Before former borough Mayor Jim Whitaker’s administration fades too far into history, a few words are due in recognition and appreciation of his service to Fairbanks.

Maybe such recognition is premature, since Whitaker isn’t exiting the public policy sphere yet. He’s a board member of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, which sits at the intersection of politics and energy in Fairbanks. We will continue to hear from him, no doubt.

But for the moment, Whitaker has no plans to seek further office, so it’s appropriate to ponder his legacy to date. Whitaker spent two terms as mayor, and before that, he served in the Legislature and on the city council. His public jobs were just one facet of his contribution to the community, though. Even before Whitaker’s political career began, he and his wife, Jinx, had done much for the quality of the downtown business district.

As mayor, Whitaker did not transform borough government; he competently managed it. Tax rates, which are ultimately controlled by the assembly, declined a bit, though the borough’s income rose substantially for several years through the good fortune of rising property values. Borough expenditures also increased by $2 million to $5 million annually in recent years on a general fund budget of about $100 million — not too far from the rate of inflation.

In a reluctant interview this past week, Whitaker declined to talk much about his legacy. And, upon leaving office, his recommendations for the borough’s future were no different from those things he said while in office — tackle local challenges through local action first, whether those challenges are air quality, energy availability or economic security.

In Whitaker’s mind, those three elements often blended into one. He visited the News-Miner regularly to talk about the connections between them and what they meant for the community.

Whitaker has always been a little “mavericky,” to steal from comedian Tina Fey’s portrait of former Gov. Sarah Palin. That was best illustrated when Whitaker annoyed more than a few fellow Republicans by endorsing Barack Obama’s presidential bid at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Whitaker also is more than occasionally loquacious, a trait that seems born of a desire for clarity and complete understanding but which also is sometimes interpreted as an overdeveloped sense of self-importance. His personal confidence, though, is tempered by his obvious intellectual curiosity — usually illustrated by the thick stack of documents under his arm, documents he had read and wanted to discuss with others.

Whitaker said he might start graduate studies in his new-found free time. This is no surprise. We wish him well in his continuing education, wherever it might lead, and hope he continues to share his knowledge with Fairbanks.