Wasilla council members sworn into office

WASILLA — The city of Wasilla swore in two new council members at their meeting on Monday. Simon Brown II was sworn in as a member of the Wasilla City Council for his first term at the meeting and Tim Johnson was sworn in prior to the meeting and attended telephonically.

“Thank you very much, I appreciate the opportunity to serve the city of Wasilla and I look forward to working with you all,” said Johnson.

Johnson provided the motion and Brown offered a second for the first order of business at the Wasilla Council meeting on Monday, unanimously approving $90,000 from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for utility relocation engineering services on the Knik-Goose Bay reconstruction.

Brown II retired from the Army National Guard and has lived nearly two decades in Wasilla, most recently serving on the Planning Commission. Brown II is the current director of the Alaska State Defense Force.

“Being in the Defense Force, the virus is one of my main concerns every day so I just want to see how we can get people together and move in a forward direction. The virus is not going away any time soon so that’s got to be all of our primary goal is how we deal with that and how we continue to interact in this kind of environment,” said Brown II. “I just saw an opportunity here to move more into helping the city move in a forward direction. I think we are a very fast growing area and I believe the more people from the community getting involved in government in different forms, the better city we’re going to be, and with the Planning Commission I enjoyed it there and I saw a lot happening in the city and I wanted to be part of that part of the decision making process.”

Election Day for the Mayoral Runoff is on Tuesday and polls will be open from 7 a.m., until 8 p.m., at City Hall and Wasilla Middle School. Early voting for the state and national elections is taking place at the Wasilla Public Library, but ballots for the Mayoral runoff will only be available at City Hall and Wasilla Middle School.

“Everybody please get out and vote tomorrow. I know there was I believe Wasilla Middle School was closed due to a COVID case but it’s open for voting. It’s been cleaned,” said Wasilla Clerk Jamie Newman.

Wasilla residents will have the choice between former councilman Doug Holler, who received 238 total votes during the previous election and Deputy Mayor Glenda Ledford who received 210. As of Monday, 235 early votes had been cast in the runoff election. An additional 232 absentee by mail ballots were requested and 123 have already been received by the city. Remaining absentee by mail ballots can be turned in up until Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. at the ballot dropbox or mailed in, if postmarked by Tuesday and received by Friday. A total of seven questioned ballots have already been cast and a special meeting has been scheduled for Friday at 7:00 p.m. to certify the results of the election and swear in a new Mayor. The Mayoral Runoff was triggered due to none of the candidate receiving 40 percent of the votes cast.

Councilman Stu Graham participated in his last meeting as a member of the council on October 12 and was presented with a framed seal of the city of Wasilla by Mayor Bert Cottle. Graham revisited the Council meeting Monday night as the Community Affairs Representative for MTA, which he did prior to his election over six years ago.

“It is different being on the other side of the table so to speak but whichever side of the table you’re sitting on, you’re still looking to help and in this case it’s help for the greater good,” said Graham. “I think probably the most important thing that I did on the council is made sure that opposing viewpoints were heard, even if I didn’t agree with them and made sure that people were represented adequately and in my case vociferously.”

Graham grew up in New Mexico and came to Alaska in the mid 1980’s as a former officer in the United States Air Force. Graham ran against Holler and Ledford for Mayor and received 166 votes. Graham is the current President of the Alaska Municipal League and a board member of the Valley Performing Arts. Graham said that he will most miss thumbing through a paper copy of the often-times 300 pages or more council packet before each meeting. Graham said that he set aside 10 hours a week just to devote to council issues, and that he answered calls on city issues multiple times a day, which has ceased.

“Local government is easy to get involved in and it’s the one place where you really make the most difference,” said Graham. “You can call your state Representative or state Senator and talk to them and make a difference, but you call your city council representative or you call your Mayor, it makes a huge difference.”