Cordovans Petition for Borough Vote

Cordovans Petition for Borough Vote
By Lee Revis
Editor, Valdez Star

CORDOVA - A group of Cordova residents, apparently chagrined by the actions of their City Council, filed a petition with Cordova City Hall asking for a popular vote on the issue on incorporating into a Prince William Sound Borough.

The petition was signed by 187 registered Cordova voters. Organizers of the petition drive claim to have gathered the signatures within 24 hours. According to a memo sent to Edgar Blatchford, Commissioner of the Department of Community and Economic Development by Cordova resident Jennifer Gibbins, the petition does not take sides on the borough issue, it only requests that Cordovans be allowed to vote on the issue.

The memo reads in part: "The petition requests the opportunity to vote on the resolution. The intention behind the petition is to allow residents to exercise their fundamental right to vote on issues of governance and taxation."

The Cordova City Council stunned many locals in the area and angered the Valdez City Council earlier last month when they issued a surprise resolution endorsing the controversial borough formation and passed the request onto the Local Boundary Commission.

Valdez residents were outraged over the resolution and the accompanying recommendations from the task force put together by the Cordova Council to study borough formation. The recommendations included placing the borough seat in Cordova and reducing borough assembly representation of Valdez.

Last September, the City of Whittier started the ball rolling when they sent a letter to the LBC requesting that the commission prepare a petition to the state legislature to incorporate the cities of Valdez, Cordova and Whittier along with the villages of Tatitlek and Chenega into a Prince William Sound Borough. Several citizens of the tiny community also rebelled and put forth a petition asking that the local residents be allowed to vote on the issue. The special election will be held May 10 in Whittier according to Assistant City Clerk Louise Heywood.

The Whittier petition effectively halted the Borough request that was to be put forth to the state legislature by the LBC for this legislative season.

Since the petition was made public last fall both Speaker of the House John Harris and Senator Gene Therriault who represent Valdez in the state voting districts have introduced legislation to eliminate the never before used loop hole that allows for Borough formation without a popular vote of effected communities. "We're working on the issue," Senator Therriault told the council telephonically at their last meeting. "We're chipping away at it."