Director of governor’s local office, representative of search and rescue group speak at latest Palmer City Council meeting

PALMER — The Palmer City Council had a relatively light business night as far as local government meetings are concerned, passing their one agenda item without opposition. However, the presentations that came before the council brought life to the meeting, both human and canine.

Todd Smoldon, director of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Mat-Su Valley office in the State Office Building on the other side of the railroad tracks from city hall, asked that council members come to him with concerns or ideas if they are unable to attend either of the governor’s two scheduled events in the coming week.

“It’s on April fools day and someone shouted out ‘That’s fitting!’ I think it was supposed to be an insult but I kind of laughed,” Smoldon said.

Smoldon lightheartedly jabbed Wasilla City Councilman Stu Graham for the second time this month.

“No offense Mr. Graham,” Smoldon said. “In terms of small entrepreneurial opportunities, Palmer does seem to have a great niche there.”

Smoldon detailed his history and the governor’s wishes. Smoldon spent 21 years as a teacher, 17 of those at East Anchorage High School where he taught Japanese, economics and social studies and another four at North Star.

“That job has prepared me for the position that I’m in now. I like to say with adolescents, they pretend like they’re not listening but they actually are. With adults, they pretend like they’re listening but they aren’t. My new role gives me an opportunity to teach and that’s partly why I’m here tonight,” Smoldon said.

Smoldon updated the council on what has been coming from the third floor of the capitol building in Juneau since the governor’s budget was released. Smoldon said that the governor sees his Constitutional Amendments as the most important piece of his vision, and that many who voted for him would not like to see the permanent fund dividend touched.

“The governor recognizes that there’s a lot of angst about the budget, but that’s to be expected since we have spent 14 billion dollars in savings in the last four years and our revenues do not match our expenditures currently,” Smoldon said. “There is a battle of political philosophies that are currently taking place. The governor is very hopeful that at some point the protests will stop and that everyone will work together to come up with some creative solutions to solve the deficit that we have.”

Smoldon relayed the governor’s dismay that his bills have received hearings in the Senate but not the House, and that the governor’s philosophy is to favor money in the private sector and a smaller more efficient government.

“I was disturbed that I had to register with a special interest group who now has my email address to attend the governor’s budget hearing,” Deputy Mayor Pete LaFrance said. “That is a very peculiar method if you want to have an authentic discussion about the budget, so I’m concerned about that.”

Graham spoke during public comment also to remind the council about the governor’s two public appearances and said that anyone interested in attending the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce and Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce joint meeting with the Governor on April 1 at Everett’s in Wasilla should call the GWCC ahead of.

The council’s most noteworthy presentation of the meeting came from Mat-Su Search And Rescue’s Mark Stigar, who presented with two human and two canine colleagues with MATSAR, detailing the ways they assist the Alaska State Troopers in investigations, recovery of remains and search and rescue operations.

“Many of you may be like, I thought originally that if we ever had a problem in the backcountry, whether we’re bike riding out at Nancy Lake or up in Hatcher Pass, if you ever had a problem that there’s going to be a platoon of troopers to show up and help you get out of it, and that is not the case,” Stigar said. “There’s no equipment other than a few radios that they provide, it’s all totally on the non-profits who are the search and rescue groups and we are it pretty much here for the Mat-Su.

Stigar detailed the different types of operations MATSAR is involved in, including the tragic death of a pair of snowmachiners in December where Stigar and MATSAR personnel were on the scene with 86 snowmachines and two helicopters. Jason Eckert who works on the ground during search operations gave the council a more lighthearted story about Project Life Saver, a service for elderly patients or children who may be prone to wander off. Eckert and MATSAR were using the signal from the small band worn by the missing person and used it to locate them at the Palmer Bar. MATSAR also features the only equine search team in the state, along with motorized units such as snowmachines and ATV’s and the K-9 units.

“We run the searches, our K-9 team is probably our most practiced element of our team and they have two specialties, air scent and trailing,” Stigar said.

Stigar noted that MATSAR is hosting the sixth annual avalanche recovery workshop in Hatcher Pass this weekend. MATSAR has 33 volunteers that respond to search and rescue emergencies, often using their own equipment. Stigar asked the Council for a safe place to store a trailer and radios, the only equipment MATSAR owns. MATSAR hosted the first Search and Rescue Academy at the National Outdoor Leadership School last year, graduating 100 volunteers who went over nearly 200 scenarios in two weekends of training. Stigar said that MATSAR is raising funds for a truck to haul equipment, a jet boat for rescues and keeping K-9 searchers certified.

“Thee more I learn about what you do the more thankful I am and appreciative of the sacrifices you guys make to help other people,” LaFrance said. “Thank you very much for that and I do hope we are able to find a partnership that helps you out in the community here.”

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