Club presents Wasilla City Council with plans to improve skatepark

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council heard public comment from a group of youths dedicating to improving city parks as well as a presentation on the new drawings for the Wasilla Police Department that will break ground this summer.

Friends of Wasilla Parks and Recreation President Reese Clayton presented his organization’s plan to improve the Wasilla skatepark.

“One of my first thoughts I had for the park, I actually was there back in the day, believe it or not. I remember I was only five at the time, and I at that time did not have a phone. And I joked that back then, I didn’t have a phone and now I have a phone that’s smarter than me, but yet my skatepark is exactly the same as it was in (1999),” Clayton said.

Clayton and the Friends packed the Wasilla Council Chambers with 26 people. Clayton formed a nonprofit for Friends of Wasilla Parks and Recreation after meeting with the existing Parks and Recreation board to see what they could do about improvements to the Wasilla skatepark, built in 1999 and not renovated or updated since.

“Our organization’s mission is to advocate and preserve our parks for the future of Wasilla,” Clayton said.

Clayton and Friends decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the skatepark by working to give it a face lift. The Parks and Rec board gave advice to Clayton and Friends, who began contacting skatepark industry professionals for design consulting and fundraising strategies. The Friends plan to have a budget prepared in April in hopes of raising half of the money through community fundraising and apply for the other half in grants.

“We’ve been using this skate park for many years. I started as a younger rider and older riders helping us and then here tonight, we actually have three generations. We have Reese and I and Ozzie, and then these two younger riders over here. Seeing how all of us have grown, it’d be very nice to see the skatepark grow with us and the build the skatepark to also grow with Wasilla,” Kiana Horst said.

Horst showed some nerves when speaking and admitted it was his first time in front of the council.

“Being here in person really shows a dedication and a passion for what it is that you want to speak to,” Councilman Stu Graham said.

Mayor Bert Cottle and Councilman Tim Burney were visibly taken aback, not used to members of the public informing the council of action they had taken.

“Are you old enough to run for city council?” Burney asked Clayton. “I think I’m getting as excited as you are, so keep up the good work.

Clayton and Friends were inundated with members of the Council and WPD who wanted to help them get their ideas off the ground after the meeting.

“I’m really excited because I think that as being an active skatepark user my entire life, I’ve realized the benefits of a skatepark… I realize that It’s a great place for kids to get socialization. It’s a great place for them to get involved with the community at this level, so I really hope that our group is a way for some of these kids to actually find their voice in the community,” Clayton said.

The council unanimously passed Resolution 19-05, ratifying the collective bargaining agreement between the city of Wasilla and the Wasilla Police Department Employees Association.

“What we’ve got before us is a really extraordinary effort by administration and WPDEA to move forward,” Graham said. “Because of the change in representation for the uniformed officers, what has been decided here is just to extend this out through the end of May and we’ll re start negotiations for a three year agreement at that time.”

WPD officers informed Cottle that of the five vacant positions two weeks ago, they may all be filled. WPD hired one officer and sent another two to the Department of Public Safety Academy with two additional officers given conditional offers. John Weir and Evelyn Rousso from McCool Carlson Green Architects presented their renderings of the new Wasilla Police Department on Wasilla Fishhook. The design work for the 21,000 square foot facility is 65 percent complete. The WPD and MATCOM dispatch currently operate out of the 10,000 square foot WPD building with 30 WPD officers and 4,000 square feet of dedicated space for dispatch. The new WPD building which is set to break ground this summer and open next August would have the capacity for 56 police officers. Finance Director Troy Tankersly informed Graham that the 3 percent sales tax that was passed to fund the WPD construction for either 2 years or $12 million is slightly ahead of schedule. The tax revenue will cease once the $12 million threshold has been reached to fund the WPD construction.

“What we were looking to do here is make a building that was dignified, a dignified building that looks secure and strong and the idea of serving the public and we wanted something that had a lot of strength to it but also transparency,” Rousso said.

Weir and Rousso detailed the layout and some of the protective measures within the new WPD headquarters. MATCOM will continue to operate out of the existing WPD building. Weir felt confident that the designs would come under the $12 million maximum.

“I feel very confident that we’re going to hit that mark and maybe even have some money to do some alternates,” Weir said.

Cottle noted during council comments that with the passage of Action Memoranda 19-10 to install lighting on Clapp road for $78,556 includes lighting for another playground.

“When this gets up and running that’ll give us nine different playground facilities in the city which is probably more per capita than anybody in the United States,” Cottle said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.