Assembly Member Aaron Baldwin Day introduced a request at a July 25 Anchorage Assembly work session for the body to consider supporting a year-long, grant-funded pilot of the Better Public Meetings project led by the National Civic League and local partners.

The project team — including Nick Balos of the National Civic League, Ariana Belizzi of the Federation of Community Councils and Jesse Lavoie (project partner) — told the assembly the effort is intended to expand who participates in municipal decision-making by combining a community survey, a "civic scorecard" (a short public-meeting feedback form), and community-led pilot events such as facilitated deliberations and participatory theater.

"We can build better trust between elected officials and city staff with community by better processes," said Nick Balos, who described the National Civic League's prior work in Boulder, Colo.; Mesa, Ariz.; and Fayetteville, N.C. The project is funded by a grant that will cover the National Civic League's participation, the presenters said.

Why it matters: organizers said Anchorage's existing community council network and active civic culture create an opportunity to test new meeting formats and reach residents who do not normally attend municipal meetings. The project team asked the assembly to identify at least two members to champion the effort and to support deploying the civic scorecard at assembly and community council meetings as a baseline data collection tool.

Key elements and timeline: presenters described a two-part civic infrastructure scan (interviews, document review and a public survey) and scorecard deployment during the fall and budget season, followed by community deliberations and pilot implementations the following spring. They asked the assembly to avoid scheduling conflicts with budget season; their stated timeline calls for a project kickoff in August, a National Civic League visit in late September–early October, continuing work through the budget season, and implementation beginning around May (a roughly 12‑month project scope). The presenters said the grant fully covers the National Civic League contract work.

Scope and limits: project staff said the initial scope focuses on the assembly as the city's decision-making body and the community council system as a readily available network for outreach, while the public survey and targeted invitations would reach residents beyond those two channels. "The idea being, what are the suggestions that would best work for Anchorage?" Baldwin Day said. Presenters repeatedly said the effort is community-led and voluntary for councils or other bodies that choose to participate.

Questions from assembly members centered on representativeness and reach. "I would like to know... what your plans are to go beyond community councils because I think one of the biggest complaints... is that they're not representative," said Assembly Member Yaro Silvers. Presenters answered that the survey is open to anyone, that partner organizations will be asked to push outreach into communities that are underrepresented at municipal meetings, and that signups from the public survey will be used to invite people to deliberative pilots and theater events.

Staff support and next steps: Claire Ross, assembly legislative services director, said her office "is really supportive of this" and offered help with outreach and logistics. Baldwin Day said a draft resolution to invite the National Civic League to work in Anchorage is on the table for introduction the following week and that he would serve as one champion; presenters asked the assembly to name at least one more member to co‑champion the effort. No vote or formal action occurred at the July 25 session.

What remains undecided: the assembly has not yet adopted a formal resolution or allocated any municipal funds for the project; presenters requested only that the assembly endorse the engagement and provide champions to work with partners. Several members asked staff and the project team to exchange technical questions about open‑meetings rules and to consider edits to the draft resolution before introduction.

Background: presenters said the National Civic League's Better Public Meetings project has produced implementable changes in other cities, including facilitated study‑session formats in Boulder and youth problem‑solving events in Mesa. Organizers described the civic scorecard as a short, meeting‑level feedback tool (likened to a "Yelp" for meetings) that can be deployed at assembly sessions, community councils and other public meetings if the assembly chooses to expand the model.

Organizers closed by urging the assembly to approve the introduction of a resolution and to identify additional assembly champions; no formal motion or vote was taken at the work session.