New $24 million bond issue now before Mat-Su assembly

The Matanuska Borough Assembly ticked though a largely routine agenda at its meeting Tuesday, Aug 2, approving among other items a proposal for a new $24 million bond issue for school engineering and design and public hearings for a new gravel removal site for Quality Asphalt Paving in Meadow Lakes near the Parks Highway.

In other actions the assembly gave Anchorage Roofing & Contracting, Inc. more time to complete the Wasilla pool roof replacement project and another contractor, K&H Civil Constructors, LLC until Sept. 30 to complete the historic Iditarod Trail underpass at Burma Road. This is a “design/build” contract where the contractor handles all aspects of the project.

More time is needed on the Burma Road underpass for landscaping and rehabilitation, the assembly was told. The reseeded grass is struggling after a period of hot, dry weather this summer.

The underpass was praised by the assembly as an important public safety improvement but the landscaping is not without controversy. Donna DeFusco, who owns property there, is unhappy that the rehabilitation is being done poorly and that that more mature trees were removed and replaced with grass than was necessary, she told the assembly in the public participation part of the meeting.

DeFusco also said her property is adversely affected and has submitted a claim for damages to the borough.

Another item of interest, and source of controversy, is a new proposal introduced Aug. 2 for a $24 million bond issue to pay for additional design and engineering work on schools and other borough projects.

The proposal is set for a public hearing at the assembly’s Aug. 17 meeting and. If approved it will go before voters in the November local elections held concurrently with the state and national elections.

Some are already speaking against the bond issue. Ron Johnson, who lives near Butte, told the assembly, in the audience participation part of the meeting, that the borough doesn’t need to take on more debt in an uncertain economy.

“There’s still a lot of COVID money (pandemic relief funds) floating around that can be used to complete work on schools. The assembly has done a good job of bring down expenses,” and now is not the time to add more debt,” he said.

Adding to the mill rate to pay for the bonds will be hard for senior citizens on fixed incomes who are dealing with high inflation of living costs, Johnson said.

Another item approved for public hearing, however, is a 1 mill reduction in the borough property tax for senior citizens and disabled veterans. The proposal will be on the agenda for the Aug. 17 assembly meeting.

The borough will pay the estimated $11.95 million cost of the reduction from payments from the state for Mat-Su school bond debt reimbursement approved by the Legislature this year.

Among other actions the assembly approved a contract change for a project to add $156,470 to a contract with Moffatt & Nichol for inspections and planning for installation of protective sleeves on pilings at the Port MacKenzie dock. Assembly person Dee McKee questioned the change order, lodging a gentle complaint that contractors often bid low to get a job and submit change orders to push for increases in funding.

This isn’t the case here, Borough manager Mike Brown said. The initial contract was funded with enough money to do inspections of the pilings, and this has now been done, Brown told the assembly.

With more information about the condition of the pilings and how many need the sleeves, the contractor, with an amended contract, can now proceed with doing the installation.

An important part of the project is building in flexibility to do a roll-on, roll-off ramp at the dock that would give customers more efficient ways to unload and load cargo. If this is to be an option, not all the pilings need to be sleeved.

The port is an important asset for the borough but the customer-base must be widened, and port has lost customers because it doesn’t have a roll on/roll off ramp.

The borough has a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant that will help pay for measures to protect the pilings and potentially the ramp.

Finally, the controversy over automatic voting machines, a cause among conservatives nationally, is coming to Mat-Su.

Conservative Republicans claim manipulation of automatic voting machines in key Lower 48 states during national elections last November resulted in former President Donald Trump losing his bid for reelection and Joseph Biden winning the presidency.

A proposal by local conservatives will be before the assembly Aug. 14 to discontinue using automatic voting machines in local elections and to return to the hand counting of votes.

Jackie Goforth, a Palmer resident and a local conservative activist, told the assembly during the audience participation part of the meeting that software installed in automatic voting machines allows passwords to be manipulated to allow entry and manipulation.

“You can do it from a parking lot,” outside the voting precinct building, Goforth said. A “whistleblower” report revealed the manipulation.

Richard Stoffel, also speaking during the audience participation, said he and others will present their solution to the problem, a way of doing the hand-count in an accurate and efficient way, at the Aug. 17 meeting.

Local Republicans will be attending a national conservative conference on automatic voting machine manipulation, the assembly was told.