Mayor Jeremy Maxand presents Wrangell’s head librarian, Kay Jabusch, with a proclamation honoring 90 years of library service in the borough during the Nov. 22 assembly meeting.
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met in two open sessions last week to address a number of items of new business and to certify the most recent special election vote for Proposition 1.
During a special session on Monday, Nov. 21, the vote was certified 425-172 in favor of the proposition to provide both the land and buildings comprising the new Wrangell Medical Center as collateral on a $24.7 million USDA loan.
The second session, a regularly scheduled meeting, was held on Tuesday, Nov. 22 and began with Borough Manager Tim Rooney’s bi-monthly report to the Assembly.
One of the more pressing issues Rooney’s report dealt with was the on-going WMC timeline – and what the citizens of the borough can expect in the weeks to come.
The formation of a hospital building committee consisting of Rooney, WMC CEO Noel Sell-Rea, the borough’s Finance Director Jeff Jabusch, Olinda White, and a representative from both the Borough Assembly and the WMC Board of Directors is next up for the process according to Rooney.
“It is anticipated that this group would meet monthly throughout the course of the project,” Rooney said in his report. “At this time, it is proposed that this group would also have authority to approve all change orders under $100,000 that remain within the approved project budget.”
The construction team is also slated to come together in the next few weeks, according to Rooney.
“This committee will have 3-5 members mainly consisting of hospital personnel and will be charged with monitoring day-to-day activities of the project,” Rooney added. “This group will have no authority to direct changes to the scope or the budget without the hospital building committee approval.”
The project team for the WMC project, consisting of representatives from Layton Construction, David E. Johnson Architects, and American Health Facilities Development will be in Wrangell during the week of Dec. 12 according to Rooney’s report. Over the course of their visit, the team will go over roofing options, perform a site review, take inventory of existing furniture, review the design with WMC staff and review a financing status and USDA update.
The report by Rooney also spoke to the financial status of the borough’s electric utility.
“The City and Borough of Wrangell will be making its last bond payment this week on the 1997 electric bonds,” Rooney said. “These bonds were with the Alaska Energy Authority and were used originally to extend the electricity from 9 mile to McCormack’s Creek. Following this payment, the electric utility will be debt free.”
According to Jabusch, the borough paid approximately $28,000 per year on the bond over the previous 14 years.
A collaborative plan focusing on key areas to strengthen the regional economy was also raised in Rooney’s report, with a meeting earlier this week to discuss the issues at hand.
The “cluster initiative” will address four themes including forest products, visitor products, ocean products and renewable energy. The process recently ended, according to Rooney, and Wrangell’s input utilized Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore, and Wrangellites Julie Decker and George Woodbury.
The assembly also recognized the Irene Ingle Public Library for 90 years of service to the community.
The members also unanimously passed a resolution to collaborate with Sealaska on research into the 1869 bombardment of Wrangell.
The next regular meeting of the assembly will be Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of city hall.
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