Assembly introduces CARES money

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly met on Tuesday for a special meeting to introduce CARES grant funding ordinances along with other ballot initiatives.

Acting Borough Manager George Hays told the Assembly that he had spoken with lobbyist John Harris about confusion over what funding Alaskans would be eligible for. Harris believed that the legislature would have to reconvene or Legislative Budget and Audit would have to meet to change the state’s assertion that anyone receiving any previous pandemic relief funds would not be eligible for further funding.

“The state of Alaska has already said if you get any other program money from anybody else, you can’t get ours and there’s a big debate about whether they’re right or wrong and so where I get reluctant is for the Borough to weigh in and say the state is wrong, you do still qualify. That’s hard for us to say,” said Borough Attorney Nick Spiropolous.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Mayor Dan Mayfield as neither Mayor Vern Halter nor Assemblywoman Tam Boeve were in attendance. The next regular meeting of the Assembly will be July 14 at 6 p.m. Introduced and up for public hearing will be a group of crucial ordinances including 20-069 appropriating $23.7 million in CARES grant funding, 20-070 appropriating $14 million in CARES grant funding.

Also introduced was Assemblyman Jesse Sumner’s Ordinance 20-046 repealing the manager form of government and 20-061 introduced by Mayor Halter to move to a first-class borough. Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle spoke for five minutes on the strong mayor ordinance.

“We have over 19,000 kids in our school district, the second in the state and yet because of politics we are not able to participate in politics. Two of you on this assembly are running for state office as state elected officer on the senate or the house. You make $50,400 a year plus another $28,000 per diem for a 90-day session but our mayor makes $31,000 a year and we ask him to be basically a full time mayor,” said Cottle. “All I’m asking is to put it on the ballot. Let everybody vote, not just four of you.”

Cottle said that lobbyists and managers not residing in the locations that they represent do not carry as much weight although they are compensated higher. Cottle noted the Borough’s $160,000 salary for lobbying out of a $410 million budget and further juxtaposed the Alaska Public Offices Commission report of $25,960.44 spent in the Mayor’s election in the last Mayoral election against the $31,000 yearly salary.

“I hear that having a strong mayor would bring politics into the mayor’s office, good. I think that’s a good thing because every one of you up here has been labeled either a democrat, a republican, a moderate or a liberal so you don’t think there’s politics up there now? Every one of you, there’s politics in every seat you hold. I mean give me a break we’re worried about politics, may we need somebody to do full time politics and at $31,000 a year you can’t get full time politics,” said Cottle.

Also introduced at Tuesday’s special meeting were Ordinances 20-062 negotiating a lease with Skeetawk Ski Area and 20-068 appropriating $440,681 for the Shirley Towne Bridge reconstruction.

Assembly members voted 5-1 to sign a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy to ask for reconsideration of the state stipulations on CARES grant funds.

“I raised this issue because we’re hearing from businesses in the Valley that have received some funding and are still very much in the hole. Some businesses have been very bit by this and so they have received some PPP funding but it’s nowhere near their losses, but they’ve been shut out of this,” said Assemblywoman Stephanie Nowers. “We’re in support of opening that funding.”

Assemblyman George McKee was the lone no vote while Assembly members Nowers, Mayfield, Sumner, Leonard and Hale voted in support.

“I object to having the full Assembly members do it. It’s spitting into the wind. A letter signed by the borough mayor has more stroke in the state legislature or at the Federal level than a gang of seven,” said McKee.

Assemblyman Ted Leonard asked the Borough Clerk if all seven assembly members’ names could be affixed to the letter, but McKee disagreed. Spiropolous said that the CARES funding ordinances would be introduced with a draft application at the next meeting.

“Under our program is the way it’s currently introduced and set to be discussed at the next assembly meeting is that those people who have already gotten other money are last in line for this program, so it’s principally for people who haven’t gotten other money and I get really hesitant for the borough to get involved in telling people if you take this money you either are or are not eligible for another program,” said Spiropolous.