Candidates pledge fiscal oversight, mending frayed ties
Two North Pole City Council members are running for mayor this year. And they agree one of their top goals if elected will be applying lessons they learned from a dispute that led to the council dismissing the mayor and firing the city services director.
The dispute arose earlier this year over the high cost of a contract to repaint city light poles to look like big candy canes, as part of the town’s Christmas décor theme. That led to allegations that Mayor Mike Welch and City Services Director Danny Wallace had skirted the city’s procurement process on the contract. First-year council member Larry Terch says it was a difficult time.
“Over the last year of me being on City Council,” he said, “we have gone through ups and downs with the director of City Services and how procurement things were handled with the candy cane light debacle.”
Terch said in an interview with KTVF that the ordeal illustrated the need for greater council budget oversight.
“It really does open our eyes on how the city spends the citizens’ money,” he said.
The other mayoral candidate, Anton Keller, agrees. And he says the controversy helped him understand the need to restore unity between the mayor, council and staff, and the community outside City Hall.
“I’m looking forward to helping the city heal and to bring people together to see what North Pole can become,” he said.
Keller is the council’s deputy mayor pro tem, and he says if elected he’d like to reach out to North Pole-area businesses, especially small businesses, to let them know the city appreciates them and wants to help them prosper.
“And with me talking to small business owners that are in and around the city of North Pole, it sounds like we need to really work on that relationship,” he said. “Just because if small businesses are doing well, a community does well. And we as the City of North Pole, we need to do better.”
Terch is a former truck driver and equipment operator who’s worked in real estate over the past nine years. He’s also the alternate deputy mayor pro tem. Terch told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that he’d promote economic development in North Pole by, initially, getting the city’s finances in order and ensuring a fair tax structure.
“I want to see the budget taken care of, where it’s fiscally responsible with our citizens’ tax dollars,” he said, “and make sure that spending gets handled correctly.”
He said he’d also look for ways to make more affordable housing available, like the Fairbanks North Star Borough offers to builders to construct housing in exchange for tax breaks.
Terch didn’t respond to KUAC’s requests for an interview this week.
Keller is a chiropractor and he agrees the city needs to develop strategies to encourage construction of more housing in and around North Pole. He says borough officials he talked with seem unaware of the city’s housing crunch.
“We have been five to 10 years behind the mark for at least four years, if not a decade,” he said in a League of Women Voters candidate forum. “So how do we do improvement? More building.”
Keller agrees the city needs to set a better example of fiscal responsibility. And also, of better communication between city officials and in outreaches to the community.
“The previous administration kept things under wraps, and didn’t like to share things,” he said. “As administration, we need to be accountable and have integrity to have open discussions about things.”
After the City Council removed Mayor Welch in June, council member Chandra Clark became mayor. But she’s decided against running for the seat.
Two City Council seats are up for election this year, but incumbent Santa Claus and newcomer Ellen Glab both are uncontested in their runs for the seats.
