Borough manager search halted by strong mayor ordinance proposal

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough Mayor Vern Halter was stunned by an ordinance proposed by Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Jesse Sumner to allow Valley voters to determine if they would like the borough to move away from a strong manager form of government and grant both executive and administrative powers to the mayor.

Sumner said he wanted to begin debate on the ordinance as soon as possible, which has brought to a halt the search for a new Borough Manager as John Moosey will begin his job as the manager for the city of Palmer next month. Since Moosey’s announcement that he accepted the job three blocks away, the Borough Attorney, Clerk, Human Resources Director and Deputy Borough Manager George Hays have led a search committee to find firms that will present candidates to become the next Borough Manager.

On Tuesday, the process of selecting a firm and hiring a new manager was paused as the assembly must decide on Sumner’s strong mayor ordinance proposal.

“The reason I wanted to bring this up is to put it on everybody’s radar because we are ready to, I believe within the next couple of days make a selection of a firm,” said Borough Attorney Nick Spiropolous. “This proposal is an ordinance placing a question before the voters this fall to change it says to repeal the manager plan of government because that’s how the statute reads.”

Spiropolous said that the search committee has contacted 11 firms, many of which estimate around $30,000 to provide a search for a managerial candidate. Spiropolous would not name which firm the search committee had decided on. If passed by the assembly and then the voters, the ordinance would take effect two weeks after the election certification. Moosey was called on to offer his expertise as to whether Sumner’s ordinance would change the draw for recruiting qualified managers to apply for the open position and said that compensation differential and a change in operation could deter candidates.

“What happens if the voters don’t like this idea having a politician be the head of the borough rather than a professional manager?” said Halter. “Whether or not it’s good in the long run to switch the confidence of a really good professional manager versus a politician, and I don’t even know what the qualifications would be. If you ran for mayor you really could run for mayor without any qualifications at all.”

With a motion by Assemblyman George McKee that passed without opposition, the discussion to hire a firm to hire a new manager has been tabled for three weeks. During that time, Sumner’s strong mayor ordinance will be introduced on May 5 and discussed by the assembly on May 19.

Sumner feels that the secondary option to hiring a new manager is to move to a strong mayor form of government. Sumner said that managers serve at the pleasure of the assembly, not do direct the best possible actions toward the borough. When asked whether the managerial search would continue if the ordinance was passed, Sumner was unsure if a new manager would be needed.

“It’s not a delay till after the election, it’s a delay for about a month and then the search can either recommence or not,” said Sumner. “I do believe it would be difficult to hire a manager with the possibility that they would be getting a demotion at best in a few months.”

Halter clarified, asking whether the ordinance would come with a measure to pursue first class borough powers, which it would not. Sumner said that he personally believes in a representative form of government and that because managers serve the will of the assembly, they can become frozen and unable to act if too many assembly members lose confidence in the manager. Sumner noted that managers can be hired and fired at the will of the assembly.

“It’s a little bit more difficult to get rid of a terrible mayor,” said Sumner. “In the long run you get good results by allowing the people to choose who they want to represent and lead them.”