Anchorage’s new administration officer cites staffing shortages as major challenge to city services

Anchorage Chief Administrative Officer Bill Falsey astatine Alaska Public Media connected Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Casey Grove/Alaska Public Media)

Alaska’s largest metropolis is facing staffing shortfalls crossed galore departments.

That’s 1 of nan cardinal takeaways from a modulation report put together by nan outgoing management of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, which turned complete nan keys to City Hall to Mayor Suzanne LaFrance astatine nan opening of July.

That modulation study was a “candid and sobering look” astatine nan authorities of nan city, says LaFrance’s main administrative officer, Bill Falsey.

Falsey was metropolis head nether nan Berkowitz management and says galore of nan challenges nan metropolis faces are not new.

Listen:

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This question and reply has been lightly edited for magnitude and clarity.

Bill Falsey: I deliberation what is different now is that it feels for illustration nan magnitude has grown significantly, and that nan pervasiveness has besides grown. So it’s gone sideways and wider and besides larger successful magnitude. And it’s affecting benignant of each corners of nan municipality. As I person tried to quantify these vacancies, you find them successful nan constabulary department, you find them successful Maintenance and Operations, which you tin deliberation of arsenic nan thoroughfare attraction folks who’re going to beryllium removing nan snowfall this winter, you find them successful nan utilities — Anchorage Water and Wastewater — successful Solid Waste Services. And moreover successful nan municipal Attorney’s Office, which has historical levels of vacancies, astatine slightest successful my experience.

Casey Grove: It was thing for illustration nan metropolis authorities has, like, 2,000-plus labor total, and that nan vacancies presently are location successful nan hundreds? Does that sound right?

BF: That’s right, it’s a small spot of a nuanced conversation, because you tin either see nan number of year-round labor aliases seasonal employees. You know, location are immoderate departments for illustration Parks and Recreation and Street Maintenance that unit up either for nan summertime play aliases for nan wintertime season. One measurement of counting, which I judge includes everybody, is you tin get up to 2800 employees. And if we’re trying to quantify those vacancies, I deliberation muni-wide, location were respective 100 unfilled positions. And successful bid of department, that look to beryllium successful nan main located successful nan Police Department, past successful Street Maintenance and Maintenance and Operations, successful nan Health Department, successful nan Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, successful Parks and Recreation, successful Transit, and Solid Waste Services and nan municipal Attorney’s Office. And each 1 of those has its ain communicative for why that has happened and what impacts that’s going to cause, and that whitethorn require their ain solutions. But it surely is pointing nan measurement into immoderate early activity for us.

CG: Gotcha. And I want to talk astir that a small bit, too. But successful wide strokes, I mean, why is staffing a problem? Or, you know, what are nan reasons?

BF: What comes done successful nan modulation study successful a number of departments is that it’s a operation of respective factors. But 1 of them is surely marketplace wages and really it has go progressively difficult to prosecute autobus drivers into nan municipality’s nationalist transit work system. It has been progressively difficult to woo snowplow graders who clasp commercialized driver’s licenses distant from nan schoolhouse district, who accrued their salaries and benefits successful consequence to, 2 summers ago, erstwhile nan schoolhouse autobus strategy was starting to crash, aliases arsenic compared to nan North Slope aliases to nan Association of General Contractors statement rates.

It’s besides nan lawsuit that successful immoderate of nan departments that nan municipality, successful nan COVID era, did what everyone did, and everyone went afloat remote. And by and large, nan municipality aft COVID did what astir employers did not do and called everybody backmost home. And truthful there’s been immoderate frustration, I think, pinch nan deficiency of teleworking opportunities and distant moving opportunities, and those are things that we can, that we’re looking into arsenic well.

CG: I mean, surely salary must beryllium a large 1 for individual employees. And I cognize this is beautiful simplistic measurement to inquire this question, but can’t you conscionable salary group more?

BF: Ah, tin we conscionable salary group more? The reply is, of course, yes, but pinch constraints. So nan municipality has 9 different unions, aliases astatine slightest 9 different bargaining units, who correspond our labor and our workforce. We person executives, non-reps and past IBEW, IBEW technicians, plumbers, section operating engineers, etc. So your mobility was, “Can you conscionable salary group more?” The reply is, first, nan mayor, immoderate administration’s, expertise to salary group much is somewhat constricted by nan process of having to spell done corporate bargaining statement negotiations. Assuming you tin get that to conclusion, you person to person Assembly support and yet person to person a intends to salary for it. And successful our taxation cap-limited jurisdiction, that tin beryllium a non-trivial exercise, to fig retired really you tin make those kinds of adjustments.

CG: Is that a measurement of saying, I mean, you know, for group that don’t know, nan immense mostly of money that nan metropolis brings successful is from spot taxes, right?

BF: That’s right.

CG: And do you feel, I mean, does nan management feel, constrained by that, successful position of being capable to salary group more?

BF: Well, nan taxation headdress is objectively a constraint. I don’t deliberation it’s a constraint for this administration, it’s a constraint for each administration. There is nary free manus to say, “I will, you know, incur expenses that meet marketplace conditions sloppy of nan existent effect to taxpayers.” And successful that regard, that taxation headdress decidedly focuses immoderate difficult conversations astir tradeoffs and what you tin do pinch it and what you tin do without. It does mean that if you look astatine nan existent level of vacancies and wished that location are immoderate pockets of nan municipality wherever it is difficult to bring group successful nan doorway because they tin make a batch much crossed nan street, that it is not simple, location is nary magic wand solution to addressing that problem.

One of nan different things that was besides emphasized successful nan modulation study is really nan municipality is besides dealing pinch nan modulation to a era wherever we conscionable don’t get nan level of authorities support that we utilized to. So I judge you tin find successful nan modulation report, and surely it has been reported that, for instance, from nan precocious ’90s to 2014, we received from nan authorities almost half a cardinal dollars to build aliases support roads. And from 2015 guardant that fig was $2 million. If you spell backmost to nan ’80s, a immense proportionality of nan municipality’s operating fund was conscionable a assistance that came from nan state. That is not nan lawsuit astatine each now, and nan municipality, wide government, is complete half a cardinal dollars operating fund and immoderate azygous digit number of millions comes from nan authorities to support that. So portion of what I deliberation is coming location to roost is nan municipality having to make do much aforesaid sufficiently and without nan accepted authorities support that it received successful nan go-go era of nan the higher lipid value days successful nan ’80s and moreover successful nan ’90s.

CG: One point I wanted to inquire you, you know, because you were nan metropolis head anterior to nan Bronson administration, and you’re coming backmost successful arsenic nan main administrative officer, truthful I mean, you’ve sewage a pretty, you know, heavy experience, I think, pinch nan city: Do these issues spell back, you know, beyond nan Bronson administration, earlier nan Berkowitz management and really acold and really heavy I guess?

BF: Yeah, immoderate yes and immoderate no. If you return for example, nan Police Department, it was a large workout successful nan early 2015, ’16, ’17 era to tally a batch of constabulary academies and effort to bring nan Police Department backmost to what was recommended to beryllium afloat status. And by and large, that was accomplished. And now we find ourselves successful nan building present successful 2024, and nan Police Department is backmost astatine double digit vacancy. And truthful immoderate of these things are what is aged is caller again. Some of them person been benignant of changeless challenges. So I mentioned nan fleet, nan fleet was a benignant of known rumor for a very agelong time. I deliberation what is different astir it now is that it seems for illustration nan magnitude of nan situation has grown. So it was an unsolved problem. … I deliberation that has grown complete time, and is now overmuch harder problem to solve.

CG: And pinch that problem, successful particular, pinch nan aging fleet pinch for illustration constabulary cars, and snowplows, you know, I deliberation we heard that immoderate of nan snowplows successful peculiar are benignant of astatine nan max of nan number of hours for illustration nan motor should person run. Is location superior money that comes from different places? And, you know, conscionable successful general, I mean, like, really do you woody pinch that?

BF: Yeah, that’s right. So we have, for example, 30 graders that plow nan snowfall each winter, and nan oldest of nan graders is from 2002. We person a batch of graders from 2008, 2009, 2010, immoderate that are arsenic caller arsenic 2022. A batch of those graders person a number of hours connected them. So astir half of nan fleet has much than 10,000 hours, which, erstwhile I talked to nan fleet attraction folks, they opportunity that’s astir nan clip that you should expect problems to beryllium arising successful these machines. And that came location to roost for us. As I understand it, portion of nan situation from past wintertime was that a batch of nan instrumentality was breaking, and past it was retired for service. So moreover though we whitethorn person had nan manpower, nan personification power, to thrust nan grater, nan grater wasn’t really available. How do you lick that? You know, that intends uncovering money wrong nan existing fund aliases going to voters and saying, “Do we want to rumor a enslaved to bargain immoderate caller graders?” And I deliberation we’re exploring each of those options now.

CG: Are we going to get to sanction a grader, if we get for illustration a caller snowplow? Can we sanction it something, we ballot to sanction that?

BF: That’s travel up respective times, actually, truthful maybe, possibly so, possibly so. What would you sanction nan grader?

CG: I support reasoning Bladey McBlade face, but I deliberation somebody…

BF: That’s, yeah, I consciousness that. Yeah.

CG: Well, I mean, again, you know, pinch your erstwhile acquisition pinch nan Berkowitz administration, and, you know, coming backmost successful now pinch nan LaFrance administration, you’ve publication this report. Overall, really do you consciousness astir nan authorities of nan city, and I guess, you know, nan city’s expertise to present services?

BF: Overall, I still americium really optimistic astir nan value of nan group who are astatine nan municipality and nan dedication of those individuals to make it hap for everybody. And coming caller backmost retired of nan bullpen and afloat of nan enthusiasm of nan alleviation pitcher now taking to nan field, and truthful I consciousness for illustration each of that is pointing successful nan correct direction. And further, that moreover though nan magnitude of nan challenges is large, location are solutions to astir of these problems. And so, you know, I don’t travel in, publication nan modulation study and past commencement to person buyer’s remorse and say, “Oh no, really is this ever going to work?” But I do think, “Oh, there’s not going to beryllium a shortage of things to activity on.”