Derelict vessel ordinance passes first hearing on second try

The borough assembly voted 7-0 Tuesday to push an amendment to

borough code on the plight of abandoned or derelict vessels to a second reading.

The suggested revisions originally came out of the city’s Ports & Harbors commission by a unanimous approval in October. At that time, assembly members objected to portions of the existing borough code relating to the harbormaster’s ability to impound vessels for violation of public code and the number of public notices made before impounding a boat.

Assembly member James Stough, who raised concerns over the number of public notices at the October meeting, sponsored the motion approving the changes. Assembly member Donald Blake, who had raised concerns about the harbormaster’s impoundment ability, seconded it.

“I talked to (Harbormaster) Greg (Meissner), and after he explained the many procedures that we gotta go through to even get to that point that we wanna go through, I don’t think we need have it in the paper a second time,” Stough said.

The ordinance would empower the harbormaster to impound vessels abandoned or derelict in the marine services yard for longer than 24 months. Harbor officials say the ordinance change could affect as many as a half dozen boats.

The ordinance must past a second public hearing before taking effect.

Another code or ordinance which made it through the first hearing at Tuesday night’s meeting could mean voters could pick up a cold one before or after heading to the polls. Under the proposed ordinance amendments, the section of borough code closing bars and liquor stores on election days would be removed entirely to bring borough code into line with more permissive State Law. The ordinance must pass a second reading before taking effect.

Council members also set a tentative Dec. 3 date for a special Assembly meeting to deal with issues pertaining to Thomas Bay Power Authority and the Southeast Alaska Power Agency.

Stough initially moved to table the meeting until the borough assembly has heard from an attorney on legal advice for the situation between the Wrangell assembly, the Petersburg Assembly, TBPA and SEAPA. The Wrangell assembly is currently on the hook to fund the portion of the TBPA expenses termed the net non-billable.

However, assembly members Blake and Julie Decker pushed to schedule the meeting without advice, in part because of the urgency of the issue, and in part because scheduling a meeting might give the attorneys a concrete timeline to work with and inspire them to reply sooner. The meeting could be postponed if advice wasn't available, they said.

“I was gonna to make a motion to set it for this Friday, but if we wanna give the public more time, I would agree with that,” Blake said. “I think we need to move on this. There are a lot of issues pending with this, and I don’t think we need to keep putting it off.”

Decker agreed.

“I think having a date might light a fire, as far as getting advice back from the attorneys,” she said.