The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-02-26
RATE HEARING OPENING HITS
 TR0pIC PITCH
Council Votes Down A.E.L. &P. Motion fo DisquaI-
 fly Mayor Parsons

i Juneau's City Council opened
 hearings last night on Alaska Elec-l tric Light and Power Company
 rates. with City Utilities Engineer
 Walter T. Stuart in the role of
 complaining witness" But the rate testimony itself was an anti
 climax after the fireworks of the preliminaries.
 | High spot of last evenings pro- ceedings was a motion by the light company that. Mayor Ernest Par
 sons be disqualified from sitting with the Council and presiding over the rate hearings. The Council finally voted down the motion, but not until the Mayor had almost blown his safety valve.
 Light company attorney, H. L. Faulkner, put the respondent com pany's motion in these words: "The Alaska Electric Light & Power Company objects to Mayor Ernest Parsons being constituted al member of the Council sitting as a Board to regulate the rates of the company, and the Alaska Electric ; Light & Power Company moves to disqualify Mayor Parsons from serving with the members of the Council on the board. for the fol- lowing reasons:
 Asks Fair Hearing
 "Q) Under the law and all rules of ethics and fair-dealing, the Alas ka Electric Light x Power Con1- pany, the public utility whose rates this proceeding is instituted to regu- late, is entitled to a fair hearing by impartial judges, and MT. Par sons, by his course of conduct lead ing up to the hearing, has shown that he is neither fair nor impar- tial and not in any manner quail fled to take part in these proceed ings. "(2)) That the law authorizing the common council to regulate rates gives that authority to the City Council, and no such authority is given to the Mayor when he is elected by direct vote, as Mayor Parsons was elected. The law pro- vides that the hearing be held by the City Council and not by the Mayor and Council.
 "The motion to disqualify Mir. Parsons as not qualified to take part in these proceedings even if the law authorized him to do so, is based on the public records of the City of Juneau, on the statement of MT. Parsons read before the Council on February 1st, l946, which was published in the Daily Alaska Empire the following day; and on the affivadit of w. S. Pullen here to annexed; and the objections and the Motion are presented in ac- cordance with the principles of law |enunciated in !. decisions of the Supreme Court of the United
 FuFLHeT CLLUttOLS
 In support of the company's ob- jection to the right of Mayor Par sons to take part in the proceed ings except as a witness" MT. Faulkner cited that:
 "In Juneau the mayor is elected by direct vote and he is not a member of the Council.
 Sections 2402 and 2403 of the Compiled Laws of Alaska, 1883 set up the procedure to regulate rates of public utilities ORead these two sections) ::
 Section 2402 provides that the city council shall order a hear ing, etc, and not the mayor and council.
 Section 2403 provides that not fewer than four councilmen' shall be present at the hearing; not the mayor and four councilmen, nor the mayor and three councilmen, but four councilmen'. Not Ordinary Meeting
 "The proceeding is not an ordin- ! ary council meeting. It is some what different. It is judicial pro- ceeding before the council alone and not the mayor and councilmen. An entirely different proceeding is prescribed for an ordinary council meeting. for in the same statute, section 239l, Compiled Laws of Alaska, 1883. it is provided that for council meeting four council men and the mayor or five coun- cilmen' are necessary for quorum.
 This question has been defin- itely settled by the courts.
 Tn the case of JACOBS vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF (C0ntinued or Page Eight