Anchorage Daily News

Bill Allen recently saw his first anniversary at his job as Palmer city manager.

On his watch, the city has undergone some major street and utility construction projects, a reorganization of the hierarchy at City Hall and focused on how to attract new business to the area.

He recently agreed to answer a few questions about the past year and the years ahead for Palmer.

Q. What were some of the pleasant surprises you found after a month or two on the job?

A. The quality of the employees who work for the city and their commitment to combining smooth efficient service to the residents while maintaining a high degree of human understanding and the ability to accept change and yet realize and not forget there are some things that will never change i.e. the community's core values, its traditions, history and culture.

Q. What were some of the surprises that didn't go over too well after having been at work for awhile?

A. The management structure of the administration was out of sync with the city's mission. Too many decisions were made at the City Manager's level and not enough authority was delegated to department directors. We reorganized the span of control/authority by decentralizing and giving direct and unquestionable ownership to the directors for project and task responsibility and accountability. By restructuring, considerably more time and flexibility was made available to the City Manager to attend to matters/issues the City Council directed to him, as well as working on residents' concerns in a timely and accurate manner.

Q. What kind of financial shape is the city in now, and in the near future?

A. The city is in excellent fiscal health; it has generous cash reserves established, low debt and operates a balanced budget while maintaining low real estate taxes and sales tax. That is a direct dictate by the City Council and is not negotiable. The near future of our financial picture is predicted to remain the same, however, unless some adjustments are made, our long-term financial projections are not quite so "rosy." Our assessed value base --- houses and commercial buildings -- is diminishing because of their age in terms of economic life.

The cure for this issue can be accomplished by having more businesses locate and conduct business in Palmer, adding to our real estate assessed value and generating more sales tax and annexation of additional assets that would also add to the assessed value and provide more revenue to the city from sales tax.

Q. Name a few accomplishments you have achieved since arrival?

A. My major accomplishment is assembling a professional management team that has the credibility and respect of the governing body.

I am the first to admit that I am not smart enough to run this city by myself and I need help from folks smarter in their area of expertise than myself, thus the management team I rely on for consultation. Someone may come up with an idea or concept, but I never saw a real "blockbuster of an idea" that wasn't the result of a lot of people kicking the idea around until the team agreed on a final product. (Allen also mentioned getting approval for a Palmer Board of Economic Development; looking at disparity in pay with the police department compared to other local governments; developing and implementing a citywide long-term strategy for replacing aging water/sewer pipes, paving gravel streets, installing street lights and putting in new curbs/sidewalks to meet disability requirements.)

Q. You have some major capital improvement projects you would like to see built that don't have to do with roads and water lines. One is a building where nonprofit organizations can be under one roof. Why is that important to the city?

A. It provides a convenience to the public by having a central location. It would increase employment in Palmer and increase traffic to Palmer, creating economic stimuli to downtown businesses.

Best of all, it would be grant funded. The money (the group would have paid for) rent could go to increase funding for the nonprofit programs. In the Valley, we have more than 2,000 individuals employed by nonprofits, for every nonprofit payroll dollar it translates to $1.46 in total economic impact, and every nonprofit job translates into an additional 1.56 jobs.

Q. And then there's the convention and civic center that really gets your pulse going. What would that mean to the city? Describe the building as you see it and how it would be used.

A. A recent study conducted by the McDowell Group titled the Tourism Infrastructure Needs for the Mat-Su Borough provided glaring examples of the Valley's deficiencies in attracting tourism to cities in the area and most notable was the lack of adequate convention and conference facilities in the borough.

A modest. 20,000 to 30,000-square-foot center could be sustainable and be the key to developing economic activity for our community while providing a civic center for the use of the Palmer residents.

The building would meet the needs of the Palmer Museum, Historical Society, Center for Performing Arts, conventions and conference, movie theater and an art gallery.

Q. How many hours a week do you work?

A. I probably average 10 hours a day, 5 days a week and, while I'm on call 24/7 and available on weekends, I rarely am called on for assistance. When our state Legislature is in session, I make several trips to Juneau to remind the 62 elected officials that Palmer has needs and request the state assist us in meeting those needs.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year of service to the council and the citizens of Palmer, however, the success as an administration that management and staff have enjoyed would not have been possible without the confidence and support of a "super" mayor and Council.

It is to their credit that Palmer's quality of life continues to improve making our community a great place to live, work and play.

ADVERTISEMENT