Mayor-elect LaFrance adds 2 more key staffers

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - With two weeks until she officially takes office, mayor-elect Suzanne LaFrance announced two more important staffers for her team Monday, including a former Anchorage mayoral candidate.

Eva Gardner was announced as the next municipal attorney, according to a press release from the LaFrance team, while Bill Falsey was announced as the chief administrative officer, which LaFrance’s team said is a new position.

Gardner’s role as municipal attorney comes after years of working in law, according to the release, including her most current position as a managing shareholder at Ashburn & Mason P.C., an Anchorage-based law firm she has worked at for over a decade.

Before that, Gardner spent time clerking in the Alaska Superior Court and U.S. District Court under Judge Sharon Gleason.

Falsey ran for Anchorage mayor in 2021, finishing a distant third behind winner Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar. Prior to that, he served as municipal manager and municipal attorney for Anchorage from 2015 to 2020, valuable experience that LaFrance stated will be key as he works with the incoming municipal manager, Becky Windt Pearson.

“Good government is one of our team’s top priorities coming into office,” LaFrance stated in the release. “Eva and Bill bring the experience and leadership needed to deliver an effective and accountable local government.”

Falsey’s new role as chief administrative officer involves municipal staffing and finances and will see him report directly to LaFrance.

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