Voters will decide whether the city’s top medical officer needs Assembly approval in order to serve, a measure that grew out of public health disagreements at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
Anchorage ballot measure on chief medical officer has roots in pandemic disputes between mayor and AssemblyJohn Weddleton, left, then a member of the Anchorage Assembly, speaks with Mayor Dave Bronson before a meeting at which the Assembly heard public comment on a proposed mask ordinance on September 30, 2021.
“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” Bronson said in an interview this week. “There are so many other things the Assembly should be focused on ... They need to stay out of the mayor’s operations, they need to stay out of my business.
“Despite the importance of position, there currently exists no provision of Code which establishes or provides any real definition to the position,” read a November$5M bond for 10 public restrooms will be on Anchorage election ballotsThat measure clarified the official role and duties of the position, and added a requirement to the qualifications that the person must have completed an accredited residency.
Anchorage Health Department chief medical officer Dr. Michael Savitt testified during the regular assembly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Volland said that while the ballot measure is an outgrowth of that resolution, he does not view it as a referendum on Savitt or his job performance. But he added that he was moved by doctors and health care providers attending a
Bronson said Savitt had been inaccurately depicted as opposing masking and vaccinations during the pandemic, which was not the case. The mayor said Savitt has supported those measures but emphasized that they were choices best left up to individuals, an approach the two shared. Bronson said Savitt had even pushed him to get vaccinated against COVID.Though he is not in favor of the measure, he supports letting voters decide on its fate at the ballot.
One person who doesn’t totally disagree with that analysis is Assembly Chair Chris Constant, who favors amending the code to require the chief medical officer be approved by the body.
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