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The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to formally oppose three proposals before the Alaska Board of Fisheries that would impose broad restrictions on Alaska’s private nonprofit salmon hatchery system — measures that Assembly Member Bob Martin, who brought the resolution forward, called the latest iteration of proposals that fisheries stakeholders across the region have consistently fought off. Resolution 2026-06 directs opposition to Board of Fisheries Proposals 170, 171 and 172, which are scheduled for consideration at the...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly directed Borough staff on March 2 to start rewriting part of its zoning code to be implemented beyond municipal limits. The move follows months of work and deliberation over potentially updating Petersburg’s zoning code as the Borough navigates emerging concerns about constructing new communications towers in the community. Zoning determines how property can and cannot be used. Different types of zoning allow for different uses, and some require landowners to g... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to extend the borough’s municipal solid waste transportation and disposal contract with Republic Services for one more year, buying time while a regional study examines longer-term alternatives for Southeast Alaska communities. Petersburg’s garbage is baled at the local baler facility and shipped via container to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Washington state, with Republic Services handling transportation and disposal. The contract extension runs from September 1, 2026 through the e...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly authorized an agreement with Axon Enterprise Inc., earlier this month, which provides the equipment and services that Petersburg’s Police Department uses. Under the agreement, the Borough would pay a $378,897.58 quote gradually over the next decade. Police Chief Jim Kerr said Monday that they typically do shorter contracts with the company. But this extended version that AXON offered includes some perks, especially for routine equipment replacement. “If they have a new technology that comes out, since we hav...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to extend the Petersburg Economic Development Council’s lease on the community cold storage facility for another five years, while also removing language from the lease that had prohibited seafood processing at the site. The lease extension runs through January 31, 2031, and maintains the $1-per-year rental rate that the assembly has held steady since the original agreement between PEDC and what was then the city of Petersburg was signed in February 2006. At each five-year interval s...
Two Petersburg poets took the stage at KTOO studios in Juneau earlier this month, as state finalists in the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition. Freya Tucker and Mette Miller had both memorized and recited poems in front of their high school English class as a required assignment from their teacher Tim Shumway, then for extra credit they performed in front of the entire school. Then they submitted recordings of their recitations to the statewide competition. “We were thinking, it would maybe just be one of us, but it was so cool that it w...
School funding has long been a balancing act, but now Petersburg stakeholders have been invited to weigh in on the Petersburg City School District budget by using the Balancing Act budget simulation tool. At the annual joint work session between the borough assembly and the school district, Shannon Baird, Director of Finance for PCSD, gave a walkthrough of the school budget situation for fiscal year 2027 and how the public can learn more about it and provide their suggestions through the balancing act tool. Balancing Act is an interactive...
Petersburg’s fire and emergency services department is heading into this spring’s borough budget planning cycle with several additional funding needs: a replacement of breathing equipment used by every firefighter entering a burning building, a forced relocation of the department’s training tower, and a push to update emergency plans that have gone largely untouched for more than a decade. Fire and EMS Director Aaron Hankins laid out the challenges at last month’s Public Safety Advisory Board meeting, where he was joined by a contrac...
“It’s got a boat, it’s got crazy characters, it’s the perfect play for Mayfest,” said Tiffany Glass, director of the Mitkof Mummers. The play is centered around a singles’ cruise on an old schooner, the SS Flounder, which may or may not be on her last voyage. The captain is trying to make sure it’s all smooth sailing, but the owners have disguised themselves among the guests to decide the Flounder’s fate. Then there are the stowaways, a couple of hoods hiding from their nefarious boss, who of course has followed them aboard, disguised as we...
Petersburg, like many small towns, has increasingly been under attack by scammers. One of the newer schemes showing up locally is the rental scam, in which fraudsters create fake listings and advertise them on platforms like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Recently one of those scams went further than most. Matt Duddles and his wife had listed their Hungerford Hill home for sale with Petersburg Properties realtor Sarah Holmgrain when someone lifted the listing photos, posted them to Craigslist, and advertised the property for rent at...
Petersburg homeowners who heat their homes with oil, propane, or wood may soon have an increased financial incentive to make the switch to electric heat pumps. Alaska Heat Smart’s Accelerating Clean Energy Savings program — known as ACES — is now accepting applications from eligible residents, and a regional energy advisor is in town this week to host a pair of public information sessions at the Petersburg Public Library. Aaron Blust, an energy advisor with Alaska Heat Smart, will hold sessions on Friday, March 6, from 4 to 5 p.m. and Satur...
The executive director of Petersburg’s domestic violence prevention nonprofit will be leaving her position this summer. Rikki McKay was hired to lead Working Against Violence for Everyone last May. She plans to step down from the position in July after just over a year in the role. The director before McKay was in the position for less than a year. McKay said she’s leaving to finish a double master’s in public health and social work — she’s been working full time at WAVE on top of being a full-time student. “I would like to become licensed as... Full story
The Petersburg School District is wrapping up a lengthy roof replacement project and moving into the security upgrade phase of campus improvements funded through a 2024 voter-approved bond. CBC Construction, the contractor handling the roof replacement at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School, is in the final stretch of that project. As of last week, Superintendent Robyn Taylor said the contractor is waiting on a shipment of 20 remaining vents before completing installation. “Once they arrive, [and once the roof is cleared of snow] i...
The murder of Sing Lee was never solved. The Petersburg merchant was found dead in his apartment in November 1930, and despite a community that demanded answers, the investigation went nowhere. Clausen Memorial Museum has spent months digging through the evidence and, on March 2, opens an exhibit on his life and death. The museum's exhibit, "The Sing Lee Mystery," will run throughout the month of March. Clausen Museum Director Sarah Pederson says the exhibit doesn't solve the case, but works to...
Katie Holmlund didn't quite believe it at first. "When they called about this 40 Under 40 thing, I was like, that seems like a trick," she said with a laugh, recalling a piece of junk mail she'd received months earlier promising similar honors. "I'm like, this isn't real." But it was. Holmlund, Petersburg Medical Center's Youth Programs Development and Advocacy Coordinator, has been named to the Alaska Journal of Commerce's 2026 Top Forty Under 40, a statewide honor recognizing professionals und... Full story
The Alaska Board of Game has approved a change expanding where archers can hunt on Petersburg's Mitkof Island. The change opens bow hunting in an area that has been closed to harvesting big game, except for wolves, since 1962. It eliminates a closed area south of town around the Petersburg road system, which served as a quarter-mile corridor for decades, and adds it to a larger management area. The Board approved the change with a 4–3 vote at a late January meeting in Wrangell. Board Member J... Full story
Two softly humming glass cabinets, brightly lit from within, cause students and grown-ups to pause and peer on their way through the Petersburg High School commons. They are hydroponic gardens, complete with lights for growing greens and flowers year-round. This provides Petersburg students not only with quality food, but a nice splash of greenery and light in the commons, and a brilliant hands-on learning opportunity. Hydroponic gardens have been a big goal for Alex Helms, Farm to School...
Ryan Gilkey arrived in Petersburg via the ferry on Super Bowl Sunday with his two dogs and about 1,700 emergency calls worth of experience under his belt. The 35-year-old says he has spent years methodically working his way toward Alaska for a job like this. Gilkey is Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department's new EMS Coordinator, a full-time administrative and training position that serves as the department's primary point of contact for all things emergency medical services. "The job is an admin...
At the ballfield on last Thursday's stupendously stormy day, a pack of elementary schoolers in Kinder Skog did their best with wet numb fingers to pick up trash and put it in plastic bags billowing in the wind. All spring, Kinder Skog will be raising money by collecting trash as they spend time outside at their regular spots around town. Each skoggy is asking for personal sponsors, which can be individuals or businesses, with a suggested donation of $20 per bag. "We are asking sponsors to sponso... Full story
Young growth Sitka spruce from Mitkof Island, milled at Alaska Timber and Truss and shipped via the Alaska Marine Highway, now forms the timber-frame structure of an outdoor learning shelter at Pacific High School in Sitka. The impressive posts and beams of the pavilion showcase what Southeast Alaska's 50 to 60-year-old second-growth trees can produce. The structure will serve as an outdoor classroom for the alternative high school's garden-based education program. Andrew Thoms, executive...
American Cruise Line's long-discussed cruise ship dock project in Petersburg took another step forward last week when the borough assembly approved the first reading of an ordinance rezoning a 22,500-square-foot parcel at the end of Dock Street to accommodate ACL's proposed facility. The ordinance, which must pass two additional readings before final adoption, changes the parcel from un-zoned to Industrial with Marine Industrial Overlay. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended the...
After their acclaimed but ominous rendition of "Dracula" last fall, Petersburg High School's drama program is ready to brighten up the vibe with a Victorian-era romantic farce, "The Matchmaker," opening Feb. 19 at Wright Auditorium. The Thornton Wilder comedy - best known as the basis for the Broadway musical "Hello Dolly" - features a large ensemble cast navigating love, loss and the search for joy in 1880s New York. Director Elsa Wintersteen said she deliberately chose the play to give...
Petersburg Medical Center's Home Health department is settling into its new space in the former office of Public Health and is working to expand community awareness about the services available to local residents. The move brings Home Health nursing staff into closer proximity with PMC's clinical departments, emergency room, and therapy services. "It's so nice to be on campus and just be able to have conversations face to face," said Ruby Shumway, PMC's Home Health and Community Based Services...
Petersburg is one big step closer to receiving $8 million in federal funding to engineer the disinfection upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant. The funding was included in a spending bill that passed the Senate on Jan. 15 and the House a week earlier, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office. The bill now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature. The $8 million will fund a disinfectant study, engineering work and plant design for the facility, which discharges into Frederick Sound. The total project was initially estimated to cos...
As Petersburg residents are all too aware, it was exceptionally rainy last year. 133.90 inches of precipitation fell in 2025, making it the fourth-rainiest year since records began in 1924. Last year's total fell just short of the all-time record of 136.88 inches set in 1991, according to data from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Juneau. The second-wettest year on record was 2015 with 135.98 inches, followed by 1987 with 134.32 inches. "Based on the data we have, Petersburg was...
