Borough forbids armed contractors

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - The Mat-Su Borough's code compliance division recently instituted a policy prohibiting borough contractors from carrying weapons while doing borough business, after discovering that a contractor in charge of issuing citations drew a concealed handgun while trying to issue a citation to a Butte resident for a junk and trash violation.

The incident occurred nearly three and half months ago, on Oct. 28, but the borough only recently received a complaint regarding the incident.

On the night in question, contractor Steve Arturo, owner of Alaska Court Services Serving Anchorage & MatSu Process, went to issue a citation to Darryl Dreher at his home on the Old Glenn Highway.

In an affidavit dated Jan. 31, Arturo stated that he saw a no-trespassing sign on Dreher's property with a phone number on it. When he called the number, he got an answering machine and then proceeded to walk down the driveway to Dreher's home.

Arturo said a dog came out and began barking at him. Shortly after, a second dog, a large Rottweiler-type, came through a front gate and charged him.

"It happened too fast to retreat," Arturo stated, "so I drew my concealed gun and ordered the dog to stop."

Arturo claimed a man, later identified as Darryl Dreher's son, came from around the side of the house and called off the charging dog.

Arturo said he put his gun away and explained that he was looking for Dreher. The man reportedly told Arturo that Dreher was not there and that he needed to get off the property. Before leaving, Arturo left a citation to be given to Dreher.

After hearing of the incident, Murph O'Brien, director of the borough's Department of Planning and Land Use, said the borough immediately instituted a policy stating that process servers cannot carry weapons while working for the borough.

"Once I heard about this, I contacted the company and said, 'You will not be armed when doing business with the borough,'" O'Brien said. "If they don't feel comfortable, they need to contact us."

Borough employees are prohibited from carrying firearms except for defense from wildlife, and must have approval from borough management. Prior to the incident involving Arturo, however, the borough did not have a policy regarding weapons carried by contractors and non-borough employees who provided services and products to the borough.

Arturo, who is also a former police officer, held a permit for his gun and was not in violation of any state law or borough policy at the time.

O'Brien said the new policy prohibits service providers and contractors for the borough from carrying weapons while serving the borough, except for defense from wildlife.

According to O'Brien, the borough has had a contract with process servers for the last two years. Previously, process servers were used as needed.

"Often, in order to serve notices you need to find folks after hours," O'Brien said. "So there's a lot of time involved."

As the borough continues to grow, O'Brien said there are more conflicts and more complaints. He said it is less expensive to have process servers issue citations than use borough staff.

The savings are due, in part, to the time needed to locate subjects, travel to residences that are occasionally outside the borough, and after-hour work schedules, which are often necessary so process servers can contact people when they are home.

O'Brien also wanted to clarify that borough code compliance officers, who first investigate reported violations when complaints are issued, are not armed.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.