Power is vested in the people, government serves the people

To the editor:

My name is Patricia Rosnel. Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss and assembly members, I believe tonight is a time for us all to consider the oath of office that four of you have just renewed.

Your oaths include supporting and defending our national and state constitutions that say power is vested in the people, and that government serves the people. These are the goals public servants nationwide sacrifice their time, privacy and freedom for.

My copy of your oath says you will discharge your assembly duties honestly, faithfully and impartially.

We have only to look at today’s (Tuesday’s) Frontiersman tall towers front page and editorial to see that this isn’t necessarily true. Including the mayor, all but one of you is or was a businessman, and it is primarily business that benefits from your votes and taxpayers who pay the tab.

We saw this with the elimination of business permits and taxes and your enthusiastic support for coal and the rail spur.

It looks like more of the same with the proposed repeal of the multifamily design standards. We also saw money diverted from emergency and fire services to pay for a bigger borough government building even as you say you are all about less government. In fact, regarding the budget, do I understand that you continue to direct funds without periodic financial reports? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Credibility suffers from a contrast between what is said and what is done. Present us with facts, take responsibility for your opinion and your vote and don’t try to convince us — but ask for and reflect public opinion as you swore to do. Show us transparency and include both the public and the process in public process. A start could be the erosion and flooding issues absent from recent assembly agendas and the recent Jim Creek motorized debacle. Why not step up to the model national ethics legislation instead of the borough code you rewrote that opens the door to personal and financial interests? Debate and formulate solid policies that reflect who we are and where we live.

We know you support coal, but where’s an energy policy? You find money for select charter schools, but what about a broad-based cradle-to-grave education policy? We have a long-range vision for economic development, but elected representatives need to ready the stage and publicly cheerlead for staff to effectively take it over. And for each and every issue you raise, when you raise it, tell us how much it will cost, and how will it be paid and by whom.

To seek unrestrained development is to set up not just yourselves, but all of us to be ground beneath its wheels like an innocent citizen crushed under a coal truck. We all deserve better than that.

Patricia Rosnel

Palmer

Editor’s note: Rosnel presented this testimony at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Oct. 16 when the new assembly and mayor took their oaths of office.