At least one assembly member has withdrawn his support from a controversial ruling made by the mayor last week.
Mike Reif offered a formal apology for failing to overrule Mayor Cheryl Westover’s decision to recuse Thor Christianson from deliberations over forward funding of the school district.
Reif spoke during the “persons to be heard” portion at the end of last night’s meeting (3-13-12).
“It was a wrong vote. It was a mistake by me, according to my value systems. I was too concerned about avoiding the appearance of a conflict. But all of us have – call them extreme biases – and that’s why we’re elected. We’re elected up here because we have these passions, these views. Mr. Christianson’s comments never came to the point of expressing anything more than a viewpoint. So, I do apologize to him, and I apologize to the public for not allowing Mr. Christianson to represent those people who would like to hear his views.”
Christianson’s wife teaches at Baranof Elementary School, and Christianson himself occasionally volunteers in her classroom.
Remarks Christianson made about class sizes at an assembly work session in February led Westover to remove him without warning from school budget discussions — on the grounds of “extreme bias” – during a continuation of an assembly meeting on March 6.
Only assembly members Phyllis Hackett and Mim McConnell voted to overrule at the time. At least four votes would have been needed to bring Christianson back to the table.
Municipal attorney Theresa Hillhouse allowed the mayor’s ruling to stand. Following Reif’s remarks last night, she told the assembly that she plans to bring in outside counsel – attorney Mike Gatti – to instruct members on the “legal framework” of conflict of interest, prior to the next discussion of the school budget.
Both Mayor Westover and assembly member Pete Esquiro were absent from last night’s meeting.
