Mat-Su voter support appreciated

Thank you, friends, neighbors and voters! Your dollars, time, physical, vocal and silent support will allow us to continue achieving our plans and goals.

It is humbling to know how many of you came forward to assist in this endeavor. I am truly blessed by your participation. Winning this election is something for which you must take the credit.

My thanks also go out to the voters in District 3 who chose to re-elect Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Ron Arvin. We are all fortunate that Arvin has agreed to remain my deputy mayor. Our assembly is a strong and committed working group, and Arvin is a key component in our successes.

Notwithstanding having a target on my back and a very publicly repeated threat by supposedly 2,500 coal haters to drum me out of office, I was elected with a clear majority. I take that as a mandate to support the responsible development of all of our God-given natural resources.

Our next step is to get the 9th Circuit Court’s stay of work lifted from the Port MacKenzie Rail Extension project. Borough attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos and borough manager John Moosey are already hard at work on removing this impediment to more long-term, stable jobs located in the Mat-Su Borough.

The assembly’s, and my, ultimate goal is that we be able to work where we live. To that end, our economic development director, Don Dyer, is in the process of identifying and building working groups to achieve the goals identified in the 2010 Economic Development Plan. We are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to expand and enhance the MSB’s ability to attract investment in the Mat-Su Borough.

This year, the assembly instituted an email push of our agendas, to help keep you informed and involved. Inside the agendas are clickable links that open supporting documents for resolutions and ordinances.

These documents also contain clickable links you can use for commenting on the items to be considered by the assembly. Please, the next time you’re on the Internet, take five minutes and visit matsugov.us/assembly/. The “Get Email Notifications” box is where you can sign up to receive the assembly agendas a week before the meetings.

Again, I truly appreciate and need your continued support, involvement and prayers. Thank you.

Larry DeVilbiss has been borough mayor since January 2011.