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At its last meeting for the summer, Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board approved a new fee assistance schedule for using public facilities. Parks and Recreation Department director Kate Thomas explained the new assistance schedule would allow applicants up to a 100-percent discount for a specific activity each quarter, depending on income level and household size. For example, a three-person household making $26,120 or less could receive a 50-percent discount on an activity or 75-percent off from a pass. Guidelines follow the s...
To the Editor: I have heard a couple complaints about our large group running for queen and want to make sure everyone knows AAU (local girls middle school aged basketball club) is trying our best to manage such a large group of girls in the royalty race. Since this is just one of the two times a large group has run, there is a learning curve. We are listening to the public’s concerns and suggestions and are managing the team accordingly. We have split up the girls and gave them all their own area of town to knock on doors so households are n...
The Wrangell School Board elected to offer Kendall Benson the position as the new secondary schools principal during its May 19 meeting. He will replace outgoing principal Colter Barnes who served one year in the position. Barnes will be headed to Southeast Island School District to serve as an itinerant principal and greenhouse manager. Benson begins August 1 and brings with him three decades of education experience. His most recent post was as principal of Cedar Middle School in Cedar City,...
As of Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature meeting in a special session in Anchorage had still not passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. On Sunday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a compromise budget passed by the House the previous day, which included some small concessions to the minority such as reversing cuts to the ferry system and per-student funding. A conference committee between the two chambers was being organized to negotiate an amended budget as legislators posture around various funding priorities....
Wrangell's City and Borough Assembly has approved its budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget was previously issued as a draft at a public workshop on April 28 and has since been subjected to two hearings. The state of Alaska's finances still casts a shadow of uncertainty over Wrangell's projections. As of Tuesday the Legislature had reconvened in Anchorage for special session but had not yet settled on a final budget. Which items will ultimately face cuts is still in the air as the state tackles its $3.5 billion...
After five months of repair, the Wrangell community pool reopened to the public May 20, just in time for the onset of summery weather. An open house celebrating the repairs was held that evening, with residents finally able to take a dip for the first time this year. Wrangell's pool was built in 1986 as part of improvements to the adjoining middle school. Following detection of a leak last year and the pool's Dec. 18 closure, Jensen Yorba Lott was contracted to perform the first-ever comprehensive condition survey of the pool and community...
Wrangell School Board held a special session and workshop Tuesday evening to discuss the future of its school lunch program. At its May 19 regular meeting, the board voted in favor of canceling the school district's contract with NANA Management Services, which this year provided food and preparatory staff. “We are exploring different options,” said board president Susan Eagle. The workshop was not a formal one, with people allowed to offer ideas freely. Additionally, feedback had been submitted to the superintendent's office and was inc...
The Stikine Sportsmen Association raised $48,000 at this year’s annual fundraiser dinner, about $7,000 more than the previous year. Its 35th Annual Game Dinner was held in Wrangell’s American Legion Hall on Feb. 28, and the money was raised through a combination of raffles, auctions, admission and donations. “We give all of it away,” explained Mike Otteson, on the group’s board. Stikine Sportsmen Association is a private organization that directs its funding toward a wide variety of programs and causes. “All our money is spent in town,” said...
A draft budget was passed by the Wrangell School Board at its Monday evening meeting, but contract renewal for four non-tenured faculty members has been put on hold as administrators await news of a final budget from the State Legislature. Speaking up at the meeting in favor of prompt action was Jack Carney, a non-tenured teacher at Wrangell High School until the year's end and the school's activities director. He was critical of the school district's timing in renewing contracts so late in the year. “The job fairs are over. It's now the m...
At its regular meeting Tuesday evening, Wrangell's City and Borough Assembly began the process to exempt itself and other public representatives from the state's Public Official Financial Disclosure Law. Currently new members of city committees, boards and other positions are required to fill out forms disclosing a variety of assets to the public. Assembly member Stephen Prysunka was supportive of the proposal, opining that the removal of what he agreed was a burdensome document would promote greater civic involvement on boards and committees....
Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Board approved a new fee schedule for the upcoming fiscal year at its May 6 meeting. A workshop was held the previous week to revise a schedule draft that was rejected by the Assembly in January. “This is what we discussed and agreed on at the workshop,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Kate Thomas explained. “I thought our workshop last week was really productive,” said board member Holly Owens. One of the main changes to the new schedule is a different structure for the gym and pool family rate. Under t...
To the Editor: Wrangell has many areas in education that as a community we can be proud of and thankful to the educators who have gotten us to this point. -Teacher longevity that suggests that teachers love the community of Wrangell, their jobs, the students, and are able to follow those children through their educational experience. -Wrangell is a blue ribbon school. That is a result of teacher collaboration as they plan curriculum and develop a productive atmosphere. -Wrangell’s educators are the most devoted people that I have observed t...
As budget deadlines draw ever closer, a pair of meetings will be held at City Hall next week. The Board of Equalization meets Monday at 6:30 p.m., and the Wrangell Assembly will hold a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2016 budget at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Comprised of members of the Assembly, the Board of Equalization meets every year in early May. Forty-eight appeals have been filed this year, after assessors found improvement values had risen by five percent. While property values remained largely unchanged, this increase still affects overall...
Extra chairs were needed at Monday's Wrangell School Board meeting as parents and staff settled in to what would be a lengthy proceeding. On the minds of many was the proposed cut of $113,000 from the school lunch budget, effectively ending the program. The cut represented the largest of several cuts to school expenditures planned for the coming year, totaling $209,167 or a 3.5 percent reduction. The cuts were in response to the loss of one-time funding from the state and reductions to per-pupil funding proposed by the House and Senate...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. May 5, 1915: Like a thunder bolt from a clear sky came the news of the new ruling made by Judge Jennings last Friday at Juneau, as it was generally conceded that the system used last year, of having every citizen signify their opinion of the liquor traffic by saying for or against, would be used again this year. So when the new ruling was made calling for a secret ballot election, it came as a big surprise. Much significance is placed on the new ruling and it is thought by some that it means the...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 29, 1915: Mrs. Cornelia Templeton Hatcher, the lecturer for the W.C.T.U. held a good audience at attention last Friday evening at the Rink. Mrs. Hatcher spoke at considerable length on the prohibition movement for Alaska and her lecture was illustrated with some 50 slides. Mrs. Hatcher is a very able speaker and knows her subject from the start to finish and tells it in a way that holds her audience. Mrs. Hatcher left on the Alki Saturday for northern points. Capt. Strong expects to have his...
A draft copy of the strategic plan being developed for Wrangell Public Schools (WPS) is taking shape. The plan is based on ideas from educators, parents, students and other community members discussed in a planning session in February. The strategic plan looks ahead for the next three academic years and focuses on the areas of academic achievement, career and technical education, technology, and safety and facilities. School administrators are still taking feedback from members of the four 6-person committees but will approach the Wrangell...
Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Board continued to reexamine the fee structure for Park’s facilities at their April 1 meeting. A previous draft schedule was rejected by the Borough Assembly in January. Park Board members will meet April 29 for a workshop to discuss future rates for pool and facilities usage. “People are curious to see how we’re going to move forward,” Parks director Kate Thomas said. “And I want to be able to give them that answer.” At its January meeting, the Assembly told previous Parks director Amber Al-Haddad planned rate...
A project to improve storage capacity at Southeast Alaska Power Agency's (SEAPA) Swan Lake hydropower facility continues along with efforts to finance it with up to $11.36 million in bond sales. Over the past month, SEAPA's executive director Trey Acteson and general counsel presented updates on the planned expansion of the facility located northeast of Ketchikan on Revillagigedo Island. Each of SEAPA's three member utilities-Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan- heard presentations on the...
Wrangell residents and other Alaskans from around the state were given more opportunity to voice concerns over impending cuts to state programming during a public hearing held Monday evening for the draft of next year's budget being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. Six Wrangellites came to their local Legislative Information Office to provide testimony via telephone, along with residents of Petersburg and Ketchikan. “I am speaking in opposition to the cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System,” borough manager Jeff Jabusch told the...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 8, 1915: Election day in Wrangell passed off quietly last Tuesday, there being very little interest shown other than going to the polls to vote. Only one lady, Mrs. J.G. Grant, availed herself of the opportunity to have her say in the affairs of the city and cast her vote. There were eight members running on the ticket, five of them from the old council. The following men were on the ticket, the first seven being the new council. They received the highest vote in the order named: J.G. Grant,...
Even before getting into its own upcoming budget, Wrangell’s Assembly had plenty of numbers to crunch at its regular meeting Tuesday evening, with an hour-long joint session held beforehand with the local school board regarding its upcoming budget and a presentation by Wrangell Medical Center’s executive on the state of the hospital’s finances. (see adjoining stories) Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch reported next year’s budget is coming along on task, with a draft likely to be ready for review by mid-April. “We’ll bring you a balanced budget one w...
School Board members met with the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly, city staff and school district officials at a joint work session late Tuesday afternoon. Of particular importance, they discussed a draft budget for the 2016 fiscal year. Ahead of anticipated declines in Foundation Support by $162,188, Wrangell School District staff is looking at making more than $156,144 in cuts to the operating costs. This decline in revenue includes one-time and special education funding provided by the state. One-time funding was promised by the state...
Wrangell Public School District will be partnering more closely with the University of Alaska Southeast’s Tech Prep Program in coming months, setting up an office for the program’s coordinator, Kimberly Szczatko. A memorandum of understanding was approved by the Wrangell School Board earlier this month and a formal agreement is in the process of being signed, but tentatively, Szczatko expects to be relocated from the Juneau office by May. Once here, Szczatko will be better able to assist high school students to enroll in tech prep pro...
The full Wrangell School Board met Monday evening at Evergreen Elementary to discuss contracts and the upcoming budget as the academic year enters its final quarter. The board examined budgets past and future, making some minor revisions to its FY15 budget and examining changes to its first draft of FY16. Superintendent Patrick Mayer explained that the changes reflect the expected 2.5 percent reduction in one-time monies allotted by the state. "The Legislature hasn't sent any indication that...
