Borough to ask public how to use $10 million state road funding; assembly to review Port Mackenzie in January

Edna DeVries was sworn in as Mat-Su Borough mayor along with a new borough assembly last Tuesday, Nov. 16, and the assembly meeting that followed was the last for Vern Halter after six years as mayor and 17 years of service, including being on the borough assembly and a road service area board.

Halter said he was proud of helping guide the borough through years of rapid growth and said he was confident the new mayor and assembly would, “keep us moving in the right direction.”

“This is the greatest place in the world to live,” Halter said.

DeVries, in remarks for the city of Palmer, where she is leaving as mayor, said she is leaving the city in good order and mentioned upcoming Palmer events including fireworks after Thanksgiving and Colony Days in December.

In upcoming meetings, borough manager Mike Brown asked for a special assembly meeting Jn 11 to discuss the status of the borough’s Port MacKenzie and new marketing opportunities for the port. The assembly agreed to the date.

Brown also suggested that a public hearing be held at the next assembly meeting, Dec. 7, on ways of using a $10 million state grant given the borough for road rehabilitation. The assembly, and the public, could choose among several options for using the money, he said.

One would be to allocate the funds to high-traffic roads in Mat-Su; a second could be to distribute funds through the borough’s road service areas using a per-mile metric in making the money available, and a third would be to do early work on the list of road projects in the $61 million bond issue that was recently approved by voters.

It will take some time to get the new road bonds sold and projects on the list funded, so using the $10 million in state funds for that purpose would allow work to be done earlier on high-priority projects on the list.

If this option is favored the borough will still have to consult with state officials to ensure the grant funds can be used to do “front-end” work on the bond projects, Brown told the assembly.

The Dec. 7 meeting will also be an opportunity for the sand and gravel industry to speak to a proposed borough gravel “severance” tax, a levy on the vaue of gravel extracted, that is intended to help pay for new road bonds that would sold.

This would pay for the bonds instead of having borough taxpayers pay debt service.

Brown also gave an update on pending new federal regulations requiring COVID-19 vaccinations or proof of negative tests for the virus required for employers with more than 100 workers.

A federal judge has put a temporary stay on the rule, which is being implemented through the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. In light of this the federal OSHA office has now said it will delay applying the rule on employers until the litigation is settled.

On other matters, the assembly approved an ordnance giving the borough manager authority to assess property owners in the Tolson Avenue and Elkins Street Natural Gas Improvement District to pay for new improvements lines after 78 percent of the owners agreed to the assessment in a survey.

The assembly approved the ordinance as a formality.

In two other service areas the needed majority of property owners did not approve of assessments for new service. These included the East Dilley Avenue Natural Gas Improvement District for gas service and the East Grizzly Bear Drive Local Road Paving District, for road improvements.

The assembly, again as a formality, voted down these ordinances.

In another action the assembly approved the equivalent of an additional full-time assistant fire chief to serve in the Willow and Caswell fire service areas. There is now a fire chief to cover these two service areas.

The new assistant chief would help with training and public education as well as helping with firefighting when needed. This area, along the Parks Highway, is considered high risk for future wildfires, which justifies additional resources, the assembly was told.

In past years two major wildfires have occurred in these areas including the Miller’s Reach fire, and the areas in the Willow and Caswell fire districts are referred to by firefighters as, “the unburned zone,” meaning they are vulnerable, assembly members were told.

In another approval the assembly agreed to formally accept a $100,000 state Department of Health and Social Services grant to help fund distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the borough through Dec. 31.

Assembly members also approved acceptance of a $1 million as the first part of a $2 million state grant to support the Arctic Winter Games in Mat-Su.