Borough emergency services director resigns

MAT-SU — Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services Director Otto Feather resigned from his position in a letter sent to Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey on Jan. 2. On Tuesday, Moosey accepted Feather’s resignation and appointed Deputy Director of DES Ken Barkley to serve as interim director. The decision was not addressed during the Mat-Su Borough Assembly’s regular meeting on Tuesday.

“I wanted to think it through. This this is an important decision. I wanted to be thoughtful about it. It’s more important to get it right than get it quick,” Moosey said.

Feather will stay on to assist in day-to-day operations until Saturday.

“I talked to Ken last night. He accepted last night and I’m going to be having conversations with him,” Moosey said.

Feather was criticized for a lack of immediate response in alerting the public that the Mat-Su Borough suffered minimal damage during the Nov. 30 earthquake, considering the circumstances. Following a barrage of calls after the earthquake at 8:29 a.m., it took the borough until Monday to call a press conference and address the situation. Moosey said that he was very pleased with Feather’s two years as DES Director.

“Working together as a team, it was perfect. The public was well served. What we had a challenge with was telling the public they were well served,” Moosey said “We needed to really kind of focus on the output public is getting from DES. With change there’s push back, people do not like change quite a bit. I think it’s all positive.”

Barkley will serve as interim director of DES until a replacement can be hired, but Moosey is in no rush. Moosey did not address the personnel decision during the meeting because Moosey is directed to carry out personnel decisions. Moosey said that Barkley would be an excellent candidate for DES director should he choose to apply.

“Where we work in an open public environment, that certainly has an influence on everything we do whether we want it to or not,” Moosey said.

In Moosey’s letter, dated on Jan. 2 and directed to Feather, he said that the borough was positively impacted in emergency service to citizens over Feather’s two years.

“Your leadership in emergency communications was vital in our transition to Mat-Com, especially in light of the 2018 cyber attack where our emergency communications was fully-operational to responders and to the public,” Moosey wrote. “I appreciate and value your work consolidating our training program by instituting standards and requirements that exceed state and national levels.”

Moosey said that he received Feather’s resignation letter on Jan. 3, the day after it was addressed. Feather was critical of borough leadership and said that work is still needed to overcome organizational dysfunctions.

“I am convinced DES has the talent and determination to meet the many challenges faced going forward. However, I am not convinced borough agencies and political leadership recognize the gravity and the effort and/or have the will to provide the backing necessary to support it,” Feather wrote. “Sadly, institutional parochialisms, selfishness and duplicity have weakened the struggle to create the environment necessary for success. While I understand the political environment you contend with, I cannot accept the unchecked sabotage by borough employees and assembly members. The impact of their actions has undermined my efforts and credibility to the point where they are subverting my ability to lead emergency services.”

Moosey responded to Feather’s accusation of assembly members ‘sabotage’ in an interview with Frontiersman editorial staff on Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes they perceive that my decisions need a little tending to,” Moosey said.