New Wasilla post vacated

Mystery shrouds departure of economic development director

January 10, 2006

MARY AMES/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA -Although no one much wants to talk about it on record, there is buzz among the Wasilla business community about the recent and abrupt departure of the city of Wasilla's first director of economic development, Ron Singel.

The position is a direct report to Mayor Dianne M. Keller, but she did not return a phone call requesting information on Singel's sudden departure.

Marilyn Frankel, who works in human resources at the city, confirmed Monday that Singel had left his post last week.

&#8220He resigned,” she said. &#8220His letter is dated the sixth, that was Friday.”

A call Monday to his phone at the city still has Singel's voice on the automatic voice mail, and the e-mail address on the city's economic development Web page still has an e-mail address for Singel.

But Cheryl Metiva, executive director for the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, said Singel is no longer at work.

&#8220I don't know if I can comment,” Cheryl Metiva said. &#8220I'm also a friend of Ron's and I'm going to bring it up and talk about it for the council.”

Monday night was the first scheduled city council meeting of the year.

&#8220Ron's been awesome,” Metiva said. &#8220It's a tragic loss for the community. Our community enhancement committee has been working closely with him.”

By late Monday afternoon, there had been no word from the city to the chamber about Singel not being at his post any longer.

Chas St. George, president of the Wasilla Chamber, had he heard the news via the grapevine only 10 minutes before he returned a reporter's phone call Monday morning.

&#8220I'm surprised,” said St. George, who is also the public relations director for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. &#8220Ron worked well with our board and our members. He's been a great supporter of looking at balanced commerce. What's disturbing, if it's true, is that he was given 24 hours.”

In a July 17 Spectrum piece in the Frontiersman, Singel wrote that the city of Wasilla is committed to planned growth, to improving the quality of life in Wasilla.

&#8220The city is planning to spend $300,000 in the next five years on Web site upgrades,” Singel wrote. &#8220Our goal is to give our residents the option to pay their bills online, research ordinances, view city maps and aerial photographs, read agendas and notices online, and be able to fill out applications and forms from their home computers, if they want. In this age of information, more demands are being made to use the Internet and Web sites for the retrieval of information. Additionally, instituting online services is an efficient way to accomplish what the public is asking us for.”

Another friend said Singel had played a vital role in the economic development of Wasilla, but hesitated to say more because of their friendship.

&#8220He was a great conduit,” said Marty Metiva, city councilman and friend of Singel. &#8220Economic development means more jobs and then our kids can stay here.”

Singel came to work for the city of Wasilla about a year ago last summer, moving his family from Maine, according to St. George.

&#8220It's so important for us to work with economic development in the city,” St. George said. &#8220Do we grow our city with sustainable economic development, or do we start looking like a Muldoon? We have a chance to make a difference here, it's not too late. We've attracted all kinds of corporate entities, which is good for tax base, but now how to sustainably grow it? I've had a lot of opportunities to discuss development with Ron, he was always forward thinking and I'm really sorry that he's leaving, but I have no clue why.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@ frontiersman.com.