Aside from the matter of the Big Thorne timber sale (see story on page 1) there was not too much for the City and Borough of Wrangell Assembly to go over when it met for its regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday evening at City Hall.
At City Manager Jeff Jabusch's recommendation, the Assembly agreed to hire for one year the services of Ray Matiashowski as its lobbyist in Juneau for an annual fee of $34,000.
“We solicited six different lobbyists,” Jabusch told the assembly. Two of the lobbyists were unavailable, and of the four available, he felt Matiashowski was the best qualified since he also represented the interests of SEAPA, Petersburg and Ketchikan in Juneau.
“We think he has a good perspective of Southeast,” Jabusch explained.
Members Julie Decker and Becky Rooney have both worked with Matiashowski in the past.
“He is very tenacious and he's really, really on the ball,” Rooney commented.
Speaking on his ties with other nearby communities, Decker said “I think it could lead to a good synergy for Southeast communities.”
Jabusch said the Borough's hiring of a lobbyist to represent its interests in Washington D.C. has so far been of great help in identifying grant opportunities and also in providing a strategy addressing transboundary mining concerns.
“We think a state lobbyist would do a similar thing,” he said. “They get a pretty good feel for what's going on.” In particular, he noted that tougher times regarding the state budget seem to be ahead and that keeping a lobbyist in the capital would be an asset.
After some discussion, the Assembly voted to hire Matiaschowski, 5-0.
Jabusch said he would attempt to arrange having him come visit before the Assembly's next scheduled meeting to go over the Borough's capital project requests from the legislature for fiscal year 2015-2016.
Mayor David Jack also made several appointments, with Assembly members Daniel Blake and Stephen Prysunka appointed to the Code Review Committee and Southeast Alaska Power Authority board, respectively, and candidate Clay Hammer also appointed to the SEAPA board.
Three certificates of service were also awarded in absentia to Kipha Valvoda for his service on the Planning and Zoning Commission since 2012; Rudy Briskar, for serving on the Economic Development Committee since last year; and Peter Helgeson, for his service on Nolan Museum/Civic Center Board since 2008.
Commenting on a special presentation on transboundary mining issues made to the Assembly earlier that afternoon, Stephen Prysunka expressed his surprise at what he'd learned.
“I was a bit floored by the scale of the operations,” he told other members on the Assembly. A video showing the actual August breach of the Mount Polley mine's tailing pond dam was also shown during the presentation.
“It was absolutely terrifying,” Prysunka said.
Assembly member Daniel Blake agreed, adding similar videos can be found on YouTube. “They're horrendous,” he said.
Prysunka said the presenters, representing groups like Salmon Beyond Borders and United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group spearheading opposition to the sizable acid-generating mines along shared waters, had taken a look of the letter Wrangell's Assembly had drafted and sent earlier this month.
“They were very impressed,” he commented.
In his manager's report, Jabusch also said workers improving Cassiar Street have reached a stalling point with the arrival of rain.
“They're ready to start pouring the street,” he said, though a spot of good weather is needed to allow them to finish asphalt work. He said it would need five or six days to accomplish.
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