(267) stories found containing 'Wrangell Port Commission'


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  • Four named to memorial committee, one more needed

    Dan Rudy|Jan 12, 2017

    Things are coming together for a planned memorial dedicated to Wrangell's seafaring community. The Port Commission last week named two more people to the steering committee tasked with fundraising and contracting for the Mariners Memorial's construction. Fishermen Brennon Eagle and Gig Decker will be joining commission members John Yeager and John Martin on the committee. A fifth position is still vacant, and interested applicants are invited to submit a letter to the city clerk's office. The...

  • Labor report forecasts significant job loss in 2017

    Dan Rudy|Jan 12, 2017

    A report released by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development late last week is forecasting a 1.7-percent drop in employment this year from expected 2016 numbers. The forecast predicts a loss of around 600 jobs in the region over the coming year, with half that to be expected from state government. Southeast lost over 500 state jobs between 2014 and 2016, after a sharp drop in oil revenues pushed the state budget into a sustained, multi-billion-dollar deficit. The drop may be...

  • A look back at 2016

    Jan 5, 2017

    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...

  • Assembly roundup

    Dec 22, 2016

    In its meeting December 13, the City and Borough Assembly approved issuance of a new sewer revenue bond. Amounting to $91,000, the 40-year bond will finance a portion of the cost to acquire, construct and install additions to two of the borough’s main sewer pump stations. The work includes new piping and control systems for the stations, which together service about 80 percent of the city’s waste. As of this month, Public Works estimated the city’s sewer system has treated 112,994,910 gallons of wastewater, while maintaining 1.5 emplo...

  • Assembly signs on to Tongass stay, reappoints Prysunka

    Dan Rudy|Dec 8, 2016

    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...

  • Marine fabrication class launching new boats

    Dan Rudy|Dec 1, 2016

    Students in Wrangell High School's marine fabrication class are putting the finishing touches on some new designs. A longstanding program continued under current industrial arts teacher Drew Larrabee. The course gives high schoolers the opportunity to design and construct aluminum boats for themselves, applying the math and physics skills they've learned in the process. Third-year student Brian Schwartz is welding the hull on a 17-foot jet scow of his own design, which should be finished by or...

  • Local boats rocked by harbor thefts

    Dan Rudy|Nov 24, 2016

    Several Wrangell boat owners learned they had been burgled early Saturday morning. Wrangell Police Department received a call concerning Heritage Harbor, where it appeared three boats moored there had been entered, one forcibly. Owners were contacted, and they confirmed a number of items were missing, including dive gear and a firearm. "Sure enough, someone had liberated my possessions," commented Steve Prysunka, owner of the boat Mollyann. "They stole such an interesting variety of things." In...

  • Sightseers to be barred from boatyard

    Dan Rudy|Nov 17, 2016

    At its regular meeting last week, members of the Wrangell Port Commission decided against allowing casual traffic through the Marine Service Center yard. Effective immediately, access to the boatyard has been restricted with entry limited to one gate. The action follows several months of discussions, with the issue first coming to the attention of commissioners in June. “There’s a really big safety issue with people being able to come and go as they please,” explained commission chair Clay Hammer. Since its start a decade ago, Wrang...

  • Port commission sets priorities for coming meetings

    Dan Rudy|Oct 13, 2016

    Meeting last week for the first time since June, Wrangell’s Port Commission set some priorities for its coming sessions. “We have a number of items we’re going to have on our plate,” explained commission president Clay Hammer. Of these, the three largest issues will be organizing a steering committee for construction of a new mariners memorial, reassessing the duration of lot leases at the Marine Service Center, and managing public access to the boatyard. The longest in the works, construction of the memorial weighed highly among commiss...

  • Voter turnout 27-percent in municipal election

    Dan Rudy|Oct 13, 2016

    Wrangell's 2016 Municipal Election concluded last week, with results certified by a special meeting of the Borough Assembly on Monday. The Canvass Board met October 6 to sort through and count additional ballots. Assembly members Dave Powell, Mark Mitchell and Becky Rooney comprised the board, which was supervised by Borough Clerk Kim Lane and election chair Sarah Whittlesey-Merritt. Seventy-two ballots in addition to those cast on October 4 were considered, which included absentee or mailed-in...

  • Wrangell welcomes new business in lease transfer

    Dan Rudy|Oct 13, 2016

    A new business will be setting up shop at Wrangell’s boatyard. At its meeting last week, the Port Commission recommended transfer of Lot 6 at the Marine Service Center, belonging to Josh Young of J&R Fiberglass, to Steve Christensen of CTT Marine. If approved by the Borough Assembly Tuesday, the deal between the two business owners can be concluded this weekend. It would also be the first lease lot transferred since the yard was built. “We’ll try to build on the reputation Josh has already built with that,” Christensen said. He and his wife, L...

  • Jack likely re-elected mayor in municipal elections

    Dan Rudy|Oct 6, 2016

    Preliminary results are in for the 2016 Wrangell municipal election. Those who hadn't already voted early took to the polls in person Tuesday, with 384 ballots cast at the Nolan Center. Running for mayor, David Jack won reelection with 321 votes. Candidate Kipha Valvoda garnered 49 votes, and seven additional write-in votes did not qualify. Two candidates ran unopposed for two three-year terms on the City and Borough Assembly. Incumbent Julie Decker received 345 votes, and write-in candidate Patty Gilbert received 157. Two candidates also ran...

  • Municipal elections set for Tuesday, city looking for appointees

    Dan Rudy|Sep 29, 2016

    The municipal election is set for next week, with polls open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. inside the Nolan Center. Though a number of candidates for local positions are currently running unopposed, all vacancies are at least set to be filled, thanks to the addition of two write-in candidates earlier this month. For mayor, current incumbent David Jack will be running for reelection against candidate Kipha Valvoda. Four candidates will be running for two three-year terms on the Wrangell Public School Board, including incumbent Rinda Howell, form...

  • Meet the Candidates - The Wrangell Port Commission

    Sep 29, 2016

    Gary Morrison, write-in candidate, running for two three-year seats Occupation and experience Retired, formerly of the U.S. Forest Service for 38 years, and former Alaska State Parks Director. Has sat on a number of BLM and USFS boards. Why do you wish to run for the Port Commission? "I think my management experience and background, and my interest in the marine environment, boating and interest in furthering the economy of Wrangell, I think I have something I can contribute and want to try to...

  • Two write-in candidates fill in October 4 ballot

    Dan Rudy|Sep 22, 2016

    With the addition of two write-in candidates to next month’s municipal election ballot, all the expected vacancies will at least have people to fill them. Of the open spots on the Oct. 4 ballot, six are still currently uncontested. Of those being contested, current Mayor David Jack will be running for reelection against candidate Kipha Valvoda. Four candidates will be running for two three-year terms on the School Board, including former member Georgianna Buhler, Scott Seddon, Robert Rang and incumbent Rinda Howell. The two candidates with t...

  • The Way We Were

    Sep 15, 2016

    September 30, 1916: With a slight trembling of the knees, but with great pleasure at the opportunity, we make our bow. Last week, Mr. Paul F. Stanhope received a cash payment in full of the purchase of the Sentinel, and retired as its editor and publisher. We have undertaken this venture as a business proposition and we believe that the very best way to make it a business success is to make it first of all a local paper. A clean, live, local newspaper is an asset to any community. It serves the people in a way that the big metropolitan dailies...

  • Assembly working on paving, water and sewage fixes

    Dan Rudy|Sep 15, 2016

    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...

  • Ballot still short two names, absentee voting to start soon

    Dan Rudy|Sep 8, 2016

    The ballot for next month’s municipal election is still two names short, with vacancies on the Borough Assembly and Port Commission left without candidates. A few other positions will go uncontested, with Assembly member Julie Decker running for reelection to a three-year term unopposed, as is Port Commission incumbent John Yeager. Two unexpired two-year terms on the Wrangell Medical Center Board are uncontested as well, with incumbent Olinda White and newcomer Patrick Mayer applying for the seats. One full four-year term on the hospital board...

  • Hospital and school heads to run in fall election

    Dan Rudy|Aug 25, 2016

    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...

  • Still looking for candidates in borough election

    Dan Rudy|Aug 18, 2016

    With local elections coming up on October 4, the city is still looking for declarations of candidacy for a range of available seats. A handful of candidates have already declared as of Tuesday. Running for reelection will be Mayor David Jack, who has served since 2013 and won reelection in 2014. As of now, Jack will be running unopposed. Barbara Conine will be running for reelection to the Wrangell Medical Center Board for another four-year term. At the board’s urging in March, the Borough Assembly decided to reduce the number of seats from n...

  • Assembly revisits contractor list, sets ANSEP committee

    Dan Rudy|Jul 28, 2016

    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...

  • Assembly passes harbor fee increases in close vote

    Dan Rudy|Jun 16, 2016

    In a close vote the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly approved a new fee structure for the community’s harbors and dock facilities. Already approved once on its first reading by the Assembly last month, the increases being put forward would institute a 10-percent increase to outside and inside dock face moorage, storage, port development fees and most boatyard rates. Those increases would also incorporate an anti-inflationary rise of two percent per year. Transient moorage rates have been rescheduled, shifting from flat per-foot rates to a s...

  • Public safety concerns at boatyard weighed

    Dan Rudy|Jun 9, 2016

    The Wrangell Port Commission was tasked with solving a problem with access to the boatyard, after local sight-seeing operators were presented letters by the city asking them to stop driving buses through on tours. Gold Rush Tours and Alaska Waters were sent a pair of letters apiece from Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch, requesting them to discontinue tours through the Marine Service Center. This posed a problem for both outfits, as the yard had been included on the itinerary for tours which had already been booked through the season. Brooke Leslie...

  • Harbor and boatyard rate hike gets first hearing

    Dan Rudy|May 26, 2016

    After many months of preparation, higher rates for Wrangell's harbor and boatyard users passed a penultimate hurdle on Tuesday. The City and Borough Assembly approved on first reading Ordinance 917, amending the fee schedule for Wrangell's Harbor Department. The proposal will return to the Assembly for its second and final reading on June 14. Approved by the Port Commission at its May 5 meeting, the increases being put forward would institute a 10-percent increase to outside and inside dock face moorage, storage, port development fees and most...

  • Budget draft looks at insurance rates, harbor increases

    Dan Rudy|May 12, 2016

    Community members were given a first peek at the budget being proposed for the next fiscal year, in the first of several planned workshops held on Monday. “This is a draft budget. It's certainly the starting point,” Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch pointed out. “The budget here is balanced up to this point,” finance director Lee Burgess summarized, presenting the draft. While the budget draft presented Monday is currently balanced, Burgess pointed out there are still several looming concerns. Rent revenues from the state for use of the local j...

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