The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a workshop before their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 30, to discuss the future of their solid
waste program. According to the agenda packet for the evening, Wrangell has handled its waste by shipping the
majority of it off the island via Alaska Marine Lines.
However, AML decided that they would no longer ship municipal solid waste in open-top containers after a period of five years. This decision was made about four years ago, and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said they have about a year and a half left to decide how to respond. She went on to explain that AML came to this decision because of a number of fires that have occurred on the barges, often fueled by the waste.
What Von Bargen proposed to the assembly is that they invest in a baler for theirsolid waste. The baler, she said, is essentially a
heavy-duty trash compactor that will compress Wrangell’s waste into “bales” and make them compliant with
AML’s new waste requirements. Some balers also wrap the compacted waste into heavy duty plastic, she said, but she is not certain if that is what the baler they are considering can do.
There are other ways they are considering changing the borough’s waste program, too. Von Bargen said that they are considering purchasing a glass pulverizer as well as a tire splitter. These machines would help increase the amount of waste the borough could fit into a barge container, thus saving money. Von Bargen said she is also wanting to put together a recycling program for the city, especially for
products like cardboard, aluminum cans, and other metals. She said that the city of Ketchikan has a recycling program that regularly pays for itself, and occasionally generates a profit. If Wrangell can form a successful recycling operation, that will mean fewer items to ship off in a waste container and, therefore, money saved.
According to the agenda packet for the meeting, Wrangell could expect to see about $125,000 in savings and new revenue from
these changes to the waste program. However, Von Bargen said that there would be a hefty up-front costs, approximately $482,500.
This investment would necessitate an increase to residents’ waste fees of about eight percent.
As this was only a workshop and not an official agenda item, no decision was made by the assembly.
One of the big items covered in the meeting was a proposed ordinance to make alterations to the code of ordinances in regards to interest rates on utility deposits. At an unknown point in the past, according to the agenda packet, a policy was put into place to pay electric customers an annual five percent interest rate on their utility deposits, until the deposit was returned after the customer was in good standing for 12 consecutive months. The current liability on the deposits is about $22,000. City employee Aleisha Mollen said that a person cannot even get a
savings account with a five percent interest rate anymore, so getting interest on a utility deposit was very expensive for Wrangell and not the standard operating procedure for most typical utility deposits. According to Mollen, the new ordinance removes the interest rate
altogether. People who still have their deposits with the city will still receive interest, but going forward no new deposits will. The
proposal passed its first reading on April 9, and was approved in its second reading Tuesday night.
Public Works Director Rolland Howell asked the assembly to adopt an increase to the water turn on/turn off rate from $35 to $50. The fee is expected to cover the cost of everything from turning on and off water, service charges, and meter testing fees.
According to the agenda packet, $50.82 is the average hourly bill out rate for a streets department employee. This was also approved by the assembly.
While not on the agenda, Mayor Steve Prysunka took time out of the meeting to give a statement to the public, regarding an ongoing lawsuit between the City and Borough of Wrangell and local resident Kipha Valvoda. Valvoda is suing eight former and current members of city government for what he claims to be discriminatory hiring practices and favoritism. He has written letters to the editor to the Wrangell Sentinel claiming such in the past. The statement read in the meeting, Prysunka said, would be the only one the city would give regarding the lawsuit.
“On March 6, 2019, notice was served by Mr. Valvoda alleging that assembly members and staff had not applied due diligence in the hiring of a new public works director,” the statement reads. “We do not agree with his allegations and we have filed an initial response. We note that Mr. Valvoda appears to have chosen to litigate this matter not only in the court but also in the newspaper. The city will not be responding to Mr. Valvoda’s statements in the press as we feel these matters now need to be settled in the courts. We thank the community for their understanding as we move through the legal process that Mr. Valvoda has initiated.”
The assembly also approved of various amendments to the FY 2019 budget. They accepted revenue in the amounts of $9,569.50 and $32,400 for the sale of lots A and C on Etolin Avenue, as well as $2,120.15 in revenue from the sale of scrap metal and batteries.
They also adopted various amendments to the job description for the Wrangell Police Chief. Chief Doug McCloskey informed the borough that he plans to retire in the near future, so the process of finding a new chief has begun. According to Von Bargen, there are currently four applicants for the position.
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