Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner on Thursday previewed an ordinance to the Anchorage Assembly that would amend Title 8 of the municipal code to close gaps the office says hinder police and prosecutorial responses in public spaces.

"This proposes some limited changes to title 8, our penal code, specifically to the sections on indecent exposure and disorderly conduct to add in some conduct that currently, identified, you know, this conduct is happening. There's no response we can make," Gardner said, adding the goal is "to promote safety in public spaces by kind of re making sure that we have appropriate standards of conduct in our municipal code." (Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner)

The ordinance is intended to give law enforcement clearer grounds to engage with people whose behavior now falls outside enforceable municipal offenses; Gardner said that in some cases the new language would allow officers to pursue criminal enforcement and in others provide opportunities to link people to services.

Gardner also described ongoing work to coordinate municipal misdemeanor prosecutions with the state criminal division. "We have been talking to the state and are working on a collaboration to kinda pool some of our resources, and... make sure we meet and communicate about public safety so we can make sure that we're not having things slip through the cracks or we're not duplicating work," she said.

Why it matters: Anchorage city prosecutors handle misdemeanors while the state handles felonies; Gardner said siloed practice has historically limited coordination and the new partnership seeks to reduce duplication, improve case handling and strengthen public-safety responses.

What's next: Gardner said the ordinance is expected to appear on the committee addendum for introduction at the next Tuesday meeting, and more details will follow as the draft text is circulated.

Other legal items mentioned at the same briefing included a Charter 'housekeeping' amendment proposed for the ballot to remove outdated provisions (Gardner cited an obsolete section on management of the municipal telephone utility as an example). The mayor, who introduced Gardner's briefing, urged the committee to review the ordinance when it is posted to the agenda.

The committee did not take action on the ordinance at Thursday's meeting; Gardner's remarks were a preview and she said more information will be provided before introduction.