Sorted by date Results 1125 - 1149 of 5569
Excavation has begun for an affordable housing complex that is to be built on Excel St., which will make one-bedroom apartments available to residents making 30 percent or less of the local median income. Glenn Gellert of Swell, LLC, the real estate development company building the complex, said the COVID-19 pandemic and a shake up of its contractors has postponed the project. He said he hopes to begin renting units by Jan. 1, 2022. "Once we had all our ducks in a row, we were ready to go,"...
A special Borough Assembly meeting to transfer employment of Petersburg Airport greeters and screeners to Petersburg Medical Center was cancelled on Jan. 29 following input from borough staff. The Petersburg Municipal Employees Association allows the borough to hire temporary employees for up to six months, but some of the temporary borough employees greeting and screening incoming passengers at the airport passed that six month mark in early December, said Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. At the...
Petersburg Medical Center continues to see lower than expected inpatient, outpatient and long term care resident income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but $2.2 million in grants is making up for the loss, according to PMC Controller Rocio Tejera at the PMC Board of Directors meeting on Jan. 28. Halfway through the 2021 fiscal year on Dec. 31, PMC had a total gross patient revenue of $1,370,614, which was 4.4 percent lower than budgeted, according to PMC financial statements. Year to...
Petersburg Medical Center hired a total of 58 employees in 2020 but lost 29 staff members in the same time frame, according to Human Resources Director Cynthia Newman at the PMC Board of Director meeting on Jan. 28. "It appears there has been a lot of movement coming in and out of the hospital personnel wise," said PMC Board President Jerod Cook. Of the 58 employees hired, 26 were emergency hires to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight hospital screeners, six airport screeners and eight...
A 2020 audit of the Alaska Region timber sales program by the Forest Service Financial Compliance & Oversight Branch of the United States Department of Agriculture concluded that two timber contracts in the Tongass National Forest had been mismanaged. According to the audit, the timber sale cruising, appraisal, sale preparation and contracting program for the Big Thorne Stewardship Contract (BTSC) and the Kosciusko Good Neighbor Authority Agreement (KGNAA) weren’t always managed in accordance w...
Cruise ships are expected to make 85 port calls in Petersburg between May 11 and Sept. 18, according to the current 2021 Petersburg cruise ship schedule. Following the cancelled ports of call in Petersburg and Alaska last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dave Berg said tourists are eager to make their way back up to America's Last Frontier. "We're getting lots of calls from people who want to visit Alaska on ferries or with tours," said Berg, who cofounded Viking Travel. "The number...
Several Coast Guard personnel will be in Petersburg Feb. 8 - 11 to conduct dockside safety exams on commercial fishing vessels. Sign up at the harbormaster’s office for the free exams. Vessels passing their exam will be issued a decal that is good for two years. Prior to the exam, visit www.fishsafewest.info, to create a customized checklist of federal requirements for the vessel. Contact Jim Paul at (907) 617 2523 with questions....
PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner said at the Jan. 29 COVID-19 community update the state has allocated 150 doses for the month, but PMC will also receive doses from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. She also confirmed the day of the next community COVID-19 vaccine clinic, which will take place on Feb. 5 at the Parks and Recreation community gym. The upcoming vaccine clinic will focus on residents 65 years old and older, but Bryner encouraged anyone who wants to be vaccinate...
One positive case of COVID-19 has been identified in the community and is travel related, according to a joint press release between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center on Monday. The individual tested positive for the virus upon landing at the Petersburg Airport. The traveler has been in quarantine since arriving in Petersburg and poses a low risk of transmission to the community, according to the press release. The recent positive case of COVID-19 marks the first in town in over a week following an outbreak in January. It is... Full story
A pre-hire employee for the 2021 tanner and golden king crab season at OBI Seafoods has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The individual tested positive during the cannery’s asymptomatic testing of all incoming employees, according to a press release from OBI Seafoods. The person is currently asymptomatic and is in isolation. Employees that may have come into contact with the infected individual have b... Full story
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency could replace a damaged submarine cable that is used as a backup cable to provide Petersburg with power as early as this summer, according to SEAPA Board of Directors Chairman Bob Lynn at the Borough Assembly meeting on Jan. 19. Sumitomo, a Japanese firm, was contracted by SEAPA to construct a cable to replace a damaged submarine cable between Woronksofski and Vank islands for approximately $14 million. The cable was expected to be delivered in late July and...
Petersburg Medical Center is setting Feb. 5 as a tentative date to hold another COVID-19 vaccination clinic, according to Petersburg Medical Center Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner at the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 22. She said the facility will be notified by the state in the last week of January as to when they can expect their next allocation of the vaccine. The hospital will then vaccinate residents who received their first COVID-19 shot this month for a second and final time on Fe...
At the COVID community update on Jan. 22, Incident Commander Karl Hagerman told the public that the local COVID-19 active case count had finally returned to zero. Additionally, there haven't been any new cases of the virus reported within the last seven days. "We had a rough patch in the past week and a half or so with an increase in cases," said Hagerman on Jan. 22. "It's very nice to be back at zero." Petersburg Medical Center has collected a total of 8,055 test samples as of Friday to be...
Since the Borough Assembly passed the masking mandate at their Nov. 16 meeting, the Petersburg Police Department has been focused on educating the community about the mandate, instead of writing tickets, said Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht. Only one resident, Assembly Member Jeff Meucci, has received an official warning, said Giesbrecht. Other residents who were seen by police officers were spoken to, but the conversations didn't reach the point where the individual was cited or officially...
Mayor Mark Jensen participated in a phone call with Gov. Mike Dunleavy's office and other mayors in Southeast Alaska on Jan. 7 where he had the opportunity to address concerns regarding the state's budget and how it will impact Petersburg, he told the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Jan. 19. Among the challenges faced by the borough that Jensen spoke about were a 13 percent drop in the Community Assistance payment for Petersburg in the current fiscal year to $301,090; the Community Jail...
Seven Petersburg High School band and choir students performed in the 2020 Region V Honor Music Festival, which compiled videos of the students' individual performances into a virtual concert. The music festival is traditionally held in October and features several days of rehearsals and a concert. About 60 band students and choir 60 students from around Southeast Alaska also participate in the music festival, which takes place at one of the participating high schools. Because of the COVID-19...
Despite facing complications as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department continued responding to calls and keeping up with their training, clocking in a total of 4,153 volunteer hours last year, Fire Chief Jim Stolpe told the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Jan. 19. "As you know, 2020 was a very unusual year due to COVID-19," said Stolpe. "The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department was not exempt from the restrictions and mitigation measures set forth by CDC...
The Petersburg School Board began discussing the 2021-2022 school year calendar at their meeting on Jan. 12 and looked at three possible calendars. All three scenarios had the school year start on Aug. 24 and end before Memorial Day. They also had the same number of instruction hours. Students in kindergarten through third grade need at least 740 hours of instruction and study periods, according to State Statute 14.03.030. Students in fourth grade through 12th grade must have at least 900 hours...
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has begun taking comments on the 2021 summer ferry schedule. The proposed Alaska Marine Highway System schedule looks to funding projections in the coming fiscal year and the COVID-19 pandemic for its sailings from May 2021 through September 2021, according to a press release from DOT&PF. In the proposed schedule, the M/V Matanuska stops in Petersburg on Mondays on its journey south to Bellingham and again on Fridays on its way north...
The Borough Assembly meetings in February will be postponed to allow contractors to upgrade the Assembly Chambers sound system, according to Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. The Feb. 1 meeting was postponed to noon on Feb. 8, and the Feb. 16 meeting was postponed to 6 P.M. on Feb. 22. Additionally, the assembly will be holding a special meeting on Jan. 29 at 1 P.M. to consider making an amendment to the memorandum of agreement with Petersburg Medical Center for the COVID-19 testing services at...
Alaska Seaplanes will begin offering two daily roundtrip flights between Petersburg and Juneau starting April 5, according to a press release from Alaska Seaplanes. The airline will be flying two turbine powered aircrafts, the Pilatus PC-12 and the C-208 Grand Caravan. Both planes can carry up to nine passengers and will take about 55 minutes to make the trip between the two cities, according to the release. Alaska Seaplanes will be operating out of the former Pacific Wings building at the...
Jerod Cook, president of the Petersburg Elks Lodge #1615, presented checks totaling $8,000 on behalf of the lodge to two local organizations on Jan. 19. Petersburg Mental Health Services received a $4,500 donation to support their Project Connection and food pantry efforts, and Lighthouse Church received a $3,500 donation to aid their Monday Night Dinner project....
Petersburg Medical Center vaccinated about 350 residents ages 65 and older during the COVID-19 vaccine drive on Jan. 14 at the Petersburg School District community gym, according to PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner at the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 15. "It felt really great immunizing so many people in our community and getting that first step to having a safer community and decreasing the risk for people to become ill and hospitalized or worse with COVID," said Bryner. Coupled wit...
A portion of Tonka Mountain was stripped down to the bedrock in a landslide on Nov. 1, as a result of heavy rainfall and soil saturation, according to District Ranger Ted Sandhofer, with the United States Forest Service. The normal amount of rainfall over Petersburg for Nov. 1 is .48 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but on Nov. 1, 2020, 4.17 inches fell. The above average rainfall led to increased soil saturation on Tonka Mountain and ultimately the...
During a discussion on the possibility of testing the water quality in the Petersburg Harbor at the Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said the Department of Environmental Conservation is already scheduled to come to town this summer to do just that. Mayor Mark Jensen said he and other mayors in Southeast Alaska lobbied Sen. Bert Stedman to pass legislation that would test the water quality of the region's aquatic traffic lanes. He said fishermen were complaini...
