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Tuesday's Regular Borough Assembly meeting was preceded by a public hearing on Ordinance 887 being proposed, an amended section of the Wrangell Municipal Code largely dealing with the control of animals within City and Borough limits. The revised ordinance has already been sent back to the Ordinance Review Board before for retooling, and this latest appearance would be its second reading. A number of the island's residents showed up to express their concerns that the wording of several sections...
After several years of remaining unchanged, fee rates for using Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation facilities may soon see a readjustment. At its monthly meeting Oct. 1, the Parks and Rec Advisory Board examined a new fee schedule being developed. Explaining the proposed rates, board member Haig Demerjian said the current rates were last adjusted in 2010. Looking at rates for other communities in Southeast Alaska, he found that Wrangell’s rates tended to be considerably lower than the regional average. “We’re kind of toward the bottom,” he said....
At the public hearing preceding Tuesday’s regular Wrangell Borough Assembly meeting, a few people showed up to listen but only one took to the lectern with her concerns with ordinance number 887, which would amend the municipal code dealing with animal violations and add a new chapter. The proposed ordinance was one of five being considered on their second reading. “The first thing that I have noticed is a series of fines,” Christina Florschutz told the Assembly, looking at the meeting packet. “I’m fine with having fines,” she said, addin...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly had a full plate when it met Tuesday evening, starting with steps toward solving the city's dog problem. Members examined proposed changes drawn up by the borough's code review committee which would reduce loopholes and correct the fee schedule for code infractions concerning the handling and restraint of animals within borough limits. The committee has been going through all the borough's codes for possible revision in turn, but this particular issue has taken precedence. “That was moved up to the forefront,” sai...
The borough assembly voted 5-1 to raise electric rates seven percent Tuesday. The rates increases are aimed to off-set declines in the budget reserves of the electric light utility fund. Officials have said that increasing health insurance, labor, and materials costs have reduced the reserves to unacceptable levels. Assembly newcomer Mark Mitchell cast the lone dissenting vote against the increase, motivated in part by fiscal concerns. “I believe that, along with the rest of America, we need to hold a budget and watch our spending as w...
The borough assembly voted 5-0 Tuesday to pass both the property tax rate and the municipal budget for the fiscal year 2015. At a May 13 budget workshop, officials pledged the mill rate of 12.75 mills will remain unchanged this year. That means that a house assessed at $200,000 would pay a property tax bill of $2,550. Since presenting the budget at a public workshop May 24, officials have received news of $37,219 in additional revenue, composed of a $23,821 shot in the arm from increased revenue sharing and a $13,398 increase from the state...
A rooster heralded a sprawling and at-times unruly conversation about rural identity at the May 8 Planning and Zoning commission meeting. The rooster in question lives in a neighborhood along Zimovia Highway. Its crows have disturbed at least one neighbor, who has complained to the Wrangell Police Department. The police have issued a nuisance animal ticket, at a cost of $15, to Jamie Townsend, the rooster’s owner. While discussion at the meeting focused around “supporting the rooster,” borough officials have received several complaints on th...
In an unusual procedural move Tuesday, a passing vote was taken back. Assembly members initially voted 4-2 in favor of adding a cease-and-desist letter from Thomas Bay Power Commission President and borough assembly member James Stough to the New Business portion of the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. However, after Mayor Jack voted in favor of, he told borough clerk Kim Lane he had misunderstood the motion’s intent to mean it would be added to the next meeting’s agenda. As a member of the majority, he was allowed to take back the vote, essen...
The borough port commission unanimously recommended a new ordinance to the borough assembly Oct. 17 after a public hearing. The ordinance empowers the harbormaster to auction derelict or abandoned vessels, as defined by state code, or boats in the harbormaster’s “opinion … is unsound, unseaworthy, and unfit for its trade or occupation” to auction or impound those vessels after 24 months. Harbormaster Greg Meissner told the commission the ordinance could affect as many as six boats currently taking up space at the marine service yard. The code w...
The borough assembly voted 5-1 Tuesday to reject changes to borough code during a first reading. The changes would have given the harbormaster powers to impound or remove abandoned and derelict vessels from the marine service yard at the port. Harbormaster Greg Meissner had told the port commission that the changes were necessary in order to deal with up to six boats currently housed in the yard. Assembly members seemed to have no complaint with the primary text of the change, which officials have said was made to bring borough code into...
On Aug. 6 the City and Borough of Wrangell will have a new interim Borough Manager to fill the spot left by the departing Tim Rooney – and it’s a familiar face to everyone in town. The Borough Assembly appointed Jeff Jabusch, who currently sits as the finance director for the city, to the top municipal spot last week in a unanimous vote, though Assembly member Ernie Christian was not present. Jabusch, who previously served as acting manager when Rooney or other past managers were out of town, sa...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. August 7, 1913: Hank Summers, who arrived a chechaco in Juneau during the year 1886 but passed on to the watershed of the great Yukon during the summer is again in Juneau, says the Empire. Mr. Summers has been in the reaches of the White river near the Shushana for the past several months. He says the Shushana will turn out to be a great producer. That section of the country in which Mr. Summers has been since last April is, he says, the greatest mineral belt in the world. All kinds of minerals...
With eight words – and the stroke of a pen – Superior Court Judge William B. Carey dismissed the lawsuit against former Wrangell Medical Center CEO Noel Rea and six former members of the WMC Board of Directors that were recalled last year, along with a counterclaim brought by the defendants. “The complaint and counter-claim are dismissed with prejudice,” Carey wrote in his April 29 order. The lawsuit stemmed from the actions of the former board in their firing of Rea on June 20, during their las...
Members of the Thomas Bay Power Authority Commission met for their regular meeting on Wednesday, May 15 to discuss possible conflicts of interest within the organization. TBPA Commissioner and Petersburg Municipal Power and Light Superintendent Joe Nelson brought commission policies to light in regard to these conflicts. “Our commission policy states that no one on the commission can hold a direct interest in a contract of a business providing service for us,” Nelson read. “In the past when we had Pac Wing and Sunrise flying for us, the commi...
Citing health concerns and a recent 11-day medical trip to Seattle, Wrangell Mayor Don McConachie relinquished his gavel last Thursday night as he resigned from his position on the Borough Assembly. In a letter written by McConachie that he read to the other members of the Assembly he explained his reasoning behind leaving his post in city government. “Since 1998 it has been my privilege to serve on the Assembly of the City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska. Many things have happened during t...
It’s official – the City and Borough of Wrangell has decided to purchase a 300-ton travel lift from Ascom S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer that recently won the bidding contest for the right to supply the Marine Service Center with its new haul out equipment. The decision to buy the new lift became official after the Borough Assembly approved the bid in a unanimous vote during their Jan. 8 regular meeting, which was their first of the New Year. Debate had initially raged about whether the Modena,...
A new mayor, renovations to the Shakes Island Tribal House and Marine Service Center, and the ongoing Wrangell Medical Center debate – all of these stories were newsmakers in 2012. Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories in Wrangell over the past year. JANUARY A late night blaze destroyed a trailer and sent a woman to Wrangell Medical Center with severe burns on Dec. 22. The fire, which began at 10:30 p.m. in a small pull-behind trailer near the top of the park, severely inj...
The progression of a court case against former Wrangell Medical Center administrator Noel Rea and six former members of the WMC Board of Directors was a main topic discussed this week during the regularly scheduled Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27. After coming out of executive session, Mayor Don McConachie informed the public that the Assembly had directed Borough Manager Tim Rooney and Borough Attorney Bob Blasco to continue in negotiations to settle the matter. The offer would...
A proposed change to Title 20 of the Wrangell Municipal Code is up for review by the Borough Assembly – and would alter some definitions and add language regarding zoning in some of the borough’s most remote areas. The most expansive change to the code would be the addition of a new section dealing with the Remote Residential Mixed Use zone, and would include Meyers Chuck, Union Bay, Thom’s Place, Olive Cove and Wrangell Island East. “The remote residential mixed-use (RMU) district is intende...
The Borough Assembly met in open session on Tuesday, Oct. 30 to appoint a new member to fill the vacancy left by member Don McConachie’s elevation to mayor, and also to hold the first reading of a proposed ordinance amending the city’s municipal code related to the Wrangell Medical Center. With McConachie absent, Vice Mayor Bill Privett was charged with chairing the meeting. Among three applicants – former assembly member Dave Jack, and Wrangell residents Patti Gilbert and Holly Levine – Jac...
According to Noel Rea and his attorney, an iPad at the center of a lawsuit filed against him and former Wrangell Medical Center board members is his to keep. The borough, which is suing Rea and six recalled members of the board over actions taken at their final meeting, is seeking the return of the iPad and Blackberry, which they claim contains evidence relevant to their case. Rea is saying the items are his and therefore protected from review by the city or its attorneys – and that he claims to own the iPad, having arranged to purchase it f...
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office has recommended a timber sale of approximately 1.2 million board feet of timber in the Wrangell area during the next two to three years. The Trust parcels subject to this decision are located adjacent to the Wrangell Institute property currently owned by the City and Borough of Wrangell. The property is zoned as Timber Management under Title 20 of the Wrangell Municipal Code. The proposed sale area is comprised of the parcel that will be conveyed as part of the Alaska Replacement Lands Program. An addi...
It was a busy night at City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 28 as the Borough Assembly met in three sessions to hold a public hearing, certify the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors special election results, and to meet in regular session on a number of items. The public hearing, which began the evening, was to hold a second reading of a proposed ordinance that would clarify oversight of the WMC board and their powers in operating the hospital. One proposed change would restrict the board to a...
5 Seats *Marlene Messmer – 346 *Judy Allen – 332 *Robert Henry – 290 †Barbara Conine – 290 Betty Keegan – 264 2013 Seats *Terri Henson – 275 *Bernie Massin – 21 Marlene Clarke – 184 Mike Ashton – 173 Mike Nicholls – 118 Billie Younce – 114 2014 Seats *Cori Robinson – 368 *Megan Clark – 252 Rhonda Dawson – 235 Brad Williams – 206 2015 Seat *Woody Wilson – 290 Janell Privett – 274 † - The tiebreaker between Robert Henry and Barbara Conine was determined according to Wrangell Municipal Code section 2.28.160, which called for the drawing of lots...
