Assembly allows manager to waive dump fees

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted to allow the manager to waive dump fees at his discretion in case of an emergency at their regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting. The members of the assembly will take a budget retreat at Turkey Red at 10 a.m. on Saturday to work out a variety of budget related topics including Port MacKenzie.

After approving their first five ordinances of 2019 unanimously, the assembly quibbled over ordinance 19-006, allowing Borough Manager John Moosey to wave dump fees in the event of an emergency. Following the Nov. 30 earthquake, the assembly held one emergency meeting to determine if they would waive dump fees. Requiring more votes than an ordinance at a regular meeting, it was voted down with assemblymen Jesse Sumner and George McKee opposed. Both opposed the measure on Tuesday.

“I don’t see any reason that the assembly needs to abdicate the power that they have, push it off onto the manager and then push off all blame in the event of an emergency,” Sumner said.

Assemblyman Dan Mayfield suggested that natural disasters cannot be planned to happen just before a regularly scheduled meeting, and noted that the borough was behind the eight ball when it came to allowing citizens to dispose of waste.

“I think it is a prudent step and a wise step,” Mayfield said.

Sumner argued that without giving notice to the public of a meeting, waiving dump fees would be unfair. Sumner felt that Moosey would feel obligated to waive fees in the event of another natural disaster.

“Unless you have a disaster right next to an assembly meeting, it’s very hard to deal with,” Assemblyman Jim Sykes said.

The measure passed the assembly with Sumner and McKee opposed. Though Borough Mayor Vern Halter did not vote on the ordinance because he did not have to cast his vote to break a tie, he noted that he would have voted for the manager to have the ability to waive dump fees in a timely manner.

The assembly also took time in discussing regulations for logging trucks. Mayfield proposed an amendment to define what a logging truck was, specifically. The ordinance listed a logging truck as “a truck, trailer, semi trailer or other vehicle capable of carrying the load.” Mayfield’s amendment qualified logging trucks as a vehicle class weight 7 truck, one class below a semi truck. The ordinance was also left vague in how many trips would be permitted with two vehicles. Borough Attorney Nick Spiropolous declared that someone may try to interpret the ordinance as the ability to run two trucks as much as possible, but that they would lose in court due to very specific standards.

“Their interpretation is cargo carrying vehicle trips per day,” Spiropolous said. “The reason this was put in was because of the timber industry and the amount of traffic that was occurring.”

Borough Development Services Manager Alex Strawn told the board that the ordinance was not perfectly written. Logging operations that run more than two loads a day and more than 10 trips in a week would require a permit from the borough. Mayfield’s amendment to classify trucks also passed.

After not speaking during the discussion on the ordinance, assemblymember Tam Boeve chimed in on the timber permits.

“There’s not a lot of confusion in the wording they seem to understand what trips mean nobody’s looking to take advantage of that and the communities are in support of this I’ve spoken to residents and actual commercial loggers and everybody seems to be in agreement that it’s fairly well written and it works,” Boeve said.

Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette gave an update on the assessed damage from the earthquake.

Houston Middle has accrued $131,000 in expenses since the Nov. 30 earthquake. A decision has not yet been made on if the school will be demolished. A total of $470,000 was spent on moving 13 portables to Houston Jr/Sr High School. A water issue has mandated a boil water notice due to overuse, but Goyette said that borough maintenance crews were addressing the issue. The Colony High School gymnasium could be open by the end of February, as MSBSD has found a contractor for the scope of work. Wasilla Middle School has seen $60,000 in expenses and Knik Elementary got $90,000 in ceiling tile repairs. More ceiling tile is on the way to finish replacing those damaged in the quake.

“Today we received our letter of authorization for up to $2,000,000 in expenses for earthquakes right now we’ve spent $1,085,000 on all of our personnel costs,” Goyette said. “In hard times it certainly shows the quality of your relationships and I think that how well the borough and the school disctrict work together certainly is why our students didn’t have a disruption in education.”

A total of $2,390,413 was approved for repairing schools. The borough itself has spent $375,063 on repairs following the quake. Goyette also mentioned the Alaska State Troopers school safety program that was launched in 1975. Each elementary school student in the MSBSD will be given a reflective safety bear from AST.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.