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Petersburg is closer than ever to developing the infrastructure at Scow Bay. Congress passed an appropriations package on March 1 that combined six funding bills for FY2024 - including $4.1 million in Congressionally designated spending (CDS) for a vessel haul out project at Scow Bay Harbor. The money will fund roughly half of the Scow Bay boat haul out project, which is one part of a larger plan to develop the port and harbor infrastructure at Scow Bay. The plan for this project is, primarily,...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed two ordinances in their final readings on March 18. The ordinances amended two different sections under chapter 16.12 of Petersburg municipal code regarding the disposal of borough property. The first ordinance amended the municipal code to increase the assessed property value requirement that voters must approve for disposal of borough property from $500 thousand to $1.5 million. Before this ordinance’s passing, voters in the borough had to approve any sale or trade of borough property with an assessed v...
PIA is planning to create more housing in Petersburg by constructing residential rental units for both tribal and non-tribal members. The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously agreed to move forward with PIA's application to purchase 7.88 acres of borough-owned land located on N. 8th Street beside the Mort Fryer Ball Field Park during a meeting on Dec. 4, approving for the Borough Manager to negotiate directly with PIA. The area in question is part of a larger piece of property (US Survey 1168...
The state of Alaska, a coalition of business groups and a pair of electric-power organizations have opened a new round in the generation-long fight over environmental protections in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. On Sept. 8, the state and two other groups of plaintiffs filed three separate federal lawsuits to challenge a Biden administration rule restricting new roads in parts of the forest, which is home to some of America’s last stands of old-growth trees. Each lawsuit asks U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason to ove...
Rick Perkins What is your age? 69 Why have you chosen to run for Assembly at this time? I have been asked to bring people and ideas together without a divisive tone in this capacity. What experience do you have that prepares you for this role? In working for the Boeing Company, I was able to bridge the gap from engineering to assembly, by building the tooling to do so regardless of paperwork or personalities. I have built 7 of my own homes, I have worked on 3 different water plant projects, and... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its second reading Monday that could allow federally recognized tribes to purchase borough-owned land for less than their assessed value. Currently, if the assembly determines it to be in the borough's best interest, borough property may be sold below assessed value to state and federal agencies, nonprofit entities, and for purposes of economic development. If the ordinance passes, it would add federally recognized tribes,...
The Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Council approved a motion during its meeting on Tuesday to pursue three projects that would open commercial and residential revenue streams for PIA using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. PIA has almost $3.9 million in ARPA funds, of which $3 million is budgeted for capital projects, that they now plan to put toward remodeling part of the PIA building, constructing a new building and parking lot on a PIA-owned lot, and buying two parcels of land...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board approved a wholesale rate increase at its Dec. 8 meeting, raising the price to 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour-a 0.25 cent increase-beginning in January 2023. According to Vice Mayor Bob Lynn and Utility Director Karl Hagerman, who reported on the SEAPA Board meeting at last week's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, the decision to raise rates followed a review of a rate study completed this year. A draft of the rate study, which was presented at the last...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly is expected to take a look at adopting a trial program to support local child care providers in Petersburg at its next meeting. The Education Incentive Program, modeled after the Hiring, Educating, and Retaining Teaching Staff (HEARTS) Program implemented in Juneau, aims to increase retention, encourage child care professionals to continue their educations, and improve quality of care. The program would award tiered bonuses every six months to child care educators...
During its meeting on Monday, the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in favor of sending a letter supporting an Alaska Airlines proposal to continue providing Essential Air Service to Southeast communities through April 2025. The vote was 6-0 with Assembly Member Dave Kensinger excused. The assembly's letter highlights Alaska Airlines' ability to connect Petersburg with major hubs like Seattle and Anchorage, the reliability of flights during inclement weather, and the service's economic...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed an ordinance adjusting the borough's FY23 budget in its third and final reading during its meeting on Nov. 7. No amendments to Ordinance #2022-15 were made during its final reading. The supplemental budget lists 18 revisions to the budget including accepting $123,158 in state legislative grants for lighting projects at the ballfield and the ice skate pond, rebuilding the EMD-16 Generator and the Caterpillar 398 Generator, and increasing the...
During Monday evening's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay gave a report on the progress of the Early Childhood Education Task Force. The task force, which was established in April and is chaired by Tremblay, is composed of 14 members broken up into three subgroups-Access and Brainstorming, Staff and Administrative Support, and Policy and Details. According to Tremblay's report, the Access and Brainstorming group has identified and discussed barriers for...
Cindi Lagoudakis What is your age? 68 What experience do you have? I have served as Assembly Member and as Mayor, and am a current member of the Hospital Board. Why do you seek public office? I see being involved as a responsibility, and one that I enjoy. Do you support the construction of a new Petersburg Medical Center building? Yes, for multiple reasons. Having seen some of the building issues firsthand, I do support construction of a new hospital building. The staff have been making a good...
Jeigh Stanton Gregor What is your age? 45 What experience do you have? I have 20 years of leadership experience. I was responsible for keeping groups of kids and adults safe year-round in the Montana wilderness. My leadership skills were also used to help strengthen program leadership teams. Currently, I've been on the assembly for 8.5 years, and we've addressed many issues during this time. Two recent issues come to mind that I'd like to highlight: I made an amendment to make community gym...
Bob Lynn What is your age? 76 What experience do you have? I've had 8 year's experience on the Petersburg Assembly. I have been fortunate to serve as Petersburg Assembly Board representative to Southeast Alaska Power Authority (SEAPA.) In that role I have served as Board Chair and voting member to replace submarine cable serving Petersburg. I have also served 6 years as the Assembly representative to the Hospital Board. Having been an EMT years ago has provided me much needed background to serve...
Two candidates have filed for candidacy in this year's election to fill Rep. Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins' seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. Kreiss-Tomkins, who first elected to the seat in 2012, announced earlier this year that he will not seek reelection. House District 2, which was newly created by the Alaska Redistricting Board, spans Southeast Alaska from Prince of Wales Island to Yakutat and includes Petersburg, Sitka, Kake, and Craig. The candidates running for the seat are Kenny...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of two ordinances in their first readings during Monday's meeting, with Assembly Member Bob Lynn excused, which would increase the rates residents pay for water and sewage utilities. According to Utility Director Karl Hagerman, the increases included in Ordinance #2022-05 and Ordinance #2022-06 would be the first rate increases since 2018 and are needed to meet increased costs and expenses. Hagerman included a report in the meeting packe...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to create a task force focused on addressing child care challenges in Petersburg and finding sustainable solutions during Monday's meeting. The creation of the Early Childhood Education Task Force came as a result of the ongoing discussions of child care needs in the community which identified issues with retention and recruitment of employees and the lack of availability of child care for families. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci opened by saying...
With the first statewide use of ranked choice voting in Alaska on the horizon, the Petersburg Borough Assembly discussed holding an information session to inform community members on how the new voting system works. The upcoming special election will use ranked choice voting, which was approved by Alaska voters in 2020, to determine who will fill the late Rep. Don Young's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives until the term expires in January 2023. During Monday's assembly meeting, Assembly...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly hosted a work session Wednesday evening to discuss child care needs in the community and ways the borough could be involved in helping find sustainable solutions for providers and families. Child care challenges have been discussed recently at the assembly level, a Community Café hosted by the SHARE Coalition, an ARPA work session, and other public meetings with issues including child care staff recruitment and retention, availability and costs for families, and...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed Ordinance #2022-03 in its third reading on Monday, finalizing increases to harbor fees. Harbormaster Glo Wollen said the change in rates, which is the first increase since 2018, was needed to keep revenue aligned with the harbor's operational costs and account for inflation. The increase drew the support of the Harbor and Ports Advisory Board and passed in the assembly unanimously in its first two readings. Annual moorage fees and transient...
The Borough Assembly walked through each of the six maps being considered by the Alaska Redistricting Board during Tuesday's meeting and discussed each map's affects on Petersburg. The districts are redrawn every decade based off data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each of the 40 districts must be socioeconomically integrated, reasonably compact, contiguous, and have an approximately equal number of people. This year that number is 18,335 per district. Members from the Alaska...
A Petersburg Economic Development Council document that highlights opportunities within the community to improve the local tourism industry has been given to the Borough Assembly to be reviewed. The Visitor Industry Management Plan categorizes Petersburg's tourism industry. A working group selected a goal for each category and presented several actions the borough could take to reach that goal. The six categories are quality of life, maximize local benefits, infrastructure and planning,...
The Petersburg Borough gave the Petersburg Medical Center permission to apply for a second Paycheck Protection Program loan totaling $1.8 million at their meeting on Tuesday evening through emergency ordinance #2021-02. PMC applied and received a loan of the same amount in April through the Small Business Administration. Businesses that received a PPP loan had the opportunity to have the loan forgiven if the money was spent on certain expenses like payroll and rent. PMC had its loan forgiven in...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted against terminating the borough's declaration of disaster emergency, which was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at their meeting on Tuesday. Assembly Member Taylor Norheim requested the action item be on the meeting's agenda to address the borough's declaration of disaster emergency and determine if the new assembly agreed with the declaration. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger was voted on to the assembly after the municipal election earlier this...
