BOROUGH BRIEFS: Jan. 18, 2017

Borough backs off on gravel pit

The Mat-Su Borough is not going to use land it purchased to operate a gravel pit, thanks to an ordinance that passed with two dissenting votes at the assembly meeting on Jan. 10.

Assembly member Randall Kowalke, who introduced the ordinance, said in an interview on Sunday that the move is in line with local residents who didn’t want gravel pit operations in their neighborhood.

“It’s to bring the gravel pit in compliance with the local community SPUD,” Kowalke said. “While we had the legal right to mine for gravel there, I don’t believe just because we could, that we should.”

The ordinance, number 16-135, is a non-code ordinance that voluntarily gives up the borough’s right to mine for gravel on the land. Kowalke said the borough had grandfathered-in rights to do so.

The ordinance also disallows any future use by a future landowner for mining for gravel there.

The land, which is in the Christiansen Lake subdistrict of the Talkeetna Special Land Use District, could by sold by the borough now that it doesn’t plan to use it as a gravel pit, Kowalke said.

“We could sell it. It’d be a great view lot, actually.”

The ordinance passed without amendment and with two dissenting votes, cast by Dan Mayfield and Barbara Doty.

Gamble to resign borough post

Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services Director Bill Gamble has turned in his resignation, according to a borough press release on Monday.

Gamble served as a responder in the Valley for almost 27 years.

“What I’ll miss is his finely-tuned communications skills,” Borough Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan said in an interview on Tuesday.

“He doesn’t waste a word when describing an emergency situation,” Sullivan said. “As a person who disseminates information, I love it when our director can communicate well. When you’re in the business of information, someone who can land on a scene under duress and communicate it precisely, it’s really valuable.”

Ken Barkley, Deputy Director of Fire, was quoted in the release: “He’s done a great job. He will be missed by all. He has other opportunities that only come around once. Director Gamble will always be a part of our family.”

In his resignation to the borough, Gamble wrote, “After twenty-one years as an on-call responder, over four years as a full-time fire chief, and almost two years as the Director of Emergency Services, I have decided to resign my position with the Mat-Su Borough. I have been contemplating for some time leaving public service for private business, and after careful consideration I realize that an opportunity has presented itself that is too exciting to pass up.”

Gamble joined the Big Lake Fire Department in May 1990, was hired on as Fire Chief in 2011, and starting in 2015 served as Director of Emergency Services.

“Our tremendous loss, his gain,” Borough Manager John Moosey said. “Bill has led us through dire times well.”

—Compiled by Mary Lockman