Busy night at Palmer Council; winner declared in bike rack competition

PALMER — The Palmer City Council passed a slew of action memorandums appointing board members, voted to purchase new dispatch equipment for the Palmer Police Department, and named a winner of the City of Palmer Bicycle Rack Design Competition, as well as other regularly scheduled business at their meeting at City Hall on Tuesday.

The Council quickly voted through five Action Memoranda on their agenda without discussion. Mayor Edna DeVries was just about to have the City Clerk do the roll call vote when Pete LaFrance spoke up. Action Memorandum 17-074 announced Robyn Shroeder, LaFrance's wife, as the winner of the City of Palmer Bicycle Rack Competition.

“It says ‘I love Palmer.’ It is recognizable as a bike rack, functional, and spreads a little bit of joy and community spirit,” said LaFrance of his wife’s design. “She was surprised and pleased to hear that she won. She loves the city, loves to bike and wanted to support the community.”

LaFrance recused himself from the debate and abstained from the vote, citing his conflict of interest. Shroeder's design won her $200, and the money raised through the contest will fund the fabrication and installation of four of the bike racks she designed throughout the city.

The council also voted to cancel their scheduled Nov. 14 meeting. The meeting falls on the same night as many of the events coinciding with the meeting of the Alaska Municipal League involving the city clerk, attorney, manager, and councilwoman Sabrena Combs attending a newly elected officials workshop.

With no presentations, no one coming to give public testimony on any of the five resolutions regarding the budget, fee and fine schedules, and Capital Improvement Plan, nearly the only agenda item of the night that received any debate was whether to approve the purchase of new dispatch equipment for police. The newly purchased radios from Motorola will be paid for over five years. Officers using the new equipment can be dispatched from the Palmer dispatch or MatCom in case of catastrophic system failure. The new technology will allow ‘911’ distress signals to be sent over text message.

“Over four or five years, it’s manageable,” said councilman Brad Hanson. “We have reliable service in our dispatches, we can control our own costs, and that’s the real benefit to the city.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the original version of this story there was the record of a discussion between the mayor and council members about a long-time teacher retiring. It turns out, the mayor was mistaken about the teacher, who is not retiring.