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The 2017 Path to Prosperity Competition (P2P) sustainable business competition aims to identify and support innovative Southeast Alaska food businesses. The application period opened on April 1. Eligible businesses must operate primarily in Southeast Alaska and be involved in the growing, harvesting, processing, aggregation, preparation or distribution of food. “P2P applicants can be existing businesses or start-ups, but do not need to submit a full business plan in the first round of the application process,” said Paul Hackenmueller, P2P com...
For the second time since a new roof was installed on the borough downtown building, a leak has appeared in the ceiling of the Assembly Chambers. After the first leak appeared, the roofing subcontractor located and made repairs at the site of the leak. At last Friday's work session, another leak had stained the ceiling tiles in the chambers. According to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht this is the second time the leak has appeared. The first leak happened in the early stages of construction...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board approved a budget of up to $250,000 plus design costs of $42,000 to renovate the basement kitchen at the hospital at a special meeting last night. The kitchen is located in the basement of the Long Term Care facility adjacent to the hospital. That building is located in the oldest section of the facility that was built in 1969. CFO Doran Hammett told the board that design and renovation expenses should be taken from the hospital's long-term investment...
Despite a high participation rate in the Petersburg Borough’s recycling program there is still too much recyclable material going to the baler facility, according to Public Works Superintendent Karl Hagerman. 95% of Petersburg’s 1,200 sanitation customers participate in the recycling program, but Hagerman says the waste diversion rate hovers around 16%. Hagerman wants to move that number to 30-50%. Recycling can make a significant difference in the cost of removing trash from Mitkof Island. The sanitation department pays $113/ton to ship garbag...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – An Alaska man suspected of killing two people during a robbery has been indicted on murder charges by a federal grand jury and prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty. John Pearl Smith II, 30, is charged with attempting to rob people he believed were trafficking in drugs, said Bryan Schroder, acting U.S. attorney for Alaska, at a press conference Thursday. Smith in home invasion cases tried robbing people at gunpoint in September 2015 and May 2016, Schroder said. Both were in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley north of Anchor...
WRANGELL – Wrangell’s district representative for the State Legislature teleconferenced in late last week to update constituents on what’s going on in Juneau. Rep. Dan Ortiz (I-District 36) called in to Legislative Information Office locations in Ketchikan and Wrangell to explain ongoing bills and field questions on March 23. Likely the biggest issue on Alaska’s collective mind is its budget deficit, which by various measures is set to drain billions from the state’s savings this year. With spending left as is, the Legislative Finance Div...
The thought of hiring an out of town contractor to complete capital project work for the local utility is not fiscally sound and does less to benefit Petersburg’s beleaguered economy. Since the Power and Light Department has been operating without a third journeyman lineman for two years, it has been impossible for them to safely complete many construction projects they would normally take on. If PMP&L’s improvements were of a short-term nature, hiring a private firm to complete the work would be advantageous. However, the utility has pro...
Petersburg Power and Light is seeking to fill a vacant journeyman lineman position to enable the local crews to complete improvements and upgrades to the utility infrastructure. At a Friday morning work session Superintendent Joe Nelson told the Assembly his workers can complete the work at lower cost to the utility than hiring contract workers from Juneau. Nelson said Chatham Electric in Juneau could do the work at more than double the cost of local crews. A Chatham foreman would cost $175/hr and overtime would cost $242/hr. PMP&L’s foreman w...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaskan Brewing Company’s plans to expand its Juneau-based facility could help spur the consolidation of the city’s waste services. The brewery is looking to purchase four lots owned by the City and Borough of Juneau for additional retail, storage or office space. The transfer would displace the city’s water utility and public drop-off area for household hazardous waste, The Juneau Empire reported. “We’re interested, so it could happen fairly quickly on our schedule,” said Alaskan Brewing Company spokesman Andy Kline, ...
Petersburg Medical Center hosted a luncheon to recognize employees for their service to the hospital on March 7. Miriam Swanson has served 25 years; Jennifer Bryner and Jenna Olsen for 20 years and Elizabeth Hart for 15 years. Recognized for 10 years service were Mamie Nilsen and Elise Kubo. Five-year employees were Angela Bertagnoli, Liz Thomas, Liz Woodyard, Helen Boggs, Shara McMullen, Mark Tuccillo, Skip Hallingstad and Elen Aase....
WRANGELL – The Wrangell Borough Assembly passed on first reading several ordinances related to marijuana, including an additional excise on that cultivated on the island. Under one proposed code change, a new section would affix a $10 tax per ounce on “the sale or transfer of all marijuana from a marijuana cultivation facility … to a retail marijuana store or a marijuana product manufacturing facility.” “The cultivator pays the tax,” explained city clerk, Kim Lane. It and the other ordinances were put together by a committee made up of Lane,...
KETCHIKAN (AP) – Construction is expected to start later this year on a nearly $6 million overhaul of University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan’s Regional Maritime and Career Center. Wendy Miles Horn, the university’s assistant director of business operations and special projects, said the work is needed because the two buildings that make up the facility are inadequate, cramped and don’t measure up to U.S. Coast Guard and maritime-industry training standards. The renovations call for creating adequate space to house the industrial labs of the...
On March 27 Prince of Wales based Troopers received a report of an assault that had occurred several months prior. Due to the relationship of the suspect and victim, the alleged assault has been determined as domestic violence. The suspect in the alleged assault, Curtis Eisel, 47 of Craig was discovered to have three outstanding warrants for his arrest. Eisel was later located at a residence in Craig where he was arrested on the warrants and transported to the Craig jail. The investigation into the reported assault is ongoin...
WRANGELL – This year’s annual Tent City Days celebration will start tomorrow, opening up with the dog show at 5 p.m. Celebrating the town of Wrangell’s rustic beginnings, the annual late-winter festivity was held a bit later than usual this year due to scheduling conflicts. “I ain’t competing with the Super Bowl,” event organizer Kelly Gunderson joked. Involved with the festival in past years, she took organization of the celebration off the hands of Penny Allen, who in recent years has been working to revitalize it as a local event. For ma...
JUNEAU (AP) – Everyone has enemies. Cats have dogs. Mice have cats. Dust mites have vacuum cleaners. Seth Irwin has Scotch Tape. For the past few weeks and for a few more Irwin is preserving and protecting some of Alaska’s most precious documents. “Tape is my nemesis,” he said. “I spend a lot of time taking tape off of things. Painting conservators work with Monets; paper conservators deal with tape, and staples and rust . all the things office workers might put on documents.” Irwin might not be dealing with precious paintings, but the paper c...
JUNEAU (AP) – Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is sponsoring workers’ compensation legislation aimed at making it easier to determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor. Walker’s bill creates a new definition for independent contractors to determine if employers have to pay to insure against on-the-job injuries, KTOO-FM reported. The legislation has drawn criticism from Alaska’s Small Business Association, which says the new definition is too narrow for industries that rely heavily on independent contractors, such as constructio...
Chief Financial Officer Doran Hammett predicts March will be one of the strongest revenue months for Petersburg Medical Center. The prediction is based on all Long Term Care beds being filled and patient census numbers in February. Hammett added that March revenue could exceed March income for the past two years. “Cash is strong,” according to Hammett and PMC is showing a $500,000 positive cash flow as of Feb. 28 with 93.3 days of cash on hand. Cash on hand reflects the length of time the hospital can pay for operating expenses using only its...
Petersburg Boy Scout Troop 1024 spent spring break building igloos at Ravens Roost. Five Scouts, Owen Anderson, Tausauni Ieremia, Lathum Johnson, Reed Anderson and Britton Erickson were accompanied by Scout Master Jeff Erickson and adult leaders Bob Carter and Jason Anderson. The hike up to Ravens Roost is treacherous in any condition and was even harder with four feet of snow. Due to weather conditions they were delayed a day yet the second day they started up the hill not knowing if their...
Petersburg High School came out on top at the state level over the weekend, with the boys beating all other comers in the 2A Alaska ASAA/First National Bank Basketball State Championship in Anchorage. After handily taking first in the Region V Tournament the week prior, the Vikings headed into the championships with high hopes. Starting play on March 16, the Vikings were first matched up against Tikiġaq (Point Hope), a school from the North Slope. "It was a good matchup for us. They are a good,...
The Petersburg Borough assembly unanimously voted to eliminate a prepayment discount on annual moorage rates in an effort to align with a rate study that recommended the borough increase harbor fees by 12 percent. Harbormaster Glo Wollen told the assembly the harbor department loses between $22,000 to $30,000 a year because of the prepayment discount. Petersburg has the second highest rates in Southeast Alaska and Wollen said eliminating the discount would cushion an overall rate increase. “We had a pretty drastic rate increase two years ago an...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – Mitch Seavey won his third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, becoming the fastest and oldest champion at age 57 and helping cement his family’s position as mushing royalty. The Seward, Alaska, musher brought his dogs off the frozen Bering Sea and onto Front Street in the Gold Rush town of Nome after crossing nearly 1,000 miles of Alaska wilderness. He outran his son, defending champion Dallas Seavey, and lapped the oldest musher record that he set at age 53 in 2013. He previously won the race in 2013 and 2004. Sea...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly tabled a resolution opposing H.R. 232—an act sponsored by Alaska Congressman Don Young that would transfer up to 2 million acres of Tongass National Forest to the the state of Alaska. The land that would go into state control includes subsurface lands, roads, campgrounds and cabins and the resolution cited concerns that logging would supersede other land uses. “Whereas, the Alaska Timber Jobs Task Force from which this federal land transfer strategy originated was heavily weighted to timber industry rep...
City Manager Steve Giesbrecht presented the following information to the Borough Assembly at Monday’s meeting. We have been getting a false alarm indication at the Main Street Sub transformer. We plan to replace the faulty switch during the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the transformer. The top of this unit often needs cleaning (branches, leaves, moss, etc.) because of the size and close proximity to the grove of trees. Joe Nelson’s been working with Parks and Rec to address lighting issues in their back parking lot. We are hoping to com...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on Monday the bag, possession and retention regulations for this year’s nonpelagic rockfish sport season. For all Southeast waters, Alaska residents have no size limit, with a bag and possession limit of one nonpelagic rockfish. Nonresidents enjoy the same, with the additional limitation of one yelloweye rockfish per year. This must be recorded in ink on the back of an angler’s sport fishing license or harvest record card at the time of harvest. All nonpelagic rockfish that are caught must be...
WRANGELL - After four decades of public service, Wrangell will bid farewell this month to its longtime finance director and recent borough manager, Jeff Jabusch. "It's going to be kind of strange, every morning getting up and not driving into this parking lot after forty years. My car will probably just come here automatically after that length," he said. Jabusch and his high school sweetheart Kay married in 1975, and after graduating from the University of Seattle, he returned to Wrangell in 19...
