Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 304
Of an estimated 58 million pink salmon harvest for 2015, so far seiners have netted less than half that, some 26 million by the end of last week. "We are not even coming close (to projections)," explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. He estimated that the season will end with a harvest of 30 to 35 million pinks, and recent weekly catch trends indicate that the season is past its peak. "It's dying fast," an industry expert... Full story
Sixteen local residents have declared candidacy for local boards and commissions. Six seats remain open. The only contested seat is on the Harbor Board where three candidates have filed to fill two three-year terms. John Murgas and incumbents Bob Martin and Jim Stromdahl will face off for the two seats. Both three-year terms on the Borough Assembly garnered candidates. Incumbent Nancy Strand will run for her seat again, and newcomer Eric Castro has filed for a term as well. Current Assembly... Full story
While the pink salmon harvest is coming in below expectations for price and quantity, the commercial halibut fishery is going strong for Area 2C, which includes Petersburg and other Southeast communities. A quota share update from the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) released Aug. 19 showed that almost 2.8 million pounds of halibut have been landed in the district. That’s three-quarters of the quota for the district— just under 3.7 million pounds—and almost the equivalent of the total 2013 catch limit. Local longliners have...
Longtime Petersburg resident Mark Weaver, 60, was sentenced to five years probation and given a $10,000 fine in US District Court in Juneau on Monday for detonating an unregistered destructive device at the rock quarry in July 2014. His sentencing also includes continued mandatory mental health counseling and a ban on traveling to Petersburg during his probation. Weaver was indicted by a Grand Jury on two counts of possession of an unregistered destructive device last August after officials... Full story
Just six residents have filed paperwork with the Borough clerk to run as candidates in the October municipal election. There are 21 vacancies on seven local boards and commissions up for election, including two 3-year terms on the Petersburg Borough Assembly. The Planning and Zoning Commission has garnered three candidates—Tom Stearns, Mike Bangs, and Otis Marsh—each of whom holds a current seat on the commission. When vacancies were first posted, there were five open seats for the commission, but in the interim commissioner James Demko ten... Full story
Police arrested Mark Diega, 50, of Chula Vista, Calif., on a Class C felony charge of Terroristic Threatening in the 2nd Degree on Friday after he allegedly threatened to kill PFI staff and went shopping at the Trading Union (TU) Hardware store for a gun and ammunition. Prior to the incident, Diega was employed as a seasonal worker for PFI. According to a probable cause statement submitted by Sergeant James Kerr to the court, Diega was looking at a .22 caliber assault-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, before leaving the store, saying... Full story
The Petersburg Children’s Center (PCC) is one step closer to adding an additional classroom, and capacity for a dozen more students, after a variance was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this week. The proposed expansion includes a 20 foot addition to the building, which will expand an existing classroom and house a new one for toddlers and pre-schoolers, as well as a ramp extension and separate entrance for the room. PCC Director Brandi Heppe said that more space is needed to be able to accept some of the more than 40 chi... Full story
The School Board met again after a one-month summer break on Tuesday evening, but they picked back up where they left off in June, talking about the budget. “I feel like that’s all I’ve talked about for six months, since I walked into this thing, is money, money, money,” Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said at the start of her report to the board. She and Finance Director Karen Quitslund had mostly good news to report regarding some loose ends that had been tied up by the legislature during the board’s June break. In particular, the legis... Full story
The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved a list of capital projects for the district at their Tuesday evening meeting. Maintenance Director Dan Tate helped prepare and prioritize the list, which outlines the district’s needed capital projects for the coming six years and is required for submittal to the legislature for possible grant funding. Rather than being a straightforward list of priorities, projects are ranked strategically to garner points from legislators who prepare an overall ranked list for funding for new capital p...
While students have been enjoying a summer away from school, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter and other staff have been working behind the scenes preparing for the upcoming year. At Tuesday’s regular School Board meeting, the superintendent also apprised the board of a new evaluation tool that the district will begin using to assess teachers, librarians, counselors and principals this year. The evaluation is required by the state and Kludt-Painter said she and her staff have been working to implement a state-approved evaluation tool that w...
Vice Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis attended an invitation-only meeting in Juneau to discuss transboundary mines last week. The meeting was organized by Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, tasked by Governor Bill Walker to lead a work group on the issue, ahead of a scheduled Juneau visit Aug. 22-24 by B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett. In addition to mayors from Southeast municipalities, there were also industry, fishing and Native group representatives in attendance, as well as state representatives from...
The Humpy 500 go-cart race, a 20-year Petersburg tradition that saw local kids and families teaming up to build and decorate carts for racing down PFI hill, will come to end this year. The event has been held annually in October to celebrate the end of the canning and summer fishing seasons, but in recent years the number of participants has dwindled, said PFI Manager Patrick Wilson. “Trying to energize the town, community and families to do it doesn’t seem to be working well,” he said. “So we’re gonna call it quits for now.” Wilson said... Full story
An ordinance to allow voters to determine whether or not local public officials should be exempt from state financial disclosure requirements was passed on second reading by the Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting. By Alaska State law, certain public officials are required to report their income sources and other assets in an effort to ensure private interests do not conflict with their public service. Municipalities reserve the right to exempt their local public officials from the requirement, and locally there has been concern that not d... Full story
Corey Wall from MRV Architects in Juneau presented the latest plans for the municipal building remodel to Borough staff in late July. The plans are currently at the 45 percent mark and Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said the plans may hit the 95 percent benchmark by late summer at which time the Assembly will vote on whether or not to send the project out to bid. The bulk of the funds for the estimated $9.8 million remodel—some $6.4 million—are already secured through a combination of state legislative grants ($5.2 million) and money all... Full story
The Assembly and Borough staff discussed public safety issues at Monday’s Assembly meeting. While Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht delivered the news that decreased staff at the Juneau prosecutor’s office may lead to more case dismissals, Assembly member John Havrilek proposed instituting a dual Neighborhood Watch and Crime Stoppers program to help reduce crime in Petersburg. Giesbrecht said the prosecutor’s office sent an email saying that decreased staffing may lead to more case dismissals for Petersburg based on the “disp...
A public comment period is currently underway for two draft documents released as part of the Comprehensive Plan process-a land use map and a document outlining the financial state of the Borough's harbor facilities. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht explained that the latter document details the financial component of the Waterfront Development Plan, which is being drafted alongside the Comprehensive Plan and will guide future decisions about Petersburg's harbors. In addition to examining the... Full story
Staffing changes at the Petersburg Police Department (PPD) have led to a new scheduling model that will have police officers filling in on dispatch shifts as part of their weekly duties. Police Chief Kelly Swihart said that the idea for the new schedule came after receiving notice that two dispatchers would be leaving the department, including head dispatcher Doc Lopez who’s retiring after 21 years with the department. Instead of replacing those positions with dispatchers, Swihart said they’ll be recruiting sworn officers who will serve in bot... Full story
The US Forest Service and Korpela Construction crews have broken ground on a new half-mile portion of the Raven's Roost Trail. Construction began July 17 on the section which will connect the new trailhead that was built last year-beginning across from the Sandy Beach parking lot-to the existing trail that winds through the muskeg behind the airport up into the Tongass National Forest. The new portion of trail will be similar to the half-mile portion of easy-grade, gravel trail built last year.... Full story
School enrollment will be a little bit easier for parents and staff this year as the Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) was selected to pilot a program that will transmit vaccine records, sports physicals and other pertinent medical information directly to the school. “We’ve been asked to pilot a program through AeHN (Alaska eHealth Network), which is a state-affiliated program,” said PMC Informatics Director Jill Dormer at last Thursday’s hospital board meeting. “They are going to pay us…to set up an interface connection with the school dist...
Eighteen-year-old Skipper Erickson was the most recent in the Petersburg troop to join the rank of Eagle Scout. Erickson took the scouting oath for the rank in a ceremony on July 3, capping off six years of involvement in the local scouting program. "I've been in the boy scouts here since 6th grade; that's when you can join," Erickson said. "And I've been working to get my Eagle badge until now, getting all the badges and requirements done." Over the years, Erickson has been working on...
The Borough Assembly is working to put a proposition on the Oct. 6 municipal ballot that exempts candidates running for local public offices from a state requirement to disclose income, business interests and other assets. An ordinance to put the exemption to the voters passed on its first reading at Monday’s regular meeting. Prior to Borough incorporation, public officials were exempt from the financial disclosure requirements. However, after Borough incorporation, in the 2014 municipal election, the exemption was put back up for a vote and n... Full story
Users of services in the Alaska Court System (ACS) will be seeing new fees for some services and fee increases for other services beginning August 1. The increases were approved by the Alaska Supreme Court in June. “The increased or additional court fees were developed in response to the state’s current budget shortfall,” said Magistrate Judge Desiree Burrell, adding that the increased revenue from the fees goes into the state’s general fund, per Administrative Rule 5(b), rather than being retained by the court. Burrell said filing fees ha... Full story
Residents wishing to serve or continue serving as local officials can file for candidacy for 20 vacant positions (see sidebar) on seven different boards and commissions starting Tuesday, July 28. Candidates for the Borough Assembly, School Board or Planning Commission are required by the state to file a financial disclosure statement disclosing their income sources and business interests, though that may change in the coming years if voters approve an ordinance exempting public officials in the...
The Assembly agreed to send a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) as part of the public comment period on the winter schedule that expresses concerns about the schedule’s ability to meet student travel and visitor’s needs. “The schedule as proposed provides service to Petersburg, but will certainly have an effect on student travel and visitor traffic due to the length of time between trips to certain communities,” the letter reads. The letter also suggests ADOT conduct a survey of ridership and cost effectiveness to dete...
Additional needed repairs to the wastewater infrastructure have been discovered by crews working on the sewer project in conjunction with the Haugen-Nordic Drive road construction project that began earlier this summer. “As the work commenced it was immediately apparent that our wastewater infrastructure was in worse condition than we realized,” Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said in a letter to the Assembly. “The condition of the system has resulted in the need to replace three additional manholes and to perform other unplanned impro...
