Palmer council will seek outside counsel on ethics complaint and cuts library kitchen

The Palmer City Council voted unanimously Oct. 27 to have the city clerk and city attorney bring in outside legal counsel to handle an ethics and governance complaint that names the mayor, the city manager and other city leaders.

Resident Drew Frohling submitted the complaint to the city clerk Oct. 19. The council had planned to discuss it in closed session, and it voted after meeting behind closed doors.

The complaint has not been released. Attorney Anna Crary described it in open session. She said it raises questions about the city golf course, including its lease, appraisal, liquor license and contracts. It also covers access to public records and the city's response to concerns former Council Member Victoria Hudson raised the night she resigned. It names City Manager Kolby Zerkel, Mayor Jim Cooper, Airport Superintendent John Diumenti, Public Works Director Jude Bilafer, the council and the city attorney, including Crary's firm. Being named is not a finding of wrongdoing.

Crary said the complaint asks for an independent investigation and written findings. Who will be hired, and at what cost, is not yet known. Crary said a pending lawsuit, Borgford v. City of Palmer, limits how much the city can discuss the matter.

The council also cut a $226,640 kitchen expansion from the new library, approving $733,869 instead of the $960,509 it had been asked for. Council Member John Alcantra proposed the cut, calling it a "half baked kitchen idea" that needed more time. Library Director Joy Bailey said the item would have expanded the warming kitchen and added a coffee and snack bar. The second-floor finish, about $550,000, stayed in. H5 Construction's contract now totals about $12.9 million.

Zerkel attended the meeting by Zoom. During her report, Alcantra told her he wished she could be in the room for whole meetings despite having a child. Deputy Mayor Alison Collins called the remark "incredibly offensive." Alcantra later said he would never suggest someone choose work over family. The council met in a second closed session over the comments and took no action.

The agenda for the Nov. 10 meeting lists an executive session on legal issues arising from Alcantra's conduct at the Oct. 27 meeting and notes that action may follow. It does not say what those issues are.

Utility foreman Matt Midgett told the council that 18 operators and one foreman have left in eight years and that half his crew may go. Zerkel said the proposed pay plan changes affect 15 employees citywide and that no one gets a $40,000 raise.

The council holds public hearings on the pay plan and city budget Nov. 10 at 6 pm.