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At a specially scheduled meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, it issued conditional use permitting for a proposed senior living and assisted care center. The center would be at the site of Sourdough Lodge, which is between Peninsula and Berger streets and is currently zoned light industrial. Before its sale last year the lodge operated under a conditional use permit, which would need to be applied for by the new owners as well. Shannon Bosdell and Daniel Blake are working to convert the lodge into Harbor House Assisted Livin...
Members of the Wrangell Assembly learned a new water treatment plant being sought after will be financially unfeasible for the foreseeable future, and are looking into other options. Even before the water shortage problems of last summer due to its plant being unable to keep up with demand, the city was aware the facility could use replacement. After it was installed nearly two decades ago, the treatment plant's combination of roughing filters and slow sand filtration system turned out to be ill-suited to the sedimented water coming from Wrange...
Following a contentious meeting last week, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a follow-up workshop Tuesday evening to address neighbors concerns about a proposed senior housing and assisted care facility. With 30 people sitting in, the meeting was perhaps the liveliest City Hall has hosted since P&Z looked into the propriety of raising chickens in residential zoning back in 2014. The issue at hand was a conditional use permit being applied for by Daniel Blake and Shannon Bosdell, which would convert the Sourdough Lodge they are...
Wrangell has narrowed the field for its new borough manager, with city staff and members of the Borough Assembly holding a teleconference with five candidates during a closed-door meeting Friday. Current manager Jeff Jabusch announced his plans to retire back in September, which is to take effect at the end of day March 31. In his current post since 2013, the move brings to a close four decades of employment with the city, much which was spent as its finance director. The Assembly accepted the...
Wrangell Public School District unveiled its first draft for next year’s operating budget at its board’s Monday evening meeting. Overall, the school district’s budget is projected to be 2.3 percent higher than the FY17 revised budget, coming in at $5,953,642. As with other city departments, the new fiscal year is slated to begin July 1. Accounting for the rise, step-and-column increases are anticipated to raise the teacher and support salaries budget by about $48,000, with another $96,000 increase in payroll benefits associated with a 10-pe...
The state has so far not received any applications from a number of floathouse owners contacted last autumn. Since October, the Department of Natural Resources has been reaching out to identified owners of floating facilities anchored along the Stikine River’s tidal area, the land which is under its clear jurisdiction after resolving a longstanding dispute with the United States Forest Service last March. The floathouses being targeted are those anchored within the tidal influence of the river, which ends just beyond the terminus of Shakes S...
A state task force set up to further develop a sustainable mariculture industry is setting up several advisory committees as part of that process. The Alaska Mariculture Task Force was set up by Gov. Bill Walker following recommendations by the state’s marine industry. The group announced January 13 that after five meetings it is on its way to proposing an implementable plan by its deadline of March 1, 2018. These recommendations will address public and private investment, regulatory issues, and research and development needs. To that end, A...
Alaska’s 30th Legislature convened for its new session on Tuesday, with the state’s finances presenting a daunting challenge for the next 90 days. The spending deficit is projected at around $3.1 billion this year if the budget is left as-is. Agency spending has come to just over 13-percent since FY15, and the budget as a whole has taken a 29-percent cut when capital projects and other funding is considered. Revenue has failed to cover operating expenses since FY13, but has covered an ever-dwindling proportion since. This year the $1.2 bil...
Wrangell High School's boys basketball team chalked up a pair of wins over Haines last week. "We saw some definite good things," said Wolves coach Ray Stokes. In Wednesday night's game, they took an early lead on the visiting Glacier Bears, with Riley Blatchley's four two-pointers helping build an 18-10 lead during the first quarter. Wrangell continued to build on that lead the rest of the game, finishing with a score of 60-40. Haines was given plenty of opportunities to keep up, with the team...
Wrangell's high school girls basketball team added a win and a loss to their season, playing in Haines over the weekend. "It was a pretty tough weekend overall," said team coach Laurie Brown. The Lady Wolves played a strong first quarter on Friday evening, racking up 19 points to Haines' 11 but then the hosts turned the tables on Wrangell, scoring 19 points of their own during the next quarter to Wrangell's four. Brown recounted the team's defense had a tough time versus Haines' players. "They...
Things are coming together for a planned memorial dedicated to Wrangell's seafaring community. The Port Commission last week named two more people to the steering committee tasked with fundraising and contracting for the Mariners Memorial's construction. Fishermen Brennon Eagle and Gig Decker will be joining commission members John Yeager and John Martin on the committee. A fifth position is still vacant, and interested applicants are invited to submit a letter to the city clerk's office. The...
An informal workshop was arranged last week to allow members of the City and Borough Assembly meet with representatives of two medical providers planning to merge next month. In October, Wrangell-based clinical services provider Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) announced it would merge with the larger Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium (SEARHC), based in Sitka. For a symbolic price of $1, the property for AICS’ Wood Street clinic location was provided by the city in 2010 prior to the facility’s construction, with the intention of...
A report released by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development late last week is forecasting a 1.7-percent drop in employment this year from expected 2016 numbers. The forecast predicts a loss of around 600 jobs in the region over the coming year, with half that to be expected from state government. Southeast lost over 500 state jobs between 2014 and 2016, after a sharp drop in oil revenues pushed the state budget into a sustained, multi-billion-dollar deficit. The drop may be...
During Friday night's game, the Lady Chiefs started off with the lead Wrangell couldn't quite catch up to until the closing minutes. By the middle of the second quarter, Metlakatla was up 17-12 on Wrangell, but a few turnovers had the Lady Wolves get to within a point's difference. Metlakatla upped its offense, and brought the score again out of reach by the half to 26-20. The Lady Wolves slightly outscored their visitors during the third quarter, bringing their score to 31-36 by its end. A...
With a busy week on the road, Wrangell High School’s boys basketball team brought back home one victory from a pair of tournaments. The Wolves headed to Craig on January 4, though due to their later arrival the junior varsity squad was unable to get play time. The varsity team started out strong, leading by 12 points at the half. Craig bounced back with a whopping 33 points in the third quarter, and though Wrangell was able to retake its lead late in the game, the Panthers were able to turn the score in their favor during a series of free t...
Wrangell’s birders tallied up 45 different species last month during their annual holiday count. Venturing out on December 17, 30 volunteers had planned to take part in the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, the 117th one held in the conservation organization’s history. Wrangell has been a long-time participant, with the 2016 count being the island’s 75th. “We actually had more people participate than some larger places, like Juneau,” commented Bonnie Demerjian, an organizer for the local event. “At least, the intent was there.” Ultim...
At its regular meeting Tuesday, the City and Borough Assembly met with returning Rep. Dan Ortiz (I-District 36) to talk about the state budget. He had previously stopped by on similar visits to the councils in Hydaburg, Metlakatla and Ketchikan, and was hoping to get input from Wrangell’s before the upcoming session, which begins next week. “Marching orders, if you will,” he said. The biggest issue on all legislators’ plates this session will be the budget deficit, which is hovering at around $3.6 billion this year. Revenues for the state l...
Wrangell's second-largest travel lodging has been sold, and will be repurposed as a senior housing and assisted living center this spring. The owners of the Sourdough Lodge sold the property to a group of buyers, who are currently renovating its rooms and preparing it for the new use. Once completed, by April 1 the lodge will be rechristened Harbor House Assisted Living Center and Senior Housing. One of the buyers, Shannon Bosdell, explained the facility will fill a need in the community for hou...
Pending a judge’s sign-off, the Wrangell Borough and its public employees union are abandoning the courtroom for the negotiating table, after a productive settlement conference held last week in Ketchikan. The city and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 have been at odds over renewing a collective bargaining agreement, which for 24 public employees expired the end of June 2014. Mediation undertaken through the spring of 2015 did not resolve the dispute, and by that summer legal representation became involved. Efforts t...
Alaska's two senators jointly welcomed a new addition to their Southeast team. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan issued statements December 22 congratulating Chere Klein to serve at the South Southeast delegation representative office in her home town of Ketchikan. "The district office is kind of the eyes and ears of the senators when they're back in D.C.," Klein explained of the post. "Our main business is doing casework, and that's helping constituents around the district with any kind of...
The governments of Alaska and neighboring province British Columbia initiated their first bilateral working group on transboundary mining and water quality concerns earlier this month. In a statement from his office released last week, Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott expressed his appreciation for the meeting, which was one of the measures outlined in a statement of cooperation the two governments signed in October. The agreement was a next step in the process of addressing concerns among Southeast Alaskan communities about the ecological...
With the holiday break freeing up the season schedules, Wrangell High School's basketball and volleyball teams continued a long-standing tradition by hosting home alumni matches. The series started last week on December 21, with the volleyball girls taking on a team of former players. "The game went pretty well," said coach Jessica Whitaker. "We had a solid group of alumni girls show up." The alums ended up taking the tourney, winning best of five after four matches. The games were all for fun,...
The Wrangell Public School Board will get a first look at its budget next month for the upcoming year, which begins July 1, 2017. At its December 14 meeting, school superintendent Patrick Mayer reported the year’s budget would be reflecting expected reductions to revenue sources. He explained the district will be putting together its draft budget operating under four assumptions, which may change as the new year unfolds. One of these is a student enrollment count of 273, which takes into consideration part-time students. Health coverage p...
At its December monthly meeting, the City and Borough Assembly approved future expansion of Memorial Cemetery. Located near Heritage Harbor and City Park, Memorial is one of two public cemeteries managed by the city, the other being Sunset Gardens just across the road. A deepening problem the city has faced in recent years has been a lack of space at the two sites. The newer of the two, Sunset Gardens currently has only 18 unreserved plots available for purchase, with another 31 niches in its columbarium available for cremated remains....
Another housing unit has officially gone smoke-free, according to Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s local health promotion department. This fall the new owners of the Stikine Native Organization building on Front Street – colloquially known as the SNO Building to locals – formally made the building’s apartments smoke free. SEARHC health educator Tammi Meissner pointed out the move makes it the first private residential complex in town to register its policy with the state. In September, the Wrangell Senior Apartments formally went s...
