Sorted by date Results 626 - 650 of 1808
In his report to the Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors last week, PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said a nationwide shortage of Cepheid cartridges has caused the hospital to closely monitor its own supply of cartridges and enacted guidelines for rapid testing. The hospital's testing capacity is currently exceeding its par level, or the number of cartridges needed to react to a local outbreak, Hofstetter said. "We cannot get the supplies needed to test," said Hofstetter to the borough...
We’re glad the borough assembly cut through drawn out discussions and approved the continuation of work on the Sandy Beach Park playground project. The park improvement proposal received plenty of publicity over the past two years, so the work should have come as no surprise to anyone paying even remote attention to the news. If the parks and recreation board had their way, the debate over the plans would have delayed the project for at least another summer. That would have been unacceptable. Rock-n-Road is volunteering their labor and had t...
Petersburg School District is expected to reopen their doors today, Oct. 29, after a positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed at Rae C. Stedman Elementary School on Tuesday that resulted in a district-wide school closure, according to Petersburg School District Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Petersburg public health officials completed their contract tracing related to the school district on Wednesday, said Kludt-Painter. Students and staff who have been instructed to quarantine were asked...
The Petersburg Borough awarded a total of about $440,000 in grants last week to 50 business owners who experienced a loss in gross revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Community & Economic Development Director Liz Cabrera. Five applications are still pending but are expected to be awarded as well. The borough's economic grant program set aside $500,000 from its Coronavirus Aide, Relief, and Economic Security funds for businesses that experienced a loss in gross revenue of 20...
The Borough Assembly extended a contract between the borough and the state for COVID-19 related services offered at the Petersburg Airport through Dec. 31 at their meeting on Oct. 20. Under the extension, the borough will receive $423,725 for the greeting, screening and testing services of incoming passengers from June 8 through Dec. 31, according to a memo to the Borough Assembly from Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. The extension also amended the memorandum of agreement between the borough...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a workshop last week, Oct. 20, to discuss the water treatment plant improvement project. This has been an ongoing project for some time now, and the workshop was to make sure new assembly members were up to speed on the current situation, and to share opinions on how it is going so far. Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad led much of the initial discussion, providing a history lesson on the project. Plans to renovate and improve Wrangell's...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted against terminating the borough's declaration of disaster emergency, which was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at their meeting on Tuesday. Assembly Member Taylor Norheim requested the action item be on the meeting's agenda to address the borough's declaration of disaster emergency and determine if the new assembly agreed with the declaration. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger was voted on to the assembly after the municipal election earlier this...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly heard an appeal for an order of abatement at 410 Mitkof Highway, before their regular meeting on Tuesday, and upheld the order that was issued on Aug. 3 to Courtney Johnson for a raw sewage leak. The borough first became aware of the sewage discharge coming from Johnson's residence on July 24 when officers from the Petersburg Police Department arrived at 410 Mitkof Highway in search of an individual with a felony warrant, according to Utility Director Karl...
The Harbors and Port Advisory Board discussed whether to advise the Petersburg Borough Assembly to purchase the Ocean Beauty production facility, tidelands, bunk house and warehouse at their meeting on Oct. 15, but the advisory board decided against the recommendation. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht requested the harbor board consider the properties because Ocean Beauty Seafoods announced their warehouse, bunk house and plant facility were for sale. Giesbrecht said the prices seemed...
The Borough Assembly certified the results of the Oct. 6 municipal election on Oct. 9. No significant changes were made to the outcome of the election. After the election was certified, David Kensinger began a 3-year term on the Borough Assembly, and Jeff Meucci was reelected for another three years. The other contested race in this year's election was for a 3-year seat on the Petersburg School Board. Katherine Holmlund beat Craig Anderson with a final tally of 616 to Anderson's 299 votes....
You can find the full story here. Total ballots cast - 1,001 Winners are marked by * Borough Assembly Two 3-year terms David Kensinger - 576* Marc Martinsen - 343 Jeff Meucci - 499* Brandi Thynes - 482 School Board One 3-year term Craig Anderson - 299 Katherine Holmlund - 616* School Board One 2-year term Megan Litster - 840* Hospital Board Two 3-year terms Jerod Cook - 685* Marlene Cushing - 807* Planning Commission Three 3-year terms Chris Fry - 687 Heather O'Neil - 771 Planning Commission...
WRANGELL - A lawsuit brought against the city by a Wrangell resident has come to a close, after Judge Kevin Miller dismissed the case. Kipha Valvoda brought a lawsuit against several former and current members of Wrangell's government in March of 2019. An amended complaint was filed by the plaintiff in April 2019, but the lawsuit originally began in March of that year. Valvoda claimed the borough used unfair hiring practices that kept him from finding employment with the city. He also claimed,...
A plan that would have allowed in-person public participation at future assembly meetings failed in a 3-3 vote by the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Monday. Assembly members cited concerns over the possible spread of COVID-19 in the assembly chambers and the need to update the teleconference system as reasons for voting against the plan. Other assembly members felt it was time they returned to in-person meetings to give the public the chance to address them face-to-face. The plan to...
October 6, 2020 Total ballots cast - 997 Borough Assembly Two 3-year terms David Kensinger - 573 Marc Martinsen - 343 Jeff Meucci - 497 Brandi Thynes - 481 School Board One 3-year term Craig Anderson - 297 Katherine Holmlund - 615 Write in - 2 School Board One 2-year term Megan Litster - 837 Write in - 12 Hospital Board Two 3-year terms Jerod Cook - 683 Marlene Cushing - 804 Write in - 8 Planning Commission Three 3-year terms Chris Fry - 684 Heather O’Neil - 768 Write in - 18 Planning C...
Unofficial municipal election results show David Kensinger taking one of two 3-year term seats on the Borough Assembly, with Assembly Members Jeff Meucci and Brandi Thynes in a close race for the second seat. Kensinger had 573 votes in the unofficial results, which put him safely ahead of the other three candidates. Meucci has 497 votes and Thynes has 481 votes. There are still four questioned ballots that need to be added in the final number of votes. Plus, the borough has yet to receive 19...
The Borough Assembly extended its emergency non-congregate sheltering agreement with the Narrows Inn on Monday through the end of the year or until state health mandate #14 is rescinded. Non-congregate sheltering gives homeless populations, first responders and health care workers a safe place to quarantine while they're waiting for the results of a COVID-19 test or to isolate while they recover from the virus. "Hopefully we don't need it before the end of the year, but if we do, we'll be glad...
Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Members discussed the challenges faced by staff at their second board meeting held on Oct. 1 as visitors to the aquatic center have reached record numbers in the weeks following its reopening. The board discussed several issues, including upcoming Halloween plans and facility upgrades, but a bulk of their discussion focused on the aquatic center. Board Members Brian Richards, Stephanie Hayes and Malena Marvin were in attendance. According to Borough Manager...
WRANGELL - Tuesday, Oct. 6, was election day for Wrangell. Polls closed at 8 p.m., with the preliminary count showing a total of 419 voters participating on election day. Wrangell voters chose the community's leadership in a variety of positions this year, as well as whether or not Wrangell should leave the Inter-Island Ferry Authority. Below are the preliminary election results. Preliminary winners are marked with an asterisk (*). Borough Mayor, one two-year term *Steve Prysunka, 304...
Petersburg School District switched over to a low risk level of operations, or green level, on Monday. Rae C. Stedman Elementary School will be in session from 8 A.M. to 1:45 P.M. in person Monday through Friday, said Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter at the COVID-19 community update on Friday, Sept. 25. Teachers will stay with their classes throughout the day and limit interaction with other teachers and pods. Students will still get recesses, lunch and other breaks while in school. Mitkof...
This year's borough assembly candidates took the stage on Sept. 24 to answer questions ranging from the borough's COVID-19 response to the tourism industry in this year's candidate forum. The candidates answered questions from representatives of KFSK and the Petersburg Pilot. Marc Martinsen, Dave Kensinger and incumbents Jeff Meucci and Brandi Thynes were each asked the same questions and had two minutes to respond. The order of the candidates changed with each question that was asked. The forum...
WRANGELL — In last week’s assembly meeting, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen reported that the city had recently been informed by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that they had surpassed allowable levels of HAA5 in the water supply. HAA5, or Haloacetic Acids, is a byproduct of organic material in the water being treated with chlorine during the disinfection process. “It is important to remember organic material is always present in the source water treated for Wrang...
The borough assembly approved Ordinance #2020-19, which amends borough code chapter 3.72 to provide for civil emergency provisions, in its third reading on Monday after postponing the final vote by two months. The emergency ordinance transfers civil emergency provisions from the City of Petersburg Code to Petersburg Borough Code while adding language to guide local officials through an emergency. The additional language caused a division in the community and led the Borough Assembly to delay...
Petersburg has gone 34 days since a case of COVID-19 was confirmed to be in the community. The last confirmed case of the virus was a non-resident who tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 14 and later recovered on Aug. 21. As of Wednesday, Sept. 23, Petersburg Medical Center reported 3,887 test samples have been collected to be tested for COVID-19 on site or at outside laboratories. Of those test samples collected, about 3,829 have returned negative and 45 are still pending. According to PMC, Ne...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly acted with both courage and compassion on Monday night when they passed Ordinance 2020-19 that updated the borough's civil emergency plan. The easy decision would have been to cave to the public comments opposing the revised ordinance, but the assembly and borough officials did an excellent job of explaining how the ordinance was drafted and that wording from three other community ordinances were used to compose the Petersburg document. There was no nefarious...
Here is some historical context for where we find ourselves, a small community responding to a global crisis and the issue of civil liberties. The Clausen Museum recently found and posted on Instagram a Petersburg newspaper clipping from November 1919, which read: "Notice: Until further orders no small boats will be allowed to leave town of Petersburg for any other town. Board of Health, by order of the Governor." In World War II civilians needed military permission to travel to and from...
