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The Petersburg Rotary Club at its meeting last week was told that Petersburg needs success in salmon, black cod and halibut and added that market forces and resource returns have kept Petersburg facing numerous challenges over the past few years. Last year’s impressive and unexpected chum returns show the oceans can continue to produce fish. There is also a market demand for local seafood. Halibut: Halibut prices took a dump this year because for a second year in a row frozen halibut inventory carried over and once again held pricing lower t...
Susan Flint and Sue Paulsen appeared before the Petersburg Borough Assembly Monday afternoon asking the Borough Assembly to pass Ordinance #2018-16 that will amend the Senior Citizen Sales Tax Exemption and replace it with a needs based rebate program. John Havrilek also supported the proposal. Flint gave a history of the programs that benefited seniors in the 1970s when oil money was flowing and the State’s Longevity Bonus and Property Tax exemptions were put in place. Petersburg established the Sales Tax exemption for seniors. “Now the pio...
The Borough's trash baler has not been operational since late April of this year. Trash is being stored inside the baler building and is being shipped out of town in open-top 53-foot long containers, without compaction, according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta. In answering a question from the Assembly, Cotta explained that the baler's conveyor belt had stopped working in April. After the conveyor system was repaired, within a week's time the processor unit in the machine's controller...
The LeConte Glacier ice field is thinning. Ice towers that once stood 250-feet above sea level now measure 165-feet at the tallest point along the face of the glacier, according to measurements taken by Petersburg High School students conducting their annual May survey. Students led by instructor Victor Trautman also determined the glacier terminus has retreated 300-feet as compared to previous measurements. The glacier has a tendency to move forward with the spring melt and retreat again in...
The Petersburg Borough has released the names and resumes of four finalist candidates seeking the Chief of Police that has been filled for five years by Kelly Swihart. Swihart is leaving to seek a job in the Lower 48 to be closer to family. Steven W. Lewis is currently a Detective Sergeant with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon. He began as a Reserve Deputy with the same department in 1987 moving through the ranks to become a corrections deputy and in 1994 as a patrol deputy. He supervised the K-9 unit, which had three dogs. A...
With the adjournment of the Legislature on May 12, Senator Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, talked to The Pilot during the Little Norway Festival about the session. The legislature realized they have to restructure the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) and Senate Bill 26 does that. Stedman was one of 13 senators who voted in favor of the legislation. With a $2.5 billion deficit the APF has to be protected. He has favored that idea for a long time because it would limit payouts and gives the public the opportunity to look at its structure. The bill sets a...
Hospital CEO Liz Woodyard reported to the hospital board at its Thursday evening meeting, that Rodney Anderson is in the process of being hired to provide chiropractic services for the hospital. He hopes to work up to 30 hours per week out of the Joy Janssen Clinic. He will be a part of the hospital staff once he goes through the credentialing process. Woodyard said they would like to have him working by July if all the paperwork can be completed. Anderson operated his own practice until last year when health issues forced him to close his...
During the closing days of the Legislative session, the Medicaid funding for fiscal year 2019 Medicaid supplemental was reduced from $48 million to $28 million. The Department of Health and Social Services will likely run out of money before the end of the fiscal year, requiring that they suspend payments to large health care providers. “The good news,” according to hospital CEO Liz Woodyard, “is the department will continue to make payments to small rural hospitals, like PMC, and should not see any disruption in payment.” Doran Hammett...
The Borough Assembly passed the proposed budget in its second reading Monday night after numerous amendments to the spending plan failed. Eric Castro wanted to move half the money collected from a local tax on tobacco to a health related use. The borough hopes to bring in $230,000 from that tax, which currently goes into the General Fund. Finance Director Jody Tow told the assembly that to keep the budget balanced, the $115,000 would have to be made up from higher taxes or through other...
Susan Flint and Chelsea Tremblay appeared before the Petersburg Borough Assembly Monday night seeking a sponsor to sign an ordinance that would remove the Senior Citizen Sales Tax Exemption and replace it with a needs based rebate program. Flint noted that nearly 600 tax-exempt cards are in use and in some cases two generations of a single family hold the cards. The ordinance change would be presented to the voters in the form of a proposition at the next regular election on October 2, 2018. The proposition would repeal the current sales tax ex...
One of the largest graduating classes in the history of the Petersburg School District will receive their diplomas next Tuesday at commencement ceremonies in the PHS gym. Principal Rick Dormer said the 45 students rolled through the system each year like a wave, due to their class size. “They were a very active class. Very outspoken and very likeable kids,” Dormer noted. “They were all over the school, involved in activities with other students. They weren’t a bunch of stuck up seniors,” Dormer stated. Also unique to this class was the inter...
Employees of the Petersburg Municipal Employee’s Association complained of “bullying,” and a, “big lack of professionalism,” taking place at the negotiating table, according to comments made at Monday’s special assembly meeting on Monday. Joe Bertagnoli, who has led the PMEA negotiations in the past said, “It’s not pretty.” It’s like when we negotiated with former city manager Scott Hahn. When items are placed on the table, negotiator John Hoag says, “Hell no.” “We’re not asking for the moon,” Bertagnoli added. Blake Buotte continued by say...
Alaska Humanities Forum's (AHF) second cohort of Alaska Salmon Fellows convened in Petersburg at the Holy Cross House for 5-days beginning with a reception at the Sons of Norway Hall last Friday. According to Fellow Kris Norosz, this was the first time the cohort of 16-fellows had met in person. The Alaska Salmon Fellows work to facilitate conversations about salmon issues and identify innovative opportunities to strengthen the resource for future generations. A contingent of about 28 people,...
Petersburg is set to receive an 87-foot Marine Protector Class coastal patrol vessel that will serve the Inside Passage with search and rescue patrols, fisheries enforcement, drug smuggling interception and other missions. The vessel will be home ported in Petersburg after the 110-ft. Anacapa is removed from service in 2021. Mayor Mark Jensen told the Pilot Wednesday, "It's a done deal." This was discussed in D.C. this winter when he made a personal visit with the Alaska Congressional...
The Borough Assembly deliberated over the first draft of the fiscal year 2019 budget presented Friday afternoon by Finance Director Jody Tow. Tow told the assembly the property tax mill rate decreases this year from 11.6 mills to 11.38 mills. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 used to calculate taxes on property. Absent voter approved levies for the school, aquatic center, assisted living and library debt, the mill rate is below the required cap (10 mills) at 9.2 mills. Tow said the mill...
Michael P. Heiser, attorney for the Hanson Class, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Kake Tribal Corporation, is seeking a court order forcing Attorney Fred Triem to render a full accounting of the Hanson Class funds being held in his trust account. In the early 1990s, Triem represented the "Hanson Class" of shareholders who were plaintiffs, bringing suit against Kake Tribal Corporation. The court awarded judgment to the plaintiffs in the amount of $2.7 million, plus costs, attorney fees and...
The Borough’s Enterprise Funds are all solvent and to keep it that way, some rate increases will go into effect this fiscal year. Enterprise operations are carried out by the harbor, water, wastewater, sanitation, elderly housing and assisted living departments, which largely pay their own way from revenue they generate from people using their services. Finance Director Jody Tow noted that the Assisted Living fund is being subsidized by the General Fund for both Bond Debt ($179,606) and Operating Fund transfer ($150,000) this year. That a...
We are ecstatic that the U.S. Coast Guard will operate another cutter out of Petersburg after the Anacapa is taken out of service. True, it’s a smaller vessel than the Anacapa, with a smaller crew, but we’ll take it. The Coast Guard’s Petersburg operations make a huge impact on our economy. The payroll alone is significant. Then start adding in lease payments to the borough for the mooring facilities, housing for families, supplies and goods — often purchased locally, fuel purchases and all manner of repairs and the sum starts to become...
Since June 2017 this newspaper has received three price increases totaling $167 metric/ton from our Canadian newsprint supplier. This newspaper, along with other Alaskan publishers, purchases their newsprint from Canadian manufacturers because there are not enough U.S. paper mills to meet the demands of the newspaper industry. The Trump administration has levied a 22% tariff on newsprint imported from Canada based upon the complaint of a single paper mill (North Pacific Paper Company) that is accusing Canadian mills of engaging in dumping...
Superior Court Judge William Carey ordered Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem to pay $99,159.02 to Alaska Airlines counsel Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP to settle claims sought by the law firm for costs, attorney fees and a $10,000 sanction for his misconduct in continuing a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines after his client Helen Lingley died. Triem represented Lingley who was fired from her position with Alaska Airlines for taking ear buds from an airline storage area. Lingley died on June 24, 2016 while the Airlines and Triem were actively pursuing...
In one of the most confounding and complex moves ever attempted by a manager, the Borough Assembly approved Steve Giesbrecht’s plan to reorganize the Power and Light and Public Works Dept. leadership. The fact that it required changes to six ordinances, as well as ignored credible and often eloquent testimony by knowledgeable people in the electrical field, along with the public opposing the measure, reveals the manager’s stubborn pursuit to save perhaps $100,000 per year in a department that operated efficiently and productively for over 40...
Petersburg residents, along with other Alaskans need to participate in the larger debate on gun violence and steer clear of the knee-jerk reaction, to simply restrict gun sales. We suspect that gun violence that could be perpetrated on most Alaskan communities would make use of a privately owned weapon, not one recently purchased from a firearms dealer or merchant. In some gun violence cases, as mentioned by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, we’re paying a price caused by the, “hardening of our culture,” over the last 40 years from the influence of vi...
As discussion continues on the Power and Light reorganization, it’s important to quantify the savings and identify where they will be placed within the borough budget. Saving money in the Power and Light Dept. will not help the borough’s general fund. It will only bring savings to the Power and Light fund. The funds cannot be transferred to the general fund on an ongoing basis. Since the PMP&L fund is a self-supporting enterprise, it operates independent of the borough’s general fund. In other words, it pays its own way, as do the sanit...
Was last year’s election for naught? We thought voters made their feelings well known by voting Brandi Thynes Marohl and Mark Jensen into their respective positions on the Assembly. Last week’s decision to revisit the Power and Light management plan in a continued attempt to save money is ill advised. Cut corners somewhere else. Many have said, “Everything is going well. We don’t need a high salaried superintendent.” One assembly member even suggested that everyone at Power and Light was getting along well and singing Kumbaya together....
Superior Court Judge William Carey said Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem, “has been repeatedly untruthful with the court and opposing counsel,” and that he, “engaged in a game of subterfuge and deceit,” in pursuing legal action over his client’s firing from Alaska Airlines. On Tuesday, Carey ruled on multiple motions in his order and ultimately dismissed the case against Alaska Airlines. Helen Lingley was terminated from her position with the airlines and in 2012 Triem filed a wrongful termination claim with the company on her behalf. Triem tol...
