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The borough collected a record amount of sales tax revenues in the fiscal year that ended June 30, passing the $4 million mark. A growing share of the borough’s tax collections is coming from online sales, just over $401,000, according to Finance Director Mason Villarma. That 10% share of total sales tax receipts in the past fiscal year is substantially higher than the roughly 6% share two years ago. “It’s bittersweet,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of the increase in online shopping. The increased tax revenue is not entirely the result of residen...
Residents who will not be in town on election day Tuesday, Oct. 3, or simply would prefer to vote early can come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays through Monday, Oct. 2, to cast an absentee ballot. Election day voting will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Nolan Center. People who cannot vote absentee in person by Oct. 2 can contact the borough clerk’s office at 907-874-2381 to request a ballot by mail or fax. Registered voters will cast ballots for two seats on the borough assembly, one seat on the school board and one p...
Voters will choose two borough assembly members, a school board member and a port commissioner in the Oct. 3 municipal election — but only one of the four seats is contested. There are two candidates for the one school board seat on the ballot. John DeRuyter, a clinical psychologist, is running for a three-year term on the school board. Incumbent Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is seeking reelection to the board. She was elected to a one-year term last year. DeRuyter is a self-employed cl...
The deadline to file for a seat on the borough assembly, school board or port commission in the Oct. 3 municipal election is 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31. And for residents not registered to vote in Alaska, the deadline to register to vote is Sunday, Sept. 3. Two seats on the assembly and one each on the school board and port commission will be on the ballot. As of Monday, Aug. 28, incumbent Anne Morrison had filed for reelection to the assembly, as had challenger Michael J. Ottesen; assembly incumbent Ryan Howe had not yet filed or announced his...
Four elected positions will be on the municipal ballot on Oct. 3, and as of Monday it was uncertain if all of the incumbents will seek re-election. Two seats on the borough assembly, one on the school board and one on the port commission will be on the ballot. All four are three-year terms. Esther Aaltséen Reese, the only incumbent on the five-member school board whose term expires this year, said last week she is undecided as to whether to run for the position again or not. Anne Morrison, who holds one of the assembly seats that will be on...
Attracting people to run for public office in Wrangell can be as difficult as finding a snow shovel to borrow in a winter storm — they are all busy. Nonetheless, they are essential. Quality candidates for borough assembly, school board and port commission are invaluable for the community. The elected bodies control spending in excess of $20 million a year in taxpayer, state and federal money. The members make decisions that affect the life of more than 2,000 residents and the life span of public buildings. It’s a lot of work and a lot of res...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tl’átk - Earth Branch is hoping to purchase a parcel of land next to the community garden from the borough to build a greenhouse. The greenhouse would provide fresh produce to the community year-round and create a space for people to learn about gardening and sustainable practices. The planning and zoning commission and Economic Development Director Kate Thomas both recommended approving the land sale. The port commission will discuss the issue at its September meeting before passing it along to the boro...
The Sitka city assembly has given the go-ahead to a plan for building a boat haul-out and shipyard at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park by late 2024. The option calls for a 150-ton boat lift, haul-out piers, washdown pad and an EPA-certified wastewater treatment system. The haul-out would be located next to the old Alaska Pulp Corp. utility dock, with an adjacent work yard for about 20 vessels. “I think that this will be a crucial piece of infrastructure that is worth investing in,” Assembly Member Kevin Mosher said at the July 27 meeting. “Ev...
At the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 3, the community will head to the polls to share its vision for Wrangell’s future. But before that can happen, engaged community members need to declare their intention to run for elected office. Starting on Tuesday, Aug. 1, eligible candidates will be able to submit their candidacy for one of four available seats. Two three-year seats on the borough assembly will be on the ballot: Anne Morrison and Ryan Howe’s terms end this fall. These elected volunteer positions help guide the direction that the...
Late last month, the borough discovered an oversight in the construction of Heritage Harbor — its steel pilings and piers do not have corrosion-preventing anodes on them. These pieces of oxidizing metal protect pilings from underwater degradation. Without them, the supports underneath the Heritage floats have begun to corrode. The borough plans to work quickly to install nearly $1 million worth of anodes at the harbor to prevent further wear. Near the end of March, the Port and Harbors Department sent a diver to check the anodes at Heritage H...
To keep pace with inflation and ensure its ability to cover future costs, the borough is considering rate increases across all enterprise funds — electric, water, port and harbors, wastewater and garbage. If the proposals are adopted, rates for the self-supporting funds would increase an average of 10%, effective with the start of the new fiscal year in July. The borough assembly will consider the rates at its March 28 meeting. The 15% wastewater rate increase would be the steepest rate hike; the 5.5% increase for trash pickup services would b...
Thanks to its aging infrastructure and pricey upcoming projects, Port and Harbors is the least financially sustainable of all the borough’s enterprise funds. Last Thursday, the Port Commission met with Finance Director Mason Villarma and Susan Erickson of P-W Insurance to come up with a plan to improve the fund’s finances while minimizing the impacts on cash-strapped Wrangell residents. One major takeaway from the 2021 audit, Villarma explained, was that many of the borough’s self-supporting funds — particularly the Port and Harbors account...
After months of negotiation, the borough is ready to approve a short-term lease with Juneau-based scrap metal recycling company Channel Construction for a portion of the 6-Mile mill site. At its Jan. 24 meeting, the assembly authorized Borough Manager Jeff Good to finalize the lease, which has been in progress since last September. At its Sept 1. meeting, the port commission unanimously voted down a motion to recommend leasing a portion of the property to company owner William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr. Commissioners wanted more information about th...
After a recent fire put the Ketchikan harbor department at risk of a lawsuit for not requiring boat owners to carry insurance, the Wrangell Port and Harbors Department is considering issuing an insurance requirement for vessels, though the decision-making process is still in the early stages. At the Ketchikan harbor, the owner of a boat damaged in the fire aboard a nearby vessel has threatened legal action against the city for losses. According to Wrangell Port Director Steve Miller, the borough harbor department is weighing its funding needs...
Patty Gilbert was sworn in as mayor last Thursday, and in her first days in office plans to “(continue) the heavy work.” She hopes to revitalize the borough’s economic development committee, support local businesses and promote new ones. “It’ll be a full agenda,” she said. The borough assembly certified the election results last Thursday. The ballot proposition to issue $8.5 million in bonds for Public Safety Building repairs failed 259 to 324 in the Oct. 4 election. Since the building is still in need of costly repairs, the assembly wi...
The borough assembly has granted Manager Jeff Good the authority to negotiate a short-term lease with Channel Construction to use a portion of the 6-Mile mill site for a scrap metal recycling operation. Juneau-based Channel Construction has been running a regional metal recycling operation at the property, which the borough purchased for $2.5 million this summer. Owner William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr. initially applied for a long-term lease that would allow him to continue operating at the site after the borough took over the land. The port com...
Patricia Gilbert is the likely winner in Tuesday’s mayoral election against Terry Courson, leading the in-person vote tally 275-219. With slightly more than 100 absentee and early votes still to count, Courson would have to win those votes by more than a 3-to-1 margin to overtake Gilbert’s 56-vote lead. Voters approved by a wide margin, 311-to-170, approved borrowing $3.5 million for repairs to all three school buildings, but a proposed $8.5 million bond issue for repairs to the Public Safety Building appears headed to defeat. That ballot pro...
It’s been 12 years since Wrangell voters were asked to approve the borough taking on debt, and next Tuesday’s municipal election ballot will include two such proposals to repair worn-down public buildings. The Oct. 4 ballot also will include the election of a new mayor, two borough assembly members, two port commissioners and three school board members. In addition, the ballot asks voter permission for the borough to sell or lease the former sawmill property at 6-Mile. The borough bought the property this summer for $2.5 million, and is loo...
Winston Davies is running for an uncontested three-year term on the port commission to give back to his community and support Wrangell's commercial fishing industry. He has no previous experience in public office, but when he heard KSTK's plea for candidates to fill the empty port commission seats, he decided to "step up to the plate." Davies is a teacher during the school year and a commercial fisherman in the summer. He has taught a variety of subjects in his 18 years in education, including...
John Yeager, sport fishing guide and commercial halibut fisherman, plans to keep promoting sustainable growth in Wrangell during his upcoming three-year term on the port commission. "Fortunately, I have been on the port commission to see a lot of our projects started, like the Marine Service Center and a lot of our harbors," he said. "I want to stay on and see Wrangell's continued growth." Yeager has served on the commission for six terms already, totaling 12 years. He believes that the...
After seven years on the borough assembly, Bay Co. manager David Powell is running for another three-year term. Powell's desire to get land out of the borough's hands was what first motivated him to pursue an assembly seat, and he is running again in hopes of seeing his goals completed. If elected, his primary focuses will be selling or leasing the 6-Mile mill property, which the borough purchased this summer, and the former Wrangell Institute property, which was the site of a federally...
Two of the races on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot are contested: There are two candidates for mayor and three candidates to fill two three-year terms on the borough assembly. The other three races on the ballot — for port commission, a one-year school board term and two three-year school board seats — are all uncontested. Absent a surprising write-in turnout, the candidates on the ballot will win those elections. Patty Gilbert and Terry Courson are competing to succeed Mayor Steve Prysunka, who decided not to seek reelection to a thi...
Last Thursday, the port commission unanimously voted down a motion that would have recommended the borough lease a portion of the 6-Mile mill property to Channel Construction. Commissioners said they need more information before forwarding a recommendation. Juneau-based Channel Construction, which is owned by William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr., requested to lease a parcel of waterfront property at the former sawmill site for scrap metal recycling. According to its application, the company seeks to establish a “prominent recycling yard” at the loc...
The port commission last week declined to recommend that the borough lease a portion of its newly purchased property at the former 6-Mile sawmill site for use as a scrap metal recycling yard. It was nothing against the recycling business — Channel Construction, out of Juneau — which previously used the property under its previous owner as a staging area for scrap metal collection. Rather, port commissioners said they need more information before making a decision: The length of the lease, the terms and, perhaps most importantly, how it wou...
At the start of the final week to file for borough assembly, school board or port commission, Wrangell was still short of candidates to fill half of the open seats. The deadline to file for the Oct. 4 municipal election is 4 p.m. Wednesday. As of Monday afternoon, candidates had filed paperwork for four of the eight races on the ballot. Patty Gilbert, who serves on the borough assembly and previously served on the school board, has filed to run for mayor. Steve Prysunka, in his sixth year as mayor, has decided not to seek another term....