Wasilla City Council repeals “Grant Programs”

During a regular Wasilla City Council meeting on November 28, the council voted to repeal Wasilla Municipal Code (WMC) Chapter 5.24 entitled “Grant Programs” in its entirety.

The move comes after the city council had previously tried to pass Ordinance Serial No. 22-33, which sought to appropriate $400,000 to fund the Community Grant Program as adopted by Ordinance Serial No. 22-28.

As written in the ordinance, “repealing the Chapter would eliminate a formal grant award program procedure, reflecting Council’s intent to “stay out of the grant program” business. Any consideration by Council regarding assistance for specific events or organizations would be subject to limitations and requirements that apply to appropriations and expenditures.”

Tom Stearns, the senior ambassador for the Wasilla Area Senior Incorporated (WASI) spoke in favor of the ordinance passage, saying during the public hearing that “I believe it is a dead issue.”

“Even though the ordinance would have essentially timed out at the end of the year, I think based on citizen feedback, it’s appropriate that we take formal action to repeal it,” said Councilman Stu Graham, who went on to thank the members of the Grant Program committee for all of their hard work. Councilman Graham also noted that while there was no middle ground to be found for this endeavor, repealing the program is a reflection of the city council meeting the needs of the community.

When the Grant Program was brought up for council approval earlier in the fall, several former Wasilla City Council members and previous mayors spoke out against such a program, saying at the time that it would not serve in the community’s best interest, while some smaller nonprofits had hoped for equal consideration if the motion had carried.

Ultimately, the city council moved to postpone indefinitely the measure, which was summed up at the time as “killing the bill.”

Other items under consideration included appropriating funds for costs associated with continuing Legal education for the Mat-Su Youth Court Program.

“The Youth Court is something the city of Wasilla has supported for a very long time,” said Councilman Graham of the program.

“The Youth Court is a huge service that is provided to allow youth that may have one strike to have that strike essentially erased from their records so they can move on and prove that they should not have that on their record,” said Councilman Graham before thanking the Matanuska Electric Association and Mat-Su Health Foundation for the contributions that allow for the continuing education.

Meanwhile, Wasilla Police Chief Bill Rapson notified the council that the WPD recently hired 2 officers with previous police experience, and expects them to receive some additional state required training, as well as a trainee who is midway through completing their training and is expected to be onboard sometime in March. The WPD currently has 3 open positions and 12 applicants.

Chief Rapson reported that because of critical staffing, he had to remove School Resource Officers from Houston Junior/Senior High and Colony High School, which helped meet the needs of mandatory overtime, which forced him to have officers to come in to work extra shifts to cover staffing shortfalls.

“When we increase staffing with these new hires, and they are out on the road themselves and the training requirements, I expect any new personnel will slowly be moved back into that position (SRO).” He expressed that his intention is to when staffing is back up to proper levels, officers will move back into the vacant SRO positions.

The next regular city council meeting will be held Monday, December 9 at Wasilla City Hall.