Anchorage Municipal Clerk
Barbara Jones has announced her retirement effective June 30, 2023, after more
than 24 years of service to the Municipality of Anchorage.
Municipal Clerk Jones was appointed to the role of Municipal Clerk in 2012 by
Assembly Chair Ernie Hall. Prior to becoming the Municipal Clerk, Jones served
as the Municipal Ombudsman for over one year and previously served for more
than 12 years as the Executive Director and Staff Attorney for the Anchorage
Equal Rights Commission.
In her role as Municipal Clerk, Jones has worked alongside 11 Assembly Chairs
through four Mayoral Administrations and, among her many accomplishments, she
oversaw the rollout of Anchorage’s community-driven Vote-At-Home election
system in 2018 and worked to establish the Public Portal to Assembly Documents, the
adoption of marijuana licensing through the Clerk’s Office in 2016, and the
transition to a new meeting and agenda management system for Assembly meetings
in 2020.
“The Municipality is fortunate to have benefitted from Barbara’s service. She
is a team player and has built incredibly successful teams that enabled
Anchorage to reach its goal for easy, accessible and open Vote-At-Home
elections. In the last regular election, 66,844 voters, or 96.4% of all voters,
completed their ballots from home, demonstrating the impact and reach of her
team’s work,” said Assembly
Chair Suzanne LaFrance. “Additionally, she has helped the
Assembly run meetings with accuracy and efficiency and oversaw several
initiatives to improve access to the Assembly process, such as livestreaming
meetings and making Assembly documents more readily available.”
Assembly Vice Chair
Christopher Constant added, “Barbara’s departure is
bittersweet, but all good things must come to an end. She will be greatly
missed, but her legacy will live on for years to come because of the example
she sets for excellence in public service. Her commitment to open, accessible,
transparent and responsive local government sets the bar for what residents
expect from public servants.”
Community member Chuck
Volanti has worked with Barbara for many years in her capacity
as Municipal Clerk and offered the following, “I wish to extend my never-ending
gratitude to Barbara Jones for her unfailing efforts in support of the annual
Good Friday Earthquake Remembrance Day over these past eight years. The
Municipality of Anchorage residents are vastly rewarded by her dedicated
service.”
“To say it has been an honor to serve would be an understatement. I want to
thank the Assembly and the people of the Municipality of Anchorage for allowing
me to serve as their Municipal Clerk for the past 11 years,” said Jones. “I am proud
to be leaving the Municipality with a team of dedicated civil servants in the
Municipal Clerk’s Office.”
Upon acceptance of Barbara Jones’s retirement letter, the Assembly Chair and
Vice Chair announced that they will begin to formulate the transition plan and
hiring process for a new Municipal Clerk, using an open and transparent
process.
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Contact
Suzanne
LaFrance | Assembly Chair
suzanne.lafrance@anchorageak.gov
Christopher Constant
| Assembly Vice Chair
christopher.constant@anchorageak.gov\