CANDIDATE PROFILES: 4 vying for 2 seats on Palmer City Council

PALMER — City of Palmer voters will choose two of the four filed city council candidates in the Oct. 3 election. Included in the lot are incumbents Linda Combs and Brad Hanson along with newcomers Sabrena Combs and Kenni “Psenak” Linden.

Current Deputy Mayor Linda Combs is finishing up her sixth year on the governing body and Hanson his 19th. The two challengers are Palmer natives with a strong interest in seeing the city continue moving forward.

Linda Combs

“I’ve been involved in Palmer for 30-plus years and been around the city council since about 2000,” Combs said. “I’ve seen the council meld together into a really great team that has great vision. That vision goes beyond six months, two years or five years. It goes all the way out to 20 years. We’ve all been very committed to keeping a steady hand.”

Combs said one of the things she greatly enjoyed about serving on the council to date is opportunity. Council members are invited to focus on several city interests such as infrastructure, parks and recreation and trails. She’s also proud of Palmer’s “Sister City” project with Saroma. A town in the Okhotsk Sub-prefecture in Hokkaido, Japan; the two similarly sized cities, its citizens and those of Palmer have exchange cultural connections for decades.

“You get to choose areas of interest and I’ve chosen two or three. That’s a big part of (sitting on the council) it,” Combs said. She added her areas of interest include public safety and infrastructure.

When asked about her goals for the city if reelected to the council, Combs said direction is important.

“Nothing grandiose. I’m a fiscal conservative and I feel we’ve been good stewards of the public’s funds,” said Combs. “I think we’ve done our homework. Right now, I think we need to keep an eye open and continue having our great audits.”

Combs said she feels the current council has continued a strong effort in making Palmer known as a great event location. She feels part of that is because of strong communications.

“We need to continue that. When I first was elected to the council, communication was not a real strong point. There are more and more people from places like Fairbanks and Juneau that mark their calendars for events in Palmer,” Combs said. “Overall, I think we need to continue expanding on what we have. Palmer is not in too bad a shape. We need to keep on track.”

One of the goals Combs has set for herself if given the voter’s backing, is to develop more partnerships with the Mat-Su Borough School District, the city’s major employers and Mat-Su College. She said such collaborations are beneficial to everybody.

Brad Hanson

A real estate investment business owner in the city, Hanson is nearing two decades on the council. Prior to that, he served six years on the city’s planning and zoning committee. Hanson said he’s also proud of his more than 25 years of volunteer work for a myriad of community projects. Some of the projects he’s been involved with most proud of include the conversion of city ball fields from softball to Little League, remodeling the Palmer Depot, rewriting city ordinances that spearheaded the transition of many city streets from gravel to paved, and continued work on city trails.

“Remodeling the depot led to the change of an eyesore to an economic engine for downtown. One of the other big things is that for all these projects, it required changes to city ordinances,” Hanson said adding he felt he played an instrumental part in that. “We rewrote city code, made changes to city ordinances and changed assessment methods.”

Hanson said he felt those changes led to property owners feeling they were given fair shake in property assessments while gaining infrastructure improvements.

“One thing that I’m extremely proud of is the fact that we made city hall accountable to the taxpayers. That’s important because people have to feel they received fair treatment and businesses have to feel they’ve been treated fairly,” Hanson said. “If all those things happen, it makes living, working and owning a business in Palmer better.”

Hanson said he feels his and the council’s work is not yet complete. Among the projects he would like to continue involvement in is the gravel to paved road conversion as well as the ongoing wastewater treatment plant project. He said the city just spent around $11 million for the first phase of the treatment plant construction but there is a second phase to follow and Hanson said it is important to make sure ratepayer fees are kept as low as possible.

“We need to continue those. It will reduce the environmental impact and also decrease needed maintenance. And we need to remain fiscally conservative to weather this economic downturn,” Hanson said. “The city’s fund balances are adequate. We have to maintain those and look out after our funding sources. Stay on top of our finances and be able to react quickly.”

While the city has spent time, effort and money with enterprise funds such as water, sewer and garbage, Hanson feels continued growth is necessary in all.

“Those are our economic engines and good sources of employment,” Hanson said. “We are faced with some economically challenging times ahead. It is important to have competent, experienced people with backgrounds to weather the storm without ruining the last 20 years.”

Sabrena Combs

A Palmer native, Combs is a 2002 Palmer High School graduate and notes she’s been involved in city- community projects and boards for years. Among those is a six-year stint as president of the Mat-Su Miners, six years (term limited) on the United Way of Mat-Su, Academy Charter School advisory board, and extensive work with the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce where she received the Pioneer Award for her volunteer work.

“I love Palmer,” Combs said. “This is a logical step forward. I want to help as much as possible.”

She said some of the areas she wishes to focus on are revisiting office term limits, ongoing and new infrastructure improvements, and a walkability study for area seniors.

“I want to keep Palmer moving forward in a progressive way. We have a lot more younger families moving in and I want to keep moving in that direction,” Combs said. “I don’t want to come in with an agenda and I think I can learn a lot. The current council is doing a great job and I just want to add to it.”

Kenni Linden

Linden is a born and bred Palmer resident who began her long span of volunteer work in high school as the borough school district’s board of education student representative. After graduating college, returned home from India with her Irish husband. She also continued her volunteer work within the city and currently serves on the board of directors for Alaska Family Services and Radio Free Palmer.

“Both my husband and I are involved in runs and trail races and use the bike trail paths and walkable trails all the time,” said Linden, adding she feels the topic could use further work within and adjacent to the city. “We also have a lot of sidewalks that are non-ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant which makes it difficult for people in walkers and wheelchairs to get around. I want to make that a priority.”

Like one of her opponents, Linden said she plans on making term limits a main focus if elected.

“I would like to see more residents involved and part of that is term limits,” Linden said. “Have people run two or three consecutive terms then take a break. There is new life and new blood coming to Palmer, some with similar expertise and experience. I want to keep bringing more.”

Linden said recycling is another area she would like to address if approved by her constituents. She said there are simple things Palmer residents, businesses and city government could do to further that cause.

“I love this community. I moved back after college because I have family here. My mother has been here since the 1950s and my dad since the 1960s. I want to give back to the Palmer that I love,” Linden said.

Linden said like other candidates, she’s been out knocking on doors.

“That’s the most fun part. I really love talking to old friends I haven’t seen for a while and new people. I’ve been campaigning with my little one on my back,” said Linden. “The biggest thing I hear is that people are ready for a change. They are excited to see new people running.”

Contact reporter Chris Ford at 352-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com