Wasilla City Council Strategic Meeting: Focus on Parks and Public Safety

Wasilla City Council met to hear from city administration, directors, managers, as they laid out and discussed strategic planning to move Wasilla forward.

Each department from Parks and Recreation to Public Works, to Director of Finance and Library Director were given 15 minutes to present their vision and strategic goals. Each presentation was followed up with an additional 15 minutes allotted for questions and answers from the council.

The meeting lasted over five hours. Given the length and the breadth of the meeting, significant portions of the meeting will be covered over a series of articles.

Mayor Glenda Ledford had three focuses for the city: The first, to increase the economic development by looking for ways to diversify the economy; modernize the city’s policies, procedures, and practices; and build a healthy community and strong workforce.

The mayor’s second initiative is a city-wide customer service focus.

Mayor Ledford’s third initiative is to connect and work with community and organization leaders to increase the trade and vocational-technical education while using the facilities around the city.

Jacob Butcher, the Communications Manager for MATCOM Dispatch, told the council that it was difficult to fit into a strategic 5-year plan what all MATCOM does as they handle dispatch for not only the Wasilla Police Department and the citizens of Wasilla, but that they also are the primary answering point for nearly 52,000 square miles, reaching the Copper River Basin, Wrangell-St. Elias, and even parts of the Canadian border.

“Striving to provide public service, focus mechanism for the municipal and state public safety agency to carry out the duties and their roles in the safest manner possible is our primary goal,” Butcher told the council, adding that second to that is the safety of the citizens calling and needing their services.

One of the goals Butcher laid out was to improve the recruiting and retention of dispatchers, as they have had vacancies for nearly a decade, and emergency dispatch jobs often experience a high volume of turnover. He also expressed gratitude to the council’s recent approval of the collective bargaining agreement that brought entry-level restructuring of trainees and higher paygrade levels for applicants into the dispatch roles.

As for customer service, Butcher said the goal of MATCOM is to provide the same level of service to any and every caller into the system.

“That is the primary goal of any 9-1-1 agency, to see consistency throughout every emergency.”

Butcher said that throughout the next 5 years, MATCOM would also continue to work on its infrastructure to improve efficiencies and save costs. He said another goal is to continue making upgrades to communications, especially with neighboring areas to the north all the way to the southeast.

Wasilla Police Chief Bill Rapson said this was the first time he could recall being a part of the strategic planning for the city and was grateful for the opportunity.

“There are a lot of things that are important to me, and I had to considerably shorten it, which highlights where I want to see Wasilla PD go,” Chief Rapson started.

Among his goals is a nod to customer service that includes a period of rebranding and reimaging the department, which included creating a vision statement, something Chief Rapson said he could find no previous existence or format.

“We will work to enhance community relations and build trust through professionalism, accountability, and strong leadership.”

Chief Rapson said that part of the Wasilla Police Department’s strategic goals were to provide professionalism, organizational excellence, and community engagement and partnerships, and to expand technology and infrastructure development.

“One of the things I would like to promote is cultural mutual respect within the police department. By that, I mean to invest in the current staff we have and provide growth and opportunity, build on our best resources and capitalize on their personal growth,” he told the council.

He also discussed the need for Officer Wellness.

“The expectation of ‘we need you to do your job and be quiet’ is no longer effective and no longer the norm,” Chief Rapson said, and that includes spousal support as he told the council that spouses are just as vital and integral to the effectiveness of the staff as they carry out day-to-day operations.

“With that is to build into the culture in the department moving forward is to offer those programs for not only the employees but also the spouse.”

Chief Rapson would also like to see improved interactions between the WPD and the community, citing current successes with social media programs to reach different demographics, and expanding recruitment efforts for new police officers.

“I’m a firm believer that WPD exists but they don’t know who we are and they don’t know the faces behind the badge, and our plan to move forward is that we are part of this community and people need to see that we are not just the enforcement entity. We are here to provide a safe, well community.”

Meanwhile, Recreational Services Director Scott Bell told the council that the Menard Sports Complex, which is nearly 19 years old, will be working on a Capital Improvement Plan to carry plans for the next 5, 10, and 20 years, and that components of those plans include maintaining, improving, replacing, and flexibility that will consider growth of the city, market demand, and new technologies.

One area Bell mention for cost savings is possibly eliminating the lowest performing revenue sources, which Councilman Stu Graham argued was inconsistent with the vision of the Menard Center, which is to be a community focal point.

“Not everything is going to produce significant revenue but it can produce significant community benefit,” Graham said, to which Bell cited the investment of a 5-year period to the sport of pickleball.

“Over those 5 years and all the time and energy that we’re spending to set up and take down the nets, over a 5 year period made less than $800,” Bell said. He went on to point to Monday Bocce ball as another source that wasn’t bringing in revenue to justify the manpower used to set up and take down the equipment, therefore Bell said it was more cost-effective to discontinue the program.

“Maintaining the turf for 1 hour of Bocce ball on a regular schedule could eliminate a day-long event that would have brought in $3000.”

When pressed by Councilwoman Alina Rubeo, who said she didn’t want to see the Menard Center shift to a business-oriented facility like she has seen other facilities do, Bell said:

“We’re seeing a shift in events and the demands for what we offer…the best way to say it is we’re a rental facility and we want as many organizations to use our facility in as many ways as possible. Our internal programming, which were usually smaller things, were getting in the way of the community-based requests and use of our amenities.”

Bell went on to explain that when the Menard got started, it was just a sports center, and that soon finances dictated a need to do things differently, which brought in the event component.

“We’re kind of in-between, so now going forward, we’re designed to have users come and request our facility,” he said before also saying that was one reason he is looking at what and who is most using the facility, to develop a plan going forward.

“We’ve just been reactionary to what can get revenue, because the drive as an enterprise is to generate revenue.”

Bell later moved the discussion to the Wasilla City Parks, and pointed to bringing attention to the parks. One program that saw some success was the introduction of the Park Passport, which he says they will take the information from the initial design and “take it to the next level.”

He said that his department plans to add events, add educational and ecological information, City events and programs, and promote year-round usage of the parks.

“We’re looking to expand, be a little more creative and drive park usage and get the kids out there.”