Kudos for Griffin, a low-key caretaker

One of the challenges of reporting at a small newspaper is how to get all the news covered with available staff. If money were no obstacle, we would love to put several more reporters to work telling the Valley’s stories.

The city of Palmer is one of the story lines we’d like to cover more often and more deeply. But with a news staff of five to cover the whole Mat-Su Borough 24/7, at its heart, this is a manpower issue.

The dollars in play at the borough level are larger and thus tracking their use, tends to garner more of our reporting resources. That means city council’s like Houston, Palmer and Wasilla don’t make the news as often as they truly deserve.

That the city of Palmer seems to run smoothly and isn’t taking on big projects like ferries and rail extensions also means it gets less ink than some of its peers.

While this might not sound like praise for a city manager who is stepping down in May, it should be read as such. Of late, there hasn’t been much fuss coming from Palmer, and perhaps that’s a good thing.

Sure, we’ve heard talk about friction between Palmer City Council and the mayor or between other politicians in that city. But rarely, if ever, has the scuttlebutt involved friction with City Manager Doug Griffin.

That wasn’t always the case with his predecessor. Bill Allen did many commendable things during his stint as Palmer city manager. But when he left, it wasn’t his idea.

“I’ve done everything the council has asked me to do, plus some. It’s probably the plus that got me in trouble,” Allen said in these pages on his way out the door.

Allen was a man of big ideas. He wanted the city to snatch up dilapidated lots within its borders, most notably in the Matanuska Maid block of properties that includes the iconic water tower and the old Matanuska Maid warehouse that has since been destroyed in a fire. There was big talk about a downtown convention center, maybe a center for nonprofits and the arts. Those plans have all but evaporated.

In contrast to that quote from Allen, Griffin said something much more prosaic in explaining his planned departure.

“A lot of things just kind of changed,” he said. “Life changes. Maybe I can live without having to work full-time.”

Say what you will about either man, but clearly they have different styles. While Allen was a big ideas guy, Griffin’s focus seems more on keeping things running smoothly. If we were forced to come up with a one-word description for Griffin’s tenure, we’d describe him as a caretaker.

That’s a word that may be considered a pejorative when applied to presidents of the United States, used to contrast ho-hum administrations to dynamic presidents with big goals and ideas.

But in a borough that has seen its share of big ideas fail — ferry anyone? — caretakers are a thing to be respected. They keep the organization running and they don’t make a big deal about it. That’s how we’d describe Griffin.

Maybe it’s time for another visionary at the helm. That will be up to the city council. But hopefully they’ll consider some possible Griffins. Caretakers aren’t so bad.