MSCVB receives funds from Assembly

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted on Dec. 15 to approve an ordinance reappropriating $1 million from the Land Management permanent fund for the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau Gateway Center Project. The ordinance was amended once to reduce the $165,000 slated to be reappropriated from the Jonesville Public Use Area by Assemblyman Tim Hale.

“One of the major trends emerging from the pandemic is visitors are increasingly seeking official information from visitors bureaus and welcome centers to get up to date current destination information. The gateway visitors center will serve as the official facility to deliver and influence a safe quality visitor experience for years to come,” said MSCVB President Bonnie Quill.

The MSCVB and Mat-Su Borough submitted a collaborative grant application on Oct. 20 and the MSCVB Gateway Visitors Center has been on the Assembly’s legislative priorities for three years, passing four different pieces of legislation in the past decade in support of the new visitors center, which would sit on four acres of land donated in 1986.

“I actually was in the audience for a lot of this conversation however many years ago when the property was sold originally and I have no doubt it was the intent of the Assembly to use that money for the new visitors center. I think this is righting a wrong and I think it’s very important that we follow through,” said Deputy Mayor Tam Boeve.

The grant comes with a management agreement making the site a borough owned building for the next 20 years in partnership, and the MSCVB has received numerous grants toward construction of the visitors center. Quill said that the project is shovel ready with a total cost of over $8.7 million. Assemblyman Jesse Sumner asked first for a motion to postpone the ordinance until the MSCVB received $500,000 grants from both Palmer and Wasilla, and then ultimately to postpone the motion indefinitely. Assemblyman George McKee objected to the ownership of the building, but Sumner’s motion to postpone failed with McKee, Sumner and Assemblyman Mokie Tew voting in favor.

“Quite simply this ordinance would right one of the biggest travesties I’ve seen both being an assembly member and Mayor,” said Mayor Vern Halter. “This rights a major wrong.”

The main motion passed with only Assemblymen Sumner and Tew voting in opposition.