Wrangell Sentinel - the oldest continuously published paper in Alaska.

Assembly discusses Medical

Center Certificate of Need issue

February 10, 2011

Melati Kaye

Wrangell Medical Center CEO Noel Selle-Rea and Board of Directors Chairwoman Lynn Campbell reiterated their desire to see the WMC replacement facility construction project move forward.

Campbell thanked the Borough for putting the WMC on their proposed capital project list.

She also said that the question of a correct Certificate of Need (CON) had held up WMC replacement facility’s construction program since the Borough had taken over the project mid-January.

The WMC originally submitted a CON for a conceptual building sized at 38,000 square feet. As of a presentation by the WMC for the Assembly in September, the size of the proposed building was for 55,000 square feet.

Campbell asked if resolving this issue might make them miss the 2011 construction season.

“The last Borough Mayor, Don McConachie, suggested that the Assembly and WMC meet and work together,” Campbell said, “ Right now, we’re sitting and not doing anything, I’d like to see two people from the board and two from the Assembly get together to get the project moving again.”

Assembly member Mike Symons said he agreed with Campbell and saw no reason why such a meeting wouldn’t be possible but that he was told to hold on while the CON issue was being resolved.

“There are numbers being tossed out for the building size but ultimately if the State is telling us to reapply, we need to reapply,” he said.

However, Symons asked what the mechanism for moving forward was and whether there was a way not to get the whole assembly involved but rather have spokesmen that would meet and move to help push the lawyers through the process.

Rea said that it would be a good signal to the community.

Rea added that the CON and what the Borough planned to do after the CON process were two separate issues that could be addressed simultaneously.

WMC employee Brian Smith invited Assembly members to visit the WMC to demonstrate that a bigger facility was needed.

“This project had the last borough assembly’s blessings and now it is at a standstill,” he said. “I’m a little guy and that is a lot of little guys out there seeing a lot of crap.”

WMC CEO Rea asked about running a CON workshop to educate the Assembly and public to demystify the subject.

Assembly member Symons said that ultimately it was the State that signed the dotted line on a CON or revised CON so a workshop for assembly members and the public would not move the process along.

Instead, Symons asked, what would it take to redo the CON application with the larger footprint?

Rea said that the first CON application took 9 months to compile and he didn’t want to go through the process again.

Mayor Maxand advised Rea and the WMC board to talk to the Borough Manager and Attorney before holding a public forum on such a divisive issue.

Campbell said that it was the Assembly’s job to push the Borough Attorney and Manager to get the issue resolved.

“As assembly members, you can ask questions,” she said.

Maxand defended the Borough Manager saying that Rooney had been working to move the project forward.

“Before we can build anything, we need to know what the target is,” Maxand said. “If the WMC building is going to be larger than 39,000 square feet, we need to have a CON that addresses that.”

In other Assembly news, Borough Financial Director Jeff Jabusch sat in for Borough Tim Rooney, who was in Juneau for the Winter Alaska Municipal League.

Jabusch notified the Assembly that Alaska Airlines had once again been selected to provide essential air service to Wrangell through April 30, 2011.

“In Congress, they are finding everything possible to cut and one example is the rural air service,” he said. “A cut would affect 100 some communities.”

Jabusch added that the Borough’s municipal buildings’ electrical boiler system would be completed by early March.

Public advertising and bidding for the downtown revitalization project is expected by late February, according to the Borough Manager’s report.

Meanwhile bids for Heritage Harbor’s upland improvement and Mariner’s memorial projects, as well as electrical upgrades and fill for the Marine Service Center will be advertised by Feb. 17.

After the Borough Assembly’s decision to accept HDR consulting company’s recommendations on utility rates at their meeting in late January, increases are expected to go into effect July 1.

The Assembly unanimously agreed to pay $167,000 towards increased costs with the Wrangell Downtown Revitalization project.

The project will repave and restructure Front Street from Case Avenue to the cruise ship dock. The additional costs went towards addressing concerns with property owners, water sewer improvements and passing paying environmental and historical consultants for their additional time.

The Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling for federal and state authorities to become more actively involved in managing the Southeast region’s growing sea otter population and revive economies that have been lost due to the relocation and recolonization of sea otters within the region.

Russian fur traders hunted sea otters into near extinction before the practice was banned in the early 1900s.

In the 1960, the Alaska Fish and Game reintroduced sea otters to the outside coast and the populations have been migrating inland and consuming enough shellfish that local commercial fisheries feel threatened.

The Borough Assembly unanimously approved a lease of 2,385 square feet in the Marine Repair Facility or boatyard to Steve Keller.

The Borough unanimously approved a memorandum of agreement between the Wrangell Cooperative Association and Borough on joint projects and programs.

The previous memorandum of agreement between the WCA and the Borough had ended in 2005.

“There is a lot going on with the local tribe and WCA so it is good to see we are formally agreeing to exchange information,” Maxand said.

Assembly member Pam McCloskey added that the memorandum was very well written.

The Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to declare Feb. 12 Coast Guard Day.

Maxand said that the recognition was part of an effort to recognize and welcome the Coast Guard on a day that they would be visiting Wrangell.

He encouraged Wrangellites to attend the search and rescue demonstrations three visiting coast guard ships and one helicopter would be doing on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. Maxand added that he would be presenting the three ships with keys to the city.

Christie Jamieson will be speaking at a National municipal clerk conference in North Carolina in May.