Sitka hotel incident underscores need for help

The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. It’s time for Wasilla City Councilman Steve Menard to admit he needs help, and he needs it now.

We don’t relish reporting stories like the one on today’s front page about the Wasilla city councilman’s conduct during a recent trip to Sitka as part of the city’s delegation to the Alaska Municipal League summer meetings. For three days last week, Menard, other city council representatives, the mayor and city staff networked with other state municipal officials. It’s a useful and informative collaboration and we’re glad our city officials see its value, too.

The end of the trip, however, was just the beginning of a public relations debacle for the city of Wasilla and the Mat-Su Valley. When Menard checked out of the Westmark Sitka hotel, his room had been extensively damaged. Because the city had only authorized the hotel to bill for its regular $169 a night fee, any other charges were Menard’s responsibility.

As the hotel wrangled with the councilman, who, according to the Westmark’s manager, instructed the hotel to “bill it to the city,” the situation nearly became a matter for the police. Fortunately, Mayor Verne Rupright and his senior staff learned of the brouhaha and paid the $350 cleaning charge.

That was last Friday. Straightaway Monday, the city sent a letter to Menard demanding repayment of the damages, which he did Tuesday. While the matter is settled financially, the political trouble for the two-time city councilman is far from over.

The damage to the room — which includes two beds and a chair that were urinated on, vomit on the carpet, a burned mattress and ruining all the bedding — pales in comparison to the public embarrassment Menard heaped on himself, the city of Wasilla and the Mat-Su Valley.

Menard is an elected city councilman and this behavior happened while he was representing the city. As such, his actions deserve a swift and decisive message from the council and the public.

When the council meets Monday, members have added an executive session to the agenda to discuss Menard’s conduct in Sitka. We believe it is appropriate during that executive session for the council to ask Menard resign.

More than that, Menard should freely tender his resignation and apologize to his friends, neighbors and especially the people of Wasilla who placed their trust in him when they elected him.

Deputy Mayor Doug Holler has said he believes that, as a show of good faith, Menard should also reimburse the city for the entire cost of his trip to Sitka. That, too, seems reasonable.

The public should send the message — call the city, write a letter to the editor, call Councilman Menard, or stop him in the store — that we require men and women elected to do our business to do so with dignity, grace and professionalism.

Conduct such as destroying private property and then failing to hold one’s self accountable by paying for the damages when asked might be anticipated behavior from for a rock band, but it is not acceptable or excusable in an elected official traveling on the public’s dime and paid to represent our interests.

What we hope doesn’t get lost in all this is the apparent need for Menard to admit he has a problem and seek appropriate treatment. He was observed consuming alcohol while in Sitka and has a documented history of alcohol abuse problems, which includes a 2004 DUI conviction and 2007 guilty plea to a charge of being drunk on a licensed premises.

We don’t question Menard’s dedication to public service or his desire to be involved in his community. However, his actions have lead us to conclude that the best way he can serve Wasilla now is to own responsibility for his actions, resign and seek treatment.