bronson's interpretation this afternoon.

At the conclusion of today's Special Meeting, the Assembly issued a press release stating that the ordinances "ensure that the Assembly has what it needs to effectively run its meetings and codifies understandings and practices that have prevailed for over 45 years."

Today's press release from the Assembly also states that the Assembly's COVID-19 Mitigation Plan will be enforced at future meetings until further notice and that masks or face coverings must be worn at all times during Assembly meetings in the Assembly Chambers and in the Wilda Marston Theatre Assembly meeting overflow space.

It'll be interesting to see how the Assembly's Mitigation Plan goes over with the Bronson Administration at the next meeting. I'm guessing...not so much. ?