Borough Assembly will return from meeting-free July to a full agenda

After not meeting in the month of July, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly will resume its regular meeting schedule next week. The agenda reflects the long period since the last meeting, with numerous items for consideration and introduction.

One item that has been months in coming is an ordinance to allow Talkeetna voters to decide whether or not to add East Talkeetna and the River Subdivision to the existing flood service area. According to Borough Emergency Manager Casey Cook, the area would need to be annexed in order for the borough to conduct flood mitigation work in the area. If the assembly votes in favor of the ordinance, the question will appear on the October 6 borough ballot for all voters living inside the current flood service area as well as the area to be annexed.

Also up for consideration at next Tuesday’s meeting is a reduction in borough transfer site fees. The cost of bringing trash to the sites increased significantly at the beginning of this month. A resolution sponsored by Assembly Members Dan Mayfield and Vern Halter seeks to partially roll back the increases. If passed, the resolution would lower the per-bag rate from $3 to $2. The rates per cubic yard would also decrease. In the resolution’s language, the sponsors claim that the increased fees may be contributing to illegal trash dumping. Under the current rates, three cubic yards, roughly equivalent to a pickup truck’s bed, costs $45 to bring to the transfer site. The proposed resolution would reduce that to $22.

In addition, thirteen ordinances are scheduled for introduction at Tuesday’s meeting. Included in them are a proposal by Assembly Member Jim Sykes to include electronic cigarettes in the borough’s tobacco tax and an ordinance proposing the sale of a piece of borough-owned land to Petersville Search and Rescue to build a warm storage building. The proposed price tag for the land is $10.

The meeting will be held at the assembly’s chambers in Palmer on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The meeting can be streamed live at radiofreepalmer.org.