Tuesday night was the final Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting for three members who were forced off due to term limits. Assembly President Wayne Ogle of Nikiski, Paul Fischer of the central district and Dale Bagley of Soldotna all attended their last meeting -- at least for three years, when they will be eligible to run again.
In his farewell address, Assemblyman Dale Bagley, who also served as borough mayor, recapped a 25-year career in local politics.
“So I've sat here three times in the past, twice going out as assembly member, one time as mayor. And two times at the city of Soldotna. I never had a lot to say but I do have actually a lot to say tonight and I might even talk as long as the mayor.
“So I was reflecting on my time as as an assembly member and Mayor, and while I've been here at assembly meetings since 1994, there have been six different mayor's. I like Don Gilman the best, even over myself. Five school superintendents. I may have some of these wrong, but as best I could remember, three planning directors, five finance directors, five head assessors, four road directors, four maintenance directors, four HR directors, four borough clerks, but only two borough attorneys, I believe.
“Speaking of which, I want to thank Collette (Thompson) for all the help she's given me over the years. She's a wonderful resource for the Kenai Peninsula Borough. She spent a lot of her borough career explaining to me why I can't do something a certain way. And I've learned to listen to her advice.
“I remember when I first started coming to assembly meetings, bird poop was the hot button issue. The swallows had nests around the borough (building) under the eaves. And I believe it was Mayor Gilman that solved the problem with the curve shields that are still in place.
“One of my favorite assembly members was Ron Draughtsmen. The voting mechanism was different in those days, you actually had three buttons, and you could see which colors lit up when you pushed the button. And we always used to joke to other people that if we weren't sure which way to vote, we just look over at the other and vote the opposite. And it served us in good stead.
“My favorite quote was one time we had Bob Jones, the IT director give a 20 minute talk on all the changes that was going on in the IT department. And I remember (Assemblywoman) Grace Merkes said, 'Bob, I know you're speaking English, but I don't have a clue what you just said.' And for what it's worth, I might have been a lot younger and a little more computer literate, but I'm not sure I totally understood all the stuff he was talking about either.
“You know, I think of how many years I've been in local government and I know this might be my last time sitting here. And then I look at the rest of the assembly and mayor and I realize I'm still the youngest, so who knows. Although we do have two new assembly members that are younger, so that will be good for the makeup of the assembly. I want to wish Brent Johnson, Jesse Bjorkman, and Tyson Cox, good luck, and I look forward to seeing them in action. I'm sure I'll be back here to testify at assembly meetings to tell the assembly and Mayor all the things they're doing wrong.
“Or maybe I won't, but I just want to thank everyone for all the fun times that we've had and and I'm going to miss the assembly.
“Thank you.”
