Palmer council meets again Wednesday, this time on city business: The budget

Palmer’s city council will take up the 2025 city budget at a special meeting set for Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Palmer Depot. The session is mainly to review a proposed budget put forth earlier in draft form, but action on the plan has to wait for a regular council meeting, Mayor Steve Carrington said.

“What we have before is the budget developed and submitted by the city manager. We’ll then be taking amendment to the budget,” the mayor said.

There were other items of business planned for action previously in November when a regular meeting adjourned early will be taken up at a regular meeting planned for Nov. 26, Carrington said. The meeting adjourned early when members of the council could not agree on an agenda.

The 2025 budget before the council is essentially a status quo budget from the current year with programs essentially the same except for a reduction in the city’s emergency call center due to several staff vacancies that occurred through resignations.

Other budget-related items on Wednesday’s agenda include the city’s capital, or construction, budget, revisions in Palmer’s employee pay plan and new schedules for fines and fees.

So far, the draft city budget does not have money for replacing people who left the emergency response call center but that could change in December when the council gives approval for the final budget, which must be in place by Jan. 1.

On other matters, Carrington reflected on the recent turmoil within the city council and some of the criticism directed at him. This came in the weekly “Mayor’s Minute” radio program hosted by Mike Chmielewski on Big Cabbage Radio, the local Palmer public station.

“I agree there have been problems in communication, and I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to open up communication,” not only between himself and members of the city council but also communication between council members, Carrington said.

It’s an area that must be treated carefully, however, because communication between elected officials must be in public sessions. Informal communication, which happens easily in a small community like Palmer, can lead to violations of the state’s public meetings act. Communications among council members that were too informal and casual led to allegations of violations of that act and a recent recall.

Carrington also expressed concern about city council members involving themselves in matters that should be the responsibility of the city manager or human resources manager. In one of the recent steamy council meetings there seemed an intent by one or more council members to become directly involved in personnel issues.

“That’s a real no-go,” Carrington said, and he was poised to intercept it.

During the Big Cabbage Radio Mayor’s Minute Chmielewski pointed out the potential for “mission creep” of council members into city business best left to professional staff.

To address the problem there is now some discussion of one or more training sessions for council members, particularly newer ones, as to the appropriate roles of the legislative (council) branch and the executive branch (city manager and professional staff) of the city government.

It’s not uncommon for elected officials to undergo training. New state legislators and staff attend sessions on ethics prior to the start of a state Legislature, for example.

The Alaska Municipal League, to which Palmer belongs, is holding its annual meeting in December in Anchorage, and there might be opportunities there to arrange for training.