Vacancy on Mat-Su Borough Assembly

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly is accepting applications from people hoping to replace departing assemblyman Jim Colver.

Colver was elected to serve in the Alaska House of Representatives in November. He announced his plans to resign from the assembly soon afterward. The 2015 legislative session starts Jan 20. Applications for his assembly seat are available at bit.ly/1AuXMuc.

The district in question, District 6, stretches east from Wasilla Creek, west to Church Road, south to Spruce Road and north to encompass most of Hatcher Pass.

At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, Colver made remarks that have started to sound familiar as he makes his departure from the body.

“The chambers you’re sitting in and the new office space upstairs and the rail is half done and we’ve got fish showing up in the rivers and we finally got something besides a study at Hatcher Pass, we got something to ski on and we have a new roundabout at Seldon and Lucille,” he said. “I’m just real happy that you all worked so well with me.”

Some of his colleagues on the assembly also said nice things about him. Assemblyman Steve Colligan said he would miss having someone on the body whose name got mixed up with his own and Jim Sykes said he appreciated Colver’s work on the borough’s fish advisory board.

Assemblyman Ron Arvin — who lost his bid for the Legislature this fall to Cathy Tilton — recalled coming to the assembly the same year as Colver. He said they started out as “strong adversaries.”

“Both of us didn’t really take into account each other’s positions,” Arvin said. “We in short order came together and talked about how we could work together effectively.”

And that wasn’t because they were in agreement.

“We never agreed on everything but we got a lot of stuff done, Jim,” Arvin said. “I really appreciate your tenacity… You I hold in pretty high regard about your detailed look at things and your ability and willingness to plow in.”

Applicants to serve on the assembly must be qualified voters. They have to have lived in Mat-Su for a year and live within District 6.

They have to submit an application to the borough by Jan. 28. Whoever is picked for the seat will also have to fill out a financial disclosure with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

The application has two essay questions:

Why do you want to represent District 6 on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly?

What kind of experience do you have that you believe will be useful to the Assembly, the people living in your district, and the Borough?

The assembly will discuss candidates at 6 p.m., Jan. 29.

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

An earlier version of this story contained an error regarding filings with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.