Palmer certifies its city election results, puts forth new budgets for coming year

Palmer’s city council seated two newly-elected members, received the city’s proposed capital and operating budgets, an employee pay plan and a schedule of fees and fines for the coming year.

The Oct 3 city election results were certified and a new council member, Jim Cooper, was sworn in for a three-year term. Richard Best, a current member who was reelected, was also sworn in for another three-year term.

Mayor Steve Carrington said the spending plans and fee and fine schedules are now available for public review and will be discussed at the next council meeting and adopted soon after.

Included in the capital budget is money for a feasibility study of a new police department building. Palmer’s police now share facilities with state troopers in a building that is rapidly aging.

A new building to store sand for winter street maintenance is also in the capital budget along with new police cars, equipment to clear brush, water system upgrades and new office and other equipment.

The capital budget totals $2.4 million, which is down from $14.2 million for the budget year. The current year, however, includes about $10 million for projects at the city-owned airport which will be not repeated next year.

Ongoing city road paving is also in the capital budget for about $600,000, up from about $400,000 last year.

For operations, a $20.5 million in overall spending is proposed with $14.89 million in general fund spending, for basic city operations. The remaining $5.6 million is for operations of the airport and other “enterprise” activities and also includes authorization to spend grants, such as for certain police services.

Carrington, in his mayor’s report, said the $10 million for new library bonds authorized by voters Oct. 3 will only be spent if needed. The city will be making efforts to raise other funds, he said, to either rebuild the library damaged by a roof collapse early this year or to build a new structure.

The mayor also said the damaged section of the old library has now been demolished and the remaining building winterized.

On two upcoming items, Carrington said a meeting of the policy council for Mat-Su’s soon-to-be-formed Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, is planned Oct. 17. Proposed articles of incorporation will be adopted and a temporary coordinator for the MPO will be hired, he said.

The MPO will have representatives from Palmer, the city of Wasilla, the Mat-Su Borough and the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and will mainly guide allocations of federal funding for transportation projects in the core Palmer-Wasilla populated area.

Carrington also said the city will soon have a representative on the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission, effective Jan. 1, due to a new requirement by the state.

In his remarks, city manager John Moosey said the municipality recently got word it will have to upgrade the airport’s lighting system to meet new federal requirements for energy-efficient lighting.

Replacement bulbs for the current lighting, which is fully functional, are no longer available, he said, which means bulbs cannot be replaced as they burn out. However, the current lighting system will last through the winter, with its dark months.

But city officials are now working to acquire new lighting that meets federal requirements and to find the money to pay for it, Moosey said in an interview.

It’s likely that federal grants can be found because the replacement is to meet a federal mandate, he said. Palmer Public Works Director Jude Bilafer is developing a cost estimate for the replacement, Moosey said.

In other routine business the council authorized an extension of the city’s banking services agreement with First National Bank Alaska. John Diumenti was also welcomed by the council as the city’s new airport superintendent. He began work Oct. 2. Benji Johnson was welcomed as the new deputy city clerk.