Mat-Su historical display including Ten Commandments delayed due to lack of funding

What you need to know:

• More than a year after its approval, a display that includes the Ten Commandments has not been installed in the lobby outside the Mat-Su Assembly chambers because officials have not received enough donations to pay for it.
• The display will feature seven texts, including the Magna Carta, the Ten Commandments and the Declaration of Independence. It is estimated to cost about $4,000; just under $1,000 has been raised in the past year.
• Donations are accepted on the borough’s website. The resolution approving the display prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for the project.

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PALMER — More than a year after its approval, a document display that includes the Ten Commandments has not yet been installed in the lobby outside the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly chambers due to a lack of funding, borough officials said.

The Assembly unanimously approved the display in early October last year. It is intended to “honor historical documents” that have influenced U.S. and state law, and must be paid for through donations, according to the resolution.

The display will include a summary of the Code of Hammurabi, the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, and the preamble to the Alaska Constitution, the resolution states.

So far, donors have contributed just under $1,000 of the estimated $4,000 needed to fund the project, Borough Community Development Director Jillian Morrissey said in an email. Donations can be made on the borough’s website and are subject to a 3% credit card fee or a 1% debit card fee.

The documents will be displayed on large pull-up banners in the Borough Administration Building lobby, Borough Manager Mike Brown told the Assembly last year. They will include a QR code that visitors can scan to access more information, he said.

Brown plans to present an update on the display’s status during an Assembly meeting scheduled for Dec. 2, Morrissey said. 

The resolution approved last year also directed borough staff to study the feasibility of installing similar displays at borough-operated public libraries across Mat-Su.

Assembly member Ron Bernier, who proposed the display, initially intended it to feature only the Ten Commandments, he said during a meeting last year. A borough attorney advised him that doing so could open the borough to legal action, so he revised his plan to include additional documents, he said.

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“There’s no prohibition of displays that use the Ten Commandments as you would any other historical document,” he said. “It’s when you make it by itself, where it’s a religious thing — that’s where it crosses the line.”

Bernier did not respond to a request for comment this week.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com