Borough looks at expansion

PALMER — Borough services might eventually get closer to residents of the Valley’s northern communities.

At a meeting Tuesday, the borough assembly members told Borough Manager John Duffy that their preferred means of solving overcrowding at the body’s main building — the Dorothy Swanda Jones Building in Palmer — is a new office.

The body will wait to hear back from Duffy before hammering out specifics but essentially the idea calls for a branch office taking as many as 30 people from the current one. The new office would be able to handle  many of the borough’s daily tasks, with the caveat that folks needing the expertise of some employee schooled in some arcane bit of borough regulation might still have to drive to Palmer or Wasilla to find it.

“Over the years, especially with our rapid growth, we really see the need for a satellite,” said Assemblyman Rob Wells. “I’m anxious for us to get off the dime because we continue to do a dis-service to taxpayers and employees.”

The issue of fixing overcrowding has been coming up for years with various solutions tossed out. The assembly has consistently shot down attempts to do anything but the most basic and essential upkeep of its current building, choosing instead to focus on more long-term solutions.

Assemblyman Mark Ewing said he envisions a system similar to the one where he works, at the Matanuska Telephone Association.

“Our core for the telephone company is located here in Palmer,” but other offices are out there. “We don’t have the entire finance office (in the branch locations) but we are able to make these moves.”

Assemblyman Pete Houston pointed out that discussions like this are fraught with worries among Palmerites that the borough is seeking to change the seat of government. He urged the assembly to make sure, going forward, that it assures the public that borough government will remain based in Palmer.

A lot of questions are still to be decided, not least of which is how far north the office will be. Another — how many birds the borough can kill with this one stone. Duffy pointed out that the Department of Emergency Services needs new digs.

“Don’t forget we have another department that is out there that’s in somebody else’s space,” he said.

And then there’s the possibility of co-locating the office with a new firehall for the West Lakes Fire Department. Duffy was asked to check into that as well.

Also on Duffy’s list is the question of whether to buy or lease.

Assembly Members Cindy Bettine and Ewing both expressed support for leasing, at least to start, and then checking into whether buying a building makes sense.

“I don’t want to buy anything. You try it and see how it works,” Ewing said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.