Candidates talk ‘trash’ at forum

WASILLA — With the Mat-Su Valley general election weeks away, four of five candidates seeking Mat-Su Borough office met to talk about the Valley’s economy and its image Friday.

Michelle Church has challenged Ron Arvin for the seat she lost to him representing areas between Palmer and Wasilla on the borough assembly. Former planning commissioner Mark Masteller has challenged Larry DeVilbiss for the job of mayor. The other two assembly members up this year — Jim Colver representing Hatcher Pass and Vern Halter representing Willow, Houston and Talkeetna — are unopposed.

All but Halter showed up at the Mat-Su Convention and Visitor’s Bureau luncheon and candidates’ forum Friday.

The candidates were asked, among other things, what they could do to combat the “Valley trash” stereotype.

“Quit repeating it,” Arvin said.

If it’s a question of beautifying the borough, he said discussions with the state Department of Transportation yielded the answer that the state lacks the inclination or resources to maintain highway beautification projects, but will put them in if local governments will agree to the upkeep. Wasilla does, and so does Palmer.

“The Mat-Su Borough should be willing to do that,” Arvin said.

Church agreed that people need to stop repeating former Sen. Ben Stevens’ name calling from 2004.

“It’s really not funny,” she said.

Earlier in the meeting, Church noted that during her previous tenure the assembly had adopted ordinances regulating towers that the current assembly had tossed. But local government exists, she said, to guide development so it doesn’t destroy the beauty of the community.

“That guide, whether you like it or not, is regulations,” she said.

Masteller said the assembly can combat the stereotype by “respecting the work of the people in the Valley who put time into things.”

He described a time when he felt disrespected. The planning commission spent untold hours reworking rules for subdividing land in the borough, finally coming up with an entire new title of borough code that passed the assembly. But then this assembly came in and tossed those regulations out.

“Now we’ve gone backwards,” Masteller said. “We can plan for good growth. We don’t just have to throw out the rules.”

For his part, DeVilbiss said his strategy to combat the stereotype is to disarm it; to see it as a joke, not let it offend him and just conduct business knowing he doesn’t embody the moniker.

“When people talk about ‘Valley trash’ when I’m in Anchorage, I embrace it,” he said.

The candidates also were asked about the definition of a living wage in the Valley and what they could do to make more jobs that carry those wages.

Masteller said that he thought $50,000 a year was about right. He said that the Valley is fortunate to have a strong health care sector. There are lots of living-wage jobs there. He said affordable energy could entice more of them. Another way is to ensure the Valley maintains its quality of life.

“Companies that can locate anywhere they want to will locate here because we have a really great place to live,” Masteller said.

DeVilbiss said that the school district had just looked into that question and was somewhat upset when “the bank told them it takes $60,000 for a single wage-earner to support a family.”

That was troubling at the school district, he said, because starting teachers’ salaries are lower than that. He said he sees new agricultural opportunities in the Valley with flowers and berries.

Colver said he thinks a living wage job is closer to $40,000 and that $44,000 was the starting teacher’s salary. He said the borough is doing the right things to bring more of those jobs here — highway upgrades, a new train route, a port. The borough can easily become a logistics hub.

“It’s a matter of attracting these businesses out here as Anchorage becomes less attractive,” he said.

Arvin said he didn’t really like the question, pegged as it is around a “living wage.”

“I don’t want a community where people just survive,” he said.

Instead, Arvin said he’d like to attract more jobs that can support a family and give that family disposable income.

Church said she’s seen statistics showing the median job for Valley residents who graduated from the school district is $60,000. She thought at first that was surprising, then realized most of those wage-earners were working on the North Slope.

“It’s possible to earn $60,000, but you can’t do it in this community,” she said. “I think that we can do better.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.