Voters to decide borough leadership

BY ANDREW WELLNER

Frontiersman

PALMER — In a 5-2 vote Tuesday, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly decided to let the voters choose which borough official should be in charge — a mayor or a manager.

Proponents of a strong mayor system say that having an elected official running the show rather than an official appointed by the assembly would necessarily make borough government more responsive to its residents.

Proponents of the current strong manager form of government say that having an assembly appointed manager generally leads to more continuity in leadership and takes politics out of the position.

Assemblyman Jim Colver, who eventually voted against the measure, pointed out that the way the change in government would work is that current Borough Mayor Talis Colberg would essentially have his job description change. Colberg was elected knowing the manager would run the show.

“To me, the only fair way to do this is at the mayoral election in 2012,” Colver said.

Assemblyman Mark Ewing, who sponsored the resolution, said Colberg indeed could choose to be a strong mayor if and when the proposition passes.

“If he chose not to then it would go to special election,” he said.

Assemblyman Ron Arvin said waiting for a good time to change to a strong-mayor system is foolhardy.

“There will never be an easy time to do this,” he said.

And then there was the question of what would happen if the assembly didn’t choose to put the idea on the ballot. Jennie Bettine, president of the Conservative Patriots Group, testified that she was standing by ready to start an initiative process if the borough chose to vote down Ewing’s resolution.

Assemblyman Vern Halter kept Bettine’s testimony in mind.

“I think it’s probably going to go in front of the voters one way or another,” Halter said. “I don’t see any need really to make a bunch of people go through a petition.”

Assemblyman Pete Houston said he sees that need. Referencing a ballot proposition for a borough sales tax the assembly put on the ballot and which failed resoundingly, he said that process had resulted in a lot of hard feelings. The lesson he learned there is that in such cases of major changes, the assembly should perhaps allow the people to put those kinds of things on the ballot themselves.

“I learned from that that we should have the public have a stronger say in what they want,” he said.

The assembly also considered the question of whether it should continue seeking a replacement for its current strong manager, John Duffy, who has already announced he intends to resign and will be gone before the month is through.

“We need to go ahead with the manager search,” Colver said. Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine agreed with him.

That seemed, mostly, to be the consensus at the table. After all, what if the ballot proposition fails? Voters will decide its fate in the Oct. 5 election.

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