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An ordinance which would increase rates at Petersburg's municipal harbors was unanimously approved by the Petersburg Borough Assembly in its second reading during Monday's meeting. Ordinance #2022-03, which also passed unanimously in its first reading, would be the first rate increase since 2018 and would increase harbor moorage fees by around 5% among other changes. The ordinance also has the support of the Harbor and Ports Advisory Board and Harbormaster Glo Wollen who said the increase is...
Lifelong Petersburg resident, fisherman, educator, and line cook, Roy Otness passed away at age 93 Monday, February 14th at Mountain View Manor. The 5th of 6 children, Roy was born in his parent's home on Front Street (N. Nordic Dr.) on July 29th, 1928 along with his twin brother, Ralph. Roy was born second and when he arrived, he wasn't breathing. The doctor told the nurse to "Just leave him. This poor woman has enough children!" but the nurse disobeyed the doctor and gave him mouth to mouth... Full story
Parks and Recreation has distributed community center membership passes to borough board members and to the staff of nonprofit child care providers as a way to thank them for their service to the community. The idea to give passes to board members was suggested to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne who said it could serve as a way for the borough to show its appreciation for the service people provide by serving on those boards. She discussed it with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht w...
The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved the calendar for the 2022-2023 school year during its meeting on February 8. The 2022-2023 calendar greatly resembles this year’s calendar and can be viewed on the Petersburg School District website. “We took the feedback that we have received throughout the year related to in-service dates and conferences and vacations and all those things and it is very similar overall,” Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said. The first day of the next school year will be on Tuesday, August 30, 2022 and the l...
The Petersburg School Board voted unanimously to amend its COVID-19 mitigation plan Tuesday night which now allows for limited optional masking in yellow status depending on cases within each building. Some parents and teachers spoke at the beginning of the meeting against the continuation of the mitigation plan approved in January, which required universal masking and had no provisions for optional masking, saying universal masking was counterproductive and inhibited learning. During last...
February 3, 1922 Johnas Olson, well known store man and former general manager of the American mail and passenger route, has been chosen as manager of the store of the Trading Union by the Board of Directors and took charge last Wednesday. Mr Olson is relieving C. E. Swanson who resigned recently to engage in business for himself, but what line of business has not been announced yet. Mr. Olson has been a resident of Petersburg for many years and is one of the best known men among the fishing fleet of this section. He for some time was commander...
The Mitkof Middle School robotics team is making their final preparations for the upcoming robotics state tournament after placing first in the innovative project category at the regional competition in December. The team claimed first after wowing the judges with their concept to streamline loading and unloading at the Alaska Marine Lines facility in Petersburg. The students first got the idea of doing their project with AML after Kurt Kivisto gave them a tour of AML's local warehouses and...
A well deserved recognition To the Editor, This letter is recognition of Sammy Parker and Lee Newton who announced the retirement of Petersburg Business Services in last week’s Pilot. I’m proud to have been a regular customer at your Beech Boy hamburger joint in the 1970’s, when your Big Boy burger, large fries and cola were under 2 bucks, to have worked with Lee at the barite mine in Duncan Canal and enjoyed Sammy’s wonderful cooking for the hungry 20+ crew of miners. Thank you for your time as chef at Mountain View Manor, and for 50 years o...
The Petersburg School Board voted to continue universal masking throughout the district as part of its COVID-19 mitigation plan Tuesday night. At the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, teachers and parents spoke to the board both in support and against the continuation of universal masking. Those who supported universal masking cited the high number of positive cases nationwide with the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant and their belief that remote learning is more harmful to...
The Supporting Health Awareness and Resiliency Education (SHARE) Coalition hosted a Community Café Saturday afternoon on Zoom which centered on the future of child care in Petersburg. The meeting gave members of the community, including representatives from the Petersburg Borough Assembly, Petersburg Medical Center, and the Petersburg School Board, an opportunity to hear about the challenges facing local child care providers and to discuss ways to support children, providers, and parents who...
The Petersburg Medical Center's COVID-19 Dashboard reported 20 active cases Wednesday evening and a positivity rate of 24.7% during the previous week. The Petersburg School District reported one case at each school among staff and students Wednesday. PSD is no longer posting the number of people in quarantine. The Petersburg School Board also voted to continue universal masking at all schools during its board meeting Tuesday night. According to the Alaska Department of Health and Social...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly presented a draft agenda of its upcoming American Rescue Plan Act funding work session and discussed the items it included during Tuesday's meeting. The assembly is hosting the work session to give members an opportunity to discuss opportunities to allocate their ARPA funds and determine what local organizations or groups are in need of relief. The borough was awarded with $634,382 in ARPA funds that must be obligated by December 31, 2024 and expended by December...
January 13 , 1922 The Petersburg Hospital is now for all intents and purposes the property of the Town of Petersburg; At the council meeting recently an escrow agreement was presented to the Council and signed by that body, as well as by the Board of Directors of the Hospital Association. The agreement was to the effect that the town should take over the hospital, pay the indebtedness, collect outstanding bills, and should operate and maintain the same as a hospital, or maintain some other building as a hospital within the city. As soon as the...
The Petersburg School Board held a work session Tuesday night to discuss potential changes to the district's COVID-19 mitigation protocols before its next regular meeting. While no action was taken at the over two-and-a-half-hour work session, it gave the board members an opportunity to prepare for action at the next board meeting and hear from experts about current guidelines and the state of the pandemic. The work session was originally scheduled for January 4 but was postponed due to flight...
A Petersburg School Board work session set for Tuesday was pushed to January 6 at 6 p.m. because of flight delays and snow conditions according to an announcement from the Petersburg School District. The meeting’s purpose is to hold a discussion on the district’s COVID-19 Mitigation Plan before the board’s next meeting on January 11. Topics of discussion will include masking, the trialing of the test to stay protocol, and potential changes to the plan. Though there will be no public comments, board members can invite people to speak durin...
January The assembly approved of a COVID-19 dashboard which tracked cases in the community. Local businesses received a total of $15.08 million in aid in the first round of COVID-19 aid released through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. PMC vaccinated approximately 350 residents aged 65 or older at a vaccine drive in the community gym. PMC was given permission by the borough to apply for a second PPP loan totaling $1.8 million. PMC applied and received a loan of...
The Petersburg School Board held a discussion on the district's current COVID-19 protocols during Tuesday's meeting and agreed to hold a work session on potential changes in January. The district has required universal masking for the majority of the year due to continued COVID-19 outbreaks both in the district and in the community. The district began the school year with two weeks of universal masking as part of its reopening plan and the board later amended the plan during its September...
The Petersburg School District updated its testing protocols Friday, Nov. 26 to allow students identified as close contacts at the school to continue attending in person classes according to an announcement from Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Changes were made to the COVID-19 guidelines after a firmware update from the CUE molecular test manufacturer caused performance irregularities. According to the announcement, the district will be suspending CUE tests and introducing new quarantine...
Stedman Elementary School and Mitkof Middle school transitioned to remote learning this week due to the rise in COVID-19 cases according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. The elementary school started online instruction on Tuesday while the middle school moved online on Thursday. Kludt-Painter wrote in her announcement that the district is experiencing multiple staffing issues as Petersburg continues to see high community spread. Contact tracing efforts within the district are also being...
The Petersburg School Board met virtually for its regular meeting on November 9 where members listened to a presentation on the audit for the year ending June 30, 2021. Bikky Shrestha from BDO USA, LLP presented a summary of the company’s findings to the board including the financial data from FY21. According to Shrestha, BDO conducted the entire audit remotely and Shrestha was the only person who was able to come to Petersburg. Apart from a couple of issues on the financial statements, Shrestha said, “the majority of the audit went really smo...
The Petersburg High School volleyball team traveled to Haines last weekend to compete in the Alaska School Activities Association Region V Tournament. Before arriving in Haines, the tournament was put in jeopardy after the ferry M/V LeConte experienced icing conditions in Lynn Canal, forcing the vessel to return to Juneau and delaying the arrival of the five teams on board. Head Coach Jaime Cabral said contingency plans were made if the tournament had to be moved to Juneau, but after some larger items were taken off the ferry, it was able to co...
The Borough Assembly approved ordinances #2021-15 and #2021-17 during Monday's meeting in each of their third and final readings. Ordinance #2021-15 would move a chapter of the old city code which centers on disease control into the borough code. The ordinance limits the powers of the health officer, such as the power to compel vaccination, and makes it so the officer must act under and report to the assembly and the borough manager. It was reviewed by the Petersburg Medical Center, the police...
The Borough Assembly walked through each of the six maps being considered by the Alaska Redistricting Board during Tuesday's meeting and discussed each map's affects on Petersburg. The districts are redrawn every decade based off data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each of the 40 districts must be socioeconomically integrated, reasonably compact, contiguous, and have an approximately equal number of people. This year that number is 18,335 per district. Members from the Alaska...
The Petersburg School Board discussed COVID-19's continued impact on the school during Tuesday's meeting. The majority of students have returned to in-person learning according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Classes were moved online on September 28 after several cases were reported among students and staff at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School. The schools reopened on October 5, but some students remain in quarantine because of close contacts. "It's been a relatively normal...
The October borough election brings clarity to both borough administrative staff and elected officials as they assess the needs for mandates and new policies during the ongoing pandemic including COVID testing, social distancing, masking and vaccination policies. The bold and brash campaign statement, “Nobody’s been listening,” in reference to elected officials was proven false by the electorate. Elected persons on the assembly, school board and hospital board clearly were listening to all sides of the COVID issue and wisely chose optio...
