Alaska’s municipalities committed to making a difference

The Alaska Municipal League, or AML, is holding its 69th Annual Local Government Conference this week, with nearly 1,000 elected officials and municipal employees attending. It’s always an exciting and educational time for our membership-based organization, which is composed of 160 city and borough governments from across Alaska. It is an opportunity for AML to continue to meet its mission to support and strengthen local governments.

Local governments are closest to the people. It is at the local level that you are both a voter and a taxpayer. It is at the local level where you have direct and timely access to your assembly or council members, who meet regularly throughout the year. It is at the local level that you can provide feedback on the kind of community you want to live in. In many communities across Alaska, you help contribute to the success of schools; you ask for more or different policing; you vote on whether to build a swimming pool, library or park; you demand efficient snow plowing and road maintenance.

It is at the local level where elected officials are directly responsive to you as a resident. They hear from you every other week at their assembly or council meetings. They read your comments in the local paper and get calls from you when something’s not quite going right. They love it when you’re happy and work hard when you’re not.

I know that it does work like this in many communities, and even often. It can work like this when local government leaders have the capacity they need to deliver on your expectations. What does that look like?

Part of AML’s role is to share best practices and lessons learned with your city and borough officials. We do that during trainings throughout the year and also by sharing information regularly with our members. We also support the different associations in Alaska that support professional development of municipal employees — finance officers, attorneys, clerks, etc. These networks of professionals, as well as AML, have national counterparts that we all draw from. Together, we can expand capacity by strengthening capabilities and competency.

Another leg of the stool is policy-driven. As political subdivisions of the state, local governments face downward pressure from state decision-making, which can limit their ability to be responsive; or increasingly this comes in the form of cost-shifting. We’ve seen an erosion long-term in the base support that the state provides its local governments — what is now Community Assistance, if adjusted for inflation against what it was in 1985, should be 984% greater than it is today. Today’s challenging fiscal environment, too, means that when the state doesn’t reimburse for something that it used to, or requires more from a local government, then that means less for the programs that you care about, or increased taxes. Resources are a big part of a local government’s capacity.

Finally, capacity comes down to a strong and effective working relationship between elected officials and municipal employees. Mayors and assembly or council members are responsible for governance in their communities, and are directly accountable to voters. But they also have talented teams in place — managers or administrators, finance officers, and municipal clerks, among others, who have expertise and specific knowledge that contributes to successful implementation of any policy directive.

The theme of this year’s annual conference is, “Working Together, Making a Difference.” That’s a thread found throughout these areas of capacity-building. Together, elected officials and municipal employees can improve the quality of life for residents and success of Alaska businesses. Together, the state and local governments can ensure that solutions to the state’s challenges take into account the trade-offs faced at the local level. And together, we can learn from one another, share best practices, and contribute to a deeper knowledge base. AML is proud to have some small role in this, and of members who are committed to making a difference together.

Nils Andreassen is the Executive Director of the Alaska Municipal League. AML’s membership is composed of incorporated cities and boroughs, and offers best practices, support services and advocacy to its members. Its 69th Annual Conference occurs at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, Nov. 18-22.

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