LETTER: Supporting Mayfield for Borough Assembly

To the editor:

We are retired Mat-Su Borough (MSB) Operations and Maintenance employees, who feel compelled to speak out concerning the two candidates for Mat-Su Borough Assembly District 5.

The challenger, Clayton Tew, is a long time MSB area contractor whom we have had many years of interactions. Mr. Tew has had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contracts with the MSB. Within the scope of our jobs we were responsible for managing those contracts including enforcement of all terms, conditions and specifications. The contracts were within Road Service Areas (RSA’s) for maintenance, road upgrades and construction. We spent an inordinate amount of time along with other MSB employees either working with or on Mr. Tew’s contracts. Most of the issues were in regards to Mr. Tew performing his contractual responsibilities to a level that was acceptable to the MSB.

Either Mr. Tew was incapable of understanding the terms and conditions or just didn’t want to perform as was required. Moreover, he was never asked to comply any more than what would have been expected from other contractors. Mr. Tew was without a doubt the single most expensive contractor to manage. Expectations of performance were non-existent without very close and constant oversight on every single contract. A simple Public Information Request from the MSB for copies of all Tew Construction contracts will provide proof of the endless non-compliance, non-performance and unacceptable work that were or were not performed.

The incumbent Dan Mayfield has a proven record of one successful term. He has years of both public service and private businesses within the MSB. With Dan Mayfield you won’t find endless pages of non-compliance issues. You’ll find a hardworking, honest and dedicated public servant who will work for his constituents.

During these difficult times in the Mat-Su Borough, do we want to elect a proven, successful Assembly Member – Dan Mayfield who brings integrity and honesty to the table? Or, elect an unproven candidate who would find the “learning curve” way too steep for his abilities and lacks honesty and integrity that should be required for someone elected to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly? To us the choice is clear. We support Dan Mayfield for Assembly for District 5.

— Chuck Braun and Mike Garner