Wasilla Planning Commission could shrink

WASILLA — The city’s planning commission hasn’t been playing with a full deck.

Wasilla municipal code calls for a seven-member planning commission, but for the past few years, the body has had trouble attracting a full table of members, averaging about five commissioners. That’s why Mayor Verne Rupright is asking Wasilla City Council to approve a permanent reduction of the planning commission from seven members to five.

A dearth of qualified applicants is at the heart of the request, the mayor said.

“A seven-member commission is hard to fill, always has been,” he said. “In the past, when I put a call out (for volunteers), I get some people responding, but they don’t live in the city and that’s a requirement for service.”

With the approval of the appointment of Claudia Fonseca Farias Pinard Jan. 13, the commission now has five sitting members and two vacancies.

Although he’d prefer having more viewpoints on the planning commission, Wasilla City Councilman Brandon Wall said he understands the request to chance the municipal code to reflect a five-member group. Wall served on the planning commission before being appointed, then re-elected, to the city council.

“It’s a big deal having a really hard time staffing a full planning commission,” he said. “When you don’t have a full commission, trying to get anything decided on is really difficult.”

That’s because as a seven-member group, the commissions rules are set up based on that number, meaning a quorum of four is required to hold a meeting or pass a vote. When the commission only has four or five members, that means a vote has to be unanimous or have a maximum of one dissenter to pass.

“That’s not fair to the people before the commission to get a decision made,” Wall said. “It is a little bit unfortunate, though, because it’s nice to have those six other viewpoints when there is a seven-member commission.”

While he understands the reasoning behind reducing the planning commission, Wall said he still will have some questions about it when Rupright brings the request to the council for introduction on Monday. He wants to make sure that the move would be made because there is a lack of interest in filling those seats and not just a lack of people who share the mayor’s vision.

“It’s a commission that’s appointed by the mayor,” he said. “I can understand if an applicant doesn’t see something from the mayor’s perspective and him not going with a particular applicant, because it’s ultimately his decision.”

Regardless of politics, if there are enough bodies willing to fill those seats, and they’re qualified to do the job, Wall favors the larger commission.

Rupright said he understands that concern, but his request is strictly based on the numbers.

“We can’t do it like (it’s set up now) because we can’t keep it full,” he said. “We have five now who are willing to step up and do it. I think most of this council has recognized this has been a problem for a long time.”

Both Wall and Rupright said there’s another underlying obstacle that’s keeping qualified people from being willing to serve on the planning commission — the city’s requirement that commissioners submit to an extensive reporting process with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC). Unlike other municipalities that handle their own processes of handling ethical and conflicts of interest concerns, Wasilla’s city code funnels that through APOC.

The result, Rupright said, is an overly intrusive application and reporting process that turns off many from volunteering.

“On the one hand, I am surprised there’s a lack of interest, but when some people are affronted with the APOC requirement, forget it. They figure, why is it any of your business how many kids I have, what I do for a living, etc. It’s an incredible intrusion, and Alaskans by nature are pretty independent.”

Wall said he’s tried to steer people toward the commission, but has been told the depth of the APOC reporting involved is too much to deal with.

“I’ve talked to a number of people, and the No. 1 reason they don’t want to (serve) is the APOC reporting,” he said. “And I can’t blame them.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.

Seat A: Vacant (expires December 2014)

Seat B: Daniel Kelly Jr. (expires December 2014)

Seat C: Jessica Dean (expires December 2014)

Seat D: Vacant (expires December 2015)

Seat E: Glenda Ledford (expires December 2015)

Seat F: Claudia Fonseca Farias Pinard (expires December 2016)

Seat G: Loren Means III (expires December 2016)

What: Wasilla City Council meeting

When: 6 p.m., Jan. 27

Where: Wasilla City Hall Council Chambers, 290 E. Herning Ave.

Agenda: http://tinyurl.com/l6qbfm7