The Anchorage Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday saying the state should keep its Anchorage legislative offices downtown, as lawmakers mull a move to Spenard.
The resolution, proposed by downtown Assemblyman Patrick Flynn, passed 7-4. State legislators have been eyeing the Wells Fargo building in Spenard for new offices, after a judge invalidated the state's lease on its Fourth Avenue building as illegal.
Flynn said he wanted to remind state officials that the city's comprehensive plan and land use regulations say government offices should be located downtown. Legislative leaders say no decisions have been made yet, but they're looking to cut costs.
Assemblyman Bill Evans of South Anchorage, who voted against the resolution, said he supported keeping the LIO downtown but didn't think the Assembly should weigh in. Others observed that it's unlikely the Assembly's action would have any influence on the state.
Assembly members Flynn, Eric Croft, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Tim Steele, Pete Petersen, Forrest Dunbar and John Weddleton voted in favor of the resolution, and Assembly members Bill Starr, Amy Demboski, Evans and Dick Traini voted against it.
The Assembly also passed ordinances relating to workers' compensation expenses and fraud protection Tuesday.
Workers' comp insurance claims
City officials say Anchorage saw a large spike in projected expenses associated with workers' compensation claims in 2015, to the tune of about $6.2 million.
Those additional expenses included a resurrected claim made by an Anchorage police officer who was shot in the line of duty in 1981. Since the original claim, the officer has required additional treatment associated with the injury, said city manager Mike Abbott.
The Assembly on Tuesday approved the additional funding, which comes out of a special insurance fund that is set up to pay the claims.
Each year, the city conducts an actuarial review of outstanding workers' compensation claims, to make sure there's enough money to cover the claims -- most of which date back years, Abbott said.
"This year's review identified a number of claims that are likely to be especially expensive," Abbott said.
He said several other cases were related to a change in state law several years ago that gave workers' comp eligibility to firefighters who had certain medical conditions presumed to be job-related.
Another case involved a city employee who won a state Workers Compensation Board decision that was "very unfavorable" against the city, according to documents submitted to the Assembly. Abbott declined to go into details about the case.
Abbott said the city almost always has to adjust workers' comp insurance funding. But he said $6.2 million is "certainly larger" than in recent years.
The documents say the money may be paid out over a number of years, or not at all. Either way, city officials have to show auditors the accounting for the liabilities, Abbott said.
Assemblyman Eric Croft of West Anchorage, a workers compensation lawyer, recused himself from debating and voting on the issue, saying he had litigated some of the firefighter compensation claims against the city before he was elected to the Assembly.
Local fraud, whistleblower law strengthened
The Assembly also on Tuesday approved an ordinance proposed by city attorney Bill Falsey that strengthens prohibitions against fraud, expanding beyond city employees or specific situations like tobacco or room tax evasion.
Falsey said the ordinance sets up a complaint system that allows private parties to bring instances of fraud to the attention of city officials.
The ordinance also extends whistleblower protection beyond city employees to anyone who reports fraud being perpetrated against the city.
Falsey said in an interview he wasn't aware of an actual situation that went unaddressed because the law didn't exist. But he called it a "missing part of the city's legal infrastructure" that he noticed in his review of city codes since he started his job last July.
He said the ordinance is modeled after federal False Claims Act, which covers fraud against any federally funded contract or program, excluding tax fraud. The Anchorage law excludes small tax claims of less than $10,000 and all property tax claims.
An Evans amendment changed the ordinance's proposed statute of limitations from six years to three.