Talks of new government stem from discontent

This is getting a little ridiculous.

First Big Lake residents start talking about forming a new city. Now there’s talk, once again, of carving the Mat-Su Borough into multiple smaller boroughs.

Last time we heard talk of splitting the borough, it came from then-Houston mayor Roger Purcell, who floated a plan in July 2009 to break the borough in half right between Palmer and Wasilla.

Houston and points north have long felt somewhat neglected by a borough with a seat in faraway Palmer. In a borough the size of West Virginia, it’s easy to see how people there might feel that way.

When we reported that story, a tri-boro plan was actually a thought experiment conducted by then-borough mayor Talis Colberg. His boroughs would look a lot different than the ones envisioned by former school board member and former borough mayoral candidate Brian Sullivan. Colberg had in mind a Talkeetna/Houston/Willow borough, a Palmer/Wasilla borough and a Chickaloon/Nancy Lake borough.

He dismissed the idea as unfeasible.

Sullivan, though, thinks his plans for a Wasilla borough, a Palmer borough and a Talkeetna borough has legs. He said he thinks it will solve a lot of problems, most of which stem from what he sees as a borough government spread too thin to properly address the concerns of residents.

Concerns on the opposing side include fears that a split would dilute the borough’s voice in the state Legislature, that multiple governments would wind up duplicating services and that the plan would reawaken annexation fears that have only recently started to subside in the areas of the borough not currently under city governance.

But our point in lumping together Sullivan’s plans with the talk of creating a city of Big Lake is to point out that there is quite obviously a lot of discontent out there with the status quo.

People seem upset that they’re not being heard. A lot of the talk about creating a city of Big Lake seems to be geared toward giving residents there a stronger voice in Juneau. Purcell seemed to have a similar beef with the way the borough operates when he floated his plan.

Knowing that these concerns are out there, perhaps there is something we can do to alleviate them short of tearing up the borough in favor of something new.

Perhaps adding seats to the assembly would help. It does seem odd that one assemblyman is tasked with representing both the Point MacKenzie area and Big Lake, since major development at the port will send traffic through Big Lake.

Maybe splitting borough headquarters between Palmer and someplace like Meadow Lakes or even Willow makes sense.

If people in Talkeetna feel left out of the process, why can’t the borough teleconference them into meetings? It’s an idea Wasilla City Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff floated when discussing her concerns regarding Sullivan’s plans. Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss said during the campaign that he would look into using that kind of technology. The university has employed it to great effect. There’s no reason the borough can’t.

Maybe Sullivan’s onto something. Maybe three boroughs make more sense than one. As journalists, we can’t say we relish the possibility, if only because it seems like it would make the area even harder to report on than it already is. But as residents we can see the merits.

Our hope is that everyone takes the time to explore all options. Decisions made in haste are rarely the best ones.