Wrangell’s Public Safety Building is two-thirds of its way to becoming a senior citizen. It’s not yet at the knee replacement or artificial hip stage, but it certainly needs a new roof along with replacement of siding and multiple structural pieces damaged and weakened by years of water and rot.
The 40-year-old building needs work. Voters may get a chance in the Oct. 1 municipal election to schedule the building for repairs.
The assembly has talked for years about whether to repair or replace the building, always scared off by price tags of maybe $10 million to $15 million for a full repair job to $30 million for a new building.
Borough officials and the elected assembly two years ago asked voter approval for Wrangell to borrow $8.5 million for the first phase of a major maintenance and repair project. The question lost by 65 votes out of 586 ballots cast, likely in part because no one on the assembly made much of an effort to publicly support the bond issue.
Hopefully, this time will be different on both counts — public advocacy by assembly members and voter support for the building that houses the fire and police departments, jail, state courtroom and other offices.
The assembly will hold a public hearing at its Aug. 27 meeting on an ordinance to place a $3 million bond issue before voters in the Oct. 1 municipal election. It’s a scaled-back approach from the $8.5 million plan of two years ago, focusing on the roof, siding and some structural components, leaving the heating and ventilation and electrical systems for another time.
This year’s plan also includes a request for $2.4 million in federal funds, which Alaska’s senior senator, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is pushing in Congress, but which will have to wait for the House and Senate to get their act together to pass a federal budget later this year or early 2025.
Even if the federal aid doesn’t come in, the borough still figures it will go ahead with a $3 million repair job. No question it is needed. A 2021 engineers’ report described the building in need of repairs, mainly due to a bad roof which “has caused significant water infiltration and resulted in extensive rot and insect infestation of building structure, and severe deterioration of parapets and siding.”
The assembly on Aug. 27 should approve putting the bond issue before voters, then individual members should get out in the community to talk up the project. A 65-vote loss from 2022 can be overcome. The building needs it.
- Wrangell Sentinel
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