Wasilla council commits to planning a regional dispatch center outside city limits

The Wasilla City Council voted without objection Monday to join borough planning for a new regional dispatch facility that would move MatCom's emergency call center outside city limits and onto land owned by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

The resolution commits the city only to participate in planning and authorizes the mayor to sign a memorandum of understanding with the borough. It binds the city to nothing further. Any lease agreement would return to the council for a separate vote.

Borough Manager Mike Brown said the dispatch space would be built as an annex to a new Fire Station 52 at Bogard Road and Tate Drive, where combining the two projects could save money. "Looking at the construction of 52, that's a window that will close. So if we don't choose to construct the dispatch center with the fire station, we will lose that opportunity," Brown said. The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has appropriated design funding and would weigh construction funding in the spring. Brown said the state public safety commissioner has signed on and that the borough is not seeking to take over dispatch operations. "What I'm looking for is some sign-on from the partners to make sure that if we commit funding to move forward with the design, that we're doing that smartly," he said.

MatCom, whose dispatchers handle emergency calls across the borough and the Copper River Basin, has outgrown its current building, Director Lori Creekey said. "Seismic really worries me. We've already got cracks and all sorts of issues in there," she said. She added that staff compete with the Wasilla Police Department and the Menard Center for training space. The borough's lease on the current facility runs through 2030.

Council Member Tim Johnson raised a legal question. "So in essence, we'd be creating a city office outside the city boundary. What would be the legality of that?" he asked. The mayor said the city attorney had called the arrangement lawful. Johnson also warned of a double cost hit, with the city leasing space back once the borough stops paying rent in Wasilla. Brown said any rent increase would return to the borough through the dispatch contract.

Council Member Stu Graham asked what participating in planning means in practice and requested monthly updates. Council Member Ian Crafton backed moving the conversation forward. Creekey wants certainty before committing. "If we're gonna commit to this, we wanna know that this is as forever as forever can be in the future," she said.

Whether Palmer will join the arrangement remains undecided. The proposal fits a broader Alaska pattern of regionalizing emergency communications while governments negotiate cost-sharing, governance and aging facilities.