Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 191
Temporary jobs created by the borough last month remain unfilled — an airport greeter to familiarize travelers with COVID-19 rules and two tire shredder positions. The airport greeter position, approved by the borough assembly on Oct. 12, is a part-time, temporary position at $15.09 per hour and requires the worker to drive to the airport, ferry terminal, harbors or other locations to greet incoming travelers and inform them of the borough’s COVID travel testing mandates. The position, which requires a high school diploma or GED, would inv...
A for-profit detox and recovery center business interested in purchasing the former hospital building planned a site visit for this week, and a former Wrangell resident who now works as a company representative led them to it. Casey Odell, the representative from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based Regard Recovery Centers, called in to the borough assembly meeting on Nov. 9 to discuss the possibility. She said she worked for Alaska Island Community Services as a therapist and health counselor in 2013 in Wrangell, before SEARHC took over the...
The port and harbors department is Marie Kondo-ing the boatyard. But when tossing out what doesn't bring joy consists of 10 derelict vessels that include steel, wood and fiberglass boats, the scrapping is a multi-step process. The Island Belle, Bonnie Jean, Tres Suertes and Parakeet have been through a vetting process that consists of trying to find the original owner to claim the vessel, followed by a borough auction. No one claimed the vessels. The Parakeet is already gone. It's an old seiner...
Wrangell's interim borough manager has been in the role for more than two weeks and would like to stay a lot longer. Jeff Good has applied for the full-time borough manager position, seeking to make his role more permanent. The assembly is continuing to accept applications for the job "until filled," with no deadline for a decision. Whether temporary or permanent, the retired Coast Guard officer, who served as base director in Kodiak from 2017 to 2020, said his job at the borough draws plenty...
It will be spring before the city barge ramp is back in operation, with repairs taking several months longer than expected. Until then, the weekly Alaska Marine Lines freight barges will have to continue to side-tie at the former sawmill dock at the Marine Service Center. The borough assembly at its Nov. 9 meeting authorized $115,000 for the project to fix the damaged barge ramp flotation tank. Workers last month pulled the tank off the end of the barge ramp for repairs of a leak that had reduced its buoyancy. A local contractor, Tim Heller,...
La Niña climate conditions could yield lower-than-normal temperatures in Wrangell and the rest of Southeast this winter. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center last month released its 2021 winter outlook for December through February. La Niña climate conditions have emerged for the second winter in a row, according to the National Weather Service. That means there’s a good chance Southeast could receive above-average snowfall and below-average temperatures again this year, said Cody Moore, meteorologist at the Weather Ser...
The finance department has decided the borough will resume collection efforts and power disconnects for severely delinquent residential utility customers after COVID-era payment moratoriums and grace periods have ended. The borough on Tuesday shut off the power to three residences that had failed to make payment or set up a payment plan; two of those account holders paid their bill the same day and had their power restored. Though a state moratorium on utility shutoffs expired a year ago, the borough instituted its own grace period, said...
An addiction recovery center operator is interested in possibly buying the former hospital to open a residential and outpatient treatment center in Wrangell. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based Regard Recovery Centers planned to send a representative, Casey Odell, to the borough assembly’s Tuesday meeting this week to introduce the organization, discuss its interest in the former Wrangell Medical Center property, and to schedule a time in the coming weeks for a follow-up visit to Wrangell, Amber Al-Haddad, capital facilities director, reported to t...
A free health screening program for women who are underinsured, uninsured or income-eligible has plenty of spots available. The Wisewoman Women's Health Program was created to establish a tradition of prevention and instill healthy behaviors for women who often find themselves putting everyone else in their life first, and their health last, said Tammi Meissner, Wisewoman program health educator, who took over the program at SEARHC in Wrangell in 2018. "It's a great opportunity for women who...
The parks and recreation department has approved an updated behavior policy, with consequences for violations. The policy was drafted after unruly behavior at open swim sessions led to some participants getting kicked out, Kate Thomas, parks and recreation director, said. The TikTok-inspired vandalism and pranks that school officials have seen were also on the department’s radar, she said. While they haven’t seen anything inspired by those trends, Thomas said parks and recreation wanted to get ahead by warning of the consequences. Those poo...
The Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau is trying to finish a draft of its tourism best management practices. The renewed push comes after the effort to adopt best practices was waylaid by the onset of the pandemic almost two years ago. The latest draft was distributed among the CVB board members at their Nov. 4 work session to share with businesses and get their input for a final draft that would go before the borough assembly after the holidays, and once enough input from business owners and tour operators is collected. When the visitor...
As winter approaches, the Wrangell parks and recreation department has plans to clear a sledding hill popular with children. The hill is beyond the covered playground near the elementary school. Alder trees are encroaching on the area, limiting the space for play, said Kate Thomas, parks and recreation director, so the public works department is going to help clear those trees. In addition, the parking barriers are due for upgrades, according to a parks maintenance report. “The existing logs that delineate the roadway from the parking area a...
Jeffrey Good, who moved to Wrangell after retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard, started work Monday as interim borough manager, replacing Lisa Von Bargen until the assembly can make a permanent hire. The borough assembly last Thursday offered the position to Good, who was among five candidates for the job. Von Bargen's last day as manager was Friday. Good, the only local candidate, served as U.S. Coast Guard base director in Kodiak from 2017 to 2020, according to his résumé. He served as public w...
For lovers of the written word, one might argue that walking into a library is like a family reunion, of the senses at least. The smell of paper and ink pulls memories of curling up with a book, no phone to check or competition for attention. Last Thursday, it felt like a reunion of the senses and also a library family reunion. November marks 100 years since the library opened its doors on Oct. 31, 1921. And before the cake could be cut and whittled down, former library director Kay Jabusch...
Rod Rhoades has a sick generator. It's down for the count after mechanical issues this summer, said the superintendent at Wrangell Municipal Light & Power. The generator is one of five that provide backup when Wrangell loses its feed from the Tyee Lake hydroelectric station. After Rhoades started in 2018, he brought a fifth generator online in 2020 to "give me some breathing room." Before that, there would be times when all four generators were running to meet power demand, he said, and for...
The borough finance department has “found” $2 million to add to its ledger of cash, cash equivalents and long- and short-term investments, boosting the total to closer to $38 million. The money wasn’t lost as much as left off a ledger. Joyce Mason, the finance director in 2020, had transferred $2 million from a UBS operating investment account into a KeyBank account invested in the Alaska Municipal League Investment Pool, said Mason Villarma, finance director. “That $2 million has been sitting in that KeyBank account since May of 2020,...
The Wrangell Senior Center wants to buy another bus for moving people around town, adding a four-wheel-drive vehicle to its operation, but it could be 2024 before the bus gets to town. The senior center already operates two buses, one for people and one for deliveries, but neither is four-wheel-drive, said Solvay Gillen, site manager at the senior center. Buying a four-wheel-drive bus would be helpful in the winter, she said. “Some of those roads are difficult to access in the wintertime,” Gillen said. “It makes a huge difference.” The $135,00...
After no cruise ship visitors in 2020 and this year's pandemic-anemic numbers in the hundreds, Wrangell next year could see ships with berths for close to 20,000 passengers pull into town. In 2019, 21,540 passengers visited Wrangell, according to data compiled by Rain Coast Data for the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau. Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska has released its 2022 calendar for the vessels it represents, mostly larger vessels sailing under a foreign flag. The passenger capacity of...
Lisa Von Bargen is leaving after a little more than four years as borough manager, but that will not stop her from thinking about Wrangell. For now, she needs to help take care of her mother in Valdez, easing the burden on her sister, she said. “I don’t really want to leave Wrangell. I love it here,” Von Bargen said. “If I have an opportunity to do something here in town or Southeast, I would. I’m not giving up my condo right now unless it becomes absolutely necessary. So hopefully I’ll have...
The borough assembly acknowledged the life-giving watershed that feeds the Stikine River, which crosses the U.S.-Canada border, in approving a resolution to support efforts to protect Southeast Alaska’s three transboundary waters from mining pollution. The resolution references the ecosystem, Indigenous people, communities, residents and economies that depend on the health of the Stikine River. The assembly on Tuesday approved a “Wrangellized” version of a resolution that was originally scheduled for consideration Sept. 28. “The assembly furthe...
A memorial dedicated to those who made their lives on the sea or perished at sea is in its final stages. The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial at Heritage Harbor is in a last push for funds, said board member Jeff Jabusch, and is taking applications for commemorative plaques that will be installed at the site. People who died at sea will have an anchor insignia on their marker, and people who made their lives on the sea but died on land will not, Jabusch said. The memorial board is holding a...
A medical equipment loan closet in Wrangell offers items free of charge for anyone who needs assistance on a short-term basis. Alice Rooney, a retired social worker, volunteers with Hospice of Wrangell, also known as Harriet's Helpers. She has been helping run the closet which stocks wheelchairs, walkers, braces, bedpans, hospital beds, grabbers, commodes and other items. The loan closet is located in a corner of the former Wrangell Medical Center next to Evergreen Elementary School on Bennett...
A federal effort to help Southeast diversify its economy includes $25 million to be shared across the entire region — and Wrangell has weighed in with its requests. The U.S. Forest Service launched the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy over the summer to help promote “a diverse economy, enhanced community resilience, and conserved natural resources.” From Sept. 15 to Oct. 18, the agency sought input from communities and tribes for projects that could fulfill that strategy. Participants submitted 240 project proposals to spend the $25 m...
It gets so heavy, sometimes you just want to put it down is how Virginia Oliver describes preserving the Tlingit language. "You want to cry," she said, "because it feels like your brain is going to explode. But then, your Elders just tell you, 'It's too heavy right now, just put it down for a little while and pick it back up.'" The international Endangered Languages Project and a U.N. agency estimate there are 200 fluent Tlingit speakers left, but the majority of the sources for that data are a...
A lifeline for food and supplies needs fixing - one of the flotation tanks beneath Wrangell's barge ramp has a hole. Port Director Steve Miller said harbor staff at the end of August noticed the ramp wasn't raising high enough. There are two buoyancy tanks below the ramp. By adding or removing air, the ramp, originally constructed in 1977, can be raised or lowered to meet the deck of the barge to match the tides. A second flotation tank was added in the 1980s to handle the additional weight when...
