Eaglexit is a group comprised of people from the greater Chugiak-Eagle River area. We are Assembly District 2 (AD2) within the Municipality of Anchorage. AD2 extends from Eklutna to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. We formed this group to explore the idea of bringing self-governance closer to our residents. One way of doing that is to create a new borough. AD2, with its 1050 square miles of land and 50,000 people would, we feel, be a lovely and meaningful addition to our state as Chugach Regional Borough.
The process of detachment and incorporation all starts with a written petition, charter, and a legal brief. We have completed these items and turned them into the Local Boundary Commission (LBC) for review.
This is the biggest and most complex boundary change in the history of our state. It is a multi-billion-dollar transaction. We aim for self- governance, a public involved government, quality education for our children and tighter fiscal control.
When an Alaskan community, through growth and maturity, is ready for self-government what can it do?
From the state’s website, “The Local Boundary Commission was created by the Constitution of the State of Alaska to ensure that arguments for and against proposals to create or alter municipal governments are analyzed objectively and take area wide and statewide needs into consideration.”
The Local Boundary Commission (LBC) procedures and timeline for a petition for the Eaglexit changes are very straightforward once a petition, legal brief and charter are written. Eaglexit has completed these documents.
The LBC staff will perform a draft review of the petition, charter and legal brief. If corrections are needed, documents will be returned to Eaglexit for correction. Once corrections are made the signature collection process can proceed. Once signatures are collected the entire package is resubmitted to the LBC for formal review as described below. The signatures must be collected no more than one year prior to the submittal of the petition.
The timeline for LBC action as outlined below is approximately 422 days once the petition, legal brief and charter are submitted to LBC staff, however, this can change.
The LBC chart of the procedure and timeline is on the next page.
Conclusion–
- We have filed a petition to detach and incorporate from the MOA with the LBC for a technical review. If it is approved, we will have one year to collect signatures.
- With Signatures we plan to give it to the LBC to start their analysis. This will be an 18 month to 2-year process. The public is notified of the process and information is provided.
3. The LBC staff will analyze the petition, and input from public will be received
4. More public hearings
5. The petition is approved or denied
6. If approved, the people will vote on detachment or a recommendation will be given to the state legislature for action.
If successful, there is a two-year transition process to break away from MOA. For more information please see our website at the following qr code.
As Lee Jordan asked on October 29, 1975, “Will the people of Chugiak-Eagle River have the opportunity to control their own destiny, or must they forever remain subject to what has been decreed for them by Anchorage?”
Eaglexit has been dedicated to getting the petition drafted, finalized, and submitted to the LBC. It will take money for media, polling, and most importantly and costly is legal assistance. Please consider supporting the creation of the next new borough in Alaska. As anticipated by our founders, when communities grow and are ready to become independent, it is right that they do so.
It takes all of us!
Time – Raise money, get signatures
Effort – Share with friends and neighbors
Analyze – Review the petition and charter
Money – Donate at www.Eaglexit.com
Thank you for joining us in this effort!
Sean Murphy came to Alaska in the Army. Met his wife and moved to Eagle River in 1999 with his family. He is a retired Anchorage School District educator and administrator. He is active with his community council and is the new chair of Eaglexit. He can be reached at Sean.Eaglexit@gmail.com or 907-632-5307.
This post is a submission to The Alaska Current. Please send submissions to news@thealaskacurrent.com.