Soldotna Council will revisit annexation submission Sept. 26

Just days after the sudden death of Mayor Nels Anderson, citizens of Soldotna and surrounding areas converged on city hall Thursday night, to urge the council to postpone any action on annexation until after the municipal elections on Oct. 1. Others also wanted a new mayor seated before moving forward.
    The Soldotna City Council did move to postpone the motion to submit the annexation petition to the State Local Boundary Commission, based on comment taken last week, but only until its next meeting. That action came before public comments at last night’s meeting. Donald Boston’s comments were representative of most of those made.
    “I live in the city of Soldotna and I have a Subaru shop over here in Ridgeway and some other properties. And I don't think you guys have the moral right to do that. I'm a hard working, honest man. And I think it's baloney what you guys are doing,” Boston said. “(I'm) not sure what each of you guys individually are getting but you’re not doing it for the betterment of us. That I can tell you, I know that. You're doing it for your own selfish reasons whatever it is. And I think they're right we should wait till we get a new mayor before you shove this down our throats.”
    Councilman Tim Cashman, who moved for the postponement in order to incorporate feedback received at a public hearing Sept. 7, asked the public to remember why they were all there.
    “The reason that this is postponed and we're going through this very painful process to find something, hopefully, that works or it doesn't. But that every single one of us are here listening and we could have so-called 'rammed this down' a while ago. It’s not what we're doing. We're very slowly listening,” he said. “It's a very long, very ugly process sometimes, but we're here because we care what you're saying. Each and every one of you whether we agree or not everybody cares and we're trying to find we're trying to find some common ground.”
    Vice Mayor Paul Whitney was adamant the amended measure would be brought up for a public hearing and a vote on Sept. 26, and that the city would not wait until after the Oct. 1 municipal election.