Mechel Meek, who lives aboard a 48-foot motor yacht at Heritage Harbor, has met a lot of recreational and commercial boat owners, transient boat owners too.

She believes the knowledge she has gained — “I want to listen to people” — makes her well suited to serve on the port commission.

“Wrangell’s port and harbors draw so many different people,” she said. 

Meek is running for a three-year term against incumbent Antonio Silva in the Oct. 6 municipal election.

“I’ve never done any public office. I’ve never even thought of it before,” she said. “But this is such a small community, and I love it here, and I wanted to be more invested in this community.”

She moved to Wrangell in the summer of 2024, when her husband, Gene, was hired as police chief. They had been living in Soldotna, on the Kenai Peninsula, in an RV. “We’re used to living small.”

After the chief was hired, they found a boat in Douglas they wanted to buy, then motored it to Wrangell to set up their new liveaboard home.

“I like being on the water. I’ve always loved the water … (but) never been able to afford to live on the water.”

In Soldotna, they owned land where she “ran my little micro farm,” raising Coturnix quail (Japanese quail).

“I have always been interested in food and self-sufficiency and sustainability. Obviously, here in Alaska, that’s also a huge thing.”

Meek, who is almost 51 years old, has an inner ear disease which affects her hearing and her balance.

“I love that people are able to harvest their bounty from the sea. … With my physical limitations, quail were really the easiest way” to participate in a sustainable harvest of food. It is important “to have my own little micro farm and help provide for our family healthy food, knowing where it comes from.”

She continues to raise the small quail in Wrangell, keeping them at her son’s property. “I do sell the eggs at the community market, so I share with the community when I can.”

Community participation and listening are important for public officials, she said.

“I think people need to feel heard. … Sometimes they feel like, well, why did I get charged for this thing when this person next to me didn’t? And they don’t understand how it works.”

Meek believes “we can make our harbors better without throwing a ton of money at them. I think that we can be fiscally responsible and make them better at the same time.”

For example, she noted that they lived at Shoemaker Harbor before moving to Heritage. “The Shoemaker parking lot is just a giant mud pit. The easiest way would be to scrape it up a little bit more and make it a little bit more flat.”

She also commented that “technically” there are two handicapped parking spaces at Shoemaker, but “one is in front of the oil waste bin, which means it’s unusable.”

Though maybe a minor thing, “but little things can make big changes for the people who use the harbors,” she said. “I know I’m not the only disabled person who uses the harbors. There are quite a few.”

The community needs to take care of the harbor together, she said. “Because that’s what I love about Wrangell. We’re a community, and we help each other out.”