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At its regular scheduled meeting last Tuesday, the Borough Assembly signed on to a letter opposed to adoption of an amended timber plan for managing the Tongass National Forest. The letter, written by Juneau attorney Jim Clark, petitions recently reelected Sen. Lisa Murkowski to support delaying the implementation of the Tongass Transition Plan amendment, which the Department of Agriculture is looking to apply to the 2008 Amended Tongass Land and Management Resource Plan. The intent of the amendment is to transition over to a young-growth...
Sales tax returns indicate the spring and summer of 2016 to have been one of the best on record for the local economy. From April through the end of October Wrangell collected more than $1,659,000, which is the most ever brought in during those two quarters – historically the city's busiest. When adjusted for inflation, only 2011 was a better season, but by only 0.7 percent. The 2016 fiscal year as a whole came to a close on June 30, and returns for the year neared $2.65M. This made it second o...
The city is currently working on ways to reduce the number of autos, boats and other items abandoned or else improperly stored around the island. Chief Doug McCloskey with the Wrangell Police Department explained there currently are many derelict vehicles on the city's radar, about a dozen in all. In municipal code, junk vehicles by definition are those which are stripped, wrecked or otherwise inoperable due to mechanical failure. Currently it is against the law for a junk vehicle to remain in...
At its Sept. 8 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a new draft of the local code pertaining to zoning categories. Specifically, changes were made which would update Title 20 to include reference to the legalization of cannabis, as well as when and where state permitted activities would and would not be allowed in the borough. An ordinance containing the updates will be headed to the Wrangell Borough Assembly for first reading at its next meeting. The commission's proposal would...
At its Tuesday night meeting, the Borough Assembly continued to keep up on its various utility priorities. In his regular update, city manager Jeff Jabusch reported most paving projects around town have been completed, including the barge ramp lot. Surfacing work at Wood Street is still on schedule, with new curbing being set in place. Work on that project is expected to wrap up in mid-October. For the water treatment plant, Public Works Department staff are working on a plan to clean out the sand in its filtration units. An emergency shortage...
Two more people have put forth their names to be included on October’s municipal elections ballot. As of press time Tuesday, schools superintendent Patrick Mayer expressed interest in running for a vacancy on the Wrangell Medical Center Board, while WMC head Robert Rang will be running for a position on the Public School Board. The city clerk’s office is inquiring with its attorney on retainer about whether having the two officials serve on each others’ boards would represent a conflict of interest. While unusual, the possibility is not prohi...
Wrangell’s Borough Assembly revisited its local contractors list, which it had adopted last year in order to streamline hiring for small projects. An idea was first put forward to the Assembly by Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch in December 2014, drafting a list of licensed local contractors who could be called upon for small-scale jobs under $25,000 on a rotating on-call basis. A pool of qualified local contractors hirable by the city was created, ensuring those contacted for jobs were qualified for the work and that all those qualifying would b...
Though a crisis in the local water supply has subsided, Wrangell remains in a state of conservation through most of the rest of summer. The City and Borough Assembly formally declared a state of disaster in a special meeting held July 19, after ready water reserves had fallen to a fraction of capacity. Problems with the water treatment plant’s filtration process meant supply could not keep up with demand, and early last week local seafood processors and the wider public were asked to reduce consumption. Efficiencies undertaken by both p...
The City and Borough of Wrangell has officially endorsed a plan being put forward by the United States Forest Service concerning future timber sales on the island. In a special meeting on July 15, the Borough Assembly gave its input on a letter of support being drafted by economic development coordinator Carol Rushmore. A final copy was formally submitted to the Wrangell Ranger District on Monday, the last day of the public comment period for its Wrangell timber sale’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The DEIS puts forward five alternative...
A local tradition now for four years running, the annual five-kilometer (3.1 mile) jog celebrating the summer solstice took on a new dimension. Held on Saturday, the 2016 Smoke-Free Summer Solstice 5K encouraged participants to pursue a tobacco less lifestyle. Ordinarily organized by the running group the Southeast Beasts, this year's run was put on by the Partnership for Tobacco Free SouthEast, a regional coalition encompassing Petersburg, Juneau, Ketchikan and other communities in addition to...
The community’s dialogue on how it wants to proceed with regulated cannabis continued on April 14, with a public workshop held before the monthly Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. While members of the public were invited to attend and provide input, the commissioners themselves were encouraged to start deciding what they want to see from the nascent industry. Adopted by ballot initiative during the 2014 elections, Alaska’s marijuana legalization process began taking effect in February. Licenses to sell, cultivate, test and man...
With rock bottom oil prices pushing the expected deficit to as high as $4 billion, Alaska's financial crisis understandably cast a pallor over Tuesday's City and Borough Assembly meeting. Speaking with city finance director Lee Burgess on Monday, one of the key areas of concern for Wrangell moving forward will be an impending drop by thirds each year to state revenue sharing commitments. This year funds came to $568,000, but could taper off to $417,000 the coming year, less than $300,000 after that, followed by no funds at all by the middle of...
Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission took a first look at what it would take for a licensed marijuana operator to set up shop on the island. As summarized by Alaska’s Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office director Cynthia Franklin during a presentation made in Wrangell on March 1, where retail, growing, production and testing facilities are allowable within the state depends in part on a community’s zoning regulations. Unlike liquor licensing, marijuana licenses will not be limited in number. It will be up to community governments to decid...
The City and Borough Assembly approved a multimillion dollar infrastructure plan put forward by Wrangell Municipal Light and Power on Tuesday, which is set to tackle a half-dozen deficiencies over as many years. The decision follows a utility study commissioned last year which identified a startling number of infrastructural needs the community will need to focus on in the near future. The two largest problems it identified were Wrangell’s many aging utility poles and its insufficient backup power capabilities. As presented, the utility’s pla...
Assembly members were given an update by the Alaska Court System on Tuesday about its upcoming lease renewal for courtroom facilities. Court administrator for Southeast Neil Nesheim explained he was there to let Assembly members and the wider community know what the stance of ACS was in negotiating its lease, so to prevent any confusion. Nesheim put it to them that ACS would like to pay less on its annual lease for the space provided. This was due to a combination of declining state revenues and diminished court activity in Wrangell since the...
Alaskan fans of cannabis are another step closer to being able to pick up the drug from their own neighborhood dispensaries. Earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott filed marijuana establishment regulations in accordance with state statute. The regulations filing comes after the Marijuana Control Board (MCB) adopted the regulations package in November, which was subsequently approved by the Alaska Department of Law. A year prior, 57 percent of Wrangellites had joined other Alaska voters in allowing the regulated cultivation and sale of...
Future use of borough lands at Crittenden Creek, Sunny Bay and Mill Creek should continue to be recreational in nature, Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission concluded at its regularly scheduled meeting Dec. 10. The entitlement properties were among those transferred to Wrangell from the Department of Natural Resources earlier this year, just over 9,000 acres of undeveloped lands on the mainland and surrounding islands. Planning and Zoning has been offering recommendations to guide future use of the properties along with the Economic D...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a swift meeting Tuesday night, breaking into executive session before the half hour was up. Assembly members approved on second reading ordinances 909 and 910, amending elements of titles 9 and 11 of the Municipal Code relating to traffic, nuisance and litter violations. The changes add reference to the minor offense schedule in WMC 1.20.050 as well, and clean up sections of the code. Ordinance 911 was passed on first reading, having been changed in significant ways since it was reviewed at the last meeting....
At its first meeting since the Oct. 6 elections, an unchanged Wrangell City and Borough Assembly discussed and largely approved a number of revisions to the Municipal Code on first reading. The proposed ordinances would clarify violations relating to littering, nuisances, distributing handbills, the burning of rubbish without permit, and other infractions, adding them to the minor offense schedule in Title 1. Staff notes indicate the change is a requirement of the state’s court system. Not listing the fines and applicable penalties in Title 1...
A special meeting will be held on Aug. 12 to allow the public to discuss and review a proposed ordinance relating to the new property tax payment due date. In May the Wrangell Assembly passed an ordinance amending the Municipal Code to establish a single due date for payment of property taxes to Sept. 15, rather than dividing it between two dates. Under the ordinance, interest on late payments was set to 10 percent annually. Mayor David Jack requested the Assembly revisit the matter at its meeting Tuesday, after some residents expressed...
Borough Clerk Kim Lane recently received her master municipal clerk (MMC) designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), a professional nonprofit which promotes continued education among clerks and similar administrators worldwide. "It's huge because that's the highest you can go as a clerk," explained Christie Jameson, Lane's predecessor in the post. Before retiring in 2012, Jameson had earned her own MMC in 2008, which she has continued to renew. The MMC program is...
Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission will begin the process of zoning entitlement lands and other undeveloped, remote areas owned by the Borough. The 9,006 acres of land being considered include lands transferred to Wrangell by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which approved the conveyance in April. Meeting June 9, commissioners were advised to begin discussing how to zone the properties, which are considered unrestricted lands in Wrangell Municipal Code because they are beyond Service Area 1. In presenting the topic to P...
Wrangell's City and Borough Assembly has approved its budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget was previously issued as a draft at a public workshop on April 28 and has since been subjected to two hearings. The state of Alaska's finances still casts a shadow of uncertainty over Wrangell's projections. As of Tuesday the Legislature had reconvened in Anchorage for special session but had not yet settled on a final budget. Which items will ultimately face cuts is still in the air as the state tackles its $3.5 billion...
Even before getting into its own upcoming budget, Wrangell’s Assembly had plenty of numbers to crunch at its regular meeting Tuesday evening, with an hour-long joint session held beforehand with the local school board regarding its upcoming budget and a presentation by Wrangell Medical Center’s executive on the state of the hospital’s finances. (see adjoining stories) Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch reported next year’s budget is coming along on task, with a draft likely to be ready for review by mid-April. “We’ll bring you a balanced budget one w...
Members of Wrangell's City and Borough Assembly narrowly took their first step toward restricting the consumption of marijuana on public or private property, electing in a 3-2 split to approve an ordinance on first reading at their Tuesday evening meeting. Alaska Statute 17.38 took effect on Feb. 24, expanding significantly the circumstances in which a person can legally possess, transport and use the drug, following approval of a ballot measure during last November's elections. More than 57 percent of Wrangell voters approved the measure,...
