2 step out of race for assembly

MAT-SU — While their names will remain on the ballot, two Mat-Su Borough Assembly candidates have dropped out of their races, and one of those candidates has expressed interest in running for a soon-to-be-vacant borough mayor’s seat.

Bruce Walden was running for the Assembly District 1 seat against Warren Keogh, James A. Tapley and George Rauscher. He said he will now focus on running for mayor. Assembly District 2 candidate Thomas Braund has decided not to run against Noel Woods, Peter Houston and John F. Leiner.

Walden says he plans to run for borough mayor, regardless of whether Proposition 1 passes muster with voters in Tuesday’s election. Proposition 1 would eliminate the borough manager’s position and a so-called “strong mayor” would assume the duties the manager had. The filing period to file as a candidate for borough mayor is Nov. 8-19.

“I’m very much in favor of the strong-mayor form of government,” Walden said Thursday. “I’m not going to accept more than $2,400 a month if elected. Whatever [current mayor Talis Colberg] is making now, that’s what I’ll accept, not a dime more.”

Colberg’s last day as borough mayor will be Oct. 20. He is leaving to serve as director of Mat-Su College. A deputy mayor Colberg appoints before then will take over the duties of the mayor and run assembly meetings, though that person will not have veto power, Mat-Su Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie said Thursday.

“That person will take over until the special election Jan. 13,” she said.

The person elected as mayor in the January special election would serve the remainder of Colberg’s term, which had been scheduled to end in October 2012. The borough mayor is allowed to serve two consecutive three-year terms.

If Proposition 1 passes, McKechnie said, the borough would have 60 days from the date of the election certification — Oct. 19 — to change from a manager to a strong-mayor form of government.

“What we’re planning on doing is wait and see what happens at the polls,” she said. “We’ll start looking at code and start proposing changes to the assembly. There will probably be a number of meetings as to how we’re going to move forward. They’d be taking over the duties of what the manager does now. The rest of it is what’s going to have to be ironed out at the assembly table, the salary and so on.”

If Proposition 1 does not pass, the borough will continue with its process of interviewing 11 candidates for the borough manager position. Interviews are scheduled for Oct. 11, beginning at 9 a.m.

Alaska Public Offices Commission records state that the following candidates have also filed to run in Oct. 5 contests in Mat-Su:

• Mat-Su Borough School Board: Lynn Gattis, Neal Lacy, Susan Pougher, Myrl Thompson, Colleen Vague.

• Wasilla City Council: Patrick Brown, Glenda Ledford.