Borough assembly removes a road service area board member and okays purchase of Big Lake Lions Club recreation center

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly gave final approval for the purchase of the Big Lake Lions Club recreation center at its Tuesday, May 20 meeting.

The assembly also made several changes to Road Service Area, or RSA, contracts and in an unusual move removed one member from RSA 21 board. A number of other more routine administrative decisions were also made.

Originally the assembly had proposed to remove all members of Road Service Area 21 after complaints were made by the public on the conduct of the meetings but in the final action only one member, Pat Daniels, was removed. The action was taken in RS 25-020.

Assemblyperson Bill Gamble, who represents the Big Lake area, offered the amendment and also made the original proposal, with Mayor Edna DeVries, after attending a meeting of the service area board and witnessed highly opinionated and agitated discussions that were off target from matters at hand. The discussions include severe but undocumented criticisms of the borough administration, which supervises the road service areas.

Several members of the public left the meeting after listening, Gamble told the assembly last Tuesday. All but one of the board members, after warnings, agreed to conduct meetings in an orderly manner but Daniels did not and continued to make statements that were disrespectful and disruptive, he said.

“His actions continued to erode public trust in the RSA board,” Gamble told others on the assembly.

Mayor DeVries supported Gambell in bringing the resolution and then amending it Tuesday to remove only Daniels.

Assembly member Dimtri Fonov opposed the action, arguing that an action by the assembly to remove one member of a service area board sets a poor precedent and can be misused in the future. Ron Bernier, another assembly member, joined Fonov in opposing the measure, but it passed in the end.

In other Road Service Area actions the assembly ordered a rebid of the Gold Trail Road Service Area maintenance No. 28 along with the maintenance contract for the Meadow Lakes Road Service Area No. 27 and the Bogard Road Service Area No. 25.

An ordinance approving the purchase of The Big Lake Lions’ Club Recreation Center and an adjacent parking lot for $400,000 was also approved but two assembly members voted against it, Dimitri Fonov and Ron Bernier.

The purchase, which is still subject to approval in the borough’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, has been long studied. The Big Lake Lions Club, a nonprofit that owns and operates the center, has been facing difficulties in operations including the recruiting of staff. The borough is in a better position to operate the facility, it was felt.

In other actions, the assembly confirmed assessment rolls for several natural gas improvement districts including financing for improvements, methods of terminating assessments and making refunds to property owners.

Among the approvals were $91,490 in special assessments in the North Curt Circle gas improvement district; $66,625 for the Easy Street and Cozy Circle improvement district; $231,239 for the Echo Lake and Necrason Drive gas improvement district, and $68,456 for the Homestead Drive gas improvement district.

In other actions the assembly formally accepted a $113,500 grant from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to reduce pollution near water bodies in the borough, and approved an appropriation of $2.064 million for reconstruction of King Arthur Drive in the City of Houston.

Other approvals included $1.27 million to support a fire services agreement with the City of Palmer and accepting a bid of $1.163 million to purchase a Rough Terrain Cargo Crane from Construction Machinery Industrial, LLC.