Departing Swanson earns recognition

PALMER—Last night Ron Swanson, community development director for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, was recognized for a career of public service by MAT-SU Mayor Curt Menard.

Swanson is retiring May 31. He has worked for the state and the Borough for a total of 32 years. Eight of those years he worked as Community Development Director. Among his achievements, Swanson led the Borough to dedicate more than 2,005 miles of trails. He developed asset management plans for Borough-owned land, which resulted in the classification of thousands of acres of land for various uses including recreation, watershed, and wetlands banking. He managed the often emotionally-charged meetings with the public during the complex location n process for a new prison. He stepped in to bridge the gap when an electric line to the new hospital had neighbors in an uproar. Most recently he helped craft the Borough's first ordinance on forest management and timber sales.

During his 24 years at the state, Swanson worked his way up from cartographer to Director of the Division of Lands for the Dept. of Natural Resources.

Mayor Menard commended him and handed him the seal of the Borough. The audience gave Swanson a standing ovation. Throughout the night, audience members who testified on other subjects thanked Swanson for his patience at shepherding plans through controversy.