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Renate Davies (left) and WCA staff Esther Reece, Lizzie Romane, Deanna Horn and Kim Wickman dug in, pitched in, planted and trimmed one of the 14 downtown garden beds last Friday as part of the Community Collaboration effort to improve the town's appearance. The two-day event, organized by Wrangell Parks and Recreation, drew more than 60 volunteers. The city electric department hung colorful banners on light posts and kids joined in the effort, too, with Evergreen Elementary School students...
A few volunteers and city parks and recreation staff have started the work, but the big push to clean up, restore and replant downtown garden beds -and generally spruce up Front Street - is this weekend. The work project stretches down Front Street from the Stikine Inn to Rayme's Bar, said Kate Thomas, parks director. "I am not going to turn down help, ever." Volunteers can sign up and pick up tools, supplies and assignments at the downtown pavilion 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m....
Wrangell, Petersburg and Juneau residents are competing to see who can walk, hike or run the farthest - without ever leaving town. "Bragging rights will go to the community that walks/hikes/runs the most miles (average miles per person)," the Wrangell Parks and Recreation website says. Juneau Parks and Recreation, which started Walk Southeast last year to keep people active during the pandemic, invited Wrangell and Petersburg to join up this year, giving the event a friendly competitive alure...
March 3, 1921 About 160 feet of the dock, which is being built by Donald Sinclair for the convenience of fisherman and other boatmen who are patrons of the City Store, have been completed and the balance of the 200 feet, which will be the length of the main dock, will be put in when the tides permit the work to continue. The dock is seven feet wide. An inclined approach about 40 feet long will connect a substantial floating dock 80 feet in length with this main dock. The whole structure, which runs out from a platform at the rear of the...
Thanks to the use of federal CARES Act funds to offset wages, and not as bleak a year as had been expected for sales tax revenue, the city general fund is projected to close out Fiscal Year 2021 in the black anywhere from about $100,000 to $800,000. However, the next fiscal year starting July 1 is less certain, according to reports at a borough assembly workshop Feb. 9. "This paints a really great picture for FY21, but I need to caution you for FY22," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said in the...
July July 2: With recent national attention on racial bias and police brutality, the community met via web conference June 29 for an evening town hall meeting to discuss policing practices in Wrangell. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to ask questions of Chief Tom Radke and to share their opinions on the Wrangell Police Department. Those who spoke in the meeting, by and large, expressed support for the police and their current practices. July 9: The cities of Wrangell,...
Thanks to all who helped with Polar Plunge and Dip Thanks to all who participated in the 2021 Polar Plunge and Dip. Also, a big thank you to all the folks who came out to help and donate, including the folks who supplied firewood for the burn barrels: Bob Lippert, Todd Torvend and Rolland Howell. Thanks also to John Taylor and Tim Buness of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, the Wrangell Public Works Department and Parks and Recreation Department, and Stephanie Cook at the Wrangell...
The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Department, and other city employees, celebrated the holiday season with a free hot dog lunch to the community last Wednesday afternoon. Despite rainy weather, according to a Facebook post by the P&R department, over 80 hot dogs were passed out. Some of the people who staffed the lunch were (left to right): Kate Thomas, Jimmy Baggen, Lucy Moline-Robinson, Candy Radke, Tom Radke, and Anne Luetkemeyer....
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, for a special meeting. They convened to approve of a final spending plan for the city's remaining CARES Act funding before the close of 2020. Wrangell, and many other communities, received government funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic under the CARES Act. The borough received approximately $3.85 million to use in response to the pandemic near the beginning of last summer. Wrangell has used this funding for a variety of...
December 17 Jamie Roberts, with the Wrangell EOC, reported that there are currently no active cases of COVID-19 in the community. Statewide, Alaska’s case count is 41,859 as of yesterday. This is an increase of 3,151 from last week. Wrangell received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 16. According to SEARHC, following guidance from the Alaska Vaccine Advisory Council, vaccinations will be given to frontline health workers first, along with first responders, and l...
While borough facilities have been temporarily closed in response to increases in COVID-19 cases across the state, the city's community pool will remain closed a little longer. A replacement project for the pool's domestic hot water tank began Tuesday, Dec. 7. This project will be ongoing until Dec. 15, according to a Facebook post from the Wrangell Parks and Recreation Department. "Because this project halts all domestic water service to the building during construction, the closure includes al...
It has been a strange year for high school sports, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. State tournaments were cancelled, mitigation plans were drafted, travel and in-person competition were limited. The situation was no different for the Wrangell High School swim team. Their season came to an abrupt end in early November, when in response to increasing cases across the state the City and Borough of Wrangell closed their facilities to the public. This included the community pool. While the season...
Wrangell Parks and Recreation has learned a lot about adaptability this past year, P&R Director Kate Thomas said. With the COVID-19 pandemic, she said that things could change quickly and her department would need to change their operations to meet them. As the year is coming to a close, Thomas said they are looking at their options for winter programming. In a previous meeting on Nov. 11 the Parks and Rec Advisory Board decided to maintain a moratorium on travel for youth programming through...
The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Advisory Board met Monday, June 29. During the meeting, the board reviewed the department's new budget for FY 2021, and also took a look at some tentative plans for summer programming. The borough assembly adopted the FY 2021 budget for Wrangell in their assembly meeting on Tuesday, June 23. The entire budget is aiming to break even, according to Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen, with expenses and revenues set at approximately $16 million. The Parks and Rec...
The Wrangell Borough assembly held another budget workshop last week, Wednesday, June 3. In this meeting the assembly briefly reviewed a looming budget deficit in the borough's general fund. They also looked at a variety of department budgets that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are anticipating reduced revenues. Among these are the Transient Tax and CPV budget, the Nolan Center, and Parks and Recreation. As reported in previous articles regarding these budget workshops, the City and Borough of...
As the COVID-19 pandemic has gone on, people have turned to technology to help stay in touch from a safe distance. The schools have been hosting lessons online, the borough assembly has been meeting via Zoom, and this coming Saturday the public is invited to see the winners of the virtual "Wrangell's Got Talent" show. The talent show has been put together by Wrangell's parks and recreation department. Lucy Robinson, with the department, said it was an idea they had to stay engaged with the...
The Reopen Wrangell Task Force, made up of several representatives across the community, met last Monday afternoon to discuss ways to assist Wrangell's economy through the COVID-19 pandemic. The task force recently sent out a survey to local businesses to see what their needs are. The survey became available Friday, April 24. Kate Thomas, with the Wrangell Parks and Recreation department, said they have received 27 responses. Two of them were test runs from city officials, she said, but the bulk...
Effective immediately, all Borough playgrounds are closed to the public. Parks and Recreation discourages use of park shelters, picnic tables, and benches as a means of mitigating the transmission of COVID-19. Public health officials say that the coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces common in playgrounds and other recreation facilities for days or longer. People of any age can get infected with COVID-19 and spread it to others whether or not they develop symptoms themselves. Parents and children could not only get a serious infection...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday, Feb. 25, to have a follow-up work session on staffing issues at the Irene Ingle Public Library and the Nolan Center. As covered in a Feb. 13 article of the Sentinel, the assembly has been considering how best to resolve staffing questions at both facilities while also keeping everything as affordable as possible. During their last workshop, the assembly considered a number of options for an empty assistant position at the library. The Nolan Center has...
The Alaska House Finance Committee received public testimony from people across the state on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22. The state is currently in its budget season again, and the finance committee held the meeting to hear what the public felt was important. Several members from Wrangell called in from the local Legislative Information Office to give their perspective on the community's needs moving forward. Among the items Wrangellites voiced support for were the need for ferry...
During their last meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Wrangell Borough Assembly got to take a look at their financial situation from the past six months. The current budget, for FY 2020, was adopted last June. As of Dec. 31, 2019, total revenue for Wrangell's general fund has been about $3.5 million, and about $2.7 million in expenditures. The general fund is currently sitting at a profit of $869,251. However, for the entire financial year the general fund is expected to bring in a little less...
The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee met last week, Jan. 15, to discuss the recent series of winter activities, as well as to continue planning for the upcoming Helping Our Parks Project. Over winter break, the city and other community organizations came together to put on a series of events to give Wrangell youth stuff to do while school was not in session. According to Committee Member Haig Demerjian, the events were quite successful. "I was just reading the director's report,...
Following is the Wrangell Sentinel's news review for January through June of 2019. Next week the review will include events from July through December. January Jan. 13 - The Fairbanks Arts Association opened their 24th annual statewide poetry contest for submissions this December. Each year, the association picks a new judge for the contest. This year will be judged by Wrangell resident Vivian Faith Prescott. Prescott is the author of numerous works, including The Hide of My Tongue and The Dead...
Running three-and-a-half hours long before even coming to an executive session, the borough assembly meeting on Oct. 22 saw a wide variety of topics covered. One of them was overseeing several appointments to various city positions. Patty Gilbert, recently re-elected to the borough assembly, was named the vice-mayor. There were two open seats on the planning and zoning commission, to which Terri Henson and April Hutchinson were appointed. Annya Ritchie was appointed to the parks and recreation a...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association held an award ceremony at Wrangell High School Monday evening, Sept. 30. Tribal Administrator Esther Ashton, along with several members of the WCA board, organized the ceremony to officially give several local organizations a check from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's "Healthy Is Here" grant. In total, $10,600 was given to 17 organizations. "The reason we're here today is that we received from SEARHC a Healthy Is Here grant," Ashton said....