Palmer manager resigns

PALMER — The Palmer City Council began its meeting on Tuesday with breaking news from city manager Nathan Wallace, who announced that after four-and-a-half years as Manager, he submitted his letter of resignation that afternoon.

“You’ve loved this city and you’ve cared for this city as one of your children so it is with deep regret we accept this but because we do honor you and thank you for what you’ve done for the city,” said Mayor Edna DeVries.

Wallace announced that he has accepted a position in Wyoming as Deputy State Director for the Bureau of Land Management. He gave the council 60 days notice to hire a new city manager and his last working day will be May 24.

“I’ve been very proud of what’s been accomplished the last four-and-a-half years. This city, with the guidance of the council and the achievements of the staff have been fantastic. I want to thank you all for allowing me this opportunity to serve this city, serve our community,” said Wallace. “The city of Palmer is on the map in a different sense than it was several years ago, so I think you’ll attract some quality candidates and we also have some quality candidates internal if they’re interested. I think any of our directors are fully capable of stepping in.”

Some members of the council were moved to tears when confronted with the news that Wallace was resigning. Wallace said that the city should begin the hiring process as soon as possible and post the job immediately, allowing three weeks for candidates to apply. Deputy Mayor Linda Combs moved to accept the proposed dates to hire a new manager and the motion was seconded by Sabrena Combs.

“It’s with deep regret that we accept this paper tonight and we just thank you very much,” said DeVries.

The advent of Wallace’s resignation helped to take the urgency off of scheduling a strategic planning meeting for the year. The strategic planning meeting had not yet been scheduled and city Clerk Norma Alley had proposed April 18 or 25 for a possible date, but many on the council thought it best to wait until a new manager was hired to begin planning business for the year.

“My understanding of a strategic plan is that we’re supposed to be looking three to five ahead years so pushing off a few months, I don’t think is a big deal in my mind,” said Steve Carrington.

During council comments at the end of the meeting, every member of the council thanked Wallace for his service. Wallace’s announcement came at the end of his manager’s report, which yet again came with good news in regards to permits issued by the city.

“When you look at the total number of permits, this is the highest year, highest January we’ve had in 10 years which is a good thing of course, but again it continues to show that there’s confidence in Palmer both to build and to invest in your buildings,” said Wallace.

Of the permits issued, five of the eight were commercial alterations. The year to date valuation of permits issued by the city is $542,562 and the year to date fees collected from permits is $3,211.25.

“Things are still going well for Palmer,” said Wallace.

The council agenda featured three grant applications submitted by organizations. The Palmer Arts Council asked for a grant application for the remediation of the powerhouse property on the Matanuska Maid block in resolution 20-009. Mat-Su Senior Services requested a grant of $5,000 in action memorandum 20-016 and organizers of Who Let the Girls Out requested $2,500 from the council in action memorandum 20-017.

President of PAC Mike Campfield spoke on the request from PAC, which does not ask for money from the council but only support from Palmer as a government organization in an effort to seek federal funding from the Department of Environmental Conservation sites cleanup program.

“We have a long history of working with the city and we want to continue that and appreciate all that the city offers. We hope to bring some development into that part of the town that we think the council also supports,” said Campfield.

While PAC’s main programs are summer theater camps for kids and sponsoring sound equipment for Friday Flings, PAC has struggled to keep trespassers off of the powerhouse property. The site has been for sale for years and the PAC hopes that with council support, Federal grants to clean up the industrial contamination would make it more attractive to potential buyers.

“We hope this will be a catalyst to completing a sale and then also eventually developing that part of town into something better,” said Campfield.

City Attorney Michael Gatti requested that he be able to view the grant application prior to recommending the council approve the grant to ensure that the city would not be held liable.

“I would hesitate to have the attorney go over the grant because that would imply that we are interested financially,” said Carrington.

The council ultimately decided to pass the resolution unanimously.

“I’m really excited that something is starting to happen with the Stantec report and that some of our citizens are moving forward with starting to beautify that area,” said Sabrena Combs.

Deputy Mayor Linda Combs recused herself from the discussion on 20-016 due to her involvement with MSSC. After a motion by Sabrena Combs to amend the grant amount from $5,000 to $1,000 was seconded by Richard Best and passed unanimously, the motion itself also passed unanimously. Who Let The Girls Out will celebrate a decade of holding their event in Palmer this year. However, given the success of events in years past, council members struggled to find the need for $2,500 from the council.

“This event is one of the most spectacular events that Palmer hosts each year. It brings an insane amount of business to our community,” said Sabrena Combs. “I have a really hard time writing a check for $2,500.”

Sabrena Combs motioned to amend the grant, instead proposing that the council allow use of the train depot as an in-kind donation. That motion was then amended by Best, who motioned to grant $1,000 to WLTGO. The vote on 20-017 as amended passed 5-2 with Sabrena Combs and Jill Valerius voting in opposition.