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Wrangell’s district representative for the State Legislature teleconferenced in late last week to update constituents on what’s going on in Juneau. Rep. Dan Ortiz (I-District 36) called in to Legislative Information Office locations in Ketchikan and Wrangell to explain ongoing bills and field questions on March 23. Likely the biggest issue on Alaska’s collective mind is its budget deficit, which by various measures is set to drain billions from the state’s savings this year. With spending left as is, the Legislative Finance Division project...
JUNEAU – The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) is selling the M/V Taku through a sealed bid sale. The minimum bid price is $1.5 million and interested bidders must have a bid bond of $5,000. The complete bid package is available on the state's Online Public Notice website. ADOT&PF is selling the vessel "As Is/Where Is" to the highest bidder. The sale process involved getting Federal Highway Administration approval since federal funding was used to maintain the v...
March 15, 1917: Forty years ago last Saturday Judge Wm. G, Thomas arrived in Wrangell. When asked if any of the buildings that were here then are still standing Judge Thomas said: “The only buildings standing now which were here when I landed on March 10, 1877, are the buildings of the old garrison. The building now occupied by F.D. Bronson, the customs collector, was the Captain’s quarters. The big log building which is now used as a jail was then the barracks proper, while the small log building used as an office for the United States com...
When Southeast Conference meets for its annual Mid-Session Summit in Juneau later this month, among the items high on its list for discussion is the structural reform of Alaska's ferry system. Southeast Alaskans have become dependent on the state's Marine Highway System since its establishment in 1959, essentially becoming their road network into and out of the region. It is a significant economic driver for the coastal communities it services as well, with an estimated impact of just over $103...
PETERSBURG — State Senator Bert Stedman predicts the legislature will be in session for a full 120 days with an additional 30 day session if they are to complete their work this session. “There’s a lot of talk of the 90 day session but the constitution calls for 121 days. “We’ve only finished in 90 days one time,” Stedman noted. Stedman was in Petersburg this past weekend to attend the Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet along with his wife Lureen. Stedman said there is a “near zero chance of a 90 day session with any quality work being accompl...
Repairs to one of Southeast’s primary public ferries will take longer than anticipated. Alaska Marine Highway System reported the M/V Matanuska may not return to service until February 20, 10 days later than initially expected. Taken offline on January 3, the ship is currently in Ketchikan for its annual maintenance overhaul. “During that process they found some steel that needs to be replaced before it can return,” explained Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesperson Meadow Bailey. The delay has affected scheduling for s...
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...
For Wrangell, the past year was one mixed with successes and setbacks, shared tragedies and uplifting moments. Sales taxes collected over the spring and summer tour seasons neared all-time highs, with the visitor industry experiencing a good season overall. On the other end, fishermen experienced one of their worst harvests of the summer, which after a disappointing 2015 season has put the fiscal pinch on a number of local families, boat builders, and associated sectors. As 2017 dawns, concerns...
The M/V Matanuska will be sailing on an altered schedule into next week, according to the Alaska Marine Highway System. Due to problems with one of the vessel’s engines, it remained overnight in Ketchikan for repairs. It resumed its course Monday, but will be running on a delayed timetable through December 20, when it departs from Ketchikan for its evening stop in Wrangell. Its scheduled northbound stop into Wrangell was bumped to Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. On its southbound leg, the ferry is due into port again Friday at 4:45 p.m., arriving a...
The Alaska Marine Highway System announced its schedule for the coming summer was ready. The finalized schedule essentially remained the same as a proposal put forward earlier this fall, with an overall 10-week service reduction to operations from the previous summer, down to around 325 operating weeks overall. “We’re pretty much going forward with what was put out,” explained Jeremy Woodrow, AMHS public information officer. The schedule is based on expected funding levels for the 2018 fiscal year, and reflects input collected from the publi...
To the Editor: This fall Governor Walker has been weighing the pros and cons of proceeding with the Juneau road extension. The project entails fifty miles of new pavement, which would dead end at a ferry terminal on the uninhabited Katzehin River delta across the Lynn Canal from Haines. As residents of Petersburg and Wrangell know, long roads with short shuttle ferries have not worked out as hoped for in Southeast Alaska. The South Mitkof and Coffman Cove terminals, while beautiful facilities, have been largely shuttered since they were built....
The summer visitor season appears to have improved slightly over the last year for Wrangell, according to data available through the city, state and private businesses. One indication of this has been collections of the city's transient occupancy tax, commonly called the "bed tax," a six-percent levy on room rates for local hotels, lodges and other accommodations. The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce has 17 of these listed, whose primary seasons and target markets vary. While sales tax data could...
Stopping in town one last time before next week's election, Sen. Bert Stedman talked about the state's ongoing deficit woes, by far the largest issue the new set of legislators will be facing when they head into next year's session. Speaking on October 27, he tried to put the scale of the deficit into perspective. While for readability's sake the amount is sometimes expressed in terms of "billions," he noted the full figure may come to between $3,100,000,000 and $3,500,000,000 this year – an a...
Rep. Dan Ortiz is running for reelection on November 8, to represent District 36 in the Alaska State House. Going door to door through Wrangell on the campaign trail late last month, he stopped in the Sentinel office to talk about his record, his candidacy, and the direction he believes the state should head in the coming session. Unaffiliated with any political party, after being elected to office in 2014, Ortiz served both legislative sessions caucusing with the Democratic-led House Minority....
The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced Tuesday a proposed ferry schedule for the coming summer. The schedule patterns being proposed for the Alaska Marine Highway System would cover sailings from May through September. The schedule is based on expected funding levels for the 2018 fiscal year. It would feature an overall 10-week service reduction to operations, down to around 325 operating weeks. “It’s pretty consistent,” explained Jeremy Woodrow, public information officer for ADOTP&F. Service to Wrangell would...
Repairs to the Alaska Marine Highway System’s M/V Columbia are going to take longer than anticipated and it won’t return to service this year, according to Jeremy Woodrow, Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman. The ferry headed for dry dock in Oregon at the end of September to be looked over after divers in Wrangell reported a bent starboard propeller. After arriving in Oregon, the damage turned into much more, and the vessel will take around six weeks to repair, Woodrow says. “Upon dry dock inspection it was discovered that the prope...
PETERSBURG — With the state fiscal crisis swallowing Alaska’s political debate since 2014, the Alaska House races in Districts 35 and 36 are being fought on almost identical grounds. House District 35 includes the northern and more populated half of Prince of Wales Island. While Ketchikan’s Rep. Dan Ortiz is an independent, both he and Rep. Jonathan Kreiss Tomkins, D-Sitka, are members of the Alaska House minority caucus. They won their races after unlikely campaigns as political underdogs. Kreiss-Tomkins was first elected in 2012, while Ortiz...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s M/V Columbia is scheduled for a trip to Oregon for repairs after divers noticed a bent starboard propeller late last week, according to Jeremy Woodrow, Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman. “Not a huge bend, but there was a noticeable bend,” he said. “That was the only visible damage the divers noticed.” Earlier in the week, the vessel was traveling Lynn Canal to Haines or Skagway when those onboard noticed a vibration. Soon after, it was discovered the vibration happened when the vessel exceeded...
As this week's Sentinel hits the streets, Southeast Conference's 2016 Convention and Membership Meeting will be wrapping up in Petersburg. Designated by the state and federal governments as Southeast Alaska's organization for regional economic development, SEC includes 180 member organizations, representing 1,200 people from 32 regional communities. One of the highlights of its annual fall meeting in recent years has been its By the Numbers Report, which looks at economic and demographic trends...
As the fisheries industry continues to expand and Wrangell’s Marine Service Center’s services demand increases, I believe Wrangell’s economy has nowhere to go but up. However, to accommodate this growth, the state must maintain their services in Wrangell. I am particularly concerned about the conservation of state jobs in Wrangell. Several years ago, Wrangell lost its social worker and its fisheries biologist. Now, the loss of the Wrangell trooper and the potential of reduced funding to the city jail weigh heavily, as Wrangell’s state jobs sl...
A steering committee has been selected to head up restructuring of the Alaska Marine Highway System. In May the office of Gov. Bill Walker tasked regional economic forum Southeast Conference with revitalizing the state’s maritime transportation network, a two-phase process which will involve looking both at its organizational structure and business model. To that end, a committee representing AMHS’ varied user base was selected from around 25 applicants. “We had quite a few names to choose from,” commented Robert Venables, transpo...
Following the July 4 weekend, last Wednesday Wrangell's Public Works Department began closing off Wood Street for resurfacing work. The project is expected to last into September, with contractors laying out underground utilities and paving the road in concrete, from where it meets Zimovia Highway to the entrance of the Alaska Island Community Services clinic parking lot. The city made resurfacing the road a priority for the new year, as a grant acquired for the project expires in June 2017....
Wrangell's annual Independence Day celebration draws hundreds of visitors, from former residents and current ones' relatives to returning tourists. Among the weekend's visitors were Sen. Bert Stedman of District R and Republican candidate for House District 36 Bob Sivertsen. On a brief break before returning to Juneau for a special session beginning on July 11, Stedman explained the purpose of his visit to Wrangell was twofold: catching the first two days of its Fourth festivities and visiting w...
Navigating the Wrangell Narrows can be tricky, if not treacherous, depending on the vessel size and time of year. On June 14, Britta Adams of Ketchikan became the first known individual to swim the body of water from south to north. "I just knew that I had a tide, and I had six hours," she says. "My goal was to get from Marker 1 to Marker 42, the end of Pinball Alley, and everything beyond that was just a bonus." The water was 48 degrees when Adams jumped in at 4:45 a.m., and 15 minutes later...
Alaska’s state ferry system is embarking on a journey to make itself more financially viable over the next 25 years, as a process to refocus and possibly restructure, spearheaded by Southeast Conference. Representing the region’s economic interests, the SEC was first started 58 years ago in order to support establishment of what would become the Alaska Marine Highway System. Appropriately enough then, the organization will help to steer that regional transportation network into the future, after a memorandum of understanding to that effect was...