Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 735
July 9 A caller reported a possible trespass. A caller reported a vehicle going into a ditch. A caller reported credit card fraud. A caller reported a boat on fire near the ferry terminal. The fire department was paged. Police received a report of a disabled vehicle. A caller turned in found medication. A caller reported a vehicle blocking a driveway. July 10 A power outage was reported. Police gave a warning to an individual for lane travel. Police arrested Anthony E. Green, 23, for Driving While License is Canceled, Suspended or Revoked....
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following information during the last Borough Assembly meeting: Petersburg Police Chief Kelly Swihart and Giesbrecht met with community stakeholders regarding transient/homeless issues. The group discussed potential problems and solutions and is gathering more information. Swihart assisted Superior Court Judge Trevor Stevens and staff with a security assessment of the courthouse. There were several highlights from the recent Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) Board meeting in Wrangell. Official...
WRANGELL — Thomas Bay Power commissioners voted 5-0 to support the handover of Tyee Lake to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). The special meeting, held June 5, was the commission’s first in at least two months and drew Petersburg commissioners as well as the Petersburg mayor to the borough assembly chambers. Critics of the transfer have said the handover would essentially put borough resources in the hands of an unelected bureaucracy. Supporters generally say the transfer will limit the liability Wrangell faces in connection with Tye...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during the last Borough Assembly meeting: New ordinances have been forwarded to the court for inclusion in the Courtview and TrACS systems. This will allow the court to recognize the revisions and ultimately allow for more efficient processing of citations. Preparation for the annual FERC inspection of Blind Slough has begun and includes installation of a flange and plat over the low-level outlet to facilitate the FERC mandated operation of the outlet valve. The valve hasn’t been o...
Petersburg's Public Works Department has turned to the state for assistance in an accidental spillage of waste. The Wastewater Utility transports and buries piles of solid waste at the borough's landfill. This week, while digging a hole with an excavator, Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said, sludge setting to the side to be buried slid down a hill to a creek that runs to the Sandy Beach Park area. Hagerman said the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been notified, and that the borough will be working with DEC to...
Repair work on the Rasmus Enge Memorial Bridge is running ahead of schedule. The anticipated $80,000 repair job began April 1 and was expected to take eight weeks to complete. Assistant Director of Public Works Chris Cotta said an Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) bridge inspection report determined that around 75 stringers needed replacement. “We won’t know the exact number until we get done with it,” Cotta said. “We’re going by ADOT inspections and our own observations. I’m guess... Full story
The Petersburg Borough recycling program has saved the borough $8,500 in solid waste disposal costs since the program began in February but the program still needs to see an increase in customers to pay for itself. In order for the recycling program to break even, 40 percent of Petersburg solid waste customers need to be recycling. Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said, although recycling rates fluctuate widely from week to week, the diversion rate is averaging around 27 percent when... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report during the last borough assembly meeting: Petersburg Police Chief Kelly Swihart testified before Alaska Senate committees last week in reference the municipal remodel and drug trends in Southeast Alaska. The work on the Rasmus Enge Memorial Bridge project has commenced. The bridge has been closed to through traffic during the project and we will try to accommodate bridge residents and businesses as much as possible. The street crew will be sweeping and washing streets from 6:00 a.m. to...
Thank you Petersburg Indian Association To the Editor: Without the foresight and initiative to begin a voluntary curbside recycling program many years ago, many things would not have happened in Petersburg. Many different tribal members would not have had jobs over the years, faithfully picking up recycling from environmentally aware volunteer recyclers on a weekly basis. As the Borough introduces and welcomes Wes and Angie Davis, owners of Ruger’s Trucking, as our new recycling collection contractor I want to recognize and thank PIA, and t...
Higher than expected recycling collection contract bids have forced the Public Works Department to exceed its budget this year by $43,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday night to award the $80,400 annual collection contract to Ruger’s Trucking. Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor asked how soon the unanticipated budget shortfall would be corrected. “If we approve this contract, what is the vision to narrow that deficit as much as possible or make this potentially profitable,” Stanton Gregor asked. Karl Hager...
During the Borough Assembly’s March 3 meeting, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following: Interest in Losing Big has increased this year and continues to be a great program for our community. Just short of 400 votes were cast through the competition—triple what we typically had last year. The Parks and Recreation Department is beginning plans for the whale observatory. Staff is looking at rock needs, plants and shrubbery clearing over the next year, and is working with Public Works on the project. The Parks and Recreation Dep...
Alaska seafood is free of radiation stemming from Japan’s 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster. That was the take home message from the Alaska Dept. of Conservation to the state Senate Resources Committee at a recent hearing. Citing information from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Pacific states including Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Health Canada, “all have demonstrated there are no levels of radiation that are of a pub...
Petersburg residents who utilize the landfill for commercial salvaging will still be able to take scrap metal after assembly voted down a proposed change that would have eliminated for-profit salvaging. Public Works Director Karl Hagerman made the change as the borough updated its sanitation ordinance. “The department, while we’re very supportive of the salvage program in general, has seen operational problems with commercial salvage for-profit,” Hagerman said during a public hearing on the salvage program last month. “The salvage program was d...
The borough manager reported the following information during his bimonthly report to the assembly. North Harbor main floats one and two are in place. Workers are busy driving the piles to grade as well as laying the waterline so the large fingers can get attached to the north side of float one. Anchor Electric is working long hours and is ahead of schedule. TAMICO, PND Engineers and Harbormaster Glo Wollen attended the pre-construction meeting for the drive down dock. Activity should begin within the next couple of weeks. Sgt. Kerr is back...
With less than two weeks to go before the borough’s recycling program begins, more than half of residential customers have signed up. As of Tuesday morning, 630 people signed up for the program, roughly 57 percent of total residential customers. According to a report Public Works Director Karl Hagerman presented to the borough assembly in October, the community needs to increase its recycling rate to at least 30 percent—roughly 760 tons of material—to pay for the program. The more the community recycles, the less the borough has to pay for s...
Petersburg Public Works staff is delaying the demolition of the building owned by Fred Triem and Karen Ellingstad on 1011 Wrangell Ave., pending a recommendation from the borough attorney. The building’s foundation failed in September 2009. In June of 2012, Community Development Director Leo Luczak sent notice to Karen Ellingstad that the structure had been deemed a dangerous building—a designation the borough assembly agreed with after a non-compliance hearing and subsequently December 2 issued a 30-day order mandating the owners repair the...
The borough manager reported the following during this week’s assembly meeting: The Sales Tax Committee meetings are scheduled for February 4 and February 25. It hopes to formulate a recommendation to the assembly at its February 25 meeting. The January 16 Transient Room Tax meeting to review outstanding grants wasn’t completed. Notices have been sent out to community service organizations that their request for budgeted funds is due by March 15. Annual DARE classes have kicked off. Officer Jared Popp will be administering the program to 5th gr...
Good science should drive all fisheries decisions, and Lite Guv Mead Treadwell says he has the chops to maintain a true course. Treadwell, a Republican who hopes to unseat Democratic US Senator Mark Begich in November’s election, paid a recent visit to Kodiak and “talked fish” in a brief interview. Few can claim Treadwell’s experience and understanding of the Arctic, where he has represented Alaska on U.S. Delegations in three circumpolar government groups, and been a director of the Institute of the North. He said he “doesn’t expect any...
Homeowners of the collapsed structure at 1010 Wrangell Ave. have filed an appeal in Superior Court against the Petersburg Borough Assembly's 30-day order to demolish or repair the home at the owner's expense after borough building officials determined the structure to be a 'dangerous building.' The building's foundation failed in September 2009. During June 2012, Community Development Director Leo Luczak sent notice to Karen Ellingstad that the structure had been deemed a dangerous building. Sin... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht forecasted a “status quo” budget to the borough assembly last Monday. “It’s a status quo budget meaning we’re not changing services,” Giesbrecht said. “We’re not going to offer more services. We’re not going to offer less services. We don’t expect to have to make major changes to mill rates or sales tax rates.” The budget assumptions offer a guideline for department heads as they begin creating their fiscal year 2015 budgets. In the FY 2015 budget, $200,000 is being transferred to a Property Development...
Staff is finalizing paperwork for the recent drive down dock bid. Tamico is planning the preconstruction meeting to go over schedule and other planning issues. Staff is preparing to advertise the Crane Dock Widening project rescheduled for mid-January. Delivery has begun for Rasmus Enge Memorial Bridge materials. Stacks of planks from The Mill have been staged at the long-term parking area at the Crane Dock parking lot. The Mill continues to cut the required planks and is also working with third party suppliers on the treated planks and pile...
January Petersburg residents contributed a record amount to the Salvation Army Christmas program last year-$15,618.17-more than $9,700 than the year before. Jan. 4, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck 58 miles west of Craig and 203 miles south of Juneau prompting a tsunami warning across Southeast. Petersburg Police Chief Jim Agner and Sergeant Heidi Agner announced their intentions to retire. Officer Ben King joined the Petersburg Police Department. The Petersburg Borough Assembly members were... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Sanitation Department has set February 4 to be the start date of the new comingled voluntary recycling program. Residents who want to participate must call Public Works at 772-4430 to sign up. Once that’s done, sanitation staff will drop off blue bags, free of charge, at residences and businesses during the week of January 20. Current residents who already practice curbside recycling will be automatically transferred into the new program. After the initial rollout of the recycling program, free bags will be available f... Full story
The borough assembly will hold a public hearing concerning the recent changes made to the landfill’s salvage program. The changes come after the sanitation ordinance was updated to include the new recycling program. Karl Hagerman, public works director, reworked the fee structure. Originally, a salvage permit cost $5 for two days and $100 for an annual permit. After the changes, the annual permit was eliminated and a day use permit now costs $10 for one day. Ole Whitethorn has now objected to the change several times during assembly m...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht presented the following report to the Assembly on Monday night. Joe Nelson and power and light staff are working on incorporating a thorough capital project plan into the electric rate study to better outline the needs of our electric system. Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs officials are drafting a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation in an effort to partner with Alaska Marine Highway to curb illegal controlled substances being transported on state ferries. Postal interdiction efforts...
