From Palmer to Houston, officials take oaths

PALMER — If you walked into a public building this week and saw a person raising his hand, chances are, he or she was taking an oath of office.

After the Oct. 1 elections, new members and incumbents were seated on various boards and bodies, including two new Mat-Su Borough Assemblymen and two new members of the borough’s school board.

At the tail-end of Tuesday’s assembly meeting, departing assemblyman Warren Keogh took the opportunity to gently roast some of his colleagues, including a joke about buying assemblyman Jim Colver a “super-charged cellphone” so his calls wouldn’t drop when he’s attending meetings telephonically and one about a tall tower potentially being installed in Assemblyman Steve Colligan’s neighborhood after Colligan safeguarded “corporate interests by evaporating that section of the code that deals with tall towers.”

The tower codes have since been restored.

“I especially appreciate the time you and no others joined me in a dissenting vote,” he said to Noel Woods, the other assemblyman departing after October’s election. “I sometimes wondered if you did it by mistake.”

For his part, Woods said he was grateful for the time he served on the assembly.

“I really appreciate the knowledge I gained here about things that, being a contractor, I had no former knowledge about,” he said. “It makes me happy that I’m leaving at a time when things are really coming along to develop our borough.”

Prior to the meeting, replacements for Woods and Keogh — Matthew Beck and Jim Sykes respectively — took their oaths.

If a picture on the front page of the Mat-Su Borough School District website is any indication, a similar oath was administered Wednesday night to new school board members Donna Dearman and Ray Michaelson, both of whom defeated incumbents to take their seats. Returning incumbent Susan Pougher also was sworn in.

In Palmer, new councilman Steve Carrington and returning councilmember Edna DeVries, as well mayor DeLena Johnson, were sworn in Tuesday. The city’s website indicates Carrington was selected to be deputy mayor.

In Wasilla, newcomers Gretchen O’Barr and David Wilson and returning councilman Brandon Wall were sworn in Monday.

In Houston, where the mayor is selected from among the council members, that council decided to stick with Virgie Thompson and selected Lance Wilson as deputy mayor. Wilson is a longtime councilman who has served as deputy mayor in the past. Houston residents chose to stick with incumbents in this year’s election. Incumbents Jim Johansen, Kathy Barney and Paul Stout were sworn in Monday, too.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.