Two seek Palmer seat on Mat-Su Borough Assembly

PALMER — In one of two contested Mat-Su Borough Assembly races next month, a retired general contractor is facing off against a local businessman. The district at stake basically includes the city of Palmer. Here are the candidates:

Matthew Beck

Beck, co-owner with his wife of North Star Animal Hospital, said neighbors encouraged him to run.

“My neighbors asked me to run after I was involved in a couple of issues over the past couple of years that affected District 2,” he said.

The first, he said, had to do with a plan the state was eyeing to punch a road through a farm. The second had to do with what he believed was a potential conflict of interest on a school site the borough eventually withdrew from consideration.

Beck said he thinks the assembly should find creative ways to preserve farmland and that he thinks Palmer is an amazing place to live.

“I think that the Mat-Su Valley is the best place to live in Alaska, honestly. I’d be honored to represent the people that live here,” he said.

He wants to work to strengthen schools and favors the port expansion and rail line projects that occupy a lot of the assembly’s time.

He said he plans to run a positive campaign and respects his opponent in the election.

“The reality is that we probably would agree on a lot of issues. I’m a conservative, I’m proud to be an American I’m a registered Republican,” Beck said. “I just think I’m a new face I have new ideas.”

Noel Woods

Incumbent Noel Woods said he believes the borough is running well and wants to see that continue.

“The first year that I was on the assembly, why I was really pleased to see that we got to hire our new manager and went through that process and it worked out really well, and now he’s got his feet on the ground and is making headway with our economic promise to bring good paying jobs to our area,” Woods said.

Woods is a retired general contractor whose father came to the state with the military building the Alaska-Canadian highway.

“While he was here in 1944, he followed the gravel road over to Palmer and looked around,” Woods said. “He must have done this on a nice day in the summer because one of the colonists wanted to sell his 40 acres, house and barn, and so dad bought it.”

His parents farmed that land for 15 years and then he took it over with his wife for five more.

“Father was ill, so I had to take over his business running school buses for five years,” Woods said. “After that I started construction and did that until I retired.”

He said in his time here he’s worked with various community organizations, including the hospital’s board of directors, Pioneers of Alaska and the Matanuska Valley Sportsmen shooting club.

He said he favors mining in the Valley and takes pride in seeing projects get off the ground, though he finds it sad when lawsuits sometimes cause delays.

“I guess the fight is worthwhile,” he said.

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