At an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved fund transfers to make emergency and long-term repairs following Friday’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake. A resolution waiving individual landfill and transfer site fees until December 9th failed.
Borough Manager John Moosey requested just over fourteen million dollars be transferred from existing reserve accounts to an emergency fund. Those are to be split between repairs to roads and schools. He says many costs are still unknown as the borough continues to conduct damage assessments, but there are some estimates.
Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan estimates temporary road repairs to Vine Road, a section of which was destroyed in the earthquake, at around $190,000. Dolan says repairs to roads in Big Lake and the Point MacKenzie area are estimated to total around $200,000. Manager Moosey says a permanent fix for Vine Road will cost between 3.5 and 4 million dollars.
Luke Fulp, Assistant Superintendent for the Mat-Su Borough School District, says many schools will require costly repairs. The borough and school district carry earthquake insurance of up to $25 million per facility. The emergency fund could be used in part to pay the deductibles on those policies.
While buildings are covered, road repairs are not. Borough Manager Moosey says the Mat-Su will pursue emergency funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Transportation.
Some assembly members expressed concern that the money was being allocated without knowing the costs. After a lengthy discussion, the assembly chose not to take as much funding from the reserve fund for paving and dust control. The approved amount is closer to eleven million dollars.
Assembly Member Dan Mayfield also introduced a resolution at the meeting that would have waived landfill and transfer site fees until December 9th. In a normal meeting, the resolution would have passed, but state law requires that items at emergency meetings have a three-quarters majority, which is six votes in the case of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. Assembly Members George McKee and Jesse Sumner voted against the resolution.
