Borough Assembly votes down road powers ordinance

An ordinance that would give the Mat Su Borough officials more road bond power and possibly remove some local Road Service area powers has failed at the Assembly level.

Patty Sullivan, Mat Su Borough spokeperson, says that the ordinance was quote – ‘a huge fail’.  The Borough Assembly heard a number of residents testify on the issue at the Assembly meeting Tuesday evening.

The ordinance would have put the question forth to voters this fall on changing the Borough code and how the Borough deals with roads and road maintenance.  Some people were afraid that the change in code would mean removal of local road service area boards and their input on local road issues.

Sullivan reported that Mat Su Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos  testified at the meeting and said that he didn’t believe RSA’s would go away, in the event that voters in the Borough would approve the change.  But, the Assembly heard loud and clear from residents that they like the local road power and ability for their local boards to have a say on road service issues.

The ordinance was introduced by Mayor Larry DeVilbiss and failed by a unanimous vote.  He said that there hadn’t been enough time to educate RSAs on the complex issue and clearly there were misunderstandings on  the crux of the ordinance.