Fairbanks North Star Borough

Fairbanks North Star Borough. Vignettes in History. , The Alaska Constitution provides that "the entire State shall be divided in boroughs, organized or unorganized." Delegates to the Constitutional Convention chose "borough" rather than the more commonly accepted term "county" to avoid restrictive legal and public perceptions of the new entities. Under the Borough Act of 1961, organized boroughs are municipal in nature and have the same corporate status as cities, and an organized borough is a unit of area-wide local government which encompasses natural community, including cities., The Fairbanks North Star Borough was organized as a second class borough in 1964 and covers an area of 7,361 square miles, including the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole. As a second class borough, powers beyond the mandatory ones of planning and zoning, education, and property tax assessment and collection must be acquired through petition and election. Since 1964 voters have added animal control, flood control, library, hospital, parks and recreation, public transportation and emergency medical services. The State Legislature and Borough ordinances have given to the local government additional powers over air pollution, solid waste control, disaster/civil defense, fireworks control, and construction and maintenance of local service roads., The first twenty years of Borough organization saw many changes and challenges, a major flood, construction of the pipeline, rapid growth in population, a fluctuating economy. The population grew from 40,644 in 1964 to 69[,]611 in 1984. As new powers were added, new services and facilities were offered. Parks, libraries, schools, a transit park, an animal shelter, and an ice arena were constructed during this period. The Borough returned over 4,000 acres of state land to private ownership., The Fairbanks North Star Borough is organized under the Mayor-Assembly form of government. Eleven Borough Assembly members are elected at large for staggered three year terms. Officials serving during 1984 were Mayor B.B. Allen and Borough Assembly members Phil Younker (presiding officer), Sandra Stringer (deputy presiding officer), Juanita Heims, Howard "Buzz" Ocis, J.B. Carnahan, Harry Reimer, Paul Chizmar, Bruce Wammack, Jerry Norum, Bill Walley, and Mike Ribar.