Borough Board of Ethics may mount separate probe

June 30, 2006

By DARRELL L. BREESE/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - While a Palmer Police Department criminal investigation into the same matter continues, the Mat-Su Borough Board of Ethics may launch its own investigation into whether assembly member and candidate for borough mayor Jim Colver violated the borough ethics code in his involvement as a subcontractor on the career center construction contract.

Although an independent borough investigation into

the matter by Anchorage law firm Perkins Coie determined the bidding process itself was not compromised, the firm's report concluded that there were potential breaches of the borough ethics code in the selection of Colver as the subcontracting surveyor for the $16.2 million project.

In an executive session May 16 that did not include Colver, the borough assembly awarded the contract to Collins Construction and signaled its agreement with the Perkins Coie report.

But former borough assembly member Jay Nolfi, who also served as chair for the borough's Board of Ethics, said she believes the matter should be turned over to the current Board of Ethics.

&#8220The ethics board should be investigating on their own,” Nolfi said.

&#8220It's their role to clear the borough of anything which could harm its reputation and ensure that all business is done on the up and up.”

Acting board chair William Siedler, who just returned from an extended trip Outside and said he was not yet aware of the details of the case, confirmed he had been summoned by the borough clerk's office to begin the investigation process. He said he will review existing information next week, first to determine if the board has jurisdiction, then to decide if the full board will convene to address the matter.

Greg Waisanen, with Collins Construction, said an investigation into Colver's involvement was all he wanted when he sent an e-mail to borough purchasing agent Rustin Krafft before Waisanen's company was awarded the contract to build the vocational school.

&#8220I just wanted the borough to step in and investigate the procurement process,” Waisanen said. &#8220Since they didn't investigate, everything has exploded and come into the open.”

Colver said he has followed borough code &#8220to the letter” when pursuing subcontracting work.

But Jody Simpson, another candidate for borough mayor, who also served on the assembly and Board of Ethics,

said the existing borough

code governing the matter is inadequate.

&#8220The current ethics code is mostly a conflict-of-interest code,” Simpson said. &#8220It doesn't address or define what is and isn't ethical behavior. There is a lot of gray area in the current code.”

Powers and duties of the Board of Ethics include investigating complaints alleging violation of the standards

in the code of ethics; issuing advisory opinions at the request of any municipal officer, or without a request if it is in the public interest; and to make investigations of alleged code violations on its own

initiative.

Other members of the Board of Ethics are Wesley Tegeler, Chris Ornquist, Jim Sykes and Amanda Brown.

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@ frontiersman.com.