Transportation issues high on list of borough concerns

PALMER — If there’s one thing that’s clear after Tuesday night’s Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting, borough residents care a lot about Valley transportation issues.

At the meeting, several citizens spoke against amendments to Ordinance 16-111 that would repeal the borough’s volunteer Aviation and Transportation Advisory Boards and replace them with a Transportation Technical Advisory Board consisting entirely of local government employees.

“Passing this ordinance sets the Mat-Su Borough up for more citizen-government conflict, and eliminates the community-based vetting of projects,” said Beth Fread, vice chairwoman of the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB).

Fread — who repeatedly said she was speaking only for herself, and not as a member of the board — also took the borough to task for keeping the boards in the dark regarding the termination-replacement plan. She cited cancelled meetings and “systematic” denial of board input as signs that the borough has been planning to repeal the boards all year, but the boards weren’t notified of even a potential termination until Aug. 30, she said.

“It would seem to me that they are doing away with those feisty boards that tend to challenge their findings. It definitely appears to be political over citizen-based representation,” she wrote in an email to the assembly on Aug. 30.

Willow resident Jane Dale, a former Aviation Advisory Board member and executive director for the Alaska Air Carriers Association, also expressed concerns regarding the decrease in citizen representation.

“Should the (Aviation Advisory) Board be dissolved, we believe that the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, staff, the residents and certainly the businesses will incur a loss of transparency and technical review capability for aviation related issues,” she said.

TAB member and former assemblywoman Cindi Bettine agreed with Fread and Dale, but hinted that the assembly might want to take another look at who is appointed to the board, and how.

“I think if you just tighten up the definitions, and you all look harder for more qualified people, we’ll be in really good shape with that board,” she said.

Butte resident Timothy Hale, who’s currently running for State Senate, and Sutton’s Brian Endle, who’s looking to take Jim Syke’s seat on the assembly, also rejected the board-related ordinance, as did routine meeting-goer Eugene Haberman.

As per Haberman’s usual request, the assembly agreed to “un-fasttrack” the ordinance, as Borough Mayor Vern Halter said, and hold a second public hearing on Dec. 6.

“I don’t think there’s any big hurry on this,” said assemblyman Steve Colligan.

Road maintenance standards

Borough-contracted road maintenance standards also produced contention at the Tuesday night meeting.

After months of receiving complaints from old contractors and residents and no hope of change, assemblyman Randall Kowalke brought forth an ordinance that would remove performance criteria from borough road service area (RSA) contracts solicited after Jan. 1, 2017, in what he called a “tongue-in-cheek” move to force discussion.

“It is recognized that this may lead to situations where service standards vary and some areas may be subject to reduced maintenance and poor standards. However, if this is happening anyway, at least this ordinance will conform the code to what is actually happening,” Kowalke wrote in the informational memorandum.

Before opening public comment, Halter “challenged” everyone to speak only on “the merits of the ordinance” and future contracting options, saying he preferred “not to talk about current contracts, current contract holders, personal things.”

That didn’t stop Willow property owner Butch Moore from accusing Tew’s Inc. — the contractor responsible for maintaining his roads — of 85 contract violations, including operating heavy equipment without a commercial driver’s license (CDL), with children in the vehicle, while drinking alcohol.

“The borough can terminate for convenience — we don’t even need a reason, but we’ve got 85 of ’em, 22 this year, and the other contractors are doing their job,” he said. “It’s wrong.”

Former and current contractors Bill Haller, Ben Allen, Ken Walsh, Mike Shields, Bill Stearns, Charlotte Spain and James Ross, as well as Hale and Haberman, all spoke in opposition of the ordinance, though some said they’d take what they could get.

“If we can’t enforce standards in our contracts, then, yeah they need to be deleted,” Haller said.

After short deliberation by the assembly, the ordinance was defeated unanimously.

“The passage of this ordinance would be a disaster,” assemblyman Dan Mayfield said. “I think it’s a great cost-cutting measure … but really it’s just bad policy. We need to have road standards.”

During the assembly comments at the end of the meeting, Kowalke moved that Borough Manager John Moosey terminate the borough’s contract with Tew’s. The assembly shot that down, but approved Colligan’s motion that Moosey and the administration review all current RSA contracts, report deficiencies and take action as needed.

“I have the sense that the borough manager was really looking for direction and support,” Kowalke said. “I think the assembly really wanted these contracts to be enforced ... and my hope is that some corrective actions are taken here sooner rather than later.”

Other matters

In other matters, the assembly approved the reappropriation of $56,883 for a new fire truck — despite assemblyman George McKee’s insinuation that the decision to purchase a new vehicle may have been dictated by an ‘Ouija board,’ and not the actual need to replace one that West Lakes Fire Chief Bill Gamble said was damaged by a moose last year.

An ordinance reappropriating $350,000 from The Valley Pathways School Capital Project to an emergency power fund for nine Mat-Su Borough schools was also approved.

Discussion of the demolition of the old Iditarod Elementary School was postponed to Oct. 18.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.