Palmer planning commission chair appointed to empty council seat

What you need to know:

• Longtime resident and Palmer Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Penny Mosher was appointed to the Palmer City Council on Tuesday, filling a seat vacated by Jim Cooper when he was elected mayor last month.
• Mosher brings 37 years of federal service and leadership experience on the Planning and Zoning Commission. She was selected from a pool of 11 applicants, Cooper said.
• Mosher said she wants to support responsible downtown development and strengthen the effectiveness of city staff. She has not yet decided whether she will run for the seat in the 2026 election.

• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER — A longtime resident and chair of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission was appointed to the Palmer City Council this week, filling the seat vacated after Jim Cooper was elected mayor last month.

Penny Mosher will serve on the council until the October 2026 election, at which point she must either step down or run for the seat. She was sworn in Tuesday during the regular Palmer city council meeting.

Mosher has served on the Planning and Zoning Commission since 2023 and has never run for or held elected office, she said in an interview last week. She moved to Palmer in 1998, she said.

She was sworn in during the regular Palmer City Council meeting Tuesday and immediately took her seat on the dais. She was selected by Cooper following a three-week application period. Palmer city code does not require public interviews for council appointments after a resignation.

Eleven people applied for the seat, including three who were disqualified because they do not live within city limits, Cooper said. He selected Mosher because she is familiar with city issues, is well-versed in city code, and has experience leading the planning commission, he said.

A career civil servant, Mosher has worked for the federal government for 37 years. She is currently the lead budget analyst for the Defense Health Agency at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, she said.

Mosher said she had not previously considered running for local public office because she believed federal employment rules barred her from doing so. She consulted with on-base legal officials about whether she could apply for the open Palmer seat and was given the all-clear because the position is nonpartisan, she said.

Mosher said she hopes to use her time on the council to support thoughtful growth and development in the city’s downtown area. She also wants to empower city staff to do effective work, she said.

“I would just like to see the council get back to being a legislative body and allowing the city manager and staff to do their jobs,” she said. “If there needs to be an intervention, then bring it to council, but do it in a pragmatic way.”

Mosher said she hasn’t ruled out running for the seat next year, but she wants to use the appointment to determine whether the position is a good fit.

“I’d like to get my feet wet,” she said. “I’m not going to say ‘yes,’ and I’m not going to say ‘no.’”

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com