The Haines Borough Assembly voted Tuesday to have manager David Sosa and clerk Julie Cozzi ensure code and policy are aligned when it comes to how items get on the assembly’s agenda.
The vote follows a recent presentation by resident Mike Denker to the Government Affairs and Services Committee, where Denker argued code and policy are in conflict.
While code dictates any correspondence addressed to the assembly and delivered to the clerk by the deadline must be included in the packet, Denker said, policy states “placement on a borough assembly agenda is not guaranteed.”
Denker addressed the assembly again Tuesday, stating the borough’s policy that allows for a “screening” process to take place is in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
As the policy allows the Mayor and manager to “screen” items for the agenda — for example, to decide if an item isn’t within the assembly’s purview or if it isn’t “ready” to come before the assembly – it violates a person’s First Amendment rights to petition the assembly, Denker said.
Instead of following policy, the borough should be following its code, Denker said.
“Following the code allows the assembly to decide if enough information is provided or if a matter is within the assembly’s purview. Thus, following the code protects a person’s First Amendment rights, while policy does not,” Denker said.
Denker asked for his four-page argument to be posted publicly and for the borough to respond to it, point by point, “so that the public can be presented with both sides of the argument.”
Assembly member Ron Jackson said he supported staff looking into Denker’s allegations.
“It seems like it would be nice to put this question to rest here, because there’s basically a challenge that says there may be something illegal about this, the way we are doing it,” Jackson said.