Borough assembly holds workshop with Rep. Don Young

Don Young, currently serving his 23rd term as Alaska's sole congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, stopped in Wrangell for a workshop with the borough assembly the morning on Monday, April 15. Assembly members and city employees met with Young to discuss some of the city's priorities and ways Young could offer assistance at the federal level. Among the many topics covered in the workshop were water infrastructure and school funding.

As evidenced by both ongoing power issues as well as the town briefly going on a water watch in early March, Wrangell and the wider Southeast Alaska community is struggling with its water supply. Assembly member Anne Morrison pointed out in the workshop that Wrangell could not afford any leaks, the community needed every drop of water that they could get.

Avoiding leaks has also become a challenge for the community, as Public Works Director Rolland Howell said that Wrangell's water infrastructure is rotting. Some of Wrangell's water pipes are nearing the end of their expected lifespan, while others are simply being degraded by chemicals in the soil eating away at them. According to Wrangell's 2019 federal legislative priorities, copies of which were supplied at the workshop, Wrangell's water treatment plant needs to be upgraded. During times of peak demand, the plant is unable to meet both the commercial and residential needs of the community. Howell also added that renovating the reservoir dams are a high priority for the community.

"We have the second-worst dam in the state," he said. "So we can get water to the lake, but under seismic conditions our dams are at risk. So we don't have enough water, we don't have enough dams to hold our water, and we don't have a good distribution system to get our water to our customers."

Young said that he was working to get Congress to pass another water infrastructure bill this year. The bill, which was last passed in 2017, requires that each fiscal year the Army Corps of Engineers submit a five-year budget and work plan for projects that focus on water resource challenges. Young said, however, that the assembly needed to put together a "shovel ready" plan for him to work with before any federal assistance could come their way for Wrangell's water needs. However, he added that he understood the importance of these projects.

"Water is the blood of the nation and we've not really treated it well, and we haven't kept up with the expansion as necessary." Young said after the workshop. "Now you have a problem here in Wrangell that you put new pipe in a lot of areas that deteriorated faster than they expected it to, and it's going to cost a lot of money. There should be a water project, or water system, all for Southeast so that when we do have these droughts there will be an amount of water ... and a better distribution system so we don't lose it."

School funding was another hot topic in the workshop. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen explained in the workshop that the Wrangell School District stood to lose about $1 million, depending on Governor Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget cuts. However, additional money could also be lost if the Secure Rural Schools funds are not reauthorized. The SRS funds come from the federal government, based on national forest timber harvest receipts. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the SRS funds were put into place in 2000 in response to declining timber harvests in the 1980s and early '90s, to assist small communities that relied on funds from timber harvests on public land for income. Should these funds not be reauthorized by Congress, Von Bargen said, it could mean another $1 million cut to the school district. That $2 million total is roughly a third of the district's budget, she said, so the city and the school district are both clearly concerned about a potential cut that large. Young said that he felt confident the SRS funds would be reauthorized. If Wrangell wanted to help, though, he suggested that they put together a document showing the numbers and how the funds helped the district and wider community.

"It [SRS] is pretty well supported," Young said. "I'm not going to give you a guaranteed promise, but the opposition is not as strong as some people would like to make it be."

Other items covered in the workshop include potentially loosening restrictions on sea otter harvests, transboundary issues with Canada, cleaning up junk on Zarembo Island, and the need to keep the Petersburg and Wrangell Forest Service ranger districts as separate entities.

Young's office can be reached at (907) 271-5978.