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The City and Borough Assembly: Three Year Tearm Julie Decker is seeking re-election to the Wrangell Borough Assembly for a three-year term. There are several reasons she wants to sit for another term on the assembly. The current borough assembly has been making some good decisions on behalf of the city, she said, and she would like to see that continue. As a member of the assembly, she said that she has tried to stay informed and lead in a way that benefits the city as a whole. She added that...
Declarations for candidacy in Wrangell's upcoming October elections closed at 4 p.m. last Friday, Aug. 30. From city hall to the school board, there are multiple positions open as well as people willing to run for them. The following is a list of open seats and a list of candidates, courtesy of city hall: Wrangell Borough Assembly Two open seats for three-year terms: Incumbent Julie Decker and incumbent Patricia Gilbert. Two open seats for one-year unexpired terms: Incumbent Anne Morrison,...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held an emergency meeting last Thursday night to adopt a "surplus property agreement" with the Nome Joint Utility System. The surplus property in question is a pair of diesel generators currently sitting in storage in Nome. Power has been a topic of concern around Wrangell, and amongst the assembly, thanks in part to the recent hydropower shortages at Tyee and Swan Lake. Wrangell currently has four diesel generators which it can use for power in the event of an...
The Wrangell Port Commission met last Thursday, April 4, to discuss a plan to alter lease rates at the boat yard. According to Commission Member John Martin, lease rates at the boat yard cover a wide range, from eight cents per square foot to 28 cents per square foot. Under a new formula the commission is planning to use, several businesses at the boat yard will see their rates decrease, while others will see an increase. Martin said that they are trying to bring a sense of equilibrium and...
None of the members of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs committee (CRA) lives near the sea, but at a hearing last week they were not impressed by Governor Dunleavy’s plan to pull millions of dollars in fish taxes from remote coastal towns. Bills submitted to the legislature by the governor would remove the ability of towns to keep their share of local fisheries business and landing taxes. For decades, the taxes have been split 50/50 with the state. Dunleavy wants to take all of the funds for state coffers, meaning a combined loss of $...
The Wrangell Port Commission held its monthly meeting on Feb. 7 to hold a public workshop on the Mariners' Memorial. Members of the community have been working towards a memorial for Wrangell sailors lost at sea for almost two decades, according to the Mariners' Memorial group website. Some progress has been made towards the memorial, with the ground being broken at the proposed site last December. The workshop was called together to discuss the details of the memorial. One of the details that was discussed heavily was who, exactly, should be...
With polls closing at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, preliminary results for Wrangell’s city election have come in. The election saw seats open for the positions of mayor, the borough assembly, school board, port commission, and hospital board. Also on the ballot was Proposition 1, which would allow for the lease of the Wrangell Medical Center and construction of a new hospital. There were 649 ballots cast on election day, with an additional 117 absentee ballots. The preliminary results of the election are as follows: There were two candidates for m...
The city and borough of Wrangell will be holding an election on Oct 2. There are several positions needing to be filled, and there are many people seeking to fill them with 13 people running for office. The Wrangell Sentinel has created a roundup of candidates to help better inform local voters. Mayor There are two candidates seeking the position of mayor. Carl Carlisle has been in Wrangell for about three years, he said, but has lived all around Alaska before then. Coming from a military background, he said that his main concerns for Wrangell...
U.S. Representative Don Young stopped in Wrangell the weekend of June 28 for some meet-and-greets with the locals. Stopping at the Stikine Inn, Young went from table to table to chat with people, answering questions and getting to know the people he represents. These questions ranged from topics like the environment, to derelict boats, to the timber industry. One question came from Joane Sargent, who was concerned about what would happen to many Alaskan’s healthcare, with the ongoing debate in Washington on the topic. Young said that it was an...
Wrangell is still preparing to deal with nuisance abatement, though it will be approaching with an amiable cautiousness. City manager Lisa Von Bargen updated the City and Borough Assembly last week on progress so far made in reducing the various collections of junk and scrap to be seen around town. City code proscribes such gatherings, both on public and private property. The Port Commission has long had in its sights the removal of abandoned vehicles from its harbor facility parking lots, and since last fall the city assembly has taken a...
The steering committee for an upcoming mariners’ memorial will be holding its first spring fundraiser this weekend. Taking advantage of the warmer weather, an outdoor fish fry event has been scheduled for 5 p.m. this Sunday at Heritage Harbor. The meal will also feature a silent auction for a number of submitted items. A monument dedicated to Wrangell’s seafaring traditions and its community members lost at sea has been a goal for a decade and a half. After financing designs for a memorial at Heritage Harbor, by early 2017 the Port Commission e...
The organizing committee for a planned mariners’ memorial will be holding a winter fundraiser this weekend. A monument dedicated to Wrangell’s lost mariners has been in the making for over a decade. The Port Commission took off with it in 2009, and helped shepherd the concept through the drafting stages, which were completed in 2015. An independent steering committee was subsequently organized, and after receiving tax-exempt status last fall has begun raising money from individuals and businesses to construct the memorial. Committee member Bre...
January 17, 1918: Wrangell chapter, American Red Cross Wrangell, Alaska. Dear Ladies: I received your package yesterday and wish to extend to you my heartiest thanks for same. I was rather surprised at first but I’m real happy now to think that, even though homeless, there is someone in the great world to remember me, I expect to leave for France in a day or two and whereever I may be I shall at all times deeply remember the Ladies of the Wrangell Chapter of the American Red Cross. Military life at this time of the year is rather tough as it i...
One of Southeast’s primary ferries will be out of service longer than expected as it undergoes annual maintenance, affecting the winter schedule. The Alaska Marine Highway System announced last week the M/V Malaspina will be out of commission several months longer than expected. The vessel went in for its annual overhaul and certification on October 1, with the intention of returning it to service on December 22. During the overhaul engineers determined an extensive replacement of the craft’s steel was needed, and that both its propeller hubs r...
Results from last week's elections were certified and accepted by the City and Borough Assembly in a special meeting Monday. Turnout in the largely uncontentious October 3 municipal elections had been low, with only 16 percent of the borough's 1,721 registered voters polling in. Of these, 242 cast votes on election day, with 29 others turning in absentee ballots ahead of time. Two other ballots had been rejected, due to the voters not previously being registered in the Wrangell polling area. Of...
The last ballots were cast and polls closed Tuesday evening on the 2017 municipal elections. Turnout was low in a relatively low-key election, with no ballot measures to consider and candidates running for six of the eight available seats uncontested. No letters of interest were put forward to be considered as a write-in candidate, and one unexpired term on the Wrangell Medical Center Board garnered no interest. The only race in contest was for an unexpired two-year term on the Public School...
Polling booths and complimentary cookies are being prepared for next week’s municipal elections, set for October 3 inside the Nolan Center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee voting has already been underway, and early ballots can still be submitted inside City Hall until 5 p.m. Monday. Most of the seats up for election have at least one candidate, with a two-year position on the Wrangell Medical Center Board attracting no interest. In the event it passes the election cycle unfilled, clerk Kim Lane explained the city will advertise for the position...
A steering committee for a proposed memorial is seeking out public support for the project. A memorial dedicated to Wrangell's lost mariners has been a longstanding ambition for a number of residents. The current project took off over a decade ago, after a group of high school seniors worked on identifying a location and a design for a memorial. Their effort was prompted by the death of Ryan Miller, a local fisherman whose vessel capsized while in Clarence Strait back in 2005. Wrangell's Port Co...
At its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night, members of the City and Borough Assembly pondered different options for participating in the Community Development Block Grant program. In discussion notes, city economic development director Carol Rushmore explained grants are distributed statewide through a highly competitive application basis, based on an applying community’s income level. Wrangell has since 2015 been considered ineligible due to its population falling beneath the l...
A deadline passed last week for getting placed on the October 3 municipal election ballot. Most seats up for election have at least one candidate, with one seat still without candidates and another to be contested in a three-way race. Contending for one unexpired seat on the Public School Board are incumbent Robert Rang, Caitlin Cardinell and David Wilson. The position would be for two years, expiring in 2019. Jessica Rooney will be running unopposed for one three-year seat on the board. On the Borough Assembly, two three-year terms are up for...
Before summer gives way to autumn, several Wrangell business owners decided to have one more hurrah downtown with food and live music. Set for Sunday afternoon, "Warm August Nights" was thought up by Heidi Milazzo, Clay Culbert, Lucy Robinson, Brooke Leslie and Brenda Schwartz-Yeager. "All of us have been working on it together," said Milazzo. "We just wanted to have a fun family event." Culbert pointed out the lull in local activities around August, with not much by way of entertainment...
With one week left to file, candidates are still being sought for a number of Wrangell’s municipal committees and elected seats. As of Tuesday, four residents have put in their names for the October 3 ballot, ahead of the August 31 filing deadline. Assemblyman Mark Mitchell will not seek another term on that body, but will be running instead for one three-year term on the Port Commission. Current commissioner Walter Moorhead has not yet submitted his name for another term. For the Wrangell School Board, Jessica Rooney has also put herself up f...
Candidates are being sought for Wrangell’s various municipal committees and elected seats. Beginning August 1 and extending through the remainder of the month, the city clerk’s office will be accepting declarations of candidacy and signature petitions for the October 3 ballot. Two three-year terms on the Borough Assembly are coming up for election, with the seats of Stephen Prysunka and Mark Mitchell both expiring. Two seats on the Public School Board – one a full three-year and the other an unexpired two-year term – are likewise up for ele...
Members of Wrangell’s Port Commission have set a timetable for themselves for reworking how lot leases at the boatyard are arranged. At their meeting Monday, commission chair Clay Hammer and harbormaster Greg Meissner said they are putting together an ordinance proposal to consider after the summer season winds down. In its drafting stages, it would reflect discussions held last year and feedback from various yard contractors. The conversation has been an ongoing one for a year and a half, and the commission had previously intended to settle t...
With the department heads scrambling to prepare budgets before the month’s end, rate discussions and spending plans seemed inevitable at the City and Borough Assembly’s Tuesday evening meeting. High up on its agenda was a continued discussion of the city’s residential and commercial water rates, which have lagged well behind covering costs. In light of looming supply problems (see water plant story), significant capital investments ahead for a new plant, and prospective development at the Institute and former mill sites, every penny count...
