At a work session of the Anchorage Assembly, members and municipal staff discussed AR 2025-271 S1, a proposal to support a National Civic League grant project aimed at improving public meetings and civic engagement. The discussion centered on whether the project should focus narrowly on strengthening the community council system or take a broader look at how Anchorage residents engage with municipal meetings. No vote was taken.

The issue matters because the grant project would help shape how the municipality studies barriers to participation and develops outreach or code-change recommendations. Assembly Member Bolland, the sponsor of the S1 version under discussion, told colleagues "there will be another substitute version that would restore the $5,000 of grant funding," signaling changes are forthcoming to meet the grant program's requirements.

Clerk's office and legislative services staff described existing outreach tools and recent improvements. The clerk noted that "the public portal for legislative documents...went live in June 2021," described Formstack as an in‑house testimony intake tool created during the COVID period, and explained that written comments received by Thursday at 5 p.m. are included on the meeting addendum. Claire Ross, legislative services director, outlined newsletter, civic‑education and outreach efforts and said the office has been expanding capacity for targeted constituent updates and events.

Outside partners and community representatives joined the conversation. Ariana Blizzi identified herself as executive director of the Federation of Community Councils and explained the federation's role as a nonprofit that represents delegates from individual community councils; Jesse Lavoie identified himself as CEO of YWCA Alaska and participated as a project partner. The project sponsor and outside partners disagreed about language and emphasis on the draft project website and survey: some assembly members said the draft site appeared to assume public‑meeting failures, while partner representatives said the website and survey remain drafts intended to be tailored in collaboration with local staff and stakeholders.

Assembly members raised specific concerns and objectives. Several members emphasized the value of the community council system as a vehicle for local input and said the project might usefully focus on technical support, bylaws consistency, outreach to underrepresented groups (renters, younger residents and BIPOC communities), and potential code amendments to Title 2/Title 21 sections that govern community councils. Other members pressed for a broader scope that would study barriers to participation across the municipality, not only within community councils.

On compliance with the National Civic League grant, Assembly members and staff reported that the S1 text as drafted lacked funding and sufficient local‑government participation to meet the grant terms; sponsors said a follow‑up substitute (S2 or S3) would address funding and participation concerns. A National Civic League representative communicated by email that the S1 did not comply with the grant requirements because it lacked funding and direct local‑government participation; sponsors said they expect to submit a revised version.

The work session clarified several operational points that staff can act on without ordinance change: Formstack submissions and the municipal public portal are already used to collect testimony and feed addenda; legislative services has produced targeted email updates for constituent groups on specific topics; and the federation provides technical support to community councils but is not a regulatory body. Staff and partners said survey questions and the public website are not yet live and will be developed collaboratively if the Assembly directs participation in the grant project.

Ending: The Assembly did not take formal action at the work session. Sponsors said they will circulate an S3 draft that restores funding and addresses grant requirements; members asked for the draft survey questions and for municipal staff to be included in future project‑design meetings. The conversation will continue in subsequent committee/work‑session meetings and in any formal ordinance or grant‑support resolution the Assembly may adopt.