Assembly may have compromise on message to military

PALMER — If all goes according to plan, the Mat-Su Borough will have reached a compromise by this morning regarding comments made about the military’s plans to expand training areas in the state.

As of press time Saturday evening, the borough assembly was heading into a meeting at which two competing resolutions were to be discussed.

The first time the borough considered commenting on changes to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex was Feb. 1, when Assemblyman Warren Keogh put forward a resolution expressing concerns about noise and the safety of civilian aircraft. The military is looking to possibly extend the range of its training areas and allow pilots to train at a lower altitude. The changes would push the range into the borough in the Sutton, Chickaloon and Lake Louise areas.

The resolution was initially tabled and by the time it came back before the assembly on Feb. 15, Keogh, the resolution’s sponsor, had prepared a list of changes. One of those expressed opposition to the changes rather than simply urge the military to take the borough’s concerns into consideration.

“My sense from my fellow assembly members was it’s a very good resolution, but let’s beef it up,” Keogh said of why he proposed those changes.

The beefed-up resolution passed by a 4-3 margin. But Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss used his veto pen for the first time to strike it down.

Tuesday, the borough assembly took up the idea of overriding DeVilbiss’ veto. That effort failed. Assemblyman Ron Arvin was among the contingent voting against overriding the veto.

“I think that the federal government’s involvement in Alaska and deciding our destiny is way overboard and the federal government’s presence in our daily lives is way too much,” Arvin said. “But the military, they are part of our fabric in this state, they are part of our community and I want to continue to work with the military.”

In his view, Arvin said, telling the military that the borough opposes the changes is essentially slamming the door. It also seems somewhat inconsistent, he said, to urge the military to take the borough’s concerns into account in one breath and then say the borough opposes all changes with the next.

For his part, Keogh said that he views the debate as essentially one of tone — does the borough want to make a very strong statement to the military or a muted one?

He said the compromise he arrived at in preparation for Saturday’s assembly meeting essentially contains a muted statement, rather than the bold one of his resolution passed Tuesday.

There is a second resolution on the same topic coming from DeVilbiss, Keogh said, which the assembly will also consider.

“I expect a resolution to pass. We’ll see what happens. It will include most but not all of what was vetoed in this previous resolution,” he said.

But just because the initial statement will probably be muted doesn’t mean the borough has missed an opportunity to say something bold. The military is currently in the scoping phase, deciding which changes make sense and which don’t. The process to put together a statement of potential effects of the changes on the surrounding community — an environmental impact statement – hasn’t even begun.

At some point further on, Keogh said, the borough will be able to make its voice heard.

“We’ll have a chance later on to make a very strong statement,” he said.

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