The Mat-Su Borough’s road service areas, or RSAs, are a way for the community to weigh in on which roads should be prioritized for repairs and maintenance. Three volunteers serve on the boards in each area. There are four RSAs in the Upper Valley. The proposed ordinance to change the boards from three to five members, would only apply to District 7, which includes the Upper Valley.
District 7 Assemblymember Ron Bernier explains his reasoning for proposing this for his district.
“District seven is the fastest growing area in the Borough and will be for years to come. I want the most bang for the buck in our District.”
Bernier says he heard from multiple people about increasing the RSA board membership. Members from three of the Upper Valley’s RSAs spoke at the Assembly meeting. None say they requested this change.
And District 5 Assemblymember Bill Gamble says there are issues with increasing the number of people serving. He represents the two RSAs that currently have mandated five-member boards, one of which has zero members. And Gamble has proposed to replace all five members of the Big Lake RSA 21 board due to dysfunction.
“When you start injecting more personalities into the process, you end up with not just more ideas, but you also get more conflict, chaos, and a Board that behaves like the current RSA 21 Board does.”
Members of the RSAs who spoke against the legislation noted the difficulty in getting community members to volunteer for the board. And that if they wanted five members, they currently can petition the Assembly to add members.
Bernier says there are volunteers ready to serve on the boards.
“I do have people already lined up to take and place on boards that I’ve reached out to. I says hey, I’ve got this resolution, or ordinance, coming out and I’m trying to increase our boards so we have better communication and better planning for our Borough.”
District 3 Assemblymember Dee McKee noted that the RSA board members did not request this change.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Because if it were broke, those folks would be out here tonight.”
The Assembly opted to postpone the vote to give Bernier time to propose those new members for each of the six RSA boards in District 7.
They will take up the proposed legislation at the March 18th meeting.
