Mayor hopefuls face off at first forum

WASILLA — Growth, a sluggish economy and increased pressure to provide services mean the city needs a strong leader for the next three years. That was the consensus reached Tuesday during a Wasilla Greater Chamber of Commerce mayoral candidates forum at the Grandview Inn.

Just who that strong leader should be is open to debate, which kicked off the first local political forum of the election season. Incumbent Mayor Verne Rupright says he has accomplished a lot in his first term and wants a second to keep the momentum going.

Challengers Taffina Katkus and Dianne Woodruff, both currently serving on city council, say they believe their respective visions could to better guiding Wasilla in the near and long-term.

Perennial candidate Michael A. Carson is also on the ballot, but did not attend Tuesday’s forum.

Kicking off the forum, which had candidates make opening and closing statements sandwiched between a few pointed questions, Katkus said Wasilla needs a visionary leader, and she has the life experience to make a positive difference.

“First of all, this is the best looking podium I’ve ever stood behind,” she quipped, while acknowledging the campaign may get heated. “I’m all about positive politics and (know) how necessary it is to have a proactive leader.”

She said Wasilla needs to maintain and improve its quality of life, and one major way to accomplish that is through aggressive economic development that attracts high-paying jobs and industry.

“We need jobs, we need high-paying jobs,” she said. “I am for strong families equaling strong communities.”

Along with her experience for the past two years on the city council, Katkus said her many years as a business owner and mother of six gives her a well-rounded insight into the issues that concern residents.

“I think it’s important to be involved with your community,” she said.

The city has some big challenges ahead, “and I have some of those solutions,” she said.

Rupright followed with a rundown of what the city has accomplished under his leadership since being elected in 2008. Those accomplishments include updating the city’s comprehensive plan and fiscal management that has seen Wasilla shrink its overall budget by more than 16 percent while not laying anyone off and improving services to residents.

He also outlined steps to create a family and business-friendly downtown area.

“What we’ve done is obtained property in what is the downtown area of Wasilla,” he said. On the land, the city has improved the Old Townsite and wants to create an area that encourages walking and shopping. Along with movement on a downtown couplet that will move traffic through the area in a less congested way, Rupright said the city is making progress toward its downtown goals.

While the national economy has been flat, and Wasilla has experienced less growth than in the recent past, the city is on strong financial ground, he said. An indication of that is the 775 new business licenses that have been applied for in the past three years.

Also, the city has stopped paying lobbyists to be its voice at the Legislature, the mayor said. Instead, he and other city officials do their own lobbying.

“We managed to get that couplet project off the drawing board, and we’re not done yet,” Rupright said.

For Woodruff, who was elected to her second term on the council last year, she said she believes her experience in city and borough government, along with a background as a certified public accountant give her an edge over her opponents.

“I’m qualified to be the mayor of Wasilla,” she said. “I work every day to make government open and honest and available.”

Making city government available to residents was her main message Tuesday.

“We need to start working with the business community, and that means everybody, not just the businesses that can vote,” she said. “Really and truly, I look to you for your ideas.”

Along with their statements, moderator Stu Graham asked each candidate a couple of questions. Rupright was first, asked to expand his previous position on what projects and priorities he sees for the city in the next three years.

“No. 1 is the Main Street couplet,” Rupright said. “No. 2 is the expansion of the state highway system that goes right through us.”

That expansion of the Parks Highway has the potential to have a huge effect on Wasilla’s business district, the mayor said.

He also wants to continue to focus on cleanup of Lake Lucille and procuring a new dam to replace a crumbling one in place now.

“We’ve also been talking about a new library for a long time, about 27 years,” he said. “Now the borough is going to buy into that with some property. … There’s money in the state to do that.”

He envisions a two-story library that could lease out the top floor to a school like Charter College (www.chartercollege.edu). With a facility that can generate revenue from that, a new library in the long run could cost the city as much as $400,000 less a year to operate.

Woodruff was asked how the city could achieve more economic diversity.

“How many of you have seen the borough’s lake fishing guide?” she asked. Only a few hands go up. “That’s one of the economic opportunities we can promote, and we don’t even promote it well for ourselves.”

She also believes the airport could be developed more as an industrial area.

“Also, we really don’t have an office supply store here,” she said, adding that the managers of the two Office Depot stores in Anchorage actually live in the Valley.

Katkus was also asked about economic development, one of her main campaign platforms.

She said the city needs a good economic development director.

“I think we need to get somebody who eats, sleeps, dreams about economic development here,” she said. “If we have somebody who has the initiative, we can provide a lot of support. We’ve got all the right players in place, … but we don’t have the high-paying jobs.”

Katkus also said the city needs professional leadership.

“We need more thinking and less drinking,” she said.

Rupright closed with a simple message: look at his record. He said his track record of getting things done in office speaks for itself, and he hopes voters see that he’s earned a second term.

“I think I’ve done a good job,” he said. “I know I’ve done a good job.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.