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Rock-N-Road Construction has spent the last week scooping mud from Middle Harbor as part of the ongoing dredge project. The Middle Harbor dredge project is separate from the dredge project being completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Western Marine, which is on hold for the summer. The Middle Harbor project aims to clear out built-up silt causing damage to the harbor and was included in the borough's latest supplemental budget, which will have its third and final reading at the April...
Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School Principal Ambler Moss's contract will not be renewed and he will leave the district at the end of the school year. Moss was hired last summer and signed a one-year contract with the district, which is the standard length for principal contracts. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter wrote that they mutually agreed that he would not continue in the role after this year. She added, "We wish him all the best in his next adventure and thank him for his...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance that would amend the charter to open participation on local boards to borough employees in its final reading. The amendment, which will have to be approved by voters later this year, would let borough staff run for boards except for those that directly administer their employment. That would mean a Petersburg Medical Center employee could run for the assembly or the school board but not the hospital board. A Petersburg...
The Petersburg School District has requested the borough increase its local contribution to the district as it grapples with decreased funding, rising costs, and challenges attracting new teachers. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter and PSD Director of Finance Karen Morrison made their case to the assembly during Monday's meeting, giving a review of the district's financial standing going into FY24 and detailing how school funding has been left behind. Inflation paired with the rising costs of...
It was standing room only at the Helmi Jenson community room of the public library last Wednesday, where the attractions were practically flying off the shelf. Jake the red-tailed hawk and Owlison the great horned owl were in the house, accompanied by avian director Jenn Cedarleaf and avian care specialist Hannah Blanke from the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. Invited as part of the Rainforest Festival, they had visited Petersburg schools for kids from preschool through high school, appeared for...
The U.S. Forest Service is seeing a nationwide push for new employees as they expand their operations, driven by an increase in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. "So all this additional funding gave us additional work and we need additional people to do that," Petersburg District Ranger Ray Born said. The Petersburg Ranger District is hiring mostly for technician positions including biological technicians to conduct surveys and recreation...
At approximately 2:30 a.m. on March 31, a truck collided with a parked vehicle on South Nordic Drive, which resulted in damage to the memorial park dedicated to Marie Giesbrecht and Molly Parks. According to witnesses, a black pick-up truck hit an unoccupied silver truck that was parked next to the memorial. The crash pushed the parked silver truck off of the road and into the park, causing damage to the benches and railing. The silver truck dropped into the ditch next to the park while the...
During Monday's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, Mayor Mark Jensen and Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave a report on the borough's trip to Washington D.C. last week. Jensen, Giesbrecht, and Assembly Members Thomas Fine-Walsh and Scott Newman visited the capital to meet with Petersburg's federal delegation, lobbyists, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and other agencies about major local projects. "We had a pretty busy schedule. Overall, I felt, a good trip,"...
Former Petersburg Medical Center Board Member Kathi Riemer, who was last reelected in 2021, resigned from the hospital board last month. PMC Board President Jerod Cook wrote that he accepted Riemer's resignation on March 17. In his email notifying the borough, Cook expressed his gratitude for her contributions to the hospital and her service to the community. The borough is now seeking letters of interest from residents to fill the seat until the October 2023 municipal election. The Pilot...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that would adjust the FY23 budget in its first reading during its meeting on March 20. The sizable supplemental budget includes 12 changes that cover a range of items including harbor dredging, attorney fees, vehicles, and more. The ordinance looks to increase the South Harbor dredge project budget by $635,000. The FY23 budget for the project was initially $1.1 million so the addition will bring the borough's budgeted cont...
The Petersburg post of the American Legion held its first formal meeting on Tuesday in the Petersburg Public Library, which saw about 20 veterans gather to engage in official business and discuss what they want the future of the post to be. Petersburg's American Legion post is called the Edward Locken Post 14-named for the former mayor and owner of the Bank of Petersburg. The American Legion is a nonprofit veterans organization that has been a driving force for disability and education benefits...
The borough’s FY22 Audit Report was presented to the Petersburg Borough Assembly at its meeting on March 6. According to Bikki Shrestha, an engagement partner with BDO USA, LLP, the borough received an unmodified opinion on its financial statements, federal single audit, and state single audit. Shrestha provided a review of the audit and financials in which he commended borough management’s cooperation throughout the audit process. The audit found no significant deficiencies and no material wea...
Jane Smith spotted a different kind of bird at her feeder around New Year's, something she knew she'd never seen in Alaska. Her sister, Anne Smith, saw it again during the annual Great Backyard Bird Count in February and identified it as the white-winged dove. She took a picture with her iPad and posted it on the Alaska Rare Bird Alert Facebook page, but her post didn't draw much response, so she figured the bird wasn't too special. Weeks later, Jennifer Cross, director of the Alaska Raptor...
On September first Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Hyer will begin an eighteen month sabbatical from the Petersburg Medical Center to sail from San Diego to New Zealand with her family. When she and her husband, Chris Hyer, first started dating twenty-seven years ago, Chris gave Jen the book "Dove," about a boy who sailed around the world, and told her it was a dream of his. She was immediately on board and boats have been a constant in their lives ever since. Their first home together was a 30' Sundowner...
Petersburg residents are set to see the assessed value of their residential properties go up this year brought on by the current real estate market. According to a report from the Appraisal Company of Alaska, the majority of the increases to assessed residential property values in Petersburg will range from 10% to 20%. Assessors Mike Renfro and Martins Onskulis with the Appraisal Company of Alaska gave their report on the 2023 estimated tax assessments for the borough during Monday's Petersburg...
An interactive workshop focused on equipping community members with the skills to get involved in the Federal Subsistence Board process will be held this Saturday, March 25 at John Hanson Hall. The community workshop will be put on by Ashley Bolwerk, a subsistence fish biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, and Heather Bauscher with the Sitka Conservation Society. Bolwerk and Bauscher developed the workshop in order to help residents better understand the Federal Subsistence Board process and...
Petersburg Lutheran Church invites the community of Petersburg to attend their first service on Sunday, March 26 at 10 a.m. There will be a coffee hour following worship to give everyone an opportunity to meet and welcome Pastors Deborah and Tim....
After putting their dinner theater fundraiser on hold three years ago, the Clausen Museum is looking forward to hosting a song and dance production with a cast of twenty eight local thespians this Friday and Saturday at the Sons of Norway Hall. The Boardwalk, written by Sue Paulsen and Cathy Cronlund, will take diners back to the Roaring Twenties, when the streets of Petersburg were made of wood. "The show highlights the booming economic times that spurred the growth of Petersburg and drove...
Alaska school districts are scrambling to prepare for the new programs and policies outlined under the Alaska Reads Act that are set to go into effect next school year. The act has little funding attached to it and its implementation comes after three years of education interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have left some questioning if districts will be able to meet all that it requires in the short time they have to prepare. Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the act in June 2022 in an...
Mary Clemens and Bill Moulton have teamed up for the fourth time to share their love of country swing dance and the two-step by teaching a recent class at the Mitkof Dance Troupe's studio. Clemens explains, "Two-step is slow and swing is fast. It's different steps. Bill makes it look easy because he's a good lead. It really makes a difference if the guy knows how to get you to do what they want you to do." Moulton says, "There are five basic moves to learn, then you build on those to learn the...
Ketchikan artist and master basket weaver Kathryn Rousso is coming to the Petersburg Public Library to present a slide show, "A Sense of Place: Exploring Mexico to Colombia & the Plant Material Textiles Within," Thursday night, March 23, followed by a three-day basket weaving class. Several of her works are on display at the library through March 31. In her presentation Rousso will share her fascination with traditional textiles, some of the historical and cultural context through which woven...
The South Harbor dredge project has been suspended until this fall as the end of the environmental window approaches. An estimated 29,351 cubic yards of material have been dug out of the harbor-about half of what the project intends to remove. The last dumping of material in Frederick Sound was on Feb. 23. According to Harbormaster Glo Wollen, the project has seen hard digging, causing the project to take more time and energy than anticipated even with the equipment they have on hand. So far...
The Petersburg School District board held a discussion during its meeting on Tuesday covering where the district currently stands financially and its need for additional revenue to prevent a negative fund balance in FY24. During the discussion, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter and PSD Director of Finance Karen Morrison gave a presentation detailing how funding has declined in recent years while costs have spiked. According to their presentation, the true value of Alaska's school funding has...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is welcoming a new batch of ETT certified volunteer responders who recently completed an ETT certification course and can now provide more assistance on calls and help respond better to emergencies. EMS Coordinator Josh Rathmann said the newly certified responders will be a huge help to the department as they continue bouncing back from a drop off in participation during the pandemic. The ETT course was developed for smaller communities that are not able...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading on Monday that would amend the charter to allow borough employees, including those at the school and the hospital, to serve on certain borough boards. The ordinance proposes allowing borough staff to serve on boards and commissions except for those that directly administer their employment. For instance, under the new ordinance a Petersburg Medical Center employee could run for the borough assembly or the school board...
