Assembly should get the boot

To the editor,

The story of the pending sale of M/V Susitna is a ridiculous saga of mismanagement by the Mat-Su Assembly. This ferryboat has over $80 million in it, and our Mat-Su Borough Assembly did not do due diligence in overseeing its maintenance. Those in charge of her failed to prevent water from entering its main engines through its smokestacks, and destroying her expensive engines. Our assembly advertised that they would give it away for nothing, while they were trying to market it for the best price! An insurance company should not pay for their lack of proper maintenance oversight! The money for repairs should be taken out of their pay! Now, they have trapped themselves into selling it for close to what it will cost to repair it and make it seaworthy again, and that does not include a real possibility of discovering, during maintenance, that much more repair work is needed than previously thought, and it does not include cost-overruns and corruption, which we should also take out of their pay. So, we shall, no doubt, end up giving it away for nothing and taking a loss to boot!

The ferryboat is worth at least $50 million, and it should be transferred to the state of Alaska, or to an agency of our federal government, and not transferred to foreigners for nothing! The deal to sell it is against the interests of the people of Mat-Su Borough, and should be scrapped along with our Mat-Su Borough Assembly, who should be recalled or, at least, voted out of office.

Dan Russell

Willow