Wrangell's port commission met last Thursday, Nov. 12. A large portion of their discussion that night surrounded the installation of ladders between slip spaces at Shoemaker Harbor. Shoemaker has recently undergone extensive renovations, replacing old docking and making the harbor more accessible for vessels.
The commission was looking at installing ladders in between each slip space in the harbor. This would cost about $84,000, according to the discussion. Brian Merritt, with the Port Commission, said he has not seen any other harbors that have ladders between each float, and was curious why they were considering this. He understood it would make things safer for anyone who fell into the water, he said, but it was a significant cost for them.
"These new docks, the finger floats are much higher out of the water than we've had in the past," said Commissioner John Martin. "It would be near impossible to get from the water up on one of those fingers."
Steve Miller, Wrangell's new harbor master, said that this has been an ongoing discussion for the port commission for some time. One idea that was brought up in the meeting, that Miller said he really liked, was getting signage flags, or some other type of markings, to better show the locations of ladders already present in the harbor. No formal decisions were made in the meeting.
Another topic of discussion in the meeting was a new cell tower.
"What's happening is Skybridge is coming in to put a larger cell tower in, and they're also putting 5G in, and it takes a whole lot more gear I guess to power up that 5G," Miller said. "So they're asking for a 40-by-50 foot area where they're already at. They're going to take all that out and put brand new in."
The cell tower area in question is located near Shoemaker Harbor. There are many hoops to jump through and red tape to clear before this project really begins, Miller said, but part of that process is making sure the port commission sees no problem with it. There were no objections to the expansion of the cell tower area, to allow the installation of a larger tower.
Other items covered in the meeting include lease renewals for Keller Marine Repair, Jenkins Welding, and the Wrangell Machine Shop. In the harbor master's report for October 2020, Miller reported that Jim Early is now The Marine Service Center Coordinator, and JC Gillen has moved into the maintenance lead position.
In other news, the harbor department recently received a Homeland Security grant for $135,000 for a new camera system, and the department will be working with the city to move forward with the first phase of installation.
Relocation of the old Forest Service vessel, the Chugach Ranger, is also ongoing. Right now, Miller said, they are waiting for the Forest Service to receive beams that the boat will be placed on. They are ready to go, he said, they are just waiting for a few more things to fall into place.
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