Three new faces grace local government

MAT-SU — Tuesday’s election was certainly a night for incumbents.

In every race that had an incumbent to choose, in fact, local voters picked that person. But there were three races that saw newcomers elected to local government bodies. Here is a rundown of who they are.

STEVE COLLIGAN

Colligan won the seat representing Wasilla on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. The seat was open because Mark Ewing is stepping down to make a run for the state House of Representatives. Colligan is a businessman who runs a firm that specializes in computer mapping, computer design and database services.

“I’m feeling good. I think things are turning out good. I don’t think the opponent was expecting to lose and my information showed that with a larger turnout it would have been a much bigger win,” Colligan said of his Tuesday night victory.

He said he wants to serve on the assembly because he thinks the body could use some more business experience. Port MacKenzie is a good example, he said. People say they’re in favor of the port, but he wonders how strongly they actually believe what they say.

“It’s been lip service, people have been supportive of the port, but they haven’t been supportive of timber or resources or other things that go on and off the port to make it make money,” he said.

Schools are another place where Colligan uses business lingo to discuss a public entity’s problems.

“I’m looking forward (to working) with the manager and the school district to define the condition of our school buildings and start looking at them as assets rather than waiting for them to fail and then bonding to fix them,” he said.

He said he’d also like to look into the possibility of maybe partnering with the University of Alaska to get some research going that helps businesses make business decisions.

“Rather than just doing research for research’s sake, we do research for something that industry and the private sector can use,” he said.

He said he plans to put his business experience to use on the assembly to make things happen.

“We need to make some decisions,” he said.

LINDA COMBS

Combs won one of two seats that came open on the Palmer City Council. The other went to incumbent Brad Hanson. Combs has worked closely with the city on various committees and helped out local nonprofits and at least one church with bookkeeping work. She’s the wife of former mayor John Combs.

“I’m feeling really good about it. I’m always sad when we have a low voter turnout, but I’m feeling really good about winning a seat on the city council,” she said.

She said the election was a largely positive experience. She, Hanson and the odd-man out in the at-large election, Mike Chmielewski, would each have served the city well.

Her first task upon taking office, she said, will likely be working on the city’s budget, easily the most intensive, drawn-out process a municipal body like the council faces on a regular basis.

“I’m going to have to make sure the reading glasses are clean,” she said. “I think the current administration and council did a wonderful job with this past year’s budget. There were a few things that had to be cleaned up and tightened up to be fiscally responsible and I’ve got every confidence that that’s the case.”

As for other issues, she said the city is going to have to take a look at what it can do to meet the needs of the Alaska Avalanche hockey team that moved there from Wasilla for this season.

There’s also the issue of finding a good place for teenagers to hang out, rather than having them mix with younger children at local playgrounds.

“We’re going to see if we can’t find some balance in the budget to try to address those sorts of things,” she said.

DARCIE SALMON

Salmon was the only of the three newcomers who didnone ’t have to face down an opponent to take his seat. He was elected to represent the Knik-Big-Lake area on the borough assembly. He replaces Cindy Bettine, who served her limit of two terms.

“I’m very excited and very high on the opportunity and the probabilities and the belief that things are really going to move forward,” Salmon said.

At the risk of sounding grandiose, he said he sees his district as the fulcrum on which the future of the state’s economy in Southcentral and the Interior will turn. And talking to him it’s hard not to start to believe. Big economic development projects like Port MacKenzie and the Knik Arm bridge are in his district.

The port, he said, is going to bring resources from the Interior to tidewater. The bridge is going to finally complete a transportation circuit for goods to move from the port north and south from the Kenai Peninsula to the North Slope.

“Between Anchorage and Fairbanks, I believe that Port MacKenzie can be that fulcrum,” he said.

His district also contains two of the biggest projects in the $214 million raft of school bonds voters chose to approve the night he was elected. Those bonds will fund construction of a middle-high school and an elementary school in the area in the next five years.

“There’s so much, and District 5 seems to be the real hub,” he said. “It’s not that the rest of the borough doesn’t count, it does.”

But the work done in his area — a lot of which, he notes, began during his tenure as borough mayor — will benefit the whole borough. He said it’s the reason he chose to step back into politics after taking a few years off.

“Timing is everything and I just think that this is a time for my experience and my knowledge and desires and beliefs,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.