Can they all just get along?

Frontiersman

WASILLA — Although city council has asked Mayor Dianne M. Keller to resign, members says they still believe council and city administration can get along well enough to do the public’s business.

Wasilla City Council voted 4-1 Monday asking Keller to resign, with Deputy Mayor Kristopher Larson the dissenting vote, in the wake of an independent investigation that says Keller and other top city administrators worked to benefit a deve loper at the expense of existing small business owners.

Keller has said she will not resign and intends to serve the remainder of her term, which ends in October. Although confident the city’s business won’t be bogged down by the distraction, council members also say relations will likely remain strained. Council doesn’t have the authority to force Keller’s resignation.

Whether or not the issue of the investigation is over is unclear, and on Thursday Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff said letters of reprimand for city staff singled out in the investigation will be on the next council meeting’s agenda.

Tensions between council and Keller seemed to come to a boiling point Monday as the mayor took the floor to defend herself and her staff’s actions in what private law firm Denali Law Group has called an inappropriate relationship with developer Meritage Development LLC.

The call for Keller’s resignation culminates a year of questioning by council and Denali Law Group’s probe stemming from complaints to city council from local businesses after they received a strongly worded letter dated Aug. 24, 2007, threatening eminent domain if the businesses didn’t go along with the city’s plans to realign East Sun Mountain Avenue. The realignment of the road was discussed prior to the letter being sent in e-mails between city officials, Meritage and a local Realtor.

Denali Law Group attorney Richard Payne said those e-mails from Wasilla Economic Development Planner Casey Reynolds shows there was behind-closed-doors cooperation between the city and Meritage Development, which wants to develop two parcels of land near the Parks Highway.

In one of those e-mails, Reynolds informs Keller he told James Wood, a commercial broker with Meritage Realty USA, that letters threatening eminent domain would be sent out. Ten days later, those letters began appearing at businesses near the developer’s land.

Keller and city staff — including Reynolds, Public Works Director Archie Giddings and former deputy administrator Sandra Garley — maintain they did nothing wrong. Repeated messages left for the mayor seeking comment were not returned.

Keller publicly blasted some city council members Monday, calling the investigation politically motivated. On Tuesday, Councilwoman Stephanie Massie said she has observed animosity and tension between the council and the mayor since Massie’s appointment last September.

“There’s already been that animosity,” Massie said, adding this week’s actions likely won’t make a huge difference in how the council and administration get along. “It’s been there for awhile.”

Councilman Marty Metiva, who is running for Wasilla mayor this fall, said Massie’s assessment of animosity is correct.

“There’s always been this animosity,” Metiva said, adding he doesn’t know why the mayor and some council members don’t get along. “We worked through it then, we worked through it for three years and hopefully we can continue to work through it.”

Metiva said the council will have to focus on rebuilding its relationship with residents, and getting back to providing basic services is key to doing that, he said.

“Everything’s out in the open,” Metiva said of the Meritage situation. “What’s said was said and the investigation speaks volumes.”

Metiva said he is particularly worried after Keller made a controversial comment Monday implying she has the power to direct the Wasilla Police Department to target specific individuals as retaliation for upsetting her.

Keller told Annette Andres, owner of the Windbreak Café and an ardent critic of the mayor since the investigation began, that as mayor she could have directed Wasilla police to perform breathalyzer tests on every patron leaving the restaurant in response to what Keller called “degrading” testimony from Andres over the eminent domain letters. The Windbreak was one of the businesses to receive the Aug. 24, 2007, letter.

The comment sparked a furor among audience members at the meeting and elicited a rebuttal from Wasilla Police Chief Angella Long, who said that’s not how the department works.

“The mayor used [the threat] to illustrate a point,” Long said.

Metiva said the mayor stepped over the line with the comment and “hog-tied” the police department.

Both Metiva and Councilman Steve Menard, who also is a mayoral candidate, said police now risk being accused of entrapment if someone from the Windbreak is pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving.

Moving on

Now that the council has hashed out the Denali Law Group report and has asked Keller to resign, Metiva said it’s time to move to future business.

“We need to put this issue aside and look toward the future,” Metiva said.

Woodruff, who has been the most vocal council member in calling for Keller’s resignation, said she and the mayor are not good friends, but she doesn’t expect that to get in the way of city business.

“I think we’re all grownups,” Woodruff said. “I think we all need to move on.”

For his part, Menard said he is counting the days until Keller leaves office and admitted the next few months will be hard.

“This city’s going to function like the city always functions,” Menard said. “Unfortunately, we have this black cloud over it. It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be a struggle, but we’ve got a job to do an we’re going to plug along and do it to the best of our ability.”

Wasilla City Council will meet again at 7 p.m., July 14. Meetings take place in the council chambers, 290 E. Herning Ave.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiers-man.com or 352-2252.