The borough assembly and other city officials met Saturday morning, Jan. 11, to workshop future priorities for the city and to look at the upcoming budget process. A long list of state and federal legislative priorities was laid out for attendees to review and talk about. For state priorities for Wrangell, the first and foremost was the reinstatement of several state positions to the city. Over the past decade, according to the priority list, Wrangell has seen several state jobs taken away that the assembly considers critical to the public wellbeing. Among these lost positions include a public health nurse, OCS caseworker and a magistrate. These positions have not been eliminated, but relocated to Petersburg. As Mayor Steve Prysunka said in a previous interview with the Sentinel, however, Wrangell is not a suburb of Petersburg. It is an independent community and in the borough assembly's opinion the community needs these positions back.
"We had this on last year's legislative priorities for the state," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said. "We have included specifically, this year, the Office of Child Services in far greater detail because of the issues we're dealing with right now. The information that has been brought to our attention in regard to case load with the representative out of Petersburg, that the far greater caseload is actually here in Wrangell."
With some discussion around this priority, Assembly Member Patty Gilbert requested that they add the importance of keeping the state trooper position in Wrangell, too. There is no talk of removing the trooper position from Wrangell, but Prysunka said he would like to mention that as a priority ahead of time, just in case.
"Petersburg is getting a second trooper position and I fear that they're grooming us like they have done," he said. "They did the same thing with OCS. They stacked up OCS workers in Petersburg and then took our OCS worker ... I'm worried they're stacking up troopers over there to say we don't need a trooper here."
Along similar lines as the first state priority, Wrangell is also stating their opposition to a proposed closure of Wrangell's Department of Fish and Game office. Among other state legislative priorities listed include sustainable operation of the Alaska Marine Highway System, better control of the sea otter population, and a request to allow for a local option to determine the amount of property tax exemptions for senior citizens and disabled veterans. As for federal legislative priorities, Wrangell has laid out items that include continued support of the Secure Rural Schools program, renovations to the reservoir dam, concerns over transboundary water issues with mining operations in British Columbia, and support for Essential Air Service.
The assembly also took time during the workshop to discuss the upcoming budget season. A preliminary schedule of the budget season states that the city will be expecting detailed budget submittals from all departments by Feb. 21, with a draft operational budget from the Finance Department due on Feb. 26. Meetings with department heads, draft revisions, and discussions with the school district about their budget and the expected local contribution will be ongoing through the spring and into the summer. A final budget is scheduled to be submitted for assembly approval in May, with final approval expected near the end of that month.
The assembly also heard a proposal to switch from a one-year budget to a two-year budget. This would mean that Wrangell would be operating under FY 2021 and 2022 budget, potentially, instead of just a budget for FY 2021. This is a system that the city of Juneau operates under already, according to the meeting's information packet, and the city of Homer recently adopted a two-year budget, as well. No formal action was taken, but discussions on this topic will be ongoing.
During the workshop, city officials also discussed future capital improvement projects for the future. Among these include replacement of the Ash Street water main, replacing the diesel generator power plant, and renovating the Public Safety Building. A full list of items covered in the workshop can be found on the city's website, http://www.wrangell.com.
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