WASILLA, ALASKA-Steve Menard, a Wasilla Councilman, has apologized for for his behavior and actions while on Wasilla city business earlier this month in Sitka. According to the Westmark Hotel there, the councilman damaged the hotel room that he was staying in while representing Wasilla. They reported urine on two mattresses and a chair, vomit on the room's carpet, a burnt mattress, smoking in a non-smoking room, and ruined bedding.

At the end of a regular meeting by the Wasilla council on Monday, the council met for a closed session. It was then that Menard gave a brief statement in an unsteady voice. He stated, “I would like to start off by …apologizing publicly for my actions in Sitka. The City of Wasilla, my friends and family, I’m truly embarrassed and sorry, truly sorry. I sit here before you a humbled man, 11 days sober and working a program. And only through the grace of God I will redeem myself. And I thank you.”

In response, the Wasilla City Council is requiring Menard to pay back the entire cost of $1,404 that the city paid to have him attend the meeting in Sitka, in addition, Menard is forbidden to travel on city business until the time that his current term is up. That term ends on October of 2013.

The bill for the damages was $350, but the hotel manager, Kathy Adams said that the hotel went light on the cost of damages. She also stated that Menard had told them to bill it to the city of Wasilla when confronted with the charges. When the city initially refused to pay the hotel for damages, Westmark stood ready to inform the police of the dispute. The city of Wasilla decided to pay the charges and get reimbursed from Menard.

When asked about his drinking in 2008, he said that he had taken care of the issue by quitting drinking. The question had come up because of a 2004 conviction of Drunk Driving and a 2007 charge of Drunk on a Licensed Premises.

Governor Parnell appointed Menard to a seat on the Alaska Royalty Oil and Gas Development Advisory Board last year. That term expires in 2015.