Sorted by date Results 1676 - 1700 of 6221
The borough assembly has approved a 30% boost to water rates effective May 1 instead of a 21% rate hike with additional smaller, staggered increases until 2026 originally suggested by staff. The assembly approved the increase April 26 after it postponed a decision on the 21% rate increase at its March 22 meeting. Several assembly members including Patty Gilbert said they had wanted to hear more public comment on the issue. At the April 26 meeting where the 30% increase was approved, no one from the public showed up to speak on the issue....
As borough staff finalize the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Capital Facilities Department is requesting $350,000 toward a fuel tank project to bring the high school and Public Safety Building into regulatory compliance by replacing underground diesel storage tanks with aboveground tanks. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation inspected the now almost 40-year-old underground tanks in 2020 and determined they were out of compliance with regulations, and recommended they be taken out of service and removed. The Public...
For as long as the Tlingit people have built canoes, they have carved paddles. Just as there are many different sizes and styles of canoes for various purposes, paddles are created to be just as unique to their users. The tradition of carving paddles continues today throughout Southeast for cultural celebrations, dancing, decorations and even paddling canoes. In Wrangell, a workshop held April 22-24 educated about 15 participants on the type of wood to use, how to carve it and properly finish...
High school students were urged to use their smartphones and laptops during an assembly for once. It was announced last Monday that the painted and decorated shoes entered into the Vans Custom Culture design contest had won Wrangell High School a spot in the national top 50 and a chance at $50,000. Staff and students are calling on family, friends, neighbors and the online universe to go to https://customculture.vans.com/, click the "VOTE NOW" button and choose Wrangell. Public voting closes at...
Anyone who wants to get a pizza midweek at the Marine Bar or a steak or burger at the Elks Lodge knows that worker shortages have forced employers to reduce their days and cut back on offerings. “This worker shortage is real, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor, told legislators last month. “For nine years in a row, more people have left the state than have come here,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. The population has been stable as births have outpaced deaths, but the y...
The borough assembly has approved applying for a $3.8 million loan from the state to fund construction of a new water treatment plant, estimated to cost nearly $15.4 million. The borough has nearly $11.1 million in funding from two federal grants and one federal loan, leaving a shortfall of $4.3 million, according to information presented to the assembly for its April 26 meeting. The assembly approved seeking a loan from the Alaska Drinking Water Fund, to be paid back over 20 years. It would cover construction of a new building to house...
A black bear cub seen wandering Shoemaker Loop off Zimovia Highway at 5.5 Mile last week was euthanized in Petersburg on April 24, a day after a state wildlife trooper and U.S. Forest Service officer captured it following several sightings by residents who live along the roadway. Trooper Chadd Yoder with Alaska Wildlife Troopers got a call from Wrangell police about people seeing a bear cub for days without its mother. “It was apparent the bear was separated,” he said April 25. “What happened to mom, we don’t know.” Jimmy Nelson, a Forest Se...
The borough assembly on April 26 postponed a vote to put the old hospital building up for online auction after assembly members raised the question if the $830,000 starting bid went up to or beyond the $1 million limit in the law for selling municipal property without a vote of the people. If that were to happen, the sale would have to be approved by voters at an election — either the regular one in October, or the borough would have to hold a special election. The assembly will consider the issue again at its May 10 meeting. “If it (bi...
"A River Runs Through Us" is the theme chosen for this year's Fourth of July celebration in Wrangell, prompting event organizers to hold a first-ever art contest, with the winner's work being featured on posters and other swag. Plus, there's a chance to win $1,000. Entries can come from anyone and can be hard copies or digital. The piece should capture the theme of the contest, which refers to the Stikine River. The deadline is Friday by 4 p.m. "It's a connection that everybody from here...
Legislation to restore and increase the state licensing fee on sportfishing guides and operators ran into problems in the Senate Finance Committee last week, as lawmakers questioned why out-of-state boat owners who bring up guests are not required to get a license and pay the fee. “My district has got to be one of the top guided areas in the state,” said Committee Co-Chair Sen. Bert Stedman, whose district stretches from Sitka to Prince of Wales Island, including Wrangell. And while that means a lot of non-residents pay local operators for fis...
The borough assembly at its April 26 meeting approved an ordinance to hold boat owners liable for disposing of derelict vessels, after the port commission passed a resolution at its April 7 meeting requesting the change. The change to municipal code says, “the owner shall be liable for the costs of disposing or destroying the vessel.” The intent is to lessen the burden on the borough of paying for derelict and impounded vessels, which drains the Port and Harbors Department coffers when clunkers take on water or sink, leading the department to...
In a two-page letter to the community, Schools Superintendent Bill Burr on Friday cautioned that ongoing staffing shortages, particularly aides and substitute teachers, could push the schools into considering a move to distance learning in lieu of in-person instruction. “As we have had a number of unfilled positions over the last month, we need to continue looking at the need to move toward distance learning,” he wrote in his letter Friday. “We have worked very hard to keep our schools open during (COVID) mitigation and adversity, but without o...
Some commercial fishermen prefer to sell their hauls in Wrangell. Some look for the best price, even if it's a few cents higher. Some decide where to sell based on services offered. No matter what determines where a fisherman will sell, processors try to lure as many their way throughout the year, including buying a bevy of different species. "What Pacific Seafood does here in Wrangell, we have our hands in a little bit of all of it," said Cody Angerman, general manager at the processor's plant...
Just as other communities, Wrangell is enduring a springtime bloom of COVID-19 cases. As of April 20, the state health department reported 79 new cases in the community in the past 30 days. Most of those were reported to the state in late March and early April, with new infections declining in the past week. The spread of the highly infectious disease is of particular concern at the schools. “We have had an increase in COVID and other illnesses during the past month and the schools have been struggling to find ways to stay open,” Sup...
The borough assembly may put the old hospital building up for online auction next month, at a starting bid of $830,000, the value deemed by a recent commercial appraisal. A Florida-based substance abuse treatment center that had expressed interest last year in taking over the property had told borough staff it was waiting on an appraisal but hasn’t been back in touch. The borough assembly on Tuesday considered a resolution to put the 30,596-square-foot former Wrangell Medical Center on nearly two acres along Bennett Street up for auction on p...
The Alaska Senate could vote this week on a new formula to calculate the annual Permanent Fund dividend, though proposed amendments and lengthy debate are expected and passage of the bill is uncertain. The bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee last Thursday would set this fall’s dividend at about $2,600 per person, putting the same cash in Alaskans’ pockets as the House plan to pay out half that amount as a dividend and half as a one-time energy relief check to help Alaskans paying the price of higher heating fuel, gasoline and diesel b...
The borough assembly has started work on its budget for the fiscal year that will start July 1 and will need to decide on a school district request for more funding in addition to paying higher fuel and property insurance costs and spending on necessary maintenance of public facilities. Revenues are up, however, with more money coming in from sales taxes and federal payments in lieu of property taxes on national forest lands. Borough staff and assembly members started their budget review during a work session April 20. The borough’s annual c...
SEARHC plans to offer a paid, six-week, on-the-job training program in Wrangell in June for certified nursing assistants (CNAs). After successful completion of the program, a student is eligible to sit for the state certification exam. As of last Friday, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium had openings posted on its website for eight nursing assistant jobs in Wrangell. “CNAs are an important part of our workforce, with 20-plus on staff at any time,” said Carly Allen, hospital administrator. “The course is a hybrid of in-pe...
Bodies were strewn throughout the rocks north of the Wrangell Airport, the site of a grisly airplane wreck. Cries for help could be heard here and there. Bloodied victims wandered aimlessly. Every three years, the state Department of Transportation requires a drill to prepare emergency responders in the case of a real disaster. Last Wednesday, approximately 25 firefighters and EMTs treated volunteer victims during a mock plane crash, complete with fiery wreckage and triage stations. Before the...
School board members voted unanimously on April 18 to adopt the district’s budget for the 2022-23 school year, which is balanced on the assumption of $432,000 in additional state and borough funding. The school district submitted a letter along with the adopted $5 million budget to the borough, requesting an additional $292,000 on top of the $1.3 million the borough has paid the district in past annual appropriations. The district also is counting on an additional $140,000 in state funding for next year. The borough funds its local c...
The borough could receive about $300,000 under a Senate Finance Committee plan to pay back municipalities across Alaska for years of short-funding of the state’s share of local school construction bond debt. The committee version of the state budget includes $221 million to pay back municipalities for incomplete state reimbursement payments going back five years. Years of low oil prices and large state budget deficits prompted governors to short-fund the reimbursements, with legislators lacking enough votes to override budget vetoes. This y...
The school board on April 18 voted to hire a former Alaskan as the new principal for Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle school. Robert Burkhart will begin as principal for the secondary schools on Aug. 8. He applied for the position after another candidate was chosen and had withdrawn her application. The district received more than 30 applications for the position, which is a one-year contract. It will be paid with federal funds from an American Rescue Plan Act grant. The school board approved the contract for a new principal at...
“Right now, we’re in a low-productivity era,” said Bill Auger, a fifth-generation commercial fisherman with 35 years of experience. Salmon fishing in District 8, in front of the Stikine River, has been closed for several years, and the gillnet fleet is limited to two days a week in District 6, west of Wrangell. “There is less out there to catch. Everybody is trying to do the best they can to catch what they can. Rebuilding the stocks is a big concern, and how you go about rebuilding them,” Auger said in an interview April 11, a week after Wrang...
After a strong return of pink salmon to Southeast last year, state fisheries managers are forecasting a commercial harvest of just over 16 million fish this summer, one-third the level of last year’s catch of 48.5 million pinks. “During recent decades, Alaska-wide pink salmon returns have tended to be larger” during odd-numbered years than even-numbered years, the Department of Fish and Game noted in its annual forecast released April 19. Last summer’s pink harvest was on track with the 10-year average for odd-numbered years (2010-2...
Global supply chain shortages and delays have extended past grocery stores, car dealers and electronics to the Alaska Marine Highway System. The state ferry Kennicott was delayed coming out of winter overhaul. Instead of returning to service last week, as had been scheduled, the ship was rescheduled to leave Ketchikan on Thursday for a trip to Juneau, Yakutat and Kodiak before sailing into Bellingham, Washington, to fully start its summer runs. The Kennicott’s scheduled return to service was delayed due to supply chain issues, labor constraints...
