Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 1325
None of the four contested races in last week’s municipal election were close, though the number of voters who cast ballots compared to last year was about as close as it can get. Last year’s municipal election tallied 485 voters. This year’s total was 486. “Yes, you are reading that correctly, we had one more voter this year than we had last year,” Borough Clerk Kim Lane reported to the assembly this week. The assembly certified the results Oct. 7, after the canvass board had counted early and absentee votes and resolved several questione...
Though 87 absentee and early votes and questioned ballots will not be tallied until Thursday, the leaders after Tuesday’s municipal election appear likely to win on the final count. Borough assembly candidate David Powell led Don McConachie Sr. by 47 votes after Tuesday’s election. School board candidates Brittani Robbins and Angela Allen were ahead of their challengers by about 100 votes for two open seats. And Jessica Whitaker led Julia Ostrander by 44 votes — 215 to 171 — for a one-year school board term. Races for two other assembl...
Wrangell will share a tire cutter with other Southeast communities, intending to cut down on the thousands of tires stacked at the dump by making it easier to ship out the smaller pieces. The borough assembly last Tuesday approved a resolution to share the equipment with the Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority. The mobile unit can separate tires from rims and then, using a powerful cutting arm, chop up the rubber into smaller, more easily transportable chunks. The tires stacked at the...
Wrangell has begun its search for a new borough manager. On Friday, the assembly accepted the resignation of Lisa Von Bargen from the post, effective Oct. 29. “It is with sadness I submit my letter of resignation as borough manager for this amazing community. The strain of the past year and a half has helped me realize I need to take a pause and focus on the needs of my family and myself,” Von Bargen wrote in her resignation letter, dated Sept. 28. She has been on the job since July 2017, moving to Wrangell from Valdez, where she was com...
The borough is taking a closer look at the cost of shipping goods by barge to Wrangell. The assembly last Tuesday approved a $7,300 study by Rain Coast Data, prompted, in part, after Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski raised “the very serious issue of shipping rates as a concern” when she was in town earlier in September. “The senator asked if the borough had documentation of the increases. The answer is no,” borough officials reported to the assembly for its consideration of the rate-history contract. Mayor Steve Prysunka had requested a shippin...
The borough is continuing its voluntary requirement that unvaccinated individuals arriving from out of state whether by plane or boat must have proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of their departure for Wrangell or take a test on their arrival in town. The requirement does not apply to Alaska residents. The rules match the state of Alaska's travel requirements. The borough assembly approved an extension of the travel requirements at a special meeting last Friday, the day afte...
Wrangell voters in Tuesday’s election will decide on three borough assembly seats, three school board members and three port commission members. Of the nine races, five are uncontested — unless a write-in candidate declares by Friday — and the other four present voters with a choice of candidates. The polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Nolan Center. People need to bring their state-issued voter ID card, said Kim Lane, borough clerk. If voters don’t have their ID card, they will be allowed to cast their ballot if the electio...
Mayor Steve Prysunka says it’s a priority to better understand all of the borough’s financial accounts, a job that will be easier now that Wrangell has a full-time finance director for the first time since February. Mason Villarma presented to the assembly at its meeting Tuesday night, explaining that the borough has created too many different fund accounts. “The analogy is like a hoarder in a house,” the new finance director said. “We’ve created funds every year. There are thousands of accounts. A web that is incomprehensible.” The accountin...
Bob Dalrymple currently serves on the borough assembly, the second time he has been appointed to temporarily fill a vacant seat. He is running for a three-year term in Tuesday's municipal election. Dalrymple and Jim DeBord are running for the two open three-year terms. Both will win unless a write-in candidate declares by Monday and gathers more votes than either of the two names on the ballot. "My entire adult life I've been in public service," Dalrymple said. He serves on the borough's...
Filling out an election ballot isn’t very hard. Ink in the ovals, being careful to stay within the lines, and then turn in the single-sided piece of stiff paper for counting. It’s not much to ask of residents once a year. Wrangell holds its municipal elections next Tuesday. And while several races are uncontested, three school board seats and a borough assembly seat will be decided by voters. This is a chance for residents to have a say in the direction of the borough and the school district, which combined spend more than $10 million a yea...
Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen has resigned, effective Oct. 29. No reason was given in the City Hall announcement, issued shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday. Von Bargen started as borough manager in July 2017. "The strain of the past year and a half has helped me realize I need to take a pause and focus on the needs of my family and myself. It has been a privilege to serve this community and the assembly," Von Bargen wrote in her resignation letter. “We're saddened that she's decided to leave,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said in an interview an hou... Full story
The borough expects to receive an additional $604,000 in federal pandemic relief aid through the state, and will move cautiously as it considers how best to use the money for the community’s benefit. The assembly will need to decide “what is the best long-term investment for us,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said last Friday. The administration will present recommendations to the assembly for its consideration after staff have reviewed federal guidance on spending the funds. The $604,000 is part of American Rescue Plan money directed to the...
Acknowledging it is a “polarizing and divisive issue in Canada,” the Wrangell borough assembly will proceed “somewhat cautiously” in drafting a resolution on mining in the Stikine River watershed, Borough Mayor Steve Prysunka said. “Of course, we don’t want salmon impacted” by mining, he said. “We’re actually uniquely positioned, we’re at the outflow.” The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission has asked the Wrangell assembly, and other elected bodies in the region, to adopt a resolution calling for a pause on new mining permits...
One of the bigger issues that got David Powell interested in serving on the assembly several years ago was his belief that the borough needs to get out of the real estate business. He wanted Wrangell to sell off more of its property for private development, and to do it at a faster pace. He also wanted to serve because "I was interested in how things work with the city," he said. "In a roundabout way, I found it doesn't work as everybody thinks it works." Powell is running for a one-year term to...
Don McConachie Sr. served on the assembly or as mayor between 1998 and when he resigned as mayor in 2013 for health reasons. He's ready now to get back to work at City Hall. McConachie, 75, who is retired, is running against incumbent David Powell for a one-year term on the borough assembly. "Our city has changed an awful lot. It has deteriorated a substantial amount," McConachie said. He was reluctant to provide specific examples, explaining, "The best way to understand what's going on is to...
Though its passage is uncertain amid partisan battles in Congress and even disagreements among the majority-holding Democrats, the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill could be an opportunity for federal help with costly improvements to Wrangell's water system. However, all communities in Alaska "have to be honest in regard to timing," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who visited Wrangell last weekend. In addition to waiting on Congress to decide on the legislation, "we know what it means to bring a (bi...
Southeast Alaskans and officials in British Columbia say they're getting closer to meeting on transboundary mining issues. Until that happens, advocates on the Alaska side of the border want to see a pause in new projects upstream in Canada. "I've always been an optimistic person," said Frederick Olsen Jr., executive director of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. "In this issue you really have to be. We have some good allies that we've met across the border." There are...
The Sentinel incorrectly reported Aug. 26 that the borough assembly had voted unanimously to reject a face mask mandate to help stem the spread of COVID-19 infections. The vote was 6-1. Assemblymember Ryan Howe voted yes. —- The Sentinel incorrectly reported Aug. 26 that the first day of classes at Wrangell schools would be Tuesday, Aug. 31. It was Monday....
Discussions and medical decisions about the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 should be based on facts, not scientifically untested and unproven rumors spread on social media. And certainly not on irresponsible health care advice prescribed by an elected official who seems to think a drug that kills worms in horses and cows might also destroy the coronavirus in people. A polite person might say "horse feathers" to such medical guidance from an unlicensed politician. A not-so-nice person...
There will be contested races for one seat on the borough assembly, three seats on the school board and one seat on the port commission in Wrangell’s Oct. 5 municipal election. Candidates for two other borough assembly seats and a port commission seat are unchallenged. Jim DeBord and Bob Dalrymple are running for the two three-year open terms on the assembly. Dalrymple is an incumbent; he was appointed in January to fill out the year for Julie Decker, who left the assembly. DeBord also expressed interest in the seat at that time, though the a...
The assembly has directed borough staff to get two estimates for possibly resolving the longstanding deliberations over repairs to the rot-damaged Public Safety Building and the future of the former hospital building. One estimate would be for a two-year project to repair and renovate the 34-year-old Public Safety Building, restoring it for full use by the police and fire departments, state court system, federal customs and other agencies. The other estimate from an engineering firm would cover remodeling the vacant Wrangell Medical Center as...
Borough leadership will expand in the near future, with the creation of a new position intended to help allow the borough manager to focus on bigger projects — in addition to taking on its own set of assignments. The assembly unanimously approved Aug. 24 the creation of a deputy borough manager position, following up on discussion from two weeks earlier. The deputy manager would share the workload and assist the borough manager in administrative functions. Assemblymember Patty Gilbert asked what parts of the borough manager job the deputy would...
The borough assembly has approved a zoning amendment that opens the possibility for condominiums past the cemetery out to the end of city water and sewer services. The amendment adds condominiums as an allowable conditional use in the Rural Residential 1 zoning district, if municipal water and sewer service is available to ensure environmental controls over waste disposal from the multiple housing units. The change “provides another development option,” Carol Rushmore, Wrangell’s zoning administrator, wrote in her presentation for the Aug....
The borough assembly decided not to reinstate a local mask mandate at their Tuesday meeting. Rather, they asked borough staff to pursue a public education campaign strongly recommending that people wear face masks and take other safety precautions during the current surge in COVID-19 cases. The assembly vote was 6-1. The meeting was held via Zoom, a reversal from the assembly’s short-lived return to in-person meetings. City Hall has been closed since last week due to staff exposure to COVID. Dorianne Sprehe, with the Wrangell Emergency O...
After starting July at 56%, then moving to 58% on Aug. 1, the rate of eligible Alaskans getting at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has now climbed to 60%. Though the rate is improving, Alaska is still far behind the national average of 71%, as reported Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alaska is two-thirds of the way down from the top in rankings of the 50 states. Just like the state’s rising tally, Wrangell’s rate of eligible residents with at least their first shot has climbed from 61% to 64% in the pas...