Wasilla honors mayor

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council took time at their meeting on Monday to honor Mayor Bert Cottle for his service to the city as mayor for the last six years. Houston, Palmer and Wasilla all will hold elections Oct. 6, with the mayoral position and two council seats up for election in Wasilla.

“Mayor Cottle you work tirelessly in helping the cow ensure decisions are made at the local level and that’s something I believe the city council and you have led this effort on local control and really have been spearheading that effort throughout our state,” said Sen. David Wilson.

Wilson attended the meeting to present a legislative citation to honor Cottle for his career in public service spanning over three decades in Wasilla and Valdez. Wilson noted that every legislator has a personal relationship with Cottle and were eager to cosponsor the citation. Wilson read heartfelt messages from Rep. Cathy Tilton and Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard.

“I want to thank Mayor Cottle for his many years of service to our city and constituents. The Mayor truly cares about every single citizen in Wasilla and he’s a great Alaskan pioneer, an Alaskan who understands and appreciates our history while preparing Wasilla for a promising future,” wrote Sullivan-Leonard.

Wasilla city Clerk Jamie Newman reminded the body that the last day to submit an application for an absentee by mail ballot is Sept. 29. Early voting in Palmer, Houston and Wasilla ends Oct. 5 prior to the Oct. 6 Election Day.

Newman reported that as of Monday night, 266 early and absentee by mail ballots had been requested and 222 had been sent out. Of those, 70 absentee by mail ballots have already been received and 44 people have voted early in Wasilla.

During the Consent Agenda, the council unanimously passed Ordinance 20-032 amending the circumstances around filling vacant council seats near an election cycle.

“What the ordinance does is It just seeks to revise our process for filling vacancies on the council, particularly when those vacancies occur right during an election time or after the candidate filing period has ended. This allows the council to then fill that vacancy 45 days after certification of the election,” said Newman. “The purpose was there could be conflicts of interest with sitting council members, it could bring you down to less than a quorum, there was just a lot of complications and the ordinance seeks to clarify the process and dispel some of those complications.”

Currently, the council has only six members after the tragic passing of Mike Dryden on Aug. 21. Council Seat A remains vacant until a new council member is appointed. Newman said that a plan to fill the vacancy would be presented at the meeting on Oct. 12.

The filing period for phase 3 of Wasilla’s CARES small business grant program ends on Friday and Cottle said that checks would be distributed the following Wednesday. Cottle said that phase 3 does not include the rent assistance program and said that he would be bringing another relief proposal to the council on Oct. 12.

“I had a meeting with [Matanuska Electric Association] and Enstar telephonically so I’m going to do what no other city has done that I know of, I’ve asked them to put together a list of people that are behind that have been affected by covid CARES act money as far as MEA, outstanding bills and Enstar outstanding bills. We believe that qualifies under the CARES act funding,” said Cottle.

During the Consent Agenda, the council unanimously passed Action Memorandum 20-032 supporting Newman’s candidacy for the Region IX Director on the International Institute of Municipal Clerks Board of Directors. Region IX of the IIMC represents Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington.

“As usual Jamie does an excellent job in her role as city clerk,” said Councilwoman Glenda Ledford. “She always steps up. She’s always prepared and she’s most trustworthy.”