Local government organization was much debated when the state constitution was drafted. Your previous correspondent wrote that the borough should go away and let city governments rule.

The debate at the constitutional convention pointed the other direction: eliminating the cities. The delegates came very close to abolishing city government all together. They wanted nothing avoid the expensive, convolutions of "county/city gov't" structures, which prevailed in the older states. The preference was for regional local organizations called boroughs and to completely eliminate all city governments in Alaska.

The proceedings of the convention show it was the big cities Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks that fought regional government hard and in the end, prevailed, on that part of the question but our boroughs are highly regarded, nationally, as working better than the county system does in most places.

Ironically, Anchorage and Juneau now have such unified, regional governments, and those cities exist in name only having swallowed, or been swallowed up, by their surrounding areas, depending on how you look at it.

Don Gilman, the late, great mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, talked of crafting a Kenai Peninsula Borough Charter Commission to write a proposition to do the same thing for us. That is to eliminate city governments in Seldovia, Kenai, Soldotna, Seward, Homer and Kachemak City, and to empower each area with super service districts; within the restructured and improved Kenai Peninsula Borough.

The blessings of unified government are many, but the problems are significant, as well. The conversation would be advanced with a charter commission meeting throughout the borough, and the idea is how best to minimize duplication of such services, like administration and public works, and to reduce infighting for resources and funding, especially at the state level.

How better to perform all borough functions like school, hospital and solid waste management should be part of the discussion. And it should be a discussion, not a campaign for a particular result. The idea is to find improvements and the best of these could find their way to the ballot box.

Take care of the Kenai!

Larry Smith

Homer