Ewing pushes for strong mayor

PALMER — At least one assembly member thinks now is the time for the Mat-Su Borough to drastically change the way it does business.

Mark Ewing, who represents Wasilla and the surrounding area, introduced an ordinance at Tuesday’s assembly meeting calling for a vote of the people to decide whether a strong mayor or strong manager should run the borough.

Right now Borough Manager John Duffy handles the day-to-day business of the borough. Borough Mayor Talis Colberg has ceremonial and diplomatic roles, but has veto power — and has used it — as well as the power to break assembly vote ties.

Ewing said a strong mayor form of government — similar to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wasilla — makes more sense. Rather than having the assembly in charge of hiring a manager, the people will decide who runs the show.

“It gives people more control. If they feel they want the borough to move in a different direction then every three years they have an opportunity to make that change,” he said.

His resolution calls for the question to be put on the October ballot.

But the man who currently holds the mayor job said he doesn’t think now is the right time. To be sure, Colberg said, he thinks strong mayor is the way to go. Just not in October.

“I think the ideal situation is it would happen at the end of a three-year term,” Colberg said.

And he’s only six-months in on his current three-year term. If it’s done sooner, Colberg said, it might give the impression that the borough had rushed the concept through.

There will also be trouble sorting out what to do with the people currently in office. If the form of government changes, does Colberg retain the seat and just get more responsibility heaped on his shoulders? Does such a change necessitate a special election?

The question of what to do with the manger would be even stickier. Duffy announced his resignation last month and plans to stay on until at least June. The assembly is searching for a replacement. It might be difficult, Colberg said, to find a manager willing to serve for just a handful of months.

For his part, Ewing said he considered that. He opposed the assembly’s decision to seek Duffy’s replacement and warned his colleagues on the assembly that his ordinance was coming.

“They were also made aware that (Assistant Borough Manager) Elizabeth Gray could fill that spot until the people had a chance to vote,” Ewing said.

Still, he said, whatever the assembly decides is likely a moot point. There’s already a movement afoot to get the question on the ballot via petition. Just over 2,000 signatures would get the job done, Ewing said. And he doesn’t think those signatures would be hard to find.

His claims about a petition drive were backed up at Tuesday’s assembly meeting by Jennie Bettine, president of the Conservative Patriots Group — a vocal local organization that has put on many of the local Tea Party rallies of late. Bettine — no relation to Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine — said she had recently been at a meeting where attendees were making moves toward starting a petition drive.

“Let the people make that decision,” she urged the assembly.

Ewing’s ordinance is set for public hearing June 1.

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