Sorted by date Results 651 - 675 of 701
Sealed bids for three parcels offered in a public land auction were opened Monday. The first parcel, numbered 01-003-521, is located at 306 Sandy Beach Road. It is zoned as single family, residential, and is 18,002 sq. ft. Water and wastewater utilities are available along with electricity being available at the front of the lot. It's assessed value is $56,800 and any bids on the property were required to be at least $60,220. The highest bid was submitted by Chad Villamor and was $71,099. The...
OBI Seafoods celebrated 200,000 cases of salmon packed by sounding their steam whistle at noon on Wednesday. It was the first time since 2013 that OBI has canned 200,000 cases according to OBI Fleet Manager Don Spigelmyre. "It's basically a celebration to let the town know that there's still salmon coming through," Spigelmyre said. This was the second time that OBI sounded the steam whistle this year. They previously marked 100,000 cases of salmon canned on August 9. The whistle also serves to...
The Kake Access road is expected to be completed by mid-October according to Project Manager Garrett Paul. The estimated $40 million project forms a 37 mile long road from Kake to a new boat launch near Twelvemile Creek. Paul, who works with the Alaska Department of Transportation, said that approximately seven miles of new roads have been completed and between 15 and 20 miles of existing roads have been improved. "Overall our goal is to make this route an easily traversable one, so to do that...
The U.S. Census Bureau has released population data from the 2020 Census. The census is conducted every 10 years and is used by the local, state, and federal governments to allot seats in legislatures across the country and allocate funding based on population. The Petersburg Borough census area recorded 3,398 residents. This was an increase of 6.1% from 2010 census which recorded 3,203 residents. In 2010, 2,948 people were listed as specifically being from the city of Petersburg which was...
The Vakker Sted affordable housing complex on Excel Street will be ready to accommodate residents by January 1, 2022 according to Glenn Gellert of Swell, LLC. The building will house 15 units with 2 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units that will mainly be leased to low-income residents. Though the framing of the building was slow, the plumbing job has gone faster than expected so the construction schedule has evened out. The roof was recently put on, so not even the rain will slow down con...
Photography and art pieces submitted by Petersburg residents to the 52nd Annual Southeast Alaska State Fair are being featured at the library until the end of the month. The fair was held July 29 - August 1 in Haines, Alaska and saw many exhibits from Petersburg win awards. "It's fun to see what people create around the region and see people from different towns," said local artist Josef Quitslund. "It's a good way to connect with the greater region." The fair was cancelled last year due to the...
Ray Wesebaum became the new building official and code enforcement officer in May for the Petersburg Borough. "It's just something different, just a new experience," Wesebaum said. Wesebaum has been in construction for most of his life and though his new role does not entail working outdoors around trucks and ditches all day, he said it has been a pretty easy transition. "Just a lot of paperwork now," Wesebaum said. "I did pass my first certification for the residential inspector, but I've...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. Dustin Crump will be teaching Spanish and PE at Petersburg High School and Computer Science at Mitkof Middle School. He is originally from North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he earned a bachelor of arts in Spanish. His wife is from Petersburg and after their wedding, they moved to...
The last Outdoor Recreation Creation Adventure (ORCA) camp of the summer finished at Sandy Beach on Friday, focusing on educating kids about eating healthy foods and staying active. The camp was a collaboration between Kinder Skog and the Petersburg Medical Center along with help from many local businesses and organizations. "It's all focused on super foods, super activities, super kids and just trying to get them out and being healthy, moving their bodies, eating the right kinds of foods,"...
The Borough Assembly discussed the Petersburg School District's reopening plan during Monday's meeting. PSD released their moderate risk reopening plan Friday which includes a two week universal mask mandate and quarantine protocols for the upcoming school year. The discussion item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who wanted to see what the assembly thought of it. Meucci said that he thought that masking up for the first two weeks was a good plan and that it is important to get the...
Construction on a new cabin along the Raven Trail is currently in progress according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen. The 16' by 20' cabin is about 1.2 miles closer to the start of the trail than the old cabin and is being built by local contractor Rainforest Contracting. The cabin has a covered deck which faces the small pond below it and an outhouse nearby. "It's more family oriented, you know, it's got a lot of space down low and then it's got sort of a loft area for...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. A few of the new teachers are returning to their roots in Petersburg including Hannah Smith who will be teaching science at Mitkof Middle School. Smith went to Gonzaga University before receiving her masters at Montana State in science education. "I grew up here actually, graduated from Petersburg High School. My parents and my...
The Borough Assembly conducted their third and final reading of Ordinance #2021-12 during Monday's meeting. The assembly voted unanimously 7-0 to adopt the ordinance which added the Electric Utility Bond Issuance matter to the ballot for the election on October 5, 2021. There was no discussion by the assembly prior to the vote. "We had a very good explanation at the last meeting from Mr. Hagerman, so I think we're all up to speed on it," Mayor Mark Jensen said. The revenue bonds, not to exceed...
The Borough Assembly voted 4-3 to empower Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht to create a committee to serve as a COVID information response system during Monday's meeting. The discussion of the action item centered on the creation of the committee and the inclusion of a COVID dashboard on the borough's website. The item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who said that the assembly needed to have more communication about COVID available to be prepared if the school system or the hospital...
Tongass Botanicals & Soils has started a composting program to reduce the amount of waste in Petersburg that is being shipped to landfills. Carrie Martinsen, who runs the composting operation, began a bucket pickup in June to collect food scraps and other biodegradable waste from the community. "The more I got into it I was like oh this sounds like a really good plan and then talking with the city here they're like we've been wanting somebody to do this for a really long time," Martinsen said....
The Borough Assembly voted on Ordinance 2021-13 during Monday's meeting, which allows assembly members to be counted for the purposes of determining a quorum if they are communicating via teleconference. The vote was 5-2 during the ordinance's first reading with Mayor Mark Jensen and Assembly Member Bob Lynn voting against. The ordinance revision was requested by Assembly Member Dave Kensinger after the meeting on August 2 was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. With the progress that...
Utility Director Karl Hagerman gave a presentation during Monday's Borough Assembly meeting on the electric utility bond issue. The bond issue would provide funding for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric Refurbishment project and for the Scow Bay Generation project. Hagerman's presentation was comprised of two main focuses: what would happen if no action was taken on the bonds and what would the impacts of the increased rates be. "I did get a hypothetical from Assembly Member Kensinger, and I had...
The Borough Assembly unanimously voted to approve Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht's contract extension request during Monday's meeting. The vote, which was 7-0, came after the assembly entered into an executive session to discuss the new contract. Assembly Members Taylor Norheim and Jeigh Stanton Gregor joining the meeting over the phone and Zoom respectively for that portion of the meeting to cast their votes. Giesbrecht wrote a letter to the Borough Assembly, dated July 7, proposing a new fiv...
The details from the International Bureau of Electrical Workers collective bargaining agreement with the Petersburg Borough were released Tuesday. The IBEW contract was approved by the assembly during their July 19 meeting and will run from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2024. Though much of the deal remains the same, some changes have been made including to wages and paid time off. In the new agreement, eight additional days of accrued paid time off have been added and are spread out over the PTO...
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter gave a report to the Borough Assembly during Monday's meeting. The discussion focused on PMC's communication with the community about releasing COVID information and the construction of a new hospital. Hofstetter said that the Emergency Operations Center is missed because there is no longer a structure in place for communication about COVID. He would also like to see information again be made available on the borough's website to help inform the...
The Borough Assembly unanimously voted to relinquish a parcel of land containing a Federal Aviation Administration site at Frederick Point during Monday's meeting. The FAA site, which measures 3.5 acres, is included in the list of municipal land selections according to Community and Economic Development Director Liz Cabrera who recommended that the borough relinquish the property due to contamination at the site. "It's on the DEC Contaminated Sites List and it has high levels of arsenic which...
The Borough Assembly discussed an engineering services proposal for projects at Papke's Landing and Banana Point during Monday's meeting. The proposal, submitted by Harai & Associates, Inc. would determine cost estimates to make repairs and upgrades to the floating breakwater at Banana Point and the new trestle, improved launch ramp, and other amenities at Papke's Landing. According to the proposal, both sites are in need of repair and would be considered as two separate engineering projects....
The Petersburg School Board held discussions about what protocols should be enacted for the upcoming school year during Tuesday's meeting. The talks were a continuation of those held during a work session on July 30 where the board tried to determine what guidelines best fit the Petersburg School District while weighing potential risks such as the spread of the delta variant. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said that two of the main points of the discussion would be masking and travel...
The Petersburg High School swim and dive team has finished its first full week of practices in preparation for this year's season. Head Coach Andy Carlisle said that he's looking forward to getting the season going. "There's always potential, some of them have a long way to go, but yeah, we'll just work hard and see what happens. That's what we do every year." Carlisle believes that there could be as many as 14 students with four seniors on the team this year. The final team size is unknown at...
The 2021 Rotary Rubber Duck Race was held on Saturday underneath the Hammer Slough Bridge. 742 ducks were purchased by members of the community, which helped raise $5,500 according to Dave Berg. It was the most ever sold by the Petersburg club, last year the club sold about 550 rubber ducks. Berg said the funds raised will go towards local, state, and international projects including Youth Exchange. The festivities started around 1:00 p.m. with hotdogs, beer, and wine being sold next to the...
