Palmer City Council temporarily lifts bag ban

PALMER — The Palmer City Council voted to allow single-use plastic bags less than four mills to be distributed by retail establishments within the city of Palmer for the first time in over two years during its meeting on Tuesday.

By a 4-3 vote, Ordinance 20-007 passed and plastic bags will be permitted to be distributed until 60 days after the state’s COVID-19 Emergency Order is rescinded. The ordinance was amended twice before passing.

“I just think we definitely have to have clarification. We don’t need any confusion about when it goes into effect and it is a temporary suspension, it’s not a suspension forever and ever of a really really good ordinance,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Combs.

The issue arose during Mayor Edna DeVries’ report last month that Fred Meyer was running out of paper bags to distribute groceries in for patrons who had not brought their own reusable bags. For a brief period, Kroger policy was to not allow checkers to accept reusable bags from shoppers, which has since been changed. During public testimony, city clerk Norma Alley read testimony submitted electronically from nine people who opposed the suspension of the plastic bag ban, with none writing in support.

“I don’t see any point in this. The only people that have maybe spoken up is Fred Meyer and I’m still not sure how that happened. I called Carrs, they don’t have a shortage on paper bags,” said Councilwoman Sabrena Combs. “I think this completely disregards all the work that we’ve done over the past couple of years.”

Sabrena Combs was one of the sponsors of Action Memorandum 18-004 which passed by a 4-1 vote of the council on May 22, 2018. Combs voted with DeVries and then councilmen David Fuller and Pete LaFrance, the other cosponsor of the measure. Councilman Steve Carrington was the lone ‘no’ vote when the measure originally passed prohibiting the distribution of single use plastic bags in Palmer. In June, DeVries said that Fred Meyer representatives had contacted her to alert her that paper bags were difficult to obtain due to the pandemic. Single-use plastic bags were distributed by Fred Meyer prior to the passage of 20-007 on Tuesday.

“I didn’t see a single person in public testimony say that they were in favor of this. As a matter of fact, people were vehemently not in favor of this, nor did I see anybody from Fred Meyer or Carrs come and publicly testify again that this is something that they are requesting and that they are in need of,” said Councilwoman Julie Berberich.

Berberich noted that on July 13, no documentation of the shortage of paper bags necessitating use of single use plastic bags had been provided to the council. Deputy Mayor Combs moved an amendment to extend the suspension of the bag ban 60 days past when the state’s emergency order would be lifted, which passed without opposition. Berberich offered an amendment that clarified that the Ordinance was to be temporary in nature that also passed without opposition.

“I think that the amendments are prudent decisions of the city council,” said City Attorney Michael Gatti.

Councilwoman Jill Valerius then proposed an amendment not to wait for the end of the pandemic to return the bag ban.

“They have paper bags right now. They don’t need this and we’re catering to one box store in Palmer, so Carrs isn’t asking for it, no other store is asking for it, so I would like to change that to temporarily suspended for 60 calendar days,” said Valerius.

Valerius’ motion not to continue allowing single use plastic bags to be distributed in Palmer failed along the same lines that the main motion on the suspension of the bag ban passed. Berberich, Sabrena Combs and Valerius voted for Valerius’ amendment and against the main motion while Councilmen Richard Best, Carrington, Deputy Mayor Combs and Mayor DeVries voted against Valerius’ amendment and for the main motion.

“How any of us can sit here and support this when no one came in to support this is against what our job is as council members,” said Sabrena Combs. “I think it disenfranchises our voters and makes people feel like their public testimony doesn’t matter when all of the public testimony tonight was not supporting that and yet four of you decided that your personal beliefs were more important and I’m disappointed.”

Clerk Normal Alley provided an update along with clarification from Gatti on the referendum to repeal Palmer Municipal Code 5.32 which prohibits marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, testing and retail operations within Palmer city limits. The referendum petition booklets were issued on March 24 and returned on July 1 with 136 verified signatures out of 166 signatures gathered. Alley provided clarification that referendums must have an identical measure passed by the council not to appear on the ballot and initiative processes must only be substantially similar. The referendum will appear on the October 6 ballot in front of Palmer voters to repeal PMC 5.32 and allow marijuana businesses inside the city of Palmer.

City Manager John Moosey updated the council on second quarter financial reports along with other events around Palmer. Through the second quarter, 43.76 percent of projected revenues have been received and 41.35 percent of projected expenditures have been spent. Moosey also said that he plans to present a budget to the council earlier than is customary.

“I want to tighten this up a little bit and have our budget approved by November 24,” said Moosey. “With our covid grant funds we may need December to make some adjustments so we can make sure we take full advantage of the money we’ve been given from the state.”

Moosey also noted that under Title 17 of Palmer Municipal Code, the Alaska State Fair board is given discretion over events on their property including the upcoming Hometown Jamboree from August 8 through 23 which Moosey described as a deconstructed version of the fair. No permit was required by the city of Palmer for ASF to host the event. Moosey also said that a senior classic car parade will take place driving in front of senior housing establishments in Palmer and Wasilla on Aug. 9. Moosey also said that the 3rd wing of the Civil Air Patrol will be conducting glider operational training at Palmer Airport on August 14.