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Petersburg Indian Association’s first-ever e-waste program sent 15,000 pounds – a full 40-foot shipping container – of electronics to Seattle to be recycled. The program ran June 30 to Aug. 30 and offered locals free disposal of unwanted electronics in an effort to keep harmful elements found in electronics, like lead and mercury, from contaminating the environment. PIA Tribal Resource Director Jason Wilson said community members brought home electronics like televisions, boat electronics like radios and sonar equipment, and office equip...
When Father Thomas Weise returned to his apartment at Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church after a trip to Wrangell last winter, he was greeted by a chilly sight. "I came home from Wrangell and the water in my tub had frozen," Weise said. "I'm like 'why is my tub frozen?'" To find out Weise took a look underneath the building. That's when he first saw the bare joists supporting the floor and decided it was time to improve the building's insulation, starting from the bottom up. Instead of...
Representatives of Southeast Alaskan tribal groups will be meeting in Juneau next week to discuss regional concerns at the annual Southeast Environmental Conference in the city’s Vocational Training and Resource Center. Beginning Monday, the five-day event is being hosted by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, in partnership with the Chilkat Indian Village, Craig Tribal Association, Douglas Indian Association, Organized Village of Kasaan, Petersburg Indian Association and Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The purpose o...
Borough Manager Steve Geisbrecht gave his report to the assembly at Monday's meeting. Replacement lighting at the South Harbor should be completed this week, including installation of the final five new fixtures and the removal of the old fixtures. Planning and design work is beginning on the possible replacement of the aging Cat electric generators. Replacement parts are no longer manufactured, and both units are reaching the end of their useful life. The borough is working with SEAPA and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to deal with...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during Monday’s assembly meeting: The borough has seen increased littering and other activity in the Frederick Point area. We have assigned officers to extra patrol efforts in the area. Borough staff will meet with architects July 24 to discuss final design concepts for the police and municipal building renovation. Officer Williams is back from maternity leave. She and the baby are doing well and staff is happy to have her back. Assessor Mike Renfro arrived Friday and will be in town f...
Petersburg Indian Association is accepting E-waste through August 30 in an effort to prevent harmful elements that exist in electronics, such lead and mercury, from entering the environment. "This is our first E-waste program through the Indian General Assistance Program, the environmental program here at PIA," said Jason Wilson, PIA tribal resource director. "If you can plug it in we'll take it." Electronic waste can be deposited in the yellow totes outside at the baler facility until the...
Two Petersburg businesses are semi-finalists in a contest amongst Southeast Alaska entrepreneurs competing for $40,000 in consulting funds to grow and expand their business. Path to Prosperity (P2P), a partnership between the Haa Aani Community Development and The Nature Conservatory, was developed to support entrepreneurs and increase economic development and sustainability in Southeast communities. Local businesses Tonka Seafoods and Petersburg Indian Association’s SeaLife Compost were selected as semi-finalists from 27 applicants. Ten o...
Keep moving, Petersburg To the Editor: Petersburg Mental Health staff is grateful for the generous people that made the second annual Pedometer Challenge happen. We couldn't have done it without Mark Kubo’s amazing tracking skills, Erin Michael and Colleen Jaeger at Public Health serving as the distribution center, local businesses (Hammer and Wikan and Skate of Gear) for their contribution, and the Petersburg Indian Association for providing amazing grand prizes. Thanks to you and to all the participants. Petersburg's entire step count during...
Petersburg Mental Health Service's Pedometer Challenge wrapped up this week with the winner logging more than 1 million steps during the seven-week challenge that allowed community members to compete as individuals and teams to see who could take the most steps. "It was amazing to see the results," said PMHS senior clinician Kim Kilkenny. "I'm so impressed that someone got over a million steps." Justin Haley was the big winner. He walked from his house in the Severson Subdivision to work at the...
Forty-five Petersburg High School seniors graduated Tuesday evening in the high school gym in front of a packed house. PHS Principal Rick Dormer gave the welcome speech and offered a piece of advice to a graduating class he described as quiet performers. "As you go forward class of 2014 I would encourage you to continue the tradition of accomplishing a lot, while speaking a little. My father-in-law often reminds me that the good lord gave us all two ears and one mouth and that conversations... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during the last Borough Assembly meeting: New ordinances have been forwarded to the court for inclusion in the Courtview and TrACS systems. This will allow the court to recognize the revisions and ultimately allow for more efficient processing of citations. Preparation for the annual FERC inspection of Blind Slough has begun and includes installation of a flange and plat over the low-level outlet to facilitate the FERC mandated operation of the outlet valve. The valve hasn’t been o...
In the face of declining funding for the Tongass National Forest, Petersburg Ranger District managers are looking to the public for help to figure out which type of recreation programs and facilities will stay and which will go. “We’ve come up with a general niche that we think would be suitable for the community, suitable for the district to continue to maintain in the future,” Petersburg District Ranger Jason Anderson said. “But it does leave stuff off the map. There are certain things that aren’t going to get addressed and the idea was...
Sales Tax Ordinance Committee Member Sue Flint is scheduled to speak before the assembly May 19 where she will again recommend a tax on tobacco. At the tail end of last winter, the committee first recommended the tax to the borough assembly. The recommendation came, in part, after Petersburg Medical Center CEO Elizabeth Woodyard requested that such a tax be implemented and that the revenues go towards PMC capital projects. PMC Lab and Imaging Manager Liz Bacom also spoke on behalf of a tobacco tax and reported 153 smoking related diagnoses at... Full story
The Petersburg Borough recycling program has saved the borough $8,500 in solid waste disposal costs since the program began in February but the program still needs to see an increase in customers to pay for itself. In order for the recycling program to break even, 40 percent of Petersburg solid waste customers need to be recycling. Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said, although recycling rates fluctuate widely from week to week, the diversion rate is averaging around 27 percent when... Full story
Thank you Petersburg Indian Association To the Editor: Without the foresight and initiative to begin a voluntary curbside recycling program many years ago, many things would not have happened in Petersburg. Many different tribal members would not have had jobs over the years, faithfully picking up recycling from environmentally aware volunteer recyclers on a weekly basis. As the Borough introduces and welcomes Wes and Angie Davis, owners of Ruger’s Trucking, as our new recycling collection contractor I want to recognize and thank PIA, and t...
Higher than expected recycling collection contract bids have forced the Public Works Department to exceed its budget this year by $43,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday night to award the $80,400 annual collection contract to Ruger’s Trucking. Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor asked how soon the unanticipated budget shortfall would be corrected. “If we approve this contract, what is the vision to narrow that deficit as much as possible or make this potentially profitable,” Stanton Gregor asked. Karl Hager...
The Petersburg Indian Association held elections last week. Christina Sakamoto was re-elected to serve as Board President for a one-year term. Mary Ann Rainey and Michael Sheldon were re-elected to each serve a two-year term. Rita Byrer was newly elected and will serve a one-year term. Because a third candidate did not run for a two-year seat, Barb King was appointed by the board to serve one year of the two-year term. The PIA Tribal Council still needs to officially approve the final votes....
A borough committee may organize to further investigate the merits of instituting an excise tax on tobacco after it was brought up for discussion during several sales tax ordinance committee meetings. While an excise tax on tobacco doesn’t fall under the purview of the sales tax committee’s mission—which is to review and recommend changes to the sales tax code so the borough can generate an equal or greater amount of revenue—it did unofficially make a recommendation to the borough assembly that it consider a tax on tobacco. Committee member... Full story
January Petersburg residents contributed a record amount to the Salvation Army Christmas program last year-$15,618.17-more than $9,700 than the year before. Jan. 4, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck 58 miles west of Craig and 203 miles south of Juneau prompting a tsunami warning across Southeast. Petersburg Police Chief Jim Agner and Sergeant Heidi Agner announced their intentions to retire. Officer Ben King joined the Petersburg Police Department. The Petersburg Borough Assembly members were... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Sanitation Department has set February 4 to be the start date of the new comingled voluntary recycling program. Residents who want to participate must call Public Works at 772-4430 to sign up. Once that’s done, sanitation staff will drop off blue bags, free of charge, at residences and businesses during the week of January 20. Current residents who already practice curbside recycling will be automatically transferred into the new program. After the initial rollout of the recycling program, free bags will be available f... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht presented the following report to the Assembly on Monday night. Joe Nelson and power and light staff are working on incorporating a thorough capital project plan into the electric rate study to better outline the needs of our electric system. Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs officials are drafting a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation in an effort to partner with Alaska Marine Highway to curb illegal controlled substances being transported on state ferries. Postal interdiction efforts...
Petersburg Mental Health Services will take the reins on running a second Pedometer Challenge this spring after Petersburg Indian Association found out it couldn’t secure grant funding for the program. Interest in last year’s challenge sparked and Mark Banda, PIA Tobacco Prevention Specialist saw participation double from what was expected. “What started out at about 150 assumed participants turned into 200 very quickly and that followed up and turned into over 300,” Banda said. Banda gave pedometers to participants who were able to track h...
Petersburg Indiana Association officials are hoping by March to restore recently cut employee hours. Former Tribal Administrator Bruce Jones laid off himself and three other administrative positions last month in an effort to balance PIA’s budget. Most other PIA positions are paid for through grant funding associated with its programs and services. Ronelle Beardslee, PIA Office Manager, said in combination with those layoffs and other efforts, PIA’s financial situation is back on course. “It was very difficult to cut these positions,” Beardslee... Full story
Petersburg Public Works Director Karl Hagerman’s co-mingled recycling recommendations to the borough assembly come after a successful trial run that saw recycling rates increase by more than 400 percent this past summer. The sanitation department along with Petersburg Indian Association ran the six-week pilot project in June and July to get an idea about how participants would judge the comingled bag recycling system. According to Hagerman’s recycling report, 120 participants were drawn from residents who already recycle. Before the trial, the...
