Sorted by date Results 776 - 800 of 1808
In a joint work session between the Petersburg Borough Assembly and Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors last week, Dan Jardine, project manager with NAC Architecture, updated both entities on the status of the master plan and revealed the preferred layout of a new hospital. In their efforts to design a new hospital, NAC Architecture has been conducting tests to determine possible sites for a new building and what a new facility would feature. In January, NAC Architecture plans to...
WRANGELL — Arnold and Alice Bakke are seeking a refund of property tax payments due to an assessment error going back to 1994. The total amount of money owed back to the Bakkes, from 1994 to 2019, is around $12,000. However, according to Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen and City Attorney Joseph Levesque, there is a six year statute of limitations on seeking a refund for overpaid taxes. This means that the wrangell assembly was considering paying the Bakke family $4,382.46, the amount overcharged within the past six years. Helen Keller, d...
The borough assembly took a neutral position on the future of the Roadless Rule at Monday's assembly meeting when they voted against a resolution that supported keeping the Roadless Rule intact and a resolution repealing it. Resolution #2019-14 was in support of alternative one of the draft environmental impact statement released by the United States Forest Service regarding the future of the Roadless Rule. Alternative one, or the do nothing option, keeps the Roadless Rule in place. Resolution #...
The borough is in the process of renewing an agreement with the state to receive $6,200 annually for the maintenance of the Ernie Haugen public use area, according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta at an assembly meeting on Monday. At an assembly meeting last month, the borough assembly approved letters to Sen. Bert Stedman and Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins asking them to inquire into cooperative agreements between the borough and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for the management...
A group of residents and property owners in Frederick Point East are trying to remove the undeveloped subdivision from service area one. The main reason the group is trying to remove Frederick Point East from service area one is that they pay a full 12.3 millage rate, but don't receive any services. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of a property's assessed value that is used to calculate taxes within the borough. "There has been no services provided, nor has there been an intention of...
A resolution supporting alternative one of the draft environmental impact statement for the exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest will go before the borough assembly at their first meeting in December after the assembly pushed the vote back by two weeks at their meeting on Monday. The United State Forest Service released the findings of its draft environmental impact statement earlier this month that showed the United States Department of Agriculture supported...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance to transfer $194,695 from the wastewater fund to the Scow Bay Pump Station One project in its third reading and awarded the bid for the project to Rock N Road Construction. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation originally approved a loan of $550,000 to the borough to fund the pump station project, but that wasn't enough to cover costs. The $194,695 transferred from the wastewater fund will cover the rest of the costs associated with the...
The borough assembly requested Dec. 6 at 3 P.M. as the date for a public hearing with the National Marine Fisheries Service on the humpback whale critical habitat proposed rule. NMFS recently published a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for Mexico, Central America and Western North Pacific district population segments of humpback whales under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, according to Angela Somma, of NMFS's Endangered Species Division. If the proposed rule passes, actions that...
The borough assembly approved a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday that requests the organization hold a public hearing in Petersburg to allow community members to express their concerns or support of a recently proposed critical habitat designation. NMFS published a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for Mexico, Central America and Western North Pacific district population segments of humpback whales under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, according Angela...
Results from a mold sample test from the Petro 49, Inc. building that the borough would receive in a possible land swap were presented to the borough assembly Monday that showed three types of mold present in the building. The testing of the mold samples was conducted by Advance Look Building Inspections & Environmental Testing, which is based out of Wasilla. In the warehouse, the results showed one type of mold in the wall insulation. The testing also determined the air quality in the...
Fire and EMS Director Sandy Dixson was authorized to advertise and fill the EMS coordinator position by the borough assembly at the meeting on Monday. The EMS coordinator will train volunteers, respond to calls, assist with the fire program and help with the day-to-day operations of the fire department, according to Dixson. The previous EMS coordinator position turned into the department head in the mid-2000s, but an additional staff member was never hired, according to Dixson The department...
The Petersburg Police Department will begin the process of seeking and hiring a police sergeant after the borough assembly on Monday gave Police Chief Jim Kerr authorization to fill the position. In the years that the police department has been short a sergeant, the borough has had to spend a considerable amount of money on overtime, according to Kerr at an assembly meeting in July. In the 2018 fiscal year, Kerr said the borough spent $155,214 in overtime. The police sergeant position, which...
Concern for housing unit To the Editor: I attended the Borough Assembly meeting Monday to pass on some public safety committee support and concerns and my options for paying for the EMT/fire person and police officer. Basically having seniors pay their fair share for community needs. One thing that concerned me was a couple of individuals expressing their concern for a new 15 unit low income housing unit proposed across from the hospital that may serve people with challenges. The individuals app...
At board meeting last month, Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter updated the board of directors on the master plan proposal for the possible renovation of the current hospital or building of a new facility. He also brought them up to date on the remodel of the part of the pharmacy where the drugs for chemotherapy are prepared. NAC Architecture was awarded the request for proposal by the PMC board of directors in May for the creation of a master plan proposal not to exceed $220,000. As...
The federal government’s plan to raze more roads through the Tongass National Forest is facing strong headwinds from fishermen, Native groups and coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska. Over 220 Southeast Alaskan fishermen signed a letter to the Trump Administration last week opposing the abrupt push to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a roadless rule in place for over a decade. The exemption would release more than 9 million acres from protection and open nearly 200,000 acres to logging. The U.S. Forest Service made the a...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading last week that would transfer $194,695 from the wastewater fund to the Scow Bay Pump Station One project to offset the remaining cost not covered by a $550,000 loan from the state. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation approved the borough's loan for $550,000 to be applied to the project, but that amount wasn't enough to cover the entire cost of the project, according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. The lowest bid...
The Petersburg Borough has collect roughly $38,000 in marine passenger fees, with a possible $11,000 still to be collected, said Finance Director Jody Tow at an assembly meeting last week. The assembly approved the marine passenger fee in February of last year, which collects a $5 fee from cruise ship passengers that visit the borough. It came into effect in 2019, and all but one cruise ship has submitted their marine passenger fees, which total to about $38,000. The borough had originally...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht explained the results of a phase one environmental assessment at an assembly meeting Monday of the Petro 49, Inc. building and property that the borough would receive in a possible land swap, which shows three areas of concern on the east side of the property. The first area of interest is a concrete slab that used to have a petroleum tank on it. There is also an area on the east side of the lot that has a group of 55-gallon oil drums, and an old oil heating...
Rainforests under siege To the Editor: The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists notes it’s 2 minutes to midnight. They list the unfolding climate catastrophe to be just as much an existential threat as that of nuclear war. A nuclear war can start with one push of a button. But our unfolding climate catastrophe started long ago with daily acts of denial by our elected officials in the service of extractivism — rather than the public interest. Regardless of whether it is raining outside, Southeast Alaska has been facing “se...
The borough assembly held a discussion at their meeting on Monday on the idea of the borough partnering with the Petersburg Indian Association to take over the maintenance of Greens Camp from the state. Public Works Director Chris Cotta said that the state has paid the borough in the past for the maintenance of Greens Camp, along with Banana Point Boat Dock and Wilson Creek. For the 2019 calendar year, the state cut their funding from $6,200 to $3,000, but the borough still has yet to receive...
WRANGELL - Back in April of this year, Wrangell resident Kipha Valvoda filed a civil suit against several past and present members of the Wrangell city government. Valvoda, in several letters to the editor to the Wrangell Sentinel, has argued that the city has used discriminatory hiring practices that have kept him out of jobs. His complaint to the court, filed on April 17, contends that borough officials were lax in their hiring practices, and that they held onto his resume for seven years but...
The borough assembly tallied the final votes of the municipal election and certified their results at their regular meeting on Monday. Seven questioned and pending absentee ballots were added to the unofficial results that were released on election night last week, bringing the total amount of ballots cast to 1,134. The seven ballots weren't enough to change any of the outcomes in the election. Mark Jensen received one additional vote and Jeff Meucci received six votes in the mayoral race....
The borough assembly accepted a grant totaling $295,000 from the fiscal year 2019 State Homeland Security Program to assist with the purchase and installation of a new E911 system and a joint training exercise between local EMS and law enforcement personnel. In a memo to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht, Petersburg Police Department Captain Randal Holmgrain said $285,000 from the grant would go specifically towards the new E911 system. Holmgrain said the overall cost of the project is estimated...
Unofficial poll numbers show Mark Jensen returning for another three year term as mayor and incumbent Jeigh Stanton Gregor and Chelsea Tremblay elected to the borough assembly in the municipal election on Tuesday. Jensen had 590 votes and Jeff Meucci, who also sought the mayor’s seat, had 524 votes, according to unofficial results. Stanton Gregor and Tremblay beat Aaron Hankins and Marc Martinsen for the two seats on the assembly. The seats had belonged to Stanton Gregor and Kurt Wohlhueter. W...
The Petersburg municipal election is next week, and only one proposition, which would authorize long-term indebtedness for utility capital projects, will be on the ballot. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned for a total of $2.6 million,...
