At each Regular Assembly Meeting, Chair Christopher Constant gives a report on recent community events and issues of interest before the Assembly. If you missed the Chair's Report, you can catch up below.
February 3, 2026
View the recording of the remarks.
Good evening everybody and welcome to our regular business meeting.
Property Appraisals
One of the topics we’ll be talking about tonight is property appraisals – one of the hot topics of recent weeks, as it is almost every year at this time with the green cards out and the appeal period open.
I wanted to share that the Assembly had a very informative worksession last Friday with the Administration on this year’s property appraisals. A lot of information and pretty technical, but the bottom line is that we are in the process now and the Assembly’s role is in the role of the appellate body, which we have referred off to the Board of Equalization to do on our behalf.
In that worksession, we learned that the Property Appraisal Division can often resolve issues before the appeal stage, and that the appeal deposit will is always refunded if you just attend your hearing or notify the Division in advance that you plan to drop your appeal. Historically, numbers of people signed up for appeals and then didn’t show at their hearings, causing the Board of Equalization to spend a lot of unnecessary time and resources. So the appeal fee is fully refundable, except in cases where you don’t show up – even if you lose your appeal, you will get that money back.
So, please, if you do feel that your assessment is inaccurate, call the division and file your appeal before the 11th of February. A link to a recording of that meeting, as well as other information on property appraisals and taxes can be found on the
Assembly’s Budget and Taxes webpage.
Youth Voter Drive
As many of you have seen, we have Youth Representatives that join us on the dais for each of these meetings to contribute the youth perspective to the Assembly’s work. Each year, the youth representatives choose an issue to work on, and this year, Kennedy Bowser, Jacob Lavarias and Gwyneth Eggleston are working on a youth voter registration drive. This work builds upon the work of last year’s cohort.
Tonight, you will see their resolution kicking off the youth voter registration drive and we will register Jacob and Gwyneth to vote in their first election, which happens on April 7th. A reminder that if you will be 18 by April 7, you can register to vote even if you’re only 17 now. Ballots packages will be mailed out March 17. And, if there are any members of the public here tonight who are 18 or will be 18 by April 7, and would like to register to vote here tonight – you can join us.
January 27, 2026
View the recording of the remarks.
Good evening everyone and welcome to our regular business meeting.
Property Appraisals
As the Municipal Manager mentioned, the big topic of the week is the property assessments. We’ve heard from a number of folks about seeing some big increases in values this year. First of all, if you believe your assessment is incorrect, there is a process in place with the Assessor’s Office to make appeals. There is no charge to call their office to do an informal review. The deadline to file an appeal is February 11. More info at
muni.org/pa.
I’m told by the Property Appraisal Division that the appeal deadline is set by state law of thirty days. If you get a new green card if your property is reassessed, the thirty day clock starts when those are sent.
Second, I want to say thank you to the Assessor’s Office and the Property Appraisal Division. It’s hard work and it happens all at once and mistakes do happen. So this process of correction is built into our system, and is in fact why the state law provides thirty days after the cards go out for the appeal process, because everyone realizes that government is run by actual people and not machines.
So, I just want to say thank you to the department for their work and for their responsiveness when hearing from a number of us about properties that clearly had some error in their assessments.
Despite what is being said, they are professionals who are deeply dedicated to the success of our community and have a goal to do assessments fairly, accurately and transparently. They recently refined their process model to better align with the International Association of Assessing Officers standards, in following with recent changes to state law, and while there might be some bumps along the way, these improvements will make our assessments fairer over time.
Now there has been some conversation about the difference in assessed value and its relation to taxation. Those two things are slightly different. The levy that gets set at the end of the year is multiplied by your value and that’s how we get to the tax rate, but at this point, the assessment process is really doing a comparison of your share of the total municipal cost, not how much you will pay. That is an April question.
So, the bottom line is that housing prices are increasing across the municipality, and across the country. Until we build more housing and stabilize home prices, more people will continue to see your assessments rise each year. However, a rise in your home value does not necessarily mean a corresponding increase in your taxes. And that may be a conversation where we go a little deeper in a future worksession or Budget and Finance Committee or Budget Advisory Commission meeting. These are places where the public who are wanting more information can follow along.
If you are interested in being part of the appeals process, we are always recruiting for Board of Equalization experience. So I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that. If you have some property or legal experience, I hope you consider making an application to serve on the Board of Equalization. Those who serve sit on three-member panels who sit in judgement on appeals made after the department has done their job to review. To learn more or apply, send an email to the Municipal Clerk's Office at
wwmasmc@anchorageak.gov. We would love to have you serve.
Both the Mayor and Assembly have put out fact sheets and more information on this topic, so I encourage you to go to muni.org to look at these and learn more about how property assessments and taxation work.
Elections in April
The next big issue for us tonight is finalizing the propositions that will go on the ballot in the upcoming April 7th election.
We have a full slate of bond proposals to consider tonight in the 14s on the agenda. If you’re here to testify on one of those items, you’ll see a Clerk’s Note at the top of the 14s that reflects my intent to begin taking public testimony on bond and ballot proposals as soon as possible after 6 p.m. The other big deadline this week is that the filing period for candidates closes this Friday, January 31 at 5pm.
Once the propositions and candidate lists are finalized, the elections will be in full swing. The last day to register to vote is March 8. A reminder that if you will be 18 by April 7, you can register to vote even if you’re only 17 now. Ballots packages will be mailed out March 17. This year the last day to vote will be April 7 at 8pm.
Next Meeting
Finally, a note that due to the way the calendar falls this year, the next Assembly meeting will be next week, February 3rd and we won’t have our typical two-week break between meetings, so you’ll note that anything introduced tonight can’t be heard next week because they won’t meet the public notice timeline, so they will be heard at the February 17th meeting.
January 13, 2026
View the recording of the remarks.
Good evening everyone and welcome to the first Assembly meeting of the new year. Members, I’m sure you were grateful for the four-week interlude that we just had, and for the opportunity to spend some time with friends and family, away from this work. And now, we are back, so welcome.
Snow Plowing
I also want to echo what the Mayor had mentioned about snow removal. I have seen some of the maintenance challenges in this town, and the worst conditions that I continue to see are on facilities managed by other entities. It is really challenging that some of those main roads continue to be quite dangerous.
In fact, this morning, I had a friend reach out to me to say they saw a car flip over on C Street. But that said, last week I attended the Fairview community council meeting and it was quite remarkable to hear the positive gratitude coming from members of that community, which is a highly pedestrian neighborhood, who are grateful for the marked improvement in snow management in the district.
And so, my thanks also to the Maintenance and Operations team, Superintendent and everyone who is driving those plows and the equipment out there. Check out
muni.org/plow to watch our amazing team do the work. Thank you again.
Martin Luther King Day Free Legal Help
Next week, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day, which is a holiday on a Monday, but generally speaking, for many people, it is a day of service.
I’d like to point folks who might need legal help to the Martin Luther King Day Free Legal Help clinic, which has been held for many years at the Mountain View Community Center. The clinic, held by the Alaska Bar Association will be on Monday, January 19th from 12-4pm. Local attorneys and legal associations offer free legal consultations for low to moderate income Alaskans on a first come, first served basis. It’s civil law – they don’t do criminal law consultations.
If you have limited financial resources and are struggling with an issue with your landlord, child support, your place of employment, or any other issue that may have a legal aspect, I strongly encourage you to attend this event and get the support you need.
And to the attorneys of our community, I thank you for providing this valuable service and if you haven’t signed up to help, contact the Bar Association to see how you can get involved.
Elections in April
Also of importance to the Municipality and its people in April is the election. And in fact, this Friday, the election season begins in earnest when the filing period opens for candidates. The filing period will be open through January 31 at 5pm
This year the last day to vote will be April 7th. Ballots go out in March and over the next two meetings, we’ll be reviewing the proposals for what will go on the ballot for bonds, levies and potential charter amendments. The final date for action on those items will be our next meeting on January 27th. I encourage you to read over the bond proposals in the 10.G. section of the agenda and email your Members or testify at the January 27 meeting. Those items will go along with six Assembly seats that will be on the ballot.
Youth Voter Registration
Also, as we near the elections, I want to make a special pitch to high school seniors in town. Many seniors will be 18 in time to vote in our upcoming municipal election, so I highly encourage you to register and vote. Even if you are 17 now, as long as you turn 18 on or before election day, which is April 7, you can register to vote.
Our Youth Representatives and Election team are working on a voter drive to get eligible teens registered to vote this spring, so if you know of someone who recently turned 18, or turns 18 before April 7, please help us get the word out to them.
You can learn more about registering to vote and find other election information at
muni.org/elections.
December 16, 2025
View the recording of the remarks.
Laid on the Table Items
We generally have a policy to be pretty restrictive of laid on the table items, but at this point, we've asked the Administration to do as much as possible to get critical, time-sensitive items to us tonight because we don't want to have to exercise the worst option which is meeting next Tuesday at noon for a special meeting if, in fact, any time critical items arise that have to be passed before the end of the year. We don't have any items on that list and we would hope to keep no items on that list so we don't have to convene one more time before the end of the year. Hopefully this is it.
Solstice this Weekend
I will note that the Solstice is almost upon us, and I'm grateful that the light will start to come back. I'll join the Mayor in recommending folks come out and celebrate the Parks Department's annual Winter Solstice festival at Cuddy Park this Friday, December 19th 5PM to 8PM, free with activities like ice skating in a photo booth with Santa's reindeer as well as cocoa by the fire. I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy our uniquely Alaskan solstice experience.
Looking to the Calendar
As this is the final meeting of the year due to the way the counter falls, our next meeting won't be for 4 weeks, as the mayor noted. I can't remember a time when we had 4 weeks between meeting so please take your time and enjoy it. You've earned it.
Thanks to the hard work of the Municipal Manager, the department heads, Clerk's Office, and everyone else to get our year-end materials all squared away early, hopefully we don't need that special meeting.
Year End Reflections
Finally, happy New Year! As the New Year approaches. I want to reflect a bit on where we've comments community over the past year. We have had challenges. We have turned those challenges into opportunities.
I think upon our friends from Western Alaska who joined our community from the tropical storm, Halong, and then our school district. How the city has taken on the challenge of having year-round shelter in supporting people. How we as a city supported furloughed workers providing as many opportunities and benefits for them to have continuity in their life. And also, of course, the kindness that just exists in our community. That happens every day and every small way.
This Assembly has taken on some pretty complex questions. The question about camping in public and the laws around that. Dealing with challenges of homelessness and improving our response. Public safety challenges in our town.
Of course, wrestling with the question of how we address our financial situation as costs increase but revenues do not. As we've learned over the past year, nobody is coming to save us. Our future will be determined by those who love this community and its people.
And it's challenging. Over the 9 years I've been on this body, we have been forced to find efficiencies and kind of engage in the process of picking up the slack where others have lost their ability to fund or their willingness to fund their responsibilities in our town. And we have done it but the challenges increase. We've had to work to support each other. And we continue to do so.
So, I encourage you to join one of the many holiday festivities being offered around town and take time to connect with your neighbors and celebrate the what it means to be part of this really special community at this really special time of year.
And to my colleagues, I am glad and look forward to us getting through our agenda tonight because once we're done, hopefully it's holiday season for the rest of the year.