Duffy resigns as borough manager

PALMER — After 10 years as manager and 24 working for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, John Duffy announced Tuesday night his resignation as borough manager.

According to borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan, nobody in the room knew he was going to make the announcement, which came at the end of a meeting called to discuss this year's budget. Duffy gave 60 days' notice, as his contract required.

Current Borough Mayor Talis Colberg said he was an assemblyman when Duffy was hired.

“When I finished my second term I gave Mr. Duffy a painting. It is a depiction of Custer's Last Stand. I gave it to Mr. Duffy with a note suggesting that no matter how difficult a situation might be, he, unlike Gen. Custer, would not corner himself but rather would find a way to move forward inoffensively. It was meant as a compliment,” Colberg said in a borough press release.

Attached to his resignation announcement, Duffy handed out a 10-page list of things accomplished during his tenure. Between 2001 and 2009, for instance, the borough took in $262 million worth of grants and paved 213 miles of road. Ten schools were built, major improvements were done at the borough's central landfill, and Port MacKenzie was carved out of the wilderness.