Palmer City Council votes to ban plastic bags

PALMER — The Palmer City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to ban plastic bag distribution by retailers within the city limits of Palmer. Action Memorda 18-004, sponsored by Councilwoman Sabrena Combs and Councilman Pete LaFrance, bans the distribution of plastic bags less than 4 mils (thousandths of an inch) thick, with some exceptions. Bags for protecting fruit, vegetables, candy, pharmaceuticals, newspaper, baked goods, flowers, and bags sold for the purpose of collecting garbage or pet waste are acceptable under amendments to chapter 8.09.040 in the Palmer Municipal Code.

The fine schedule under the new amendments lists the first offense as a warning, second offense as a $100 fine and third offense as a $300 fine.

18-004 has been in front of the council for some time, as it scheduled a committee on the whole to discuss the matter and heard public comment as early as March. Seventeen members of the public got up to discuss the ban with the Council during public comment, 16 of whom were in support of the ban, and one who wanted more time for public comment.

18-004 nearly went off without a hitch before Councilman Steve Carrington spoke up.

“We do have a problem with plastic bags,” said Carrington. He compared the endeavor to running along the edge of a cliff.

“People talk about, it’s difficult to change and to see change. I want to see change, but I’m not sure. I read these reports and analysis, et cetera, and that's good, but all of them come from California and New York. I’m not ready to pull the big city technique of forcing things upon people. To me, that’s something I’m not ready to do. I’m not sure where our community is on this so I would like to put it to a ballot with voters. It gives it more time for discussion.”

Combs immediately spoke into her microphone to rebut.

“It couldn't be more clear where our community stands on this. We received not a single against letter from anyone in the amount of time it was posted. We were elected by our community to make these decisions. Sending it to a voter initiative would be a waste of time, a waste of money, and not what our job is. Sometimes we make hard decisions. I don’t think this is a hard decision; I think this is an easy decision. There’s no reason to push it down the road,” said Combs.

Fuller, who seconded the Combs motion to approve 18-004, also seconded her comments.

“Pushing it down the road has been synonymous with Palmer politics,” said Fulller.

Councilman Brad Hanson resigned at last meeting to take the job as Community Development Director and Deputy Mayor Richard Best was absent, leaving only five voting members. Combs, LaFrance, Fuller, and DeVries voted for with Carrington voting against.

“I was wrestling right up to the very end because, as you know, we had to have four votes so whatever way it went, that would be it,” said Mayor Edna DeVries.

Support for the ban came not only from the 16 public commenters present at the meeting and the 19 letters of support written to the council, but included large business organizations. Combs added that the Alaska State Fair is adamant about the ban, as well as the general managers for both of the largest retailers in the city, Carrs and Fred Meyer.

“For me, the fact that Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce the Downtown Merchants Association are in such strong support of this, our businesses are comfortable with this and while our moose are not comfortable and don’t have the decision, I think we can make the right one,” said LaFrance.

Following the vote, the large crowd let out an applause for the ban.

The Council also heard a presentation from students traveling to Saroma for the Sister City exchange who were excited about a number of things which they detailed to the Council in Japanese and then again in English. Students were ecstatic about hiking, playing traditional Japanese games, watching Japanese television, especially game shows, and touring Saroma’s schools.

The Palmer Museum presented it’s new tour guides, both in person and on an audio player. The Museum has created a walking tour of historic Palmer. Tourists or residents can rent an audio player or follow a human tour guide every day at 1 p.m. The guided tours start on Saturday. The Museum also produced 30,000 visitors guides which they distributed within the city and throughout the state, even sending some to the lower 48.

The Council accepted resignations from David Dodd’s seat on the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Advisory Board as well as Merry Maxwell’s seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission.