Keller asked to resign, says she likely won't

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council officially asked Mayor Dianne M. Keller to resign late Monday.

The resolution to request Keller step down as mayor passed 4-1, with Deputy Mayor Kristofer D. Larson in opposition. Councilman Doug Holler was not present at the meeting.

The decision came after hours of testimony from the public, Keller and other city officials involved in a damaging report from Denali Law Group accusing some in the city of acting inappropriately in dealings with a private developer.

At one point during the meeting, audience members reacted loudly to an assertion by Keller that she could have chosen to take revenge against one business owner because of her testimony regarding the city’s involvement with a private developer.

Keller told Annette Andres, owner of the Windbreak Cafe, that as mayor she could have directed Wasilla police to perform breathalyzer tests on every patron leaving the restaurant in response to what Keller called "degrading" testimony from Andres over an Aug. 24, 2007, letter from the city some have called a veiled threat of eminent domain.

The comment sparked commotion in the mostly full audience, and a response from Wasilla Police Chief Angella Long, who said her department follows the rule of the law and would not target one specific business.

Councilman Marty Metiva called for a five-minute break after Keller’s threat of revenge, saying the meeting was getting out of hand.

The resolution calling for Keller's resignation trumped a second one seeking a vote of no confidence in the mayor. That resolution was pulled by councilman Steve Menard after the request for resignation gained approval.

“I felt enough fire had been cast last night with that vote,” Menard said Tuesday.

Keller is in meetings all day today and was not available for comment. Larson, who voted against asking for Keller’s resignation, said he could not comment on the council meeting while at work.

Keller has said she will not resign, and maintains she’s done nothing wrong. When asked about her seemingly aggressive attempt to force cooperation from businesses that refused to go along with a city plan to realign the East Sun Mountain Avenue and Hermon Road intersection, Keller has said the area is a safety hazard and she only sought to alleviate the danger.

The city council has no power to force Keller’s resignation, making the approved resolution a symbolic showing of the council’s feelings.

The call for Keller’s resignation culminates a year’s worth of investigation stemming from complaints to city council from local businesses after they received the strongly worded letter threatening eminent domain on Aug. 24, 2007.

At the heart of the issue, according to Denali Law Group attorney Richard Payne, is a series of e-mails from Wasilla Economic Development Planner Casey Reynolds indicating behind-closed-doors cooperation between the city and Meritage Development LLC, the company seeking to develop two parcels of land near the Parks Highway.

In one of those e-mails, Reynolds informs Keller that he told James Wood, a commercial broker with Meritage Realty USA, that letters threatening eminent domain would be sent out.

Ten days later, those letters began appearing at businesses near the developer’s land.

Payne said at a June 23 council meeting that city staff who knew of the letter and didn't question its wording or necessity were wrong in doing nothing.

During Monday’s special council meeting, which adjourned just before midnight, Keller went on the defensive after council gave her the floor to question Denali Law Group’s attorneys.

After posing questions and pointing out a section of the report largely exonerating Keller from any wrong doing, Keller said she never had any intent to pursue eminent domain.

In response, councilwoman Dianne Woodruff, who has been the most vocal council member calling for Keller’s resignation, asked why language indicating eminent domain was used if that was not the intent.

Picking up that question during his testimony, Reynolds said the language in the letter wasn’t used to scare anyone, but to show how serious the city’s position was on the issue of Sun Mountain Avenue’s realignment.

When the council pressed Reynolds on his communication with Meritage officials — namely notifying Meritage of the threatening Aug. 24 letters before they were sent — he said his dealings with developers are often done in secret because sensitive information is so often involved. Keeping communications with developers in private happens often, Reynolds said.

“That’s in fact what I do,” he said. “It’s part of my job.”

Reynolds added he never considered the e-mails to be a secret or covert action.

Whether Denali Law Group’s investigation will continue to be a incendiary issue in Wasilla’s government is unclear.

The council and mayor have until October — when Keller’s term expires — to continue working together to run the city, even as animosity appears to be prevalent between council members and Keller.

For his part, Menard, who is running for Wasilla mayor this fall, said he is counting the days until Keller is out of office.

“It’s hard,” Menard said about working with Keller. “But we’ve got a job to do and we’re going to plug along and do it to the best of our ability.”

Councilwoman Stephanie Massie, who has remained largely quiet during council meetings dealing with the investigation, said she doesn’t think people’s personal feelings will get in the way of city business.

“There’s already been that animosity,” she said. “It seems like it’s been there for a while.”

The Wasilla City Council will meet again during a regular meeting at 7 p.m., July 14. Meetings take place in the council chambers at 290 E. Herning Ave., in Wasilla.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.