Port Commission member David Silva reported at the board’s May 7 meeting that no garbage disposal is currently available at Wrangell’s boatyard.
“There’s no place to put your garbage,” he said.
“We used to have a couple four-yard dumpsters there,” harbormaster Greg Meissner explained. However, he added, users abused that system by improperly dumping a wide collection of items, so the receptacles were eventually taken away.
The Harbor Department’s current policy requires contractors and customers to dispose of their garbage at the city landfill or take it with them when they leave.
Silva observed this system was not working. “I tend to see people leaving it on the ground when they go into the water,” he said.
Speaking from the audience, contractor Don Sorric commented, “I think that a trash service is a great idea. Waste management is in dire need down there.”
The owner of Superior Marine Services, Sorric said there was a persistent problem with people slipping garbage and abandoned materials into his storage containers and work areas.
“We cannot run a shipyard without waste management,” he said.
Sorric also pointed out there was no convenient means for disposal of scrap metal. Superior Marine currently collects scrap steel in a shipping container, which then gets shipped south for disposal.
“It’s not a money maker; it’s a money loser,” he commented.
Meissner said he would prefer if private enterprise would step up to deal with the junk problem. As for putting up designated receptacles, he said the yard would need to have cameras or a surveillance system in place to make it work.
“They’re hard to contain,” Meissner said. “If we do it, it’s going to come at a cost.”
He added that people disposing of old nets in unattended containers was the worst issue, as the nets get entangled with other garbage and wreak havoc with sanitation machinery. Having a camera system would allow his department to monitor and, if necessary, identify and fine abusers of the program.
Commission chair John Yeager said due to the scope of the problem, a solution would not be found at this meeting. “I could see this as a good workshop,” he said.
Safety issues were also brought up at the meeting. Commissioner John Martin noticed department crew members were not wearing hardhats or reflective gear around the boatyard.
“There’s so much stuff overhead, so much traffic,” Martin said, adding that it posed a safety concern and that city staff should set an example for other contractors.
“They’ve got both,” Meissner responded, referring to the hats and reflective vests. “I’m going to make sure they start putting them on.”
Sorric also raised renewed concern about his business meeting federal workplace safety compliance. Superior Marine still needs water hooked up for its fire system, which is especially needed for its CNC metal shop addition. Sorric said they need to have, at a minimum, a one-inch hose on the premises, charged and ready to use.
“We’ve talked about that before,” he said. “I need that badly.”
Meissner reported a work order has been filed with Public Works.
Asked afterward, Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad explained a co-training exercise between her workers and Harbor department staff would be held soon. Her staff are presently unfamiliar with the machine needed to install the new high-density polyethylene piping, which will eventually replace Wrangell’s iron ductile piping and be used to extend water service to the boatyard’s lease lots.
The Port Commission also reviewed revisions to its draft budget, which will be sent along to the Assembly for approval.
Commissioner John Martin pointed out that, while balanced, the Harbor Department’s budget does not leave much by way of savings.
“We have to work on a savings account,” he said. “What it amounts to is some rate changes. Nobody wants to hear it, but we have to address the future.”
Meissner agreed, saying that in trying to keep down costs, the department has become dependent on grant funding for projects. With state capital project funding looking unlikely, needed projects such as the Shoemaker Bay float replacement are left in limbo.
Designs for the Shoemaker floats were presented last month and matching grants for the $10 million project considered obtainable. Half of the funding had initially been anticipated to come from an Alaska Department of Transportation Tier I grant, but that now looks unlikely.
“We have the problem; we have the solution,” Meissner said. “But half that solution is somebody throwing their money at it.”
A previous push to raise some boatyard lot rates earlier this year were put on hold after a March workshop. Commissioners added the rates topic to the agenda of the next meeting on June 4.
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