Decision on borough manager expected soon

PALMER — Sometime in the next week the Mat-Su Borough should know who will be running the show.

The borough assembly held a special meeting Saturday to speak in person with the last three people on its list of candidates for borough manager. The position has been vacant since John Duffy resigned in July. The list of candidates started at 75, was culled to 11, then to seven, and now to three.

Greg Young, city administrator of Ferndale, Wash., said he was not put out by the arduous process and multiple interviews the borough conducted.

“I anticipated a long and rigorous process. I expected no less,” he said. “I don’t apply for many jobs.”

Don Baird would come to the borough from Granby, Colo., where he is the town manager.

“I think it’s a genuine opportunity to work in a place that is progressive, forward looking,” he said. “The number of plans that you have in place and are really doing something about is really impressive,” he said.

He spoke of his experience running operations that brought the town revenue, such as a water system he worked to put in place that provided better service and operated in the black, and a trash collection system he convinced his city to take over from a private operator and which provided better service at the same cost.

Desmond Mayo seemed to be a relatively familiar face around the assembly table. He worked at the borough in the ’90s before striking out into the private sector, working at Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Matanuska Telephone Association, and finally as finance director for Crowley Petroleum Distribution.

Asked what he might have done at any of his prior jobs that he will be remembered for, Mayo pointed to his experience at MTA, where the company really had no idea what its costs were to deliver certain services. When he arrived on scene, the company didn’t have to know that — it was the only game in town.

But then GCI showed up on scene. All of a sudden there was competition. After he left, Mayo said, the company had a full understanding of its profit ratios and costs.

He was also proud of his work at Crowley where, Mayo said, he took books that were in horrible disarray and set them straight. He said the latest audit had no problems with the accounting.

After interviewing the three, the assembly went into a closed-door session to hash out a ranking. They came back out of the closed session but woulnd’t say on the record who is the top candidate.

Assemblyman Mark Ewing said in a phone conversation later that he didn’t think he’d be able to say publicly who the top contender was until probably sometime next week. The borough needs to square away some contract negotiations first.

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