Palmer council hopefuls make pitch to voters

PALMER — Candidates for Palmer City Council ended the summer’s series of political forums with a healthy dose of levity.

Candidate Edna DeVries and moderator Stu Graham joked about whether bringing champagne and cake to the forum would have run afoul of election rules. Candidate Mike Madar joked he hadn’t slept for two days, so worried was he about the night’s forum. Candidate Kathrine Vanover joked about always getting mistaken for her sisters.

“We take city business very seriously, we just don’t take ourselves too seriously,” DeVries said of the jocular mood as she made her final statements.

The forum was the 14th and final political forum that the Greater Palmer and Greater Wasilla chambers of commerce sponsored this season. The Palmer council election will seat two of the three candidates. Vanover is the only incumbent. The other council member whose term is expiring — Mike Chmielewski — chose instead to run for mayor.

But even if the mood was light, there were a number of big issues to discuss. For instance, candidates were asked what they would do about the railroad tracks in downtown, which have lately divided the city politically the way they do geographically.

Vanover didn’t say if the tracks should stay or go, but focused instead on the process. The city needs to gather and disseminate more information. It needs to consider costs to repair or remove the tracks and what they mean economically and historically, she said.

“We have to involve everybody that has an opinion about what should happen with the railroad tracks,” she said.

Madar spoke in his opening statements about bolstering the stretch of green space in the core of the city — the tracks run right through it — but didn’t state firmly how he felt the city should deal with the tracks.

“I think they should have some more public hearings,” he said. And there needs to be more information, more clearly stated, especially on the financial side. “I think that even when the Christmas train ran here it ran at a deficit.”

For her part, DeVries said her hope is that the city can come to a consensus.

“I think we need to be very careful that this does not divide our community,” she said.

Candidates were also asked about city finances and the idea that Palmer has enough money on hand to cover only two months’ worth of expenses.

“We had four months, then we just appropriated to expand the ice arena,” Madar said. He said that was a good thing; it got the Alaska Avalanche hockey team to Palmer. But the city will be working to pump up its reserves, Madar said, and he supports that.

DeVries said it’s not a good idea to let reserves dip like that but it’s not an insurmountable challenge.

“According to charter I think we need to have three or four months plus in reserve,” she said. But, “I’m not fearful. I don’t lay in bed worrying about it.”

Vanover added another big expenditure that put the city behind financially — emergency water main replacements. The city is a year ahead of schedule in upgrading its system. But there will be a lot to discuss when it’s time to make moves to make sure the city keeps more money on hand.

“I look forward to the budget process,” Vanover said.

Another issue discussed were fears the Matanuska-Susitna Borough might look to move its offices out of the city.

“When you have a challenge the first thing you have to do is recognize that you have a challenge,” DeVries said, before adding Palmer has a lot to offer the borough and should continue to promote itself as a good spot to locate borough headquarters.

Vanover said the city is ready to confront that issue head-on. And rightly so.

“We’re fully aware that this could happen, that the borough could move out, and we’re ready to meet it,” she said.

Madar agreed the city should make sure it is as appealing as possible to the borough and said the city faced a similar issue a few years back when the Alaska Court System talked about building another office in some other part of the Valley.

“I really want to thank (former state Sen.) Lyda Green for getting the hospital property and keeping our court system here in town,” he said.

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