Assembly approves harbor design contract

The borough assembly voted 5-0 Tuesday night to approve a no-bid design contract with Juneau-based Corvus Design.

The contract allots $11,372 from a $35,000 state grant to renovate heritage harbor for that purpose. Port commissioners previously said the contract was designed to be no-bid in order to avoid a prolonged bidding process which might stretch past the June 30 expiration date for the grant.

The money “is part of the starting of this thing?” assembly member James Stough asked harbormaster Greg Meissner. “Is that what this is?”

The goal of the contract – which includes funding for Corvus artist Chris Mertl to travel to Wrangell and conduct workshop sessions with both the ports commission and the public — was to produce final details for a plan that could be taken to other agencies for funding, Meissner said. A portion of a memorial, a steel gazebo, could cost as much $100,000, Meissner estimated.

“We need to get this thing designed so folks can figure out what they’re paying for,” he said. “The problem is you can’t get the big funds to dance with you unless you have something to present them.”

The board also voted 5-0 to disband the special energy committee. The special energy committee was formed with a specific task in mind, namely to review a memorandum of understanding between SEAPA and Wrangell, and the task has been completed, said Mayor David Jack.

“A special committee can only function as long as the purpose is still there,” he said. “Now, if you want to form another committee, a standing committee, you can do that.”

“That committee no longer has a purpose,” Jack added.

A standing energy committee should be formed said now-former special energy committee chair James Stough.

“The purpose of that is to try to find out what your energy needs are and what they will be in the future,” he said. “If we’re gonna disband it, we need to consider making it a energy forum.”

Jack agreed.

“If the assembly feels an energy committee a standing committee is a good thing to do, then let’s put it on the agenda for the next meeting,” he said. “A committee has a far greater reach than any special committee, and that’s what I think you want.”

Past special energy committee meetings had focused on widely divergent subjects, including divestiture and creating a legal framework to split Tyee Lake power generation 50-50 between Petersburg and Wrangell.

The assembly also unanimously approved on first reading to an ordinance amended Dec. 10 relating to the sale of alcoholic beverages in the borough. The amended language forbids licensees, agents or employees from allowing people to enter a bar between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Monday through Friday and 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The amendment comes on the heels of earlier amendments that standardized the hours of operations for taverns and liquor stores throughout the year. A second reading for the ordinance revision is scheduled for the Jan. 28 regular assembly meeting.

The assembly also voted 5-0 to approve a Memorandum of Agreement between the Wrangell Cooperative Association and the borough for the resurfacing of Weber Street as part of the Transportation Program Tribal Transportation Improvement Program, a project managed by the Federal Highway Administration.

The assembly voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution supporting Gov. Sean Parnell’s proposal to appropriate $3 billion from the constitutional budget reserve in the Alaska Retirement Trust Funds in 2015.

In other business, the board discussed revising borough code to allow members to cast their votes by teleconference instead of requiring members to be present.

They also discussed changes to the method by which a sales tax exemption for fuel sales over $1,200 was calculated.

Assembly members also discussed the fact that John Glenn, owner of Stikine River Forest Products, will build a new mill with 35 jobs in Petersburg instead of Wrangell.

“We need employment in this community,” Stough said.

The economic development committee should focus on ways to promote business, Stough added.

Decker, who sits economic development committee, agreed.

“Another 35 jobs would be nice,” she said.

During the persons to be heard section of the agenda, local fisherman Arnold Bakke told board members he was upset about several things at the harbor. Chief among them, several lights are out in Inner Harbor, creating unsafe conditions, Bakke said.

“I talked to the harbor department time and time again, guys walking up and down the dock,” he said. “There’s 14 lights in that harbor. Five of them work.”

The issue has previously been discussed during previous meetings of the port commission.

Wrangell Light and Power officials had inspected the lights on the poles, and discovered a larger electrical issue, Meissner said.

“They found out it was not the issue,” Meissner said. “There’s a switch that goes from automatic to manual, and you should be able to switch it and leave it on, and it currently works the opposite way. You switch it to manual and everything goes off.”

Meissner said he would try harder to get an electrician to examine the issue.