Meg Zaletel, Anchorage Assembly vice chair, will not seek reelection

Anchorage Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel, who has represented Midtown since 2019, will not seek reelection next year.

The news was circulated on Tuesday in a fundraising email supporting the campaigns of three women running for the state Legislature. In the email, Zaletel said she is “reflecting on the end of my own time as an elected official and the role of being a woman on the Anchorage Assembly.”

Zaletel is finishing her second three-year term on the Assembly. She is also the executive director of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, a local nonprofit, and previously worked as an attorney with the Disability Law Center of Alaska.

“Spoiler — I’m not running in April for the Assembly, but I have a great introduction to make,” Zaletel said in the email. Zaletel did not say who she’ll introduce as a candidate for her seat.

The email was sent by the campaign for Carolyn Hall, a Democratic candidate for state House. Zaletel was also fundraising on behalf of Democratic Reps. Genevieve Mina and Donna Mears, who are running for reelection.

Zaletel confirmed her decision in a statement, saying she’s enjoyed working for Midtown residents.

“I am also very proud of the accomplishments of the Anchorage Assembly despite extraordinarily challenging times for the municipality,” Zaletel said. “At the end of my term, I look forward to getting to focus on my job with the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness and continue the positive momentum in addressing homelessness in Anchorage.”

Since taking the executive director job at the coalition in 2021, Zaletel has recused herself from many votes related to homelessness.

As an Assembly member, Zaletel has driven several legislative efforts to address Anchorage’s housing shortage. She recently sponsored a major change to city zoning rules that essentially eliminated single-family zoning by allowing duplexes to be built throughout the Anchorage Bowl.

Earlier this year, Zaletel revived legislation that moved forward the Holtan Hills project, a controversial large-scale housing development in Girdwood. And earlier this month, the Assembly approved an ordinance from Zaletel and two other members that requires short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo to give the city data on the growing vacation rental market.

Zaletel pushed for the city to create the Mobile Crisis Team, a fire department program that launched in 2020, which pairs a paramedic with a mental health clinician to respond to behavioral health crisis calls. Since then, Zaletel has advocated for its continued funding and for the program to operate 24/7.

She has also staunchly advocated for the owners of the Eklutna hydroelectric dam to replenish the full length of the river, in line with the desires of the Native Village of Eklutna, and driven legislation to advance the Port of Alaska Modernization Program.

In 2021, Zaletel handily overcame an effort to recall her from office, which arose amid intense clashes over homelessness and COVID-19 pandemic policies and the direction of politics in Anchorage. Zaletel largely supported the city’s pandemic restrictions and other policies at the time that some residents vehemently opposed.

The news of Zaletel’s coming departure from the Assembly comes one day after it was made public that East Anchorage Assembly member Karen Bronga is not running for reelection. Bronga formally endorsed Assembly candidate Yarrow Silvers as her chosen successor.

State records show that Erin Baldwin Day last month filed an intent to run for an Assembly seat, using a Midtown district address. Baldwin Day is the founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage.

Baldwin Day did not return a phone call and text message on Tuesday.

Assembly member Daniel Volland, who represents the North Anchorage district, has also filed his intent to run with the state.

The next Anchorage municipal election is scheduled for April 1, 2025.

No other candidates have filed with the state so far. Candidates often file their intent with the state ahead of the window to formally file with city election officials, which begins Jan. 10.

Six Assembly seats will be on the ballot, including the West Anchorage seat held by Kameron Perez-Verdia, the Chugiak/Eagle River seat held by Mark Littlefield, and member Randy Sulte’s South Anchorage seat.

Sulte will not be able to run for a second term in South Anchorage, because when the Assembly redrew its district boundaries in 2022, Sulte’s residence was bumped into the West Anchorage district.