Wrangell Sentinel -

In addition to approving a bevy of capital projects that will likely come to fruition in 2013, the Borough Assembly added two new members to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board of Directors this week during their last regular session meeting of 2012 on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

Before beginning the meeting in earnest, however, Desiré Shepler of Alaska Island Community Services made a community presentation to the Assembly on her speaking tour of Wrangell and Petersburg regarding the State of Alaska’s Strategic Prevention Framework for alcohol abuse in the two communities. Shepler’s project will wrap up this week with a final address to the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Trustees.

Mayor Don McConachie nominated the two new SEAPA board members, Brian Ashton as the voting member, and Clay Hammer as a non-voting alternate, to their seats on the board of the Ketchikan-based utility operator.

A nomination of Ernie Christian to the board by member James Stough was not considered after Hammer was sustained by a 5-2 tally, with Stough and Wilma Stokes voting no.

The Assembly also scheduled a discussion for Feb. 12 on a review of SEAPA’s sunset clause, which could take effect in 2015.

The Assembly also approved a list of 12 capital project priority requests – a list that ranges the gamut from the Borough’s sewer system to funding for a carving shed to be operated by the Wrangell Cooperative Association.

In Borough Manager Tim Rooney’s report to the Assembly, he spelled out the process that brought the list before them for approval.

“A work session for the Borough Assembly was conducted on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 (for) the purpose of reviewing the City and Borough of Wrangell's Capital Project Priorities for 2013-2014,” Rooney stated. “At the work session, the Borough Assembly reviewed the current year's Capital Project Priorities as approved by the Borough Assembly in February of 2012, discussed projects that needed to be added to the list, and developed a draft list of "Top 12" projects to put forward to the State of Alaska in the upcoming legislative session.”

Rooney also informed the Assembly members that a suggested sales tax reduction proposed by Ernie and Rhonda Christian will go the voters of the Borough late next year.

“Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Christian had 90 days to obtain 94 signatures to place the initiative petition before the voters of Wrangell,” Rooney stated in his report. “On Friday, November 30, 2012 the signatures obtained by Mr. and Mrs. Christian were reviewed and found to meet qualifications for the initiative petition to be placed before the voters at the next Regular Borough Election on October 1, 2013.”

Rooney also reiterated that his office was concerned about the financial effect a reduced rate would have on the city’s budget and that he is still seeking input from outside sources on the issue.

“I will continue to utilize this report as a method of providing factual information regarding the impact that a reduction of sales tax from 7 percent to 5.5 percent would have on the services that the City and Borough of Wrangell provides to its citizens. If you or anyone you know has any concerns regarding this methodology, please contact me,” Rooney stated.

Further into his report, Rooney stated the need for a set of two budgetary analyses to be presented to the Assembly contingent upon the outcome of the October election.

I believe it is essential that the administration present two budgets. One reflecting no change in the 7 percent sales tax and the other a reduction to 5.5 percent,” Rooney added. “This would allow the city to immediately shift to the alternate budget where the public hearings and decisions have already been debated and approved so there is a clear direction for staff and the public as to what would happen in each scenario. As a result, it is important that the budget process begin much sooner than normal. It is possible that there could be two large revenue reductions. One would be the sales tax reduction (approximately $500,000) and the other is a reduction in revenue sharing ($240,000) or $740,000 in total reductions.”

Rooney went on to state that such a reduction would affect every resident of the island in some way.

“Unfortunately, this cannot be done without some unprecedented budget reductions,” he stated. “The public will need to be part of this process as it likely will affect each and every person in some way through reduction in services that the city provides directly or that the city funds.”

Rooney also added that the movie theater located at the James and Elsie Nolan Center might soon see a conversion from the long-standard 35-millimeter film format to a digital projection system.

“Staff is preparing a solicitation for the purchase of the equipment necessary to convert Castle Mountain Entertainment's theater from its current 35mm projection to digital projection,” he added.

Bids for the new projection system will be opened during the early part of January.

Based upon Rooney’s estimation, the budgetary process would begin in December with Finance Director Jeff Jabusch preparing preliminary budget worksheets for department directors. Between January-February, department directors would present their normal requests and administration would formulate a strategy for balancing the budget under the alternate plan. By March department directors, Rooney and Jabusch would work on the alternate budget with an early April presentation to the Assembly on both versions of the budget. Public hearings and debate would then follow over cuts, service reductions and other options to balance the budget.

In advance of accepting a grant in the amount of $196,928 from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Rooney informed the Assembly that two sewer stations located adjacent to Ramey’s Bar and the other adjacent to the Inner Harbor boat ramp were noted to be at the end of their useful life. Both were the original pump stations installed in the late 1970’s making them close to 35 years old.

“In the past few years, there has been extensive and costly work required in order to keep both pumps operational,” Rooney stated. “It is increasingly difficult to find parts for the equipment and costly for those parts. Staff has experienced more and more call outs as the failure alarms notify staff when things are not working as they should. In the event of a complete failure where it is not possible to get the station to operate, staff would be forced to dump sewage into the harbor. Not only is this not something we want to do, we would most likely be fined by the Department of Environmental Conservation.”

The next meeting of the Borough Assembly is set for Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.