There are some service area boards around the borough that have had a tough time finding enough members. Sometimes finding enough members to simply conduct business.
Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting saw some resolution to that problem for three service area boards, Anchor Point Fire and Emergency, Kachemak Emergency and Bear Creek Emergency on the eastern peninsula. Assembly member Willy Dunne was one of the sponsors of an ordinance allowing volunteers on those teams also serve on the boards that oversee them.
“Currently, code prohibits that. There is some interest in some service areas that were having a hard time filling their board, a hard time recruiting members for that board. Particularly, there was one instance where a board member trained as an EMT for his service area and when he was appointed, he was required to resign from the board because he couldn’t do both. So this would allow, in some of the smaller service areas, to have one volunteer serve on the board," Dunne explaind.
The board appointments would be handed down from the mayor’s office. That’s already how it works for the borough-wide road service area boad.
“Typically the mayor gets input from board members, from the community, from the public. There’s public notice put out that there’s an opening on the board. The appointment would be brought by the mayor to the assembly and the assembly would approve or deny the mayor’s appointment," Dunne said.
The measure passed with unanimous consent.
Also tucked away in the agenda Tuesday night was a litigation status update. It included the next step for the lawsuit the borough is involved in concerning its invocation policy. Both parties have filed motions for summary judgment and oppositions. Oral argument has been requested and a trial is scheduled for the week of February 26th in Anchorage Superior Court.