Borough mayor calls Sykes 'best assembly member ever'

PALMER — After six years on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, Jim Sykes got one of the highest compliments he could receive. Speaking through welling tears, a visibly emotional Mayor Vern Halter told Sykes that he had been the best assembly member ever.

“I did really understand that people do really want to talk to government representatives and to be a part of the process,” Sykes said.

Sykes and Matthew Beck both termed out, reaching the limit of years they could serve on the assembly. The two termed-out assembly members were honored at the regular assembly meeting on Tuesday with plaques and cake but continued to serve on Wednesday when called to review the Borough Manager, as their terms do not end until Nov. 25.

Coming from a career in journalism, Sykes had a working understanding of the processes of government from covering them. What Sykes was most concerned with was transparency of local government.

“You have to have an open mind. You have to solve problems and when you get into political parties, you start off with division. So solving problems is about bringing people together. If you start out by dividing people, you might get something pushed through but it doesn’t have the sticking power if you don’t involve a lot of people,” Sykes said.

Sykes’ District 1 is one of the most far reaching and remote of the seven assembly districts. With eight community councils to monitor, Sykes’ represented Valley residents from Butte all the way up the Glenn Highway to Chickaloon and even adopted an extra community council along the way. Sykes adopted the Point Mackenzie Community Council prior to the election of Dan Mayfield so that their concerns could be brought to the assembly. Sykes was also happy to see the failed ferry project fall by the wayside.

“I made a six-foot long poster at USPS that said ‘sold’ in big red letters and when I went to AML in Ketchikan, which was where the ferry was docked in storage, I had a picture taken of me on the railing and the day that it sold I put that out,” Sykes said.

Though Sykes is not a Twitter-addicted millennial, he noted that he has had to learn to become acclimated with social media on various occasions to dispel misinformation and educate constituents. When Sykes’ air quality ordinance for Butte was coming up on the assembly agenda in early 2019, Sykes became active to disseminate accurate information.

“It did feel good that we finally actually got the facts out,” Sykes said. “I still would like to know one person that had their stove taken away.”

Sykes is proud to see how far the borough has come in communicating with the 100,000 residents of the Valley, joking that the borough’s budget wasn’t even online when he first took office. Sykes also took particular interest in bringing concerns of constituents to staff members within the borough building to get answers on tough issues.

“I really do enjoy working with other people and I really fought to make sure that we are solving actual problems in a collaborative manner,” Sykes said. “It’s just a lifelong learning process.”