Vote puts bonds in play

February 17, 2006

DARRELL L. BREESE/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The issue of putting new school bonds on the ballot has been a hot topic in the Mat-Su Valley since the October election.

Last week, when Mayor Tim Anderson vetoed a special election, supporters were outraged.

On Tuesday, during a special meeting, the borough assembly voted to override his veto and place the bonds on the ballot. Despite a 4-1 vote to override, it wasn't an easy decision for assembly members to make.

Assembly member Cindy Bettine, who called for the special meeting last week, moved to override the mayor's veto.

&#8220I feel like the mayor has raised some very relevant concerns with his veto,” Bettine said, &#8220especially concerning the cost of holding a special election. I believe that if you examine a comparison of the completion schedule for the schools and cost, it is evident that it will cost more to wait until October to hold a vote on the bonds.

&#8220The bottom line is that If we have a May election, we will be able to have students occupy the schools in the fall of 2007,” she continued. &#8220If we wait until October to vote and approve the bonds, the schools would not be ready until January of 2008. That is why we need to override the veto tonight.”

Betty Vehrs, the lone dissenting vote, has voted twice to override vetos by the mayor when she thought he was wrong. But this time she agreed with him.

&#8220I do believe in schools and providing a quality education,” Vehrs said, &#8220but I will not bow to the pressure of a group of people. I am hearing rumblings of an angry backlash from the voters about this. The mayor is right that this is too soon to ask voters to approve bonds they denied in October. It is all just good theater.”

Assembly member Bill Allen, who is vacationing in Hawaii, teleconferenced for the meeting so he could vote on the issue. He felt that by not overriding the veto, the assembly would be sending a bad message to Juneau.

&#8220If we don't overturn the veto, we are doing two things,” Allen said. &#8220One: The possibility of getting funding from the state for Su Valley is dead on arrival. And second, we will lose any support from our delegation in Juneau.

&#8220We talked about working together with our delegation to Juneau during our staff retreat and this is a great opportunity to do this. We need to act in the best interest of the people of the Valley and I think the mayor needs to put aside politics. The mayor needs to realize that he's not in the same league of our representatives in Juneau.”

Things may not be settled yet. Borough code allows the mayor to veto any ordinance, resolution, motion or other action of the assembly. He must do so before the next regular assembly meeting.

As a preemptive action, assembly member Talis Colberg requested placement on the agenda of the Feb. 23 regular meeting a consideration to override any veto that may occur.

The mayor, who chairs the meeting, called it an inappropriate motion to place something on the agenda addressing an action that hasn't and may not happen, and denied his motion.

Before the mayor was finished stating reasoning, Colberg snatched up his copy of &#8220Robert's Rules of Order” and brought forward a procedural challenge to the ruling. After a discussion of the members, the assembly again voted 4-1 (with Vehrs opposed) to overrule the mayor's decision. Members then voted similarly to place a discussion of a veto override on the agenda for the meeting.

&#8220A veto right now wouldn't change anything,” Anderson said. &#8220They could consider an override vote at a later meeting if one should occur and the May election would still happen. But I have no intention of issuing another veto.

&#8220The election is set and it is in the hands of the voters again,” Anderson said. &#8220I wish the supporters of this all the luck in the world. I've talked with too many people to count, who all ask me if I didn't understand what ‘no' meant. They have a big hill to climb to get this passed. ”

Contact Darrell L. Breese

at 352-2267 or darrell.breese@

frontiersman.com.