The Compounders; Assembly grants Butte Community Council $10,000 for continued Compound cleanup

PALMER — At the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting on May 19, a long-standing problem in the Butte community came before the assembly.

The property known as the ‘compound’ on Bodenburg Loop in Butte saw action last fall as Alaska State Troopers delivered a Writ of Assistance, evicting squatters from living on the property in the residential Butte neighborhood. With the snow gone and a group of 10 active community members eager to get back to work clearing the property of junk, trash and vehicles, Assemblyman Tim Hale sponsored Resolution 20-052 to help the community members continue their work to prevent squatters from trashing their neighborhood. Hale said that the group of people who have done the majority of the work demolishing burnt out buildings and transporting the waste have taken to calling themselves ‘the compounders.’

“We’re very happy that there’s been so much momentum in the community,” said David Miller. “We cannot continue to have these kind of conditions and we want to improve those conditions, even reach out and help them if we can.”

Miller is one of ‘the compounders’ and has been granted power of attorney over the property. After long-standing junk and trash citations remained without action, Borough Attorney Nick Spiroplous detailed the legal actions filed against the property owner, Mason Henry. At a meeting of the Butte community at Butte Elementary School last fall attended by elected officials and Alaska State Troopers B Detachment Commander Tony April, Miller was one of the group who offered to help pay attorney fees for Neal Ainsworth, Henry’s attorney. With Ainsworth paid for the Writ of Assistance, AST was able to evict the squatters living illegally on the property last November. Once the squatters had been evicted, ‘the compounders’ got to work clearing the trash and waste from the property at their own expense.

“There’s been a lot of money poured in from community members to help make this better and we want to continue doing that and making that a better place,” said Miller.

As Hale’s resolution came before the assembly, Hale provided drone footage of the property in its current state, still littered with trash and junk vehicles. Hale asked that the assembly unanimously approve Resolution 20-052 and add an amendment to provide $1,000 for transportation of the waste to the dumps. Hale’s original resolution asked for the assembly to waive the dump fees for 10 40-yard dumpsters, a cost of about $7,000. Spiropolous said that though a default judgement had been reached in favor of the borough against Henry, none of the $400,000 judgement was expected to be collected. Community members in the Butte have discussed purchasing the property themselves to clean it up and turn it into a park, and Spiropolous said that the property would not have any real value until it had been cleaned.

“This is one of the worst of the worst,” said Spiropolous.

As part of his testimony, Miller said that he had recently encountered former residents of ‘the compound’ who have moved on to a separate property in the Butte area, and hoped that the borough could establish a method for helping to prevent such problem properties in the future.

As Hale’s motion came to the floor, Assemblyman Jesse Sumner asked why the assembly could not direct the Borough Manager to appropriate $10,000 to the community council for use in cleaning the compound at their discretion. Hale withdrew his original motion and offered Sumner’s idea for the $10,000 community council grant. Both the amendment and Resolution 20-052 passed without opposition, and the Butte Community Council will receive funds to continue cleaning up the compound.