Familiar names vie for job of Palmer mayor

PALMER — It’s probably no surprise, but judging from at least brief interviews Monday, the mayor’s race in Palmer is a largely a civil affair.

The residents of Palmer will select between two familiar faces on the ballot for mayor in the Oct. 1 election. Here’s what each had to say in their interviews:

DeLena Johnson

Johnson is the incumbent in the race. Before she was mayor, Johnson was director of the Palmer Museum of History and Art.

“There are things that have gotten started, I think there has been some really good things have been done and I want to keep working on that,” she said.

She said she thinks the city is doing well with new construction and vibrant businesses.

“There’s some really positive energy in town. I want to see that continue,” she said.

Johnson said she also is proud of her role shepherding the city through some pretty rough legal waters.

“We had a million dollar settlement within the first year,” she said. “That was just straight out of the general fund.”

She said she sees the mayor as the chief executive of the city. There is a council to make decisions and a manager to run day-to-day operations, she said, but the mayor is where the buck stops.

“The buck stops here. Even if you aren’t involved in day-to-day operations, you better know what’s happening,” she said. “To know what’s happening as an elected official I think is really critical, because ultimately the elected officials are responsible.”

She said she was proud to have reduced the budget without cutting services. Part of that budget cutting process involved taking on new roles herself. The city, for instance, chose to go without a lobbyist and rely on the mayor and city manager.

“That’s one of the areas that we’ve been able to cut the budget in and I don’t think we’ve lost any traction there,” Johnson said.

She said Palmer is a desirable place for people to live in the Valley.

“I feel like we need to see positive growth,” she said. “We can want it to grow or we can not want it to grow or think about it in different ways but Palmer is going to continue to grow and we need to do it in a positive way.”

Linda Combs

Combs sits on the city council, is active in various nonprofits and is wife of John Combs, the former mayor who had the job before Johnson.

She said she wants to be mayor to build on her work serving on the council.

“I feel like I’ve got something I can offer,” Combs said.

She said that while lean budgets are good, the city also has a responsibility to take care of what it owns.

“I know that in this next budget session that’s coming up here, I personally am going to be going after where and how can we fund and how can we be sure that we get maintenance done,” she said.

In the long run, by extending the life of buildings and vehicles, a good maintenance regime saves the city money.

“The current mayor has really been concerned about repairs and things at the airport and is right to be concerned about those,” Combs said. “They’re not only maintenance issues, they are public safety issues.”

One way or another, Combs said she hopes to be part of Palmer’s future.

“I do love Palmer,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of changes in the 28 years that I’ve been here. Most of them are really, really good and I’m very proud to have been a part of some of those changes and want to continue to do that.”

Perhaps it’s just how politics are in Palmer, but Combs had very few negative things to say about Johnson. The closest she came to a criticism was when asked what she would do differently than the current mayor.

“The main thing that I would start out doing differently is I would engage the council,” she said. “I’ve seen city councils in the past where through the leadership of the mayor, each council person, each one of my colleagues, I really believe brings a strength or a talent or one or more talents to the table, and I would really like to see them involved.”

For her part, Johnson said she is happy to work with the council.

“Certainly any time I can get advice from council members on things that they know specific things about I’m happy to hear from them.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.