Introducing EaglExit: Is Eagle River ready for a divorce?

Previously posted on Must Read Alaska:
https://mustreadalaska.com/is-eagle-river-ready-for-a-divorce/

(2019©donnliston.co)

By DONN LISTON

While many residents of the Railbelt from Eagle River to Eklutna were enjoying a cold one in their taxed-to-the-max Municipality of Anchorage home on Friday, other locals gathered at Lion’s Park Clubhouse to talk about quality of life — learning about EaglExit possibilities without Muni.org.

Michael Tavoliero presented the overview.

Happy folks who obviously knew and respected each other were sharing free pizza and water or coffee and talking about Eagle River detaching from the Municipality of Anchorage. Some 400 have already taken an on-line survey to express interest in the topic and they were ready to learn more about Eaglexit.

Kind of like a thinking about a divorce while you can still talk to each other.

Dan Kendall offered historical perspective

Following a Powerpoint presentation by Michael Tavoliero, former Anchorage Assembly member Dan Kendall reported on his experiences dealing with the Muni in various positions regarding a number of issues.

One guest speaker expressed surprise at how many people filled the room.

“When they asked me to talk about the requirements to detach from the Municipality of Anchorage and form your own local government, I thought it might be a handful of people, as is typically the case,” said Edgar Blatchford, a former commissioner of two state departments dealing with local government and economic development.

“Our constitution was written to encourage government decision-making at the level closest to the people so this is an appropriate discussion,” he said. Blatchford teaches at the University of Alaska.

Professor Blatchford explained requirements

for establishing a municipal government