Colver enters race for borough mayor

March 21, 2006

MARY AMES

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - People have been bugging Jim Colver about what he was going to do next for a long time, and the first day of spring seemed like a good day to come out with it, he said, announcing his run for Mat-Su Borough mayor.

&#8220My family is on this mission with me,” Colver said. &#8220I want to continue to serve the people of the Valley. I like seeing things through to completion.”

Colver was first elected to the borough assembly in 2000 and was re-elected in 2003. Term limits mean that the current borough mayor, Tim Anderson, will have to step aside and that Colver can't run for the assembly again.

&#8220I'm not ready to stop serving,” he said. &#8220There's a lot left to do for continuity and commitment to the Valley. It's not always easy, and it's not always simple. But if you care about community, this is an opportunity to give something back.”

A professional surveyor with his own business, Colver cites past road projects that have come to fruition since he has been on the borough assembly: the Parks-Glenn highway interchange, the four-lane upgrade of the Parks Highway through Wasilla, the reconstruction of Knik-Goose Bay Road, the Palmer-Wasilla Highway extension and Glenn Highway improvements.

Looking forward, Colver promised to support the extension of Seldon Road to Church Road, the repaving of Palmer-Fishhook, repaving the first two miles of Wasilla-Fishhook Road and the extension of Bogard Road.

&#8220The borough is doing the right-of-way acquisition and design,” Colver said of that project. &#8220And we have $4.4 million to take Seldon to Houston, so people have an alternative way around Wasilla.”

As far as education, Colver said it is difficult to hear again and again that there isn't enough money for things.

&#8220But on the positive side, in the last four years we've lowered class size,” he said.

People in the Valley are victims of their own success when it comes to the booming economy and property taxes, Colver said. Now he hopes that the tax cap he sponsored works as it was designed to do.

The borough can collect no more than $74 million in taxes from all sources and nets about $64 million in property taxes, he said. The total land assessment, without exemptions for nonprofit organizations, churches and veterans, is about $6.5 billion, he said.

&#8220We have about $1 billion in property assessments that are off the tax rolls,” Colver said. &#8220And we're under strain to get more services. We need more of a share of the oil wealth to lower property taxes.”

Colver's family came up to Alaska driving the Alcan Highway in the late 1940s, he said. His dad, Warren Colver, went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the GI bill, and, after earning a law degree in Oregon, returned to live in Anchorage and work as a United States attorney. From 1964 to 1966, Warren Colver was Alaska's attorney general, and the family lived in Juneau.

Jim Colver moved to the Mat-Su Valley about 22 years ago he said. His wife, Marie-Louise, son Calum and daughter Julia were at his side as Colver announced his candidacy. Marie-Louise has been his campaign manager in every election before this, but she is managing a household now, she said.

&#8220Campaigns are always hard to work,” she said. &#8220Now I'm just licking envelopes and handling the finances.”

Colver sees spending so much time away from his family as the biggest sacrifice of holding public office, but Marie-Louise said she understands.

&#8220He works a lot of late nights,” she said. &#8220Yesterday was typical. We went to church, then had lunch together and then we went to work until I don't know when. But as long as he believes he can make a difference, he will. That's one of the things I admire about him.”

One of Colver's passions for the last 22 years has been the development of a ski area in Hatcher Pass, and he said he wants to help keep that project on track, in the belief that it will create about 400 new jobs. He said he sees more job opportunities in the creation of the regional prison.

&#8220No community is going to be excited about 2,000 prisoners next door,” he said. &#8220But this is a $250 million construction project that I've been harping on since I've been on the assembly.”

Citing the abundant crime in the Valley, Colver said he would use the office of mayor to be a spokesman for additional resources, such as more police and more district attorneys. He said the borough has to revisit the idea of taking on some police powers, but not without putting the cost of it in front of the voters, also.

Colver said he sees more economic development at Port MacKenzie, with VECO building modular units for oil fields now. A bridge from Anchorage to the port would be fine with him, he said, but not at the expense of borough roads that need upgrades for years, he said.

Colver said his leadership in protecting property rights from coal-bed methane leases, his ability to listen to people and build consensus and his concern for the Valley's natural resources would make him a good mayor.

Although he hasn't had much time to hunt or fish in recent years, Colver's concerned there aren't enough salmon returning to the Valley, and he would like to see more research done to find out why.

&#8220Alaskans deserve fish in their freezers,” he said.

Colver is the second official candidate for the position, following former legislator Curt Menard Sr., who made his own announcement last week. Former borough assembly member Jody Simpson and former Wasilla police chief Charlie Fannon, who ran unsuccessfully against Anderson, are both rumored to be considering mounting their own campaigns.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.