At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Borough Assembly approved moving ahead with seeking a consultant on the hospital’s future, while members also learned city computers had been targeted by a hacking attack.
A letter recommending hiring a consultant had been submitted to the city by the Wrangell Medical Center governing board last month. Currently the hospital is a municipal service, but recent cash flow troubles and sizable costs for a replacement facility have had administrators and elected officials alike considering other alternatives. After a joint meeting with the Assembly on November 6, board members agreed to the need for a new operating model, likely including a third-party partnership to some degree.
Following the acquisition earlier this year of Alaska Island Community Services – a Wrangell-headquartered clinical services provider – by regional provider Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium, SEARHC seemed well placed as a possible partner in administering Wrangell’s public facility. AICS and WMC have maintained a close working relationship over the years, and the clinic purchases about a third of the hospital’s total services. Even before AICS built its new clinic on then-undeveloped Wood Street, it had been the intention of the two entities that WMC would build its eventual replacement facility on the neighboring property, forming a campus that would ease treatment and save on costs.
Hopes for the arrangement continue even after AICS’ acquisition, and SEARHC had last month offered to assist the borough with costs for architectural work on a combined campus. Since receiving the WMC board’s input, city staff have since worked out a non-binding agreement with SEARHC to hire a consultancy with the intention of laying out potential management models best suited to that arrangement.
After it accepted the agreement as presented, borough manager Lisa Von Bargen told the Assembly she would be putting out a request for proposal shortly, and might well have recommendations for their review by January’s first meeting.
“She has really struck this balance here,” Assembly member Julie Decker said of the agreement. “I think we’re going to end up with something positive as a result.”
A full copy of the agreement and its confidentiality provisions is available for the public to view on the website, attached to the meeting’s packet.
In other Assembly business, Von Bargen said she would be putting together an RFP for tech support services after an attack by hackers last month. While she had been away at the Alaska Municipal League annual conference last month, Von Bargen said the city finance director had received an email from her office account requesting transfer of city funds to a specific account.
“It said it was coming from somewhere in the hotel,” she said, adding that her computer had not been in use at the time.
A report has since been submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and since changing passwords on the accounts no further issue has been detected. However, Von Bargen said the incident showed city services needed to consolidate their technological management. Hitherto, individual users have been responsible for their devices’ security and maintenance, with occasional assistance contracted in.
“We need a comprehensive approach to IT management here at the borough,” she said.
A proposal before the Assembly could be expected either later in January or at its first February meeting. Funding for the item was never written into the budget, so any position created would likely need to be funded through drawn reserves.
Assembly members shot down in a majority vote a proposal for money towards a legal appeal against the Forest Service’s Roadless Rule. The request for $5,000 was made by Jim Clark, a Juneau attorney who since 2014 has twice approached the borough for financial support for similar efforts.
The filing appeals a legal judgment entered on September 20 upholding the rule. Proponents of the challenge explain overturning it would open up development in restrictive sites such as the Tongass National Forest. The communities of Craig and Ketchikan were among other entities already lending financial support to this particular effort, and city staff notes indicated Wrangell’s contribution would come from its community promotions budget.
Assembly members had mixed reactions to the request.
Voicing his opposition, Stephen Prysunka noted the last request, for $3,000, had been rejected by the Assembly. In October 2014 it had previously approved $5,000 for a suit over the Big Thorne timber sale.
“This is now the third time that we’ve been asked to contribute to legal actions on these timber issues,” he said. “There was a very strong consensus at that time that this would be the only time we would contribute.”
Participating by phone, Decker was in support of the request, noting the impacts of overturning the rule could be beneficial to the community and others like it. “There’s a lot of other groups we have a mutual interest with,” she commented. “It’s actually a pretty broad issue.”
Other ways around the rule exist, however, such as an appropriations amendment by Sen. Lisa Murkowski currently being considered in committee.
“We can keep throwing money at it, and I think we have a better chance with our senators,” said member Patty Gilbert.
With six members present, a four-strong majority voted ‘no’ on the item after discussions.
In its last item, Assembly members again voted to postpone a vote on a proposal to waive city code to allow First Bank to appoint a new lessee on boatyard lots without their approval. The contention relates to loan services sought by contractor Don Sorric, who leases two lots at the city’s Marine Service Center.
Code’s proscriptions aside, Von Bargen explained there would be a number of unknowns for the city if it ceded its discretion over the lease to a lender. There could be code conflicts with the bank’s selection, for example, or arbitrary subdivisions made to the lot.
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