(971) stories found containing 'city & borough of wrangell'
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Borough, SEARHC negotiating payment in lieu of property taxes
The borough assembly on Tuesday was to consider a draft agreement for the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium to make voluntary payments of $45,000 per year for 10 years on property owned by the nonprofit health care provider in town. The...
Wrangell readies for arrival of Ocean Victory cruise ship
The chamber of commerce is planning a welcome ceremony for the first ship on Wrangell's official cruise calendar, which also happens to be a brand new vessel making its inaugural sailing to...
Thank you for community cleanup help
Paula Rak and the WCA IGAP program would like to thank LNM Services, Wrangell IGA, City Market, First Bank, the city and borough of Wrangell and the Wrangell Cooperative Association for their donations and continued support for the Wrangell...
Assembly postpones 21% water rate increase, mulls 30%
The borough assembly has postponed for the second time a decision on a proposed increase in water rates, and is now considering a 30% boost instead of the 21% rate hike originally suggested by staff. The assembly last month delayed a decision on the...
Sitka boatyard closure leads to more work in Wrangell
Wrangell’s Marine Service Center has seen a 20% to 30% increase in haul-out requests after Sitka’s boatyard closed April 1. “We’ve been getting overflow from Sitka since February,” Port Director Steve Miller said April 13. Normally the...
Borough and tour operators get ready for visitor season
The community is short of public restrooms near the City Dock and could be short port security staff this summer if people don’t apply for the jobs soon. One is an immediate concern, while the restroom shortage requires a longer-term solution....
Mayor says borough wants to work with private businesses to develop mill property
The borough is not looking to inhibit private development or evict business owners with its pending purchase of the former sawmill property at 6.5 Mile, no matter the rumors on Facebook, Mayor Steve Prysunka said. The property owner accepted the boro...
Wrangell had best year ever in sales tax revenues
The borough set a record last year for sales tax collections, exceeding budget estimates for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021. And so far this year, sales tax receipts are continuing on another record pace. Multiple factors are leading to...
Updated cruise ship calendar shows almost 19,000 berths
The borough released its updated cruise ship calendar on March 9, with ships reflecting a capacity for 18,777 passengers this summer, up from 17,170 in a Jan. 19 draft calendar. That’s an increase of 1,607 in berth capacity for potential visitors...
Borough, SEARHC negotiating voluntary tax payment agreement
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and the borough are negotiating another year of voluntary payment in lieu of taxes on the nonprofit’s property in town. SEARHC paid property taxes when the clinic and hospital were under construction,...
Owner accepts borough offer for sawmill property
The owner of the former sawmill property at 6-Mile Zimovia Highway has accepted the borough’s offer of about $2.5 million to buy the 38.59 acres, which the borough sees as an economic development opportunity for the community. Borough Manager Jeff...
State will switch Sitka to paid airport parking; Wrangell could come later
Sitka will be the next Southeast airport to make the switch from free to paid parking. Petersburg made the move in December, when a private operator leased state airport property that had been used for free parking and converted it to a paid...
WCA receives $620,000 in funding for cultural preservation
The Wrangell Cooperative Association was told last month it will receive $620,000 in federal funding from the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, a $25 million U.S. Forest Service investment to diversify the economy of Southeast communities....
Forest Service seeks community help to clean up Roosevelt Harbor
The Wrangell Ranger District wants to restore a parking area at Roosevelt Harbor. The problem is about 70 vehicles in various stages of decay on top of it, going back a couple of decades at the site...
Scrap barge accepting metal through Saturday - no charge
Residents have until Saturday afternoon to get rid of scrap metal, free of charge, including vehicles. Juneau-based Channel Construction will have its barge at the former sawmill site at 6.3-Mile Zimovia Highway and is accepting any type of scrap...
SEARHC and fire department both providing free COVID-19 self-test kits
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is providing free COVID-19 at-home test kits on a first come, first served basis. A Feb. 7 post on SEARHC's Facebook page said it is providing two...
Tribe requesting to rebuild, relocate bridge to Chief Shakes Island
The Wrangell Cooperative Association wants to move the Chief Shakes Island footbridge to allow better access for buses coming to the popular site and possibly setting aside an area for selling Native crafts. The plan would be to move the bridge...
Borough may hire tow company to collect languishing vehicles
The police department is putting together a plan to hire a tow truck company from Petersburg to come over in the spring and haul to the borough's impound yard vehicles that have been abandoned for too...
Cruise ships could carry as many as 17,000 passengers to Wrangell this summer
The borough’s convention and visitor bureau has released its draft cruise ship schedule, painting an updated picture of how many passengers might fill the streets of Wrangell, take in the sights and charter local fishing and sightseeing guides...
Closure of outdoor program for at-risk teens hits Wrangell
SEARHC's announcement last week that it was shuttering the 21-year-old Alaska Crossings program in Wrangell, a wilderness therapy program for at-risk children that the health care provider took over...
The assembly needs to be more careful
The borough assembly made a good choice in erasing the “interim” from Jeff Good’s title as borough manager. He has done a solid job since signing on Nov. 1 until the assembly could decide on a long-term hire. Stability and continuity are...
Utility needs to boost line capacity out of power plant for future needs
Wrangell's generating plant has an eight-megawatt line out the door but needs to go up to 12 megawatts if it wants to fully serve the power needs of the community during shortages, according to the...
Borough continues to gain in online sales tax revenues
Since first beginning to collect sales tax on online orders sold by out-of-town merchants such as Amazon in 2020, the borough continues to see an increase in revenues. In fiscal year 2021, which ended last June 30, the borough collected $180,000 in...
Assembly raises electricity rates; first in eight years
The borough assembly voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an electricity rate hike that will increase the kilowatt-hour charge by 7.5% to 9% for most residential and business customers in Wrangell. The rate increase comes after the Southeast Alaska...
Wrangell nears record with surge in COVID-19 cases
COVID-19 cases in Wrangell are surging at their fastest rate of the nearly 2-year-old pandemic, with 67 new infections since Christmas weekend, as of Tuesday evening’s borough report. Of those, 37 cases were recorded between Friday and Tuesday....