Hopefuls for local office discussed their biggest priorities and fielded questions about a host of Fairbanks area issues Friday at the annual League of Women Voters of the Tanana Valley forum, co-sponsored by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and KUAC.
The six candidates for Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly covered topics including education funding, the animal shelter replacement project, election procedures and voter turnout, and budgeting.
Two contested Assembly races will appear on the ballot this year, seats I and C; only incumbent Brett Rotermund is running for Seat B. Assembly terms last three years.
Seat I
For Seat I, the second wealthiest local race this year, voters will choose between public defense attorney Patrick Roach and incumbent Barbara Haney.
Like other candidates, Roach and Haney placed local funding for education as a top priority Friday. They also agreed balancing the budget is the most critical issue facing the borough, but they diverged in the way they spoke about accomplishing that goal.
Roach said preserving the community’s character, particularly things that support the schools and senior population, should be central to budget decisions.
“We have to protect the facilities and services that make our community a community – a reason for people to stay here, to live here, to raise a family here,” he said.
The Assembly discussed shuttering some parks and recreation facilities earlier this year as cost-saving measures, including Mary Siah Recreation Center and the Carlson Center, and approved of a move to close Joy Community Center.
Haney put her focus on wrangling property taxes Friday, saying she’s also on board with the need to take care of seniors.
“I am one of them so I completely understand that, but we are taxing seniors out of their home,” she said. “And we do no good service if we don’t get taxes under control.”
The election comes on the back of a budget cycle that saw the current Assembly adopt a budget that contributed almost $5 million more to the school district than the previous year, but that uses almost $9 million from borough savings.
Roach and Haney also faced questions about the way borough elections operate, and the ways in which they could increase voters’ participation in municipal elections.
Last year, the borough saw 25% voter turnout, the highest it’s been since 2017, when marijuana propositions were on the ballot. In 2023, turnout was about 20%.
Haney said she thinks part of the problem is that people don’t realize an election is happening, and that they need something they care about to cast their vote.
“There has to be something that drives them off the couch into the voting booth, and there should be an issue that is of interest to them, and I guess in the campaign literature you point out why they should vote,” she said.
Roach said he thinks rooting out partisanship in the nonpartisan elections is important, and that locals find it “distasteful” when candidates bring in personal ideologies. He also pointed to increasing voter access.
“And I know there have been efforts to reduce access, to reduce mail-in voting, to reduce electronic voting. I think those always need to be challenged,” he said.
In June, the Assembly voted down an ordinance Haney sponsored that would have required absentee mail-in ballots to be received – rather than postmarked – by election day in order to count. Haney said at the time the measure was aimed at making more voters confident in the institution.
In a “yes or no” round, candidates were also asked about whether they’d approve of moving forward with the animal shelter replacement project, given what they know right now.
“That answer would be no,” Haney said. “But that doesn’t mean I would be against looking at another option.”
“It’s got to get done,” Roach said. “Yes.”
The project is at the tail end of its design phase, but has become a point of controversy ever since estimates for its construction cost doubled, bringing the total price tag to $33 million.
Seat C
On the ballot for Seat C will be veterinarian Jeanne Olson, elementary school teacher Garrett Armstrong, and plumber J.T. McComas-Roe. Whoever wins will replace current Assembly Presiding Officer, Mindy O’Neall, who is running in the City of Fairbanks mayoral race.
The candidates faced the same set of questions as those in other Assembly races, and all three candidates said maximizing the borough’s contribution to the local school district while keeping a balanced budget is top of the list.
Olson named the Mary Siah as another priority, among other facilities.
“For me, absolutely, some of the needs [are] the parks and rec services, such as Mary Siah and the gem of Joy Community [Center] in our borough,” she said.
The most recent vote to keep Mary Siah open in May passed unanimously after significant community pushback to the notion of closing it. The decision to close Joy Community Center, however, passed in a narrow, 5-4 vote.
Armstrong voiced his support for maintaining borough services, “such as the Mary Siah swimming pool, where I learned to swim by the way, and I’ve also heard other people say they enjoy quite a bit.”
McComas-Roe didn’t address the parks and rec facilities as directly. He doubled down on the priority of keeping borough spending out of the red, and said his goal for the office is to lower property taxes.
“This year we deficit spent by about $8.5 million,” he said. “We took that out of savings. And, you know, it’s going to sound like I’m beating a dead horse, but we’ve got to get back to a balanced budget.”
When it came to increasing voter turnout, Armstrong said getting kids interested in civics is one strategy. He also said he supports by-mail voting, and that he thinks the borough already does a good job at making voting accessible.
“My parents, for example, my father is bedbound, and my mom is currently stuck at home. They’ve been casting ballots by mail for years, and they enjoy it and it’s a very efficient way to do it,” he said.
McComas-Roe pointed to the accessibility of mail-in ballots, as well.
“We have incredibly low voter turnout in every election cycle,” he said. “Anything that improves on that is a good thing, up to and including, in my view, mail-in ballots, with certain safeguards.”
Olson floated the idea of moving the borough election to November to be at the same time as state and national elections. An ordinance in 2023 proposed the date change, but the Assembly at the time failed it in a tie vote. The city councils of Fairbanks and North Pole also passed resolutions opposing the idea, vowing to stick to October for city elections.
Olson acknowledged the move would pose some challenges, but noted the more high-profile elections typically have better turnout.
“It’s a lot colder in November to campaign. I know that. And the radio waves, and just PR, is difficult to push a little municipal election when you’ve got national elections, but … people do vote more,” she said.
The three candidates also responded to the “yes or no” question Friday about continuing to fund the animal shelter replacement project, given what they know now. Olson and McComas-Roe both said they do not support the current design; Armstrong said he does.