Sorted by date Results 276 - 291 of 291
Assembly Maxi Wiederspohn What background or experience do you have that qualifies you to be on the Wrangell Borough Assembly? I was born and raised in Wrangell and my work history is all in Wrangell. I will be a good listener then get as many facts and answers as I can. I can then consider what is best for the community as a whole. I will not jump to any judgment and will follow the rule of law. Why are you running for the assembly? To give back to the community and the people that I love so mu...
The Wrangell Road and Utility Improvement team met on Aug. 16 for what will be one of their final roundtable discussions of the project before it wraps in late September. Addressing the group, which included acting Borough Manager Carol Rushmore, project engineer Eric Voorhees stated that during the past two weeks vehicle access to City Market and Sentry Hardware has opened up to a greater degree, with parking and access to Zak’s Café being finalized as well. According to Voorhees, all the un...
Peggy Wilson Why are you running for this newly created seat in the Alaska State Legislature? I feel I have a good understanding of the legislative process and know what is reality and what really can be accomplished through legislation. I am not a quitter. I am in this thing for the long haul. Some legislation takes a long while to put in place like my bill forming the SEASWA (Southeast Solid Waste Authority) and another of my bills forming MTAB (Marine Transportation Advisory Board). Capital...
A bevy of capital improvement projects are underway in Wrangell, with the city dock undergoing rehabilitation, the Marine Service Center seeing a lot of pavement work, and underground electrical work on the Front Street redesign in full swing. In a July 24 supplemental report to the Borough Assembly, Borough Manager Tim Rooney brought the group up to date on those projects and others underway on the island. According to Rooney, while working on the city dock, crews found a number of improperly installed piling. “Several piles were discovered t...
The Borough Assembly met in two sessions on Tuesday, June 12 to hold a public hearing on a proposed ordinance relating to collection of utility fees, and to pursue a second reading of the ordinance during the regular session. Before the utility issue could be addressed in open session, however, assembly member David Jack, with fellow member Bill Privett, asked to have the agendized approval of the Wrangell Medical Center 2013 budget tabled until a future meeting. Jack asked to have WMC Chief Financial Officer Olinda White come before the...
The development of the timber and salmon fishing industries were the main topics discussed during Gov. Sean Parnell’s visit to Wrangell on June 5. In a meeting with Mayor Jeremy Maxand, Borough Manager Tim Rooney, and Jim Collier and Chris Guggenbickler, the governor was brought up to date – and asked for his assistance – on the possible creation of a value-added timber mill and salmon hatchery in the borough. According to Maxand, the governor was receptive to those ideas. “I wanted to give an...
Wrangell’s Marine Service Center and City Dock are getting a spruce-up this month as more than $4 million in capital improvements get underway. “We have these two new projects at the haul-out and at the City Dock,” Meissner said. “We have state money and some Denali funding to complete this work and really needed this for a while. We’re really glad it’s happening now.” According to Meissner, the steel pilings at the dock are more than 30 years old and need to undergo maintenance to keep it in...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met in open session last week to take up a number of new agenda items and included discussion on the formation of a hiring committee to help in choosing a successor to current Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson. Jamieson, who has spent the past three decades in service to the borough, plans on retiring from her position in the beginning of July. The committee, which consists of Jamieson, Borough Manager Tim Rooney, Mayor Jeremy Maxand, and Assembly members Pam...
The City and Borough of Wrangell drafted a plan that aims to enhance local industry and boost economic development throughout the town and Southeast Alaska. The plan maps out six local projects that, with the help of additional funding and collaboration with state and federal agencies, can be improved and stimulate the economy. The Wrangell Economic Cluster Initiative Plan is a result of a process started by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last fall that aims to revitalize all of Southeast Alaska’s economy. According to Wrangell E...
It’s a mixed bag in America in terms of bankrolling ‘the best available science’ for our nation’s fisheries. Based on the preliminary federal budget released last week, funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration went from $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion, an increase of about $750 million. Within the NOAA budget, funding for the National Marine Fisheries Service comes in at $1 billion - a drop of $15 million from its actual budget for the last fiscal year. Out of NMFS’ FY13 budget, $174 million will fund science and man...
Over half of all fishing fatalities are due to vessels going down, and most of the boats sink because of flooding. The sinkings of the Alaska Ranger and Katmai in 2008, for example, in which12 men died, both stemmed from flooding through open hatches. Those and other sinkings highlighted the need for an alert that provides immediate status of all openings aboard fishing boats. To the rescue: a simple electronic monitoring system on doors and hatches that sends signals to the...
January The Wrangell School Board found $128,451 in additional, unspent funding from a federal program. In passing their 2011 budget, the board also accepted an $8,300 grant for the Upward Bound program. Master carvers Steve Brown and Wayne Price visited Shakes Island to begin discussions on the renovation of the Tribal House and to propose a traditional tools class. The US Forest Service began a scoping project for an Environmental Impact Study regarding timber sales and road construction for...
The Wrangell Port Commission took a major step forward in a plan to build a Mariner’s Memorial at Heritage Harbor during their most recent meeting on Thursday, Dec. 1. After having been stalled as a project for a number of months, Harbormaster Greg Meissner and the commission set a Jan. 5, 2012 date for a special working session where, according to Meissner, public input will heard and used to determine the design of the memorial. “I think our site is quite designable, as is, once we put our...
With the seafood industry as the lifeblood of Southeast Alaska, staying up to date on the latest equipment, services, suppliers, gear and ideas is a must for any community in the region or an Alaskan commercial fishing endeavor. It is with those factors in mind that Wrangell Harbormaster Greg Meissner attended the 35th annual Pacific Marine Expo, otherwise known as “fish expo,” at Seattle’s Qwest Field last week. The expo, which included speakers on a range of topics including fishing safety, ma...
A local business that is heavily involved in marine repair is expanding its operation near Wrangell harbor. Randall Fordyce, the owner of Freeman and Sons machine and fabrication shop on Case Avenue, is adding additional space on his property to allow for a longer lathe and equipment that will provide service for larger vessels. After originally eyeing a property adjacent to his location, Fordyce had to go through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a permit for the filling and grading...
The Alaska Department of Transportation presented its 2011 scoping report update for the Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the James and Elsie Nolan Center in Wrangell. The purpose of the meeting, which has also been held in other communities across Southeast, was to inform the public about six possible outcomes of ADOT’s long-range planning for transportation issues in the region. The alternatives presented range from no change in the current plan to the d...
