Wasilla City Council funds school resource officers

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council voted unanimously to fund the two safety resource officer positions at Houston and Colony middle and high schools, and to upgrade 560 water meters. The council also discussed language to the updated hazard mitigation plan and heard a report from Thomas Olsen, the Group Supervisor of the Tactical Diversion Squad for the DEA who works to combat the opioid epidemic.

After presenting Ordinance 18-27 to fund two SROs for $187,440 for public comment at their previous meeting, the council learned that no SRO’s will be placed at either school during this school year. Councilman Stu Graham questioned Wasilla Police Chief Gene Belden, askin if the Wasilla Police Department would lose officers when they were scheduled to be assigned to schools in January.

“No we will not. I don’t believe that we’re going to be able to supply two police officers in January and keep our staff to what it should be for the city of Wasilla. Our problem is mainly the academies,” Belden said. “I honestly don’t think we’ll get any officers in the school this school year. But we’ll certainly have them in the next school year.”

The officers will be funded 75 percent by the Mat-Su Borough School District and 25 percent by the city of Wasilla. Wasilla middle and high have had the only SRO in the MSBSD for years, and Palmer High just added an SRO this fall. Mayor Bert Cottle stated that the date on the contract was to get it on the books for both the city and the school district.

“More importantly i think is that Wasilla Police Department provide protection and law enforcement for the citizens of the city,” Graham said.

Cottle issued a proclamation naming Sept. 11 as Patriot Day and a national day of remembrance of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Immediately following the proclamation was a presentation from the DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad Group Supervisor Thomas Olsen. Olsen’s squad helps to deter unnecessary prescribing of opioids outside of practices without medical reason.

“People are going into seek opioids and they are being given opioids without a legitimate medical purpose,” Olsen said.

The squad features one officer each from the Wasilla and Palmer police departments, and received a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation to fund the officers. Those who join receive specialized training, including how to assist medically. A group from the El Paso Intelligence Center trained local squad members in how to prevent drugs from being passed on modes of mass transit.

“We currently Have open cases that we are investigating all across the Mat Su Valley to include Wasilla and Palmer… Unfortunately we are seeing a large influx of fentanyl, as well as the diversion of suboxone. When congress enacted the controlled substances act, they stated that one of the goals of having us perform our duties was to make sure that doctors are not being drug dealers,” Olsen said.

The most hotly debated agenda item of the night was the Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was postponed from the last meeting in August due to the sheer size of the document. FEMA funded 75 percent of the plan, and the city footed 25 percent of the bill. Council members were particularly concerned with the addition of climate change to the language from the last time the plan was updated in 2012. While the village of Shishmaref deals with the reality of eroding shorelines, erosion nor permafrost is of concern in Wasilla.

“I don’t think there’s a consensus on the definition of climate change, but that discussion is a different discussion. I didn’t see climate change as something that should be in a document talking about disaster preparedness. Why put it in here if it’s silent. It just feels like a placeholder for something else to come, and I’m not being a conspiracy theorist here, it just doesn’t feel right,” Councilman Tim Burney said.

Burney questioned Rick Dembroski of Department of Homeland Security Emergency Management if the language was required for the document to be binding.

“This is their gold standard of plans. I live in Wasilla and I’ve kind of been involved with it a lot. I have a vested interest in the plan working and being functional. You can tweak or change it annually and remove or add language,” Dembroski said.

Burney continued to question as to why climate change would be used in a disaster preparedness document.

“The discussion of climate change appears to be sort of politically motivated as opposed to being essential or even desirable part of the plan,” Graham said.

During a report from Wasilla Area Seniors Incorporated, Cottle noted that they were in the process of acquiring more property for senior housing. The council amended Ordinance 18-21 to add two Operator in Training positions. One wastewater Tech 1 position had been filled, and only the sewer position is still vacant. Cottle noted that the Menard Center has earned more than $10,000 more this year than it had at this time last year, and that the ribbon cutting at Michaels on Sunday was record breaking. More than 100 people lined up for the store open, according to Cottle, which was a record for the arts and crafts store. The store also garnered the highest four-hour sale ever out of their 183 stores. The council will next meet on September 24 at 6 p.m.