OPINION: Former Anchorage municipal employees agree — Suzanne LaFrance should be our next mayor

Mass exodus of highly qualified employees, near-constant human resources complaints with expensive court settlements, incomplete accounting audits, record numbers of unhoused people, unplowed city streets, potholes across the city, illegal no-bid contracts, violations of the city’s charter, contracts to friends and relatives. Should we go on?

As former municipal employees, we write to share that this is not how our city was run in any administration prior to Dave Bronson’s and why we must make a change on May 14.

When we signed up to work for the Municipality of Anchorage, it was because we wanted to help make the city we call home a better place for our families and our neighbors. We loved coming to work because the projects we worked on and the environment in which we worked were productive and positive.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore, and you don’t have to take our word for it. The mayor’s own chief human resources officer cited “an increasingly toxic, hostile and demoralizing work environment” when he resigned last year. That’s just one of many people who have resigned during Dave Bronson’s term as mayor.

Mayor Bronson was elected with the campaign promise of “running the city like a business.” What business with an annual budget of just over $600 million — about $320 million of which is taxpayer dollars — does not successfully complete a timely and accurate financial audit? As of the end of April, our city’s 2022 financial audit is not complete. They haven’t even started on the 2023 audit.

And due to the rates of staff turnover under Mayor Bronson, the expensive outside consultants he hired to perform these basic accounting functions now report that receipts and records are missing.

What business would be allowed to operate like this? What business would look past these significant failures in leadership and keep the chief executive? None. Dave Bronson needs to be replaced.

We encourage you to join us in supporting Suzanne LaFrance because of her history of nonpartisan leadership, professional executive experience, and commitment to turning around our city. We’ve witnessed Suzanne listen to Anchorage residents, come alongside her colleagues to hammer out differences of opinion, and focus on solving problems. She understands the job, and she’s ready to do the job. That includes filling the more than 100 vacant positions at the Anchorage Police Department and staffing up the hundreds of unfilled positions across departments.

We’re at a pivotal point for our city, as more young professionals leave and take their economic earning power with them. Recruiting skilled workers is increasingly difficult due to poor city management. If we don’t make a change now, we will be paying for it for decades to come.

Our city looks very different than it did three years ago because of the failed policies and practices of Mayor Dave Bronson and his administration. We know it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time for competent, responsible leadership at City Hall. We hope you will join us in enthusiastically voting for Suzanne LaFrance in the May 14 election.

Jason Bockenstedt, former chief of staff; Austin Quinn-Davidson, former acting mayor; Bill Falsey, former municipal manager; David Ramseur, former chief of staff; Mike Abbott, former municipal manager; Ona Brause, former chief of staff; Anna Henderson, former municipal manager; Alex Slivka, former chief financial officer; Chris Schutte; Michael Johnson; Kendra Arciniega; Carolyn Hall; Nancy Burke; Sioux-z Marshall; Suzanna Caldwell; Shaina Kilcoyne; Leslie Ridle; Diane DiSanto; Erin Baca; Ira Slomski-Pritz and Christy Lawton are former employees of the Municipality of Anchorage.

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