Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 202
PETERSBURG – The water level at Tyee Lake was at 1,380.6 feet as of Nov. 18, which will allow the hydro plant to produce power for over seven months should all inflows to the lake stop. As part of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, Tyee Lake dedicates its power to Petersburg and Wrangell, while Swan Lake produces power for Ketchikan. The 1,380.6 foot water level is about even with normal water levels for this time of the year, and is above the approximately 1,300 foot water level in November 2...
The Forest Service has been hosting numerous public meetings across Southeast Alaska, recently, to share information on proposed changes to the Roadless Rule and to take comments from the public. One such meeting was held in Wrangell last Wednesday, Nov. 6. As readers may know, the Roadless Rule was put in place by the federal government in 2001 as a way to protect undeveloped parts of national forests. It prohibits road construction, repairs, or timber harvests inside of "inventoried roadless...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board approved $97,750 to replace the backup battery bank at the Tyee Lake hydro facility at a regular board meeting last Thursday. Early last month, Petersburg and Wrangell were providing their own power for about a week while the Tyee Lake Hydro facility was offline for annual maintenance. During the maintenance period, SEAPA conducted a battery capacity discharge test of the hydro project's nickel-cadmium batteries. Three hours into the test, one of the...
As the dry weather persists though the summer, Tyee Lake water levels continue to be below the normal levels for early August. As part of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, Tyee Lake dedicates its power to Petersburg and Wrangell, while Swan Lake produces power for Ketchikan. Water in Tyee Lake reached 1,313 feet Monday morning. The water level is lower than the norm for Tyee Lake this time of year, but it is higher than the water level this time last year, said Utility Director Karl Hagerman....
The borough assembly held a second reading of a proposed amendment to Wrangell's municipal code during their meeting Tuesday. The amendment would be to chapter 15.12, Electricity, and would add a section that covers rate stabilization. This amendment was first brought up during the city's recent budget workshops, according to the meeting's agenda packet, where the assembly requested a "rate stabilization fund" be created to help offset increased power costs to residents in case the city had to s...
A town hall meeting was held at the Nolan Center last Wednesday evening, July 10, to discuss ongoing water issues in Wrangell and the wider Southeast Alaska region. In short, drought conditions across Southeast Alaska have made conservation necessary for the community. Dry weather has also an impact on Wrangell's supply of electricity, as well. "Part of the reason we're here today is because we, Southern and Southeast Alaska, are experiencing an extreme drought," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen...
Wrangell Police Chief Dough McCloskey was honored by the borough assembly last Tuesday night, in recognition of his upcoming retirement. McCloskey came to Wrangell in 1992, after a career as a police officer and as a Merchant Marine with the Coast Guard. He joined the local police department in 1992 as a police officer, and was appointed chief of police in 2003. He has served as chief since then, for the past 16 years. As he has announced his intention to retire, the assembly made a...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency held a two-day meeting in Wrangell last week, on June 19 and 20. The SEAPA board of directors consists of five voting community members and their alternates from Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan, which are the three communities the power agency supplies. During last week's meetings, the board agreed to pay the two cities of Wrangell and Petersburg almost $850,000 in a reimbursement package. The reimbursement plan was to pay back the two cities for switching...
At approximately 4:20 p.m. last Friday, June 7, the power went out in the towns of Wrangell and Petersburg. Both islands completely lost power for about 40 minutes, before diesel generators were fired up around 5 p.m. The outage occurred due to a problem with a breaker at Tyee Lake, according to Rod Rhoades with Wrangell Municipal Light and Power. According to Rhoades, around 4:20 p.m. Breaker No. 10 at Tyee Lake opened up, shutting off power to the two towns. Tyee Lake provides hydroelectric po...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly sat down for a continuation of their ongoing series of budget workshops on Tuesday, May 14. The assembly has been putting together their FY 2019-2020 budget for the past month, and are getting closer to final approval of it. Each workshop has covered a different portion of Wrangell's facilities and their financial needs. Last week's meeting took a look at capital facilities maintenance and improvements. The capital facilities department is looking at a budget of...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency, representing the communities of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan, decided to postpone a reimbursement plan to its two northern communities in their last meeting. Petersburg and Wrangell took on additional costs to keep the lights on in their towns over the past months, which they felt SEAPA should compensate them for. In a brief summary of recent events, Wrangell and Petersburg both receive hydropower from Tyee Lake. Due to dry weather last year, however,...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly came together for their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening, March 12. The meeting drew an unusually large crowd, as well, as the assembly was scheduled to vote on a proposed noise ordinance after its second reading that night. Basically, the ordinance that came before the assembly stated that it would be illegal for someone to create noise above the level of 90 decibels between the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and holidays. During all other hours, the noise...
It was a long night for the Wrangell Borough Assembly. Beginning with a work session to discuss the borough’s federal priorities for 2019 at 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday evening, the assembly and more dedicated members of the public did not leave city hall until four hours later, at 9:40 p.m. The big issues covered in the assembly meeting ranged from proposed changes to the code of ordinances to the ongoing power supply issues in Wrangell and other communities. Proposed changes to the city’s code of ordinances, pertaining to new nuisance codes, wer...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency held a teleconference last week, on Feb. 15, to discuss the ongoing power issues in the region. The SEAPA Board of Directors is made up of community members from the three cities: Two directors from Ketchikan, one from Petersburg, one from Wrangell, and a fifth seat that alternates between the cities (which belongs to Ketchikan this year.) The lights are usually kept on in the cities of Wrangell and Petersburg via hydropower from Tyee Lake. However, sometimes power from the lake is sold to Ketchikan, when the...
Water levels in Swan and Tyee lakes were a hot topic at Tuesday night’s assembly meeting. Mayor Steve Prysunka gave a presentation to the borough assembly, informing them that Wrangell might be facing power supply issues in the future. He explained that there are three communities in question with this looming issue: Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan. Ketchikan gets most of its power from Swan Lake, while the power plant at Tyee supplies Wrangell and Petersburg. However, extra power from Tyee Lake can be sold to Ketchikan, when it is availabl...
Ice on the runway caused a minor incident involving an aircraft at the Tyee Lake Hydro Facility. On the morning of Dec. 17, a pilot contracted with Southeast Alaska Power Agency landed at the facility, located at the head of Bradfield Canal, about 40 miles south of Wrangell. The incident occurred around 9 a.m., according to SEAPA chairman Steve Prysunka. The contractor, who wished to not be named, said that the landing was fine, save for a patch of ice on the final portion of the landing strip. He said that the plane was going about walking...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday night to discuss Ballot Measure 1, better known as the “Stand With Salmon” measure. This state measure is on the ballot in Alaska this year, and could have a large effect on Wrangell, as well as many other communities across the state. In short, the measure proposes new requirements and a new permit process for any projects affecting bodies of water related to salmon or other anadromous fish. The aim of this measure is to better protect salmon and their environment. However, there were concerns amo...
The city and borough of Wrangell will be holding an election on Oct 2. There are several positions needing to be filled, and there are many people seeking to fill them with 13 people running for office. The Wrangell Sentinel has created a roundup of candidates to help better inform local voters. Mayor There are two candidates seeking the position of mayor. Carl Carlisle has been in Wrangell for about three years, he said, but has lived all around Alaska before then. Coming from a military background, he said that his main concerns for Wrangell...
PETERSBURG – Petersburg Municipal Power & Light shut down power on June 19 in order to replace a Southeast Alaska Power Agency transmission pole in Falls Creek. The power was shut off from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Twin Creek road and Crystal Lake Hatchery, said Scott Newman, general foreman with Petersburg Municipal Power & Light. Since the transmission pole was owned by SEAPA and not the city, SEAPA sent out their own contractors to conduct the work, said Newman. Petersburg Municipal Power & Light assisted SEAPA with some of the work and w...
Meeting in Wrangell this week, board members with Southeast Alaska Power Agency approved a municipal rebate and power rates for the coming year. Headquartered in Ketchikan, the organization generates and distributes power for the Gateway Borough, Wrangell and Petersburg. Board membership is split between the three member communities, meeting at regular intervals throughout the year to set rates and direct projects. Pending a successfully completed audit, member communities would split between...
A power outage on June 13 came as a bit of a surprise to the community, turning off the juice across the island for more than half an hour. The unplanned cut came as technicians at Wrangell Municipal Light and Power were testing their diesel generators, ahead of the planned diesel run beginning Monday. The office explained some difficulties had been encountered while firing up one of the generators, taking the system offline. Power went out to all four of the island’s feeders during the midafternoon. The outage was relatively brief, with p...
Second and third budget workshops this month were held Monday and Tuesday night as the city moves closer to a final budget draft for the coming year. A fourth workshop has been scheduled for this evening, to deal with the Wrangell Public Schools budget. Afterward a public hearing of a draft completed budget is anticipated next Tuesday evening during the Wrangell Assembly's regular 7 p.m. meeting. During Monday's session, assembly members and city staff contemplated its revenue outlook for the...
PETERSBURG – The CEO of Southeast Alaska’s wholesale power provider stopped by an assembly meeting on Monday to update Petersburg on its projects and financial wins so far this year. Trey Acteson, CEO of Southeast Alaska Power Agency, the primary electric provider for Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan, explained multiple ways on how the organization is cutting costs, mostly from fighting strict regulatory proposals. “As many of you know,” Acteson said, “I’m pretty active in that arena.” SEAPA saved $30,000 annually when the Federal Energ...
With the recent resignation of Clay Hammer from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) board of directors, the City and Borough of Wrangell is seeking letters of interest to fill the vacancy. SEAPA provides power to the communities of Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan, using electricity generated by hydro projects at Swan and Tyee lakes. A board of five voting members and five alternates is divided between the three by annual allotment, with Ketchikan always maintaining two pairs of seats, and Petersburg and Wrangell maintaining one...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly and City Hall staff held a roundtable discussion Tuesday evening about reorganizing several departments in light of upcoming retirements and departures. City manager Lisa Von Bargen offered suggestions for shaking up the structures currently giving form to the Nolan Center, Public Works and Wrangell Municipal Light and Power. The ultimate focus would be to improve the maintenance attention given to existing public facilities while keeping within other budgetary and...
