Borough creates new deputy manager post

Borough leadership will expand in the near future, with the creation of a new position intended to help allow the borough manager to focus on bigger projects — in addition to taking on its own set of assignments.

The assembly unanimously approved Aug. 24 the creation of a deputy borough manager position, following up on discussion from two weeks earlier.

The deputy manager would share the workload and assist the borough manager in administrative functions.

Assemblymember Patty Gilbert asked what parts of the borough manager job the deputy would take the lead on. Manager Lisa Von Bargen said the new staffer would take the lead in human resources and safety matters, as well as management training.

“The other thing is the assembly specifically requested that this position be able to replace me if I’m gone,” Von Bargen said.

Creating the new position was the assembly’s idea, not Von Bargen’s.

Assembly members have been discussing adding the position for at least the past three years, Mayor Steve Prysunka said when the issue was considered at an Aug. 11 assembly workshop.

The mayor has pointed to several big projects that need Von Bargen’s time. Wrangell needs to find solutions to its ailing water treatment plant, repairs/rebuild to the community’s water reservoir dams, a deteriorating building at the power plant, years of water damage to the Public Safety Building and other projects that will total tens of millions of dollars.

The new position will pay about $8,000, possibly more, per month, depending on experience, at the same wage scale as the job of police chief.

“The wage scale was based on the role that this person is going to play, which essentially is taking over as the city manager in my stead and having an entire set of duties unto their own,” Von Bargen said.

Wrangell resident Bob Lippert wrote the assembly to state his objections: “I do not comprehend how a town of 2,500 people with limited tax base has a need for this position,” he wrote, calling the new job “another layer of bureaucracy funded by the citizens of Wrangell.”

No one from the public testified on the issue at the Aug. 24 assembly meeting.

Von Bargen had reported earlier that she would first try to fill the position with an in-house hire.