New clerk not new to Borough

Frontiersman

PALMER — One new face and one familiar one are filling vacant posts at the Mat-Su Borough this month.

Lonnie McKechnie, formerly the Borough’s deputy clerk, took over the clerk’s position Michelle McGehee left late last year to pursue a job in Washington State. The Borough Assembly appointed her to the position this week.

“It’s going to be official today as soon as I sign the contract,” McKechnie said Wednesday.

Mark Mayo is the Borough’s new planning director. He comes from the state Department of Transportation and has been on the job about two weeks.

McKechnie said she’s ready to get to work. She’s been filling McGehee’s shoes since the clerk left and, before that, filled in for McGehee here and there. She’s had most every position available in the clerk’s department and won’t need any on-the-job training, she said.

“Just basically, I need to talk to the office staff and go through all of the tasks that they have and see what they can think of to improve what they are already doing,” McKechnie said.

Her new office was one of many damaged by a broken pipe Saturday. The office contained the window that blew open, letting in cold air, which froze — then burst — a fire sprinkler pipe.

“We’re moving back in today,” she said Wednesday.

Mayo will oversee the planning department, which includes divisions for planning, transportation, code compliance and cultural resources.

“I have a long laundry list in front of me for what they’re doing now,” Mayo said.

The post has been vacant for some time. Add to that a couple of other department vacancies and recent vacations and there’s a lot that needs to be accomplished soon, Mayo said.

“The manager is just kind of giving me some time and space to get my feet underneath me,” he said.

Mayo has worked in the Valley for the state Department of Transportation, both in the early stages of the Talkeetna airport and on a noise study for Willow. Before DOT, he was the first full-time city manager for the community of St. Mary’s, he said.

“That was one of the most satisfying positions I had. I felt like I had a direct and immediate impact,” Mayo said.

But he began looking at opportunities to help Alaska communities on the national level and left St. Mary’s to work for former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel in Washington, D.C.

Mayo came back to Alaska to work for the Department of Natural Resources, then moved on to the Department of Transportation.

A graduate of Chugiak High School, Mayo came to Alaska as a boy in 1964 with his father, who worked for the U.S. Army’s civil service on pipeline projects.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.