The Borough Assembly met in open session on Tuesday, Oct. 9 – and featured the return of Don McConachie as Mayor of the city – a position he held when Wrangell was incorporated as a borough in 2008.
Assembly member Bill Privett was appointed as Vice Mayor, with Mayor McConachie appointing a number of Wrangell residents to various board and commission positions currently vacant.
McConachie also directed Borough Clerk Kim Flores to seek out letters of intent from individuals seeking to be appointed to the assembly seat left vacant by his elevation to mayor.
In his bi-weekly report, Borough Manager Tim Rooney updated the assembly on current projects in the borough, with particular attention paid to one last road project underway in downtown.
“As you may be aware, both concrete facilities ran out of concrete. Between the Front Street project and The Marine Service Center Paving project, there simply was not enough to go around,” Rooney stated. “In fact, the Front Street Project had to borrow concrete from the company supplying concrete for The Marine Service Center in order to finish.
According to his report, the extra concrete from The Marine Service Center was going to be used for Lynch Street, but Public Works Director Carl Johnson and Rooney thought it was important to complete Front Street first.
“Additional concrete has arrived onsite, and work on Lynch Street has resumed. The weather forecast for the next several days looks promising as well and it is staff’s hope that the project will be completed by the end of next week,” Rooney stated.
The replacement of Wrangell Medical Center is also moving forward according to Rooney, who is serving as the chair of the Southeast Conference this year.
“While in Craig last week for Southeast Conference, Mr. Blasco and I participated in a teleconference with representatives of AHFD and Sanderling in order to move forward with the finalization of the component contract,” said Rooney of his interaction with the borough attorney, Bob Blasco. “Mr. Blasco participated in an additional meeting this week with representatives from AHFD and it is hoped that the component contract will be finalized by the end of the month.”
Capital projects are also continuing to progress, states the report.
“Northwest Underwater Construction (NUC) is 90 percent complete on the protective
pile wrap system for the splash zone. They have also completed the repairs to dock abutment. Pile wraps will continue until the project is complete,” Rooney stated.
Recent weather did have an effect on the project, even though it is still on schedule.
“During the recent wind storm that Wrangell endured a few weeks ago, several completed pile wraps were damaged by the summer float which was ripped away from its secured location. NUC has been asked to replace the damaged wraps, and will be compensated on a time and materials basis through a subsequent change order. NUC is still on schedule for project.”
The pile construction is set for completion by mid-October.
In new business, the assembly discussed the order denying a request for rehearing issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to Cascade Creek, LLC.
Privett spoke up – and strongly – about his feelings on the matter.
“I’ve never been a fan of Cascade Creek,” Privett said. “It’s obvious to me that through the years they have not complied with the regulatory requirements from day one and I think that we need to step back and away from them. I don’t have a problem with them not getting another license.”
On Jan. 20, the commission terminated Cascade Creek’s application for an Alternative Licensing Process for the development of a hydroelectric project. The city paid $250,000 to Cascade Creek as part of a study for such a project, which has never produced results for the borough – and is now being sought by the city via legal channels.
“Whether we’ll ever see our $250,000, I seriously doubt,” Privett added.
When asked about what means the city might have to recover the money, Rooney informed the assembly of his actions in attempting to do so.
“I have given all the information to (borough attorney) Mr. Blasco and he is looking into that,” Rooney added.
A change order to the power plant and substation SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system upgrade, to include an additional amount of $28,541.60, was approved unanimously by the assembly.
The next meeting of the assembly will be a special session on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in the assembly chambers. The meeting will replace the regular session set for Oct. 23 due to a lack of quorum at that meeting.
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