Wrangell Sentinel -

Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma and other local officials were in Washington, D.C., last week to ask for federal help for the community after its deadly landslide. “In terms of impact, the community is scared, I think, and rightfully so,” Vil...

Southeast Alaska is known for rain, windstorms, mountainsides that loom above residential areas — and landslides that occur with increasing frequency. Sitka knows the risk, and the pain, losing three people in a 2015 landslide. Haines lost two p...

Individuals and the borough are eligible for financial aid under the state’s disaster assistance programs. State grants to individuals are limited to no more than $21,250 for housing repairs and up to the same amount for other needs. That could i...

Borough officials successfully negotiated down the cost of the Mount Dewey trail extension with the project’s only bidder to keep the work within budget. The assembly approved the contract at its Nov. 14 meeting after staff and the contractor cut m...

A massive landslide 11 miles from town destroyed three homes on Nov. 20 — including one that housed a five-member family — and stranded more than 70 residents who lived south of the slide. Timothy Heller, 44, Beth Heller, 36, Mara Heller, 16, and Kar... Full story

The building housing the community center is in its eighth decade and the center is into its fifth decade — with the Parks and Recreation Department looking to gather up remembrances for a dedication ceremony planned for March. In a letter posted o...

While serving as interim borough manager, Finance Director Mason Villarma will make $10,000 per month in addition to his regular monthly base salary of just under $10,000 per month. As interim deputy borough manager, Clerk Kim Lane will receive an...

The Wrangell Cooperative Association is nearing completion of its 5,000-square-foot maintenance and warehouse building on Zimovia Highway. The facility is in its second year of construction, though planning for the project started about a decade ago....

After seven years of planning, the borough has accumulated the funds it needs to upgrade its water treatment plant and is preparing to move forward with the work. At its Oct. 10 meeting, the assembly approved a $1.961 million loan from the U.S. Depar...

The borough assembly approved a $880,294 contract with Juneau-based Global Diving and Salvage to install corrosion-inhibiting anodes at Heritage Harbor and in two locations at the Marine Service Center. The project is funded through Port and Harbors...

After Jeff Good’s resignation, Finance Director Mason Villarma was named interim borough manager and Borough Clerk Kim Lane was named deputy interim borough manager while the assembly seeks a permanent replacement for the role. Mayor Patty Gilbert a...

As the downtown barge ramp nears the end of its useful life, the borough is weighing its options for replacing and possibly relocating this piece of critical infrastructure. Assembly members and borough staff discussed replacing the ramp in its...

Borough Manager Jeff Good submitted his resignation on Sept. 27 after nearly two years of service. He has accepted a civil engineering job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs which will allow him to live in Wrangell and also spend more time with...

The effort to extend the Mount Dewey trail has hit an unexpected bump in the road. The only company that bid on the project, Ketchikan Ready-Mix, asked over half a million dollars more than the borough had budgeted to improve the trail’s accessibilit...

The school district overspent its student travel budget the past two years and is considering filling the gap with money from team fundraising accounts — the cash that athletes, their parents and supporters raise for equipment, uniforms and other ext...

During the budget process next year, the school district will need to cut about $500,000 from its current $5.1 million operating budget to maintain financial sustainability as it prepares for the end of federal pandemic relief funding. This could mea...

Residents have another opportunity to get their junked vehicles and scrap metal off the island, and the borough is encouraging people to take advantage of the free service. Channel Construction, which operates a scrap metal recycling service and...

Housing is a big concern for communities across Southeast Alaska, from Ketchikan to Skagway and every town in between. In Petersburg, the results of a community survey indicate that more than 300 housing units may need to be built or renovated over...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing more stringent limits on the bacteria level in water that the Haines wastewater treatment plant releases into Lynn Canal. Wrangell faces a similar requirement to reduce the bacteria count in its...