The minutes from the regular meeting on March 13, 2008 have been uploaded and are available at the following link:

Thursday, March 13, 2008 minutes

They are also reproduced if you click on ‘more’.

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MINUTES
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Chairman Jim Sykes called this Lazy Mountain Community Council general meeting at Lazy Mountain Bible Church to order at 6:42 pm. Community Council Board Members Jim Sykes, Will Peabody, John Alexander, Michael Miller and Shannon Rochelle and 8 general members and guests were present. As 10 Community Council Members constitute a quorum, a quorum was present.

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by approval of the agenda. The minutes from our February meeting were approved with no objections.

Treasurer Michael Miller reported that we spent $166.80 for webhosting of the new Lazy Mountain Community Council website, so we now have $140.99 in savings and $0.70 in checking.

The Road Service Area report began with a discussion about paving Wolverine Road through the canyon and for 2.7 miles beyond the current end of the pavement. We have been asked whether LMCC supports this $4 million project. We discussed what effect paving the road would have on maintenance needs, and concluded it would decrease them. Will Peabody moved that we send a letter in support of the paving project to Senator Huggins. Pat Larrabee seconded the motion, which passed without opposition. Pat stated that we spent $8816.63 on road maintenance in February. Jim Sykes asked whether the current tax assessment is meeting our RSA needs, and Pat answered “yes.”

Michael Miller reported that the LMCC website is now up and can be found at lazymountaincc.org. He said it is easy to modify, and asked for suggestions. John Alexander suggested adding a link to the Mat-Su Borough website.

Jim Sykes notified us that the Planning Commission’s decision rejecting the Morris Communications tower proposal has been appealed. The timeline is that written comments must be submitted 15 days from the notice of appeal, and a public hearing must be held within 15 days after that. To speak at the appeal hearing LMCC would need to notify the borough clerk at least 5 days before the hearing that we would like to participate. Gary LoRusso moved that LMCC be represented at the Board of Appeals hearing. Helen Munoz seconded the motion, which passed 9-1.

In other informational items, Jim Sykes stated that the Lazy Mountain Comprehensive Plan was approved by the Borough Assembly on March 4, 2008. He also noted that the borough has asked if we have any comments on a plan to allow relocation of rural liquor licenses to cities within the borough. After some discussion, we concluded that LMCC does not have comments.

Jim Sykes then welcomed our guest speaker, Lou Friend from Mat-Su Community Transit (MASCOT). Helen Munoz suggested having guests speak earlier in our meetings, so they do not need to sit through the business discussions. It was agreed that this was a good plan for the future.

Mr. Friend explained the history, past successes and future goals of MASCOT. MASCOT is a non-profit organization that originated to provide transportation for elderly, low income and disabled residents of the borough, though their services are available to the public at large. They began providing service in 1999 and have regular routes in the core area and to Anchorage, with demand response service (call at least 24 hours in advance to be picked up) outside the core area including Lazy Mountain and the Butte. Their funding comes from federal grants and contributions from the city of Wasilla, the Mat-Su Borough, with some administration assistance from the state of Alaska. MASCOT provided 79,000 rides in 2007. They are working to increase that number by increasing awareness of their services and expanding as needed. Jim Sykes and the rest of the Community Council thanked Mr. Friend for his presentation.

Helen Munoz mentioned that she is working on forming a 501(c)3 non-profit hospice house and that there is a need for a better method of septic and sewage disposal in Anchorage and the Valley. She urged people to get involved in these issues.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:51 pm.