Mayor Patty Gilbert motions to the audience at the Jan. 28 borough assembly meeting. During the meeting, the assembly passed the first reading of an ordinance that would eliminate the public vote currently needed to sell or lease borough-owned property valued at more than $1 million. There will be a public hearing on the ordinance on Feb. 11.
The borough assembly has passed the first reading of an ordinance to eliminate the requirement of a public vote to sell or lease borough-owned property worth more than $1 million, scheduling the ordinance for a public hearing and possible approval Feb. 11.
Lawyers had advised the borough that the public consent requirement in the municipal charter contradicts the state constitution.
The assembly unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance Jan. 28.
The approval process was used as recently as October 2022, when voters overwhelmingly gave the assembly the authority to sell or lease the former 6-Mile mill property - which the borough had purchased that summer for $2.5 million - if the borough could find a private developer interested in the land.
The Alaska Constitution prohibits municipalities from dedicating revenues or making appropriations based on a voter initiative or referendum.
The borough's contract attorney advised City Hall that Wrangell's charter provision is contrary to the constitution's prohibition on such votes.
"Legal precedents, including rulings by the Alaska Supreme Court and the Sitka Superior Court, have established that such requirements constitute impermissible voter vetoes of legislative appropriations," the attorney wrote in his report to the borough assembly. "These (court) rulings affirm that the allocation or disposition of municipal assets is exclusively within the legislative power of the borough assembly and cannot be subjected to voter approval."
"What the Alaska Supreme Court has held is that when you're dealing with appropriations, that's a legislative act," attorney Rob Luce explained at the Jan. 28 assembly meeting. "You (cannot) have an initiative that essentially usurps the power of the assembly."
Borough Manager Mason Villarma said he wanted to get ahead of the constitutional problem while the borough was not actively working on any $1 million deal.
"It would look really poor if we were to dispose of the old hospital for over $1 million and then bring up this item," Villarma said. "We just wanted to do this at a time when there were no sales pending."
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