Overshadowing other agenda items for Tuesday evening’s Borough Assembly meeting, voices were raised and the rare gavel was used during the persons to be heard segment as several residents and representatives of the Wrangell Tribe aired concerns over proposed placement of a monofill site near Pats Creek. (see Monofill article)
Under ceremonial matters, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) environmental program manager John Halverson updated the Assembly on the cleanup at the 4-Mile former junkyard site, which had been extensively contaminated with lead and petroleum over decades of use.
Originally the agency’s intent had been to remove contaminated soil and other debris off-island for treatment, but funding constraints on the ever-expanding project meant only the most heavily affected could be transported. Instead, project leads proposed construction of a permanent monofill to contain the mitigated soil, about 18,500 cubic yards’ worth.
The site chosen is a rock pit managed by the Department of Natural Resources, about 0.2 miles from Pats Creek and about a mile from Pats Lake. Engineers testified in a public meeting on Monday that the lead would be stable in its confinement for the long term, and that it would have minimal impact on the local environment.
“Unless we can come up with a better plan, that is still what we’d like to do,” Halverson explained.
Assembly member Dave Powell pointed out the decision was out of the city’s hands, as it had handed over management of the cleanup effort to the DEC for funding constraints of its own, and the monofill site would be on state-managed land.
Fellow member Mark Mitchell underlined that point. “The borough flat doesn’t have $12 million to pay for this,” he said, referring to the estimated cost of shipping out the soil. Construction of the monofill would cost around $5.5 million. “We have to go along with the alternative that we’ve got.”
“The ideal situation would have been if, 60 years ago, someone had said ‘no’ to that junkyard,” Mayor David Jack commented. He noted his own and others’ culpability in using the junkyard over the years, and thanked the state for assisting in the cleanup.
Coming off from Monday’s monofill presentation, the subject was on the minds of most of the residents sitting in on Tuesday’s meeting. Like other meetings, members of the public have an opportunity to address the Assembly, and representatives of Wrangell Cooperative Association were among those to speak. Tribal
administrator Esther Ashton read for public record a letter WCA had submitted to the DEC on August 1 expressing its concerns, both at the site’s proximity to local subsistence use grounds and for its exclusion from proceedings as a stakeholder.
“We were only recently made aware of the project,” she explained. Ashton reported DEC had subsequently reached out to WCA, and members of its board toured the proposed site and were made acquainted with the plans. However, the board decided on August 15 to maintain its stance of opposition to the rock pit site.
President Richard Oliver, in his
remarks, couched his concern with thanks to DEC for its cleanup of the Byford site. “It’s great. But running out of money at this point changes everything.” From his perspective, Oliver felt the 1,000-year expected lifespan of the monofill’s non permeable barrier was not adequate. Referring to the project’s
two-year timetable, he asked for more time to seek out the extra funds needed to
transport the material off of the island instead.
Tempers began to raise during local artist Vivian Prescott’s opportunity to speak. She began by pulling out pictures of grandparents, relatives and other kin for illustrative purposes. However, Jack warned her she was veering beyond meeting procedures when she confronted visiting project staff and members of the Assembly with the pictures. Municipal code outlines the persons to be heard segment’s process, under which members of the public are to address those on the Assembly only, and as a body. Assembly members can ask specific questions of the speakers, but are not allowed to discuss items or otherwise interact.
Prescott persisted despite requests to stop, and at one point Jack requested the clerk call for police to escort her out. A compromise was reached, and Prescott resumed making her statement. She focused on the concept of respect, and its importance to Tlingit culture. The Pats Creek area was important to local subsistence, she explained, and excluding WCA from the process had shown a lack of respect.
“It makes me think this is a way of doing business for the past 200 years,” she commented, only including tribal entities after decisions had already been made.
Assembly members responded to these accusations.
“Nobody is hiding anything from anybody. All you have to do is get involved,” said Mitchell. Powell pointedly noted their meetings were matters of public record. Voices were raised, and Jack ruled his and other such remarks had been out of order, contrary to the meeting’s procedural rules.
The remainder of the meeting proceeded quickly, if uncomfortably. Unanimous approval was given for senior citizen property tax exemptions, for Lloyd and Charlotte Brown, and Anthony and Sueann Guggenbickler. A request to vacate a private access and utility easement was likewise approved for Charles and Joan Martin. A certificate of service was presented in absentia to Robbie Austin for service on the Planning and Zoning Commission, from January 2017 to the present.
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