The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, June 23. While the adoption of the FY 2021 budget was the primary topic of discussion, and is covered in another article, there were several other important items covered in the meeting. One such item was the resignation of Assembly Member Mya DeLong.
DeLong submitted her letter of resignation on June 8, but it was only formally accepted by the assembly in this meeting. According to her letter of resignation, DeLong has served as a member of the assembly since October of 2018. She was part of many projects she feels proud of, she wrote, such as bringing a SEARHC hospital to Wrangell, helping with economic development, and welcoming a new police chief to the city, among other things. However, she felt the need to resign over struggles to effect change at the assembly level.
"During my time of service, I slowly came to the realization that positive change is a difficult thing to implement in a culture resistant to transformation and determined to cling to that which is comfortable," she wrote. "We are a small community being forced to deal with national and global issues, whether it is related to a pandemic or police brutality and racism. We are a community of diversity and we are only stronger by coming together during difficult times."
DeLong also expressed her love for the Wrangell community in her letter, and made assurances that she would still try to be an advocate for critical issues as a resident of Wrangell.
Assembly Member Julie Decker expressed her regret at losing DeLong. The assembly accepted DeLong's resignation, and advised the clerk to begin advertising to fill the unexpired term, which according to the agenda packet runs until October 2020.
Multiple budget amendments were made during the meeting, as well, to the current budget of FY 2020. The assembly accepted a donation of $1,025 into the general fund to assist with digitizing Wrangell newspapers. They also amended the CARES Act Grant Fund by accepting a $20,557.84 public safety grant. This will be used to cover the police department's costs for PPE, vehicle transportation costs, and UV light to disinfect the jail. Lastly, the assembly transferred $29,414 from harbor fund reserves to the CIP fund for the Shoemaker Bay replacement project. While renovations to Shoemaker Bay are largely complete, this money will be used for parking lot improvements and replacement of the boarding float.
The assembly also approved funding for various projects. They accepted funding requests from the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Committee for marketing assistance and business assistance projects, in the amounts of $146,516 and $515,000 respectively. They approved a professional services agreement for reservoir bypass engineering design with Shannon & Wilson, in the amount of $210,063. There was another agreement with R&M Engineering, in the amount of $154,775, for land development survey services that was also approved.
Several members of the community also took the opportunity to speak. Joan Sargent, of Island of Faith Lutheran Church, provided an invocation at the start of the meeting.
Wrangell resident Eli Michael also took the opportunity to call on the Wrangell Police Department to release a statement of action on the topics of excessive force, police brutality, racial profiling, and encouraging social justice. As a member of the LGBTQ community, Michael said he has stories from several friends who have experienced excessive force and profiling from police officers. It is a countrywide issue, he said, with many members of his and other marginalized communities being targeted and harassed. With recent national attention on the topic of police brutality and profiling, Michael said he wanted to see Wrangell become part of the conversation.
Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said that the city was originally planning to hold a work session with the police department on the topic of the local law enforcement paradigm. However, this had been cancelled because it was decided a work session was not the proper place for the conversation. Instead, after some discussion amongst the assembly, a community meeting was tentatively scheduled for the evening of June 29.
Another member of the public, Duane King, came before the assembly on the topic of permanent registration tags for vehicles. This is an option that Wrangell can opt into, he said, and many other communities across Alaska have chosen to do so. For an additional cost of $25, on top of normal fees, King said members of the public can permanently register their vehicles if they are eight years or older. He wanted to ask the assembly to consider opting into this program. Mayor Steve Prysunka said that this was something they would look into.
During the meeting, the assembly also approved the annual tidelands five-year reassessments. They also renewed their health insurance and property and liability insurance plans for 2020-2021. Health insurance premiums are decreasing by 2.5 percent, Von Bargen said, but property and liability insurance is increasing by about 25 percent. This increase is because of a number of factors, including impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling property markets, and rising liability rates across the state due to "significant claims for employment practices and child sex abuse."
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