Dr. Nels Anderson doesn’t have much to contend with in his bid for Soldotna mayor. He is the only candidate running. But there will be much for him to oversee over the next three years if elected.
This isn’t Anderson’s first go-round in local politics. He served one term as mayor after a term on the city council from 2009 to 2012, and he was on the borough school board for 15 years. He says as mayor, he’s not inclined to give much direction to the council or to even use his tie-breaking vote, unless it’s a pretty significant matter. One of those came up recently, when outgoing mayor Pete Sprague cast the deciding vote allowing the city end its moratorium on commercial cannabis businesses.
“In general, my philosophy has been, if the council has a tie vote, unless it’s something that’s really serious, I’m not going to vote. I guess that’s in essense casting a negative vote, because I want to see more than just a tie vote on issues. And if they’re important issues, I will vote. To be honest, I haven’t thought about it enough to know if I’d have voted and made the same comments as (Mayor Sprague) did or not. I need to think about that a little bit.”
There will no doubt be a lot to think about in the months ahead. Just as there will be a lot to consider on one of the other big issues the city is taking on; annexation. Anderson says he sees more benefit to the city in potentially picking up land that’s been developed commercially, rather than residentially. What he’s not been keen on is how the issue has crept into the debate at the borough level.
“I’m a little disappointed that the borough candidates have gotten into the annexation thing. I think that’s, number one, not anything they have control over and number two just muddies the water on the issue.”
The city is gather public comment and conducting outreach as it weighs options for a potential annexation. Anderson says any decision made needs to make sense for the city financially, and that, to him, means leaving residential areas out.
Anderson: “Quite frankly, any residential areas that we annex would not be financially beneficial to us at all. It would cost the city a considerable amount of money to involve those. From a strictly financial standpoint, residential annexation doesn’t make much sense.” (0:19)
He says he would be more in favor of the city growing in areas that already have access to city services like water and sewer. As for running solo for mayor, Anderson says he hopes it’s more of a reflection that voters in Soldotna are generally satisfied, and that there aren’t many people with a proverbial axe to grind on council or in other offices, rather than some degree of apathy. Absentee voting closes in Soldotna at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Polls are open in the regular election next Tuesday, October 3rd from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.