newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — Public officials in Fairbanks asked state lawmakers to consider loosening their leash on neighborhood road commissions.

State laws require commissioners for the area’s dozens of road service areas to follow rules when holding their meetings. That means publicizing agendas and scheduling things in advance for a meeting on something as simple as patching a road when rain washes it out.

“That can take anywhere from 10 days to two weeks to set up,” Ladd McBride said. McBride serves as chairman for the Cripple Creek service area, which manages 18 miles of road west of Fairbanks.

The community’s 107 road service areas are neighborhood-level districts that levy an individual tax rate to maintain their respective road systems.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly recently asked the Alaska Legislature to exempt service-area commissions from Open Meetings Act rules when they meet solely to manage the roads in their districts — to fix dangerous potholes or other short-term maintenance.

“It really isn’t necessary that they publicize those kinds of meetings,” said assembly member Randy Frank, who proposed the resolution. The state’s Open Meetings laws, under the assembly’s proposal, would remain in place for commissions’ more deliberate, regularly scheduled meetings, where they might approve budgets, cement annual plans or forward recommendations to borough officials.

State laws require legislative bodies to meet openly and notify the public in advance.

Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, said the assembly’s request sounds reasonable, though he’d want to ensure any change would still leave commissions accountable to their neighborhoods’ taxpayers.

“I’m OK as long as the circumstances are defined very clearly,” he said.

McBride, a former assembly member, said commissions, including his, have a tough time attracting members — he noted his three-seat commission has had a vacancy for years. He supported the proposed change.

“We’re not paid. We take time out of our lives and other activities to do these things, and we do it all at our expense,” he said.