Phillip Mach and Antonio Silva appointed to borough positions

The borough assembly on Feb. 11 appointed Phillip Mach and Antonio Silva to fill vacancies on the assembly and port commission, respectively. Both terms will expire in October, when Mach and Silva will have the option to run in the municipal elections.

Anne Morrison (assembly) and Gary Morrison (port commission) vacated the seats in January after announcing they plan on leaving town.

Candidates needed to submit a letter of interest to City Hall to be eligible for the appointments. While Borough Clerk Kim Lane received four letters for the assembly seat, Silva was the sole person to express interest in the port commission vacancy. Silva ran for the same seat last fall but was defeated by just 58 votes.

A commercial fisherman since 2013, Silva ran his 2024 campaign with the future of Wrangell's fisheries in mind.

"We have a great young fleet of fishermen here," he said. "It would be awesome to keep that fleet here."

Mach, the plant manager at Trident Seafoods, was sworn in after receiving the most votes from the sitting assembly members. He outpolled Scott McAuliffe 4-2.

"Wrangell is a great town," Mach said ahead of the vote. "It has great potential to grow and succeed, and I'd love a chance to be a part of that."

After the assembly voted him in, Mach took the oath of office and participated in the remainder of the meeting.

The next port commission meeting is scheduled for March 6.

Borough Manager Mason Villarma is thrilled about Mach joining the assembly.

"I've got to know him through the borough's partnership with Trident Seafoods, and he's really quite brilliant," Villarma said. "He's going to be a great addition, and he adds a different flavor to the assembly."