Inspired by Anchorage, Palmer weighs new process for ousting mayor and council members

PALMER — The Palmer City Council will consider developing a process for removing the mayor or council members for “violations of public trust,” modeled after a rule created by the Anchorage Assembly.

The council directed Palmer City Attorney Sarah Heath to research and draft a proposal for the rule. Council member Victoria Hudson proposed the measure with support from council member Joshua Tudor. It was proposed during a Thursday special meeting held to examine possible missteps by Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington.

The Anchorage Assembly in 2022 passed an ordinance allowing for the removal of the Anchorage mayor. A similar ordinance for council members was already part of city code. The new rule was created in response to actions by now-former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, which one Assembly member described as “an illegal stretch of executive authority,” including bypassing a budget approved by the Assembly.

The Anchorage Assembly has never used the removal measure. Under the process, the Assembly must take a majority vote on the alleged grounds, conduct a legal review, hold a defense hearing, and confirm the removal with a two-thirds vote. Bronson lost a bid for reelection this summer.

Heath said she needs time to determine whether Palmer could adopt such a rule under Alaska law, which governs the authority of cities and boroughs.

“I can analyze what they’ve done and whether that’s something the city of Palmer could also do,” Heath said during the meeting. “Anchorage has different authorities.”

Heath said she would present a report after the December holidays.

Currently, both Palmer and Anchorage allow voters to initiate special recall elections to remove council members and mayors from office. In 2021, three Palmer council members were removed through such a vote. A recall petition filed this month against Mayor Steve Carrington is pending.

The 2022 Anchorage measure allowing the Anchorage Assembly to remove the mayor passed 9-3 after lengthy, chaotic meetings marked by jeers, boos and shouting. Supporters said the measure sets clear boundaries, while one Assembly member who voted against it argued that allowing the body to remove an elected official without voter approval crosses “a dangerous line.”

The Anchorage measure was proposed and passed during a period of intense conflict between the Anchorage mayor and the Assembly, including resignations, firings and investigations into top city staff and large settlements.

Carrington said he believes the power to remove an elected official should rest with voters.

“I don’t necessarily like the idea of recalls, but I at least understand them,” he said in an interview Friday. “The group that voted someone in should be the group that would unvote somebody, which would be the voters.”

The rule was proposed at Thursday’s Palmer meeting in response to Carrington’s decision to hire an outside attorney to prepare a severance agreement for the resignation of ousted Palmer City Manager Stephen Jellie. The attorney, Scott Brandt-Erichsen of Ketchikan, last consulted for the city in 2021.

Palmer’s code prohibits the mayor from entering into new contracts without council approval. Carrington’s decision to hire Brandt-Erichsen was an overstep of authority, Heath said during the meeting.

Jellie resigned Oct. 9 after an outcry over his personnel practices, which Heath said put the city at “imminent threat” of lawsuits. It was his third resignation in less than two years. Jellie received a $75,000 payout under the severance agreement, which also prevents the city and Jellie from suing or speaking negatively about each other. The council unanimously approved the agreement.

Council members Hudson and Carolina Graver, formerly Anzelloti, said they approved the agreement “under duress,” partly because they did not have enough time to review it. They said the council should have terminated Jellie under his original contract, which allowed for dismissal “for convenience” without the additional provisions.

Hudson also accused Carrington of working with Jellie to craft the agreement, which closely resembles a buyout Jellie signed in 2020 when he resigned from a position in Ogdensburg, New York.

Emails released by the council show Jellie contacted Brandt-Erichsen on Oct. 7 for advice on firing Palmer Police Chief Dwayne Shelton. On Oct. 9, Carrington contacted Brandt-Erichsen about the separation agreement after Jellie “suggested you might be able to crank one out easy enough,” Carrington told Brandt-Erichsen in an email.

Carrington said he was unaware that Jellie had also contacted Brandt-Erichsen and only learned of it after he began working on the separation agreement. He said Jellie’s suggestion referred to using any attorney for the document, not specifically Brandt-Erichsen.

Jellie denied telling Carrington to contact Brandt-Erichsen.

“I did not specifically suggest an attorney,” Jellie said in a statement Thursday. “I recommended, in the best interest of the city, that the council consider a settlement and mutual release document.”

Thursday’s meeting was the fifth Palmer City Council meeting since Jellie’s departure, all of which have included heated debates and public testimony about Jellie’s hiring, resignation and related actions.

Interim City Manager John Diumenti told the council that continuing such discussions distracts from city business, has lowered employee morale and is hurting the city’s ability to hire a new manager.

“I would just ask of you, dignity and respect, please,” he told the council. “Let’s move forward. Let’s move on.”

Republished with permission from the Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan online news source. Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.