Wrangell police jet boat could be put up for auction

A lightly used 32-foot-long police jet boat moored at Heritage Harbor may be sold to save money.

The borough assembly at a work session March 22 went over its insurance expenses ahead of finalizing its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It discussed insurance costs for the old hospital, earthquake coverage, museum exhibits and about $6,000 a year the borough pays to insure the police boat.

“I understand the business end of it,” Chief Tom Radke said March 29. “I hate to lose it. Right now, it’s still under discussion.”

Radke said the boat with twin diesel jets would probably be put up for auction, but the department first needs to track down the grant that paid for the boat.

“A 2005 (federal) Homeland Security grant, I believe,” Radke said. “We need to find the language and wording in the grant to tell us what can be done with it.”

He said he doesn’t know the value of the boat, but said his six-person department has amassed “pretty low hours on it.”

It’s a nice boat, Radke said, but the fact that the borough assembly is mulling taking it off the books “just gets down to how much we get out with it, how much we use it. How it is constructed. Can it be used by (the) fire (department)? It is a combination of events. It doesn’t go out every week. Being a smaller department, it might be a month before we get it out. We use it more in the summer.”

The skiff in the parking lot gets more use, Radke said. “That one is not going anywhere.”

Borough Manager Jeff Good on Friday said the borough is “making sure what we need insurance on has insurance, and what we don't need insurance on doesn't have insurance.”

“I can’t argue with numbers,” Radke said. “It’s one of those things. It’s frustrating at times. I want to use it, but I’m just not able to.”