The Wrangell Borough Assembly sat down for a continuation of their ongoing series of budget workshops on Tuesday, May 14. The assembly has been putting together their FY 2019-2020 budget for the past month, and are getting closer to final approval of it. Each workshop has covered a different portion of Wrangell's facilities and their financial needs. Last week's meeting took a look at capital facilities maintenance and improvements.
The capital facilities department is looking at a budget of $474,790. About $268,000 will be spent on a variety of maintenance and custodial work. The largest expenses in these areas come from the Public Safety Building and city hall, which are set at roughly $82,500 and $56,300 respectively. The Nolan Center, too, will have about $22,800 set aside for maintenance.
Beyond maintenance, Wrangell is also looking to do some Capital Improvement Projects, or CIP, to several borough-owned buildings. According to the agenda packet for the workshop, Wrangell is defining "CIP" as any new project which costs $50,000 or more, and maintenance projects which cost $25,000 or more. Many CIPs have been funded via state and federal grants in the past, but the assembly pointed out that those are harder and harder to find with the current financial times. Potential alternative sources of funding were listed in the packet, including taxes, user fees, lease agreements, loans, or donations.
The Public Safety Building, home to Wrangell's court, DMV, police department, and fire department, was a source of many discussed projects. The building is old and, as the assembly discussed, nearing the end of its lifespan. There are several high-cost projects the building needs to extend its life. This includes renovations to the roof and siding of the building, fire alarm replacement, and repairs to the heating system. The total of all the Public Safety Building CIPs listed come out to about $858,000. There was quite a bit of discussion amongst the assembly on what projects could wait and what needed to be done immediately. There was also discussion on whether or not it would be more cost-effective to look into construction of a brand new building. As this was only a workshop, however, no formal action was taken.
Other CIPs listed include placing a new columbarium at the cemetery, replacing the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning controls at the Nolan Center, and various other projects for the parks and recreation department.
The assembly also held a brief meeting after the workshop. They took the opportunity to recognize a group of AmeriCorps volunteers, who attended the meeting, and to thank them for their recent volunteer work around town. They also congratulated city employee Betsy McConachie on her recent retirement.
In new business, the assembly approved two amendments to the current FY 2019 budget. One amendment was to accept $36,500 in revenue from the sale of borough property, and to place it in the industrial construction fund. The other amendment was to transfer $61,000 to pay for barge shipping, for the two Nome generators Wrangell has planned to add to its power grid.
Mayor Steve Prysunka also used the meeting as an opportunity to update the assembly on Wrangell's power situation. As many know, the communities of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan all went through a power crisis in recent months, due to Tyee and Swan Lake having low water levels. The situation was worsened when the Southeast Alaska Power Agency oversold hydropower to Ketchikan from Tyee Lake, which is meant to primarily supply Wrangell and Petersburg. With the melting snow and increase in rain, however, the lakes have begun to refill. To avoid any future repeats of this fiasco, Prysunka said that the SEAPA board, which he is part of, are planning some new guidelines. A 30-foot "fence" will be set around Tyee Lake's draft limit, of about 1,260 feet. In the future, no hydropower can be sold by SEAPA unless lake levels are 30 feet above the draft limit. If the levels fall below the fence, all sales will be suspended. This will ensure that Wrangell's and Petersburg's power needs will be met first from the lake, and will also help preserve water levels in case of an emergency.
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