Dividing borough not so absurd

WASILLA — With Houston’s mayor looking into the feasibility of splitting the Mat-Su Borough apart, the borough mayor, for one, says it’s not a terrible idea.

“When I was on the assembly a couple of times I brought it up a couple times as a concept,” Borough Mayor Talis Colberg said. “The core area population really has a different view of things than the outlying areas.”

But, he said, he doesn’t think it can happen.

“What makes it hard is how do you practically do it?” he asked.

Most everyone agrees that at some point a request like this has to go to the state’s Local Boundaries Commission. The body has presided over borough incorporations across the state and spends a good deal of its time dealing with annexation attempts. Calls to the commission weren’t returned as of press time.

But the Boundary Commission is just one part of a larger process. Colberg said there are a lot of issues to sort out, not least of which is where does one draw the boundaries and which body would govern which community.

“I would guess that people living up at the Sheep Mountain area of the borough might say, ‘Oh good.’ But if you say, ‘You’re going to be in a new borough with Sheep Creek and the borough seat is going to be Talkeetna,’” they might think twice, Colberg said.

In broad terms, if the goal is to separate the urban from the rural areas of the borough, the area might be better divided into three, rather, than two pieces, Colberg said. One borough would encompass Palmer and Wasilla, one would encompass Houston and points north, and one would cover Nancy Lake, Chickaloon and communities west of Palmer.

“There’s a general complaint about the outlying areas that they don’t get much for their money, but what they do get is more expensive per capita,” Colberg said. “It doesn’t necessarily get better with a smaller tax base.”

Schools are a good example. The smaller the school district, Colberg said, the more expensive the education. Still, he said the borough has changed dramatically since it was formed in the ’60s. Palmer and Wasilla, once as rural as their neighbors, are now urban centers.

“I think the underlying issue is really there. What do Palmer-Wasilla anymore have to do with the understanding of the needs of the end of the road?” Colberg said.

Houston Mayor Roger Purcell said last week that the Houston City Council voted to look into the feasibility of creating a new borough in the areas north of Palmer.

Sandy McDonald, his predecessor as mayor and, on most issues, one of Purcell’s political foes, said she doesn’t think the vote was taken legally.

“He cannot discuss something that is not on the agenda, with everybody, especially at a meeting,” McDonald said.

The agenda published before the meeting at which the vote was taken did not contain an item relating to secession plans.

Purcell said that it didn’t need to be on the agenda.

“It was brought up at the council meeting and placed on the consent agenda, which is allowed,” he said.

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