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Typically sometime in May, parents and family members fill the stands in Petersburg High School gym and watch as the graduating senior class, dressed in their regalia, walk up one-by-one to receive their diplomas. This year, the graduation ceremony will look much different than it has in the past as Petersburg School District reacts to social distancing orders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're doing everything we can, and we're putting in a lot of extra time," said PHS Principal Rick...
A graduating class of 36 Petersburg High School seniors will be receiving their diplomas on Tuesday following a parade that is set to begin at 7:30 P.M. This year's senior class is just above the average number of graduating students, according to PHS Principal Rick Dormer; however, this is just a small iteration of the class of 2020. Up until this recent year, the class has had around 40 students in it, said Dormer, but some students have moved and exchange students have come and gone. Last...
About 10 residents watched a special screening of a documentary titled, "The Story of Plastic" last week and participated in a discussion on the film and its take on the proliferation of plastics in the waste stream. The documentary was released in October of last year and was directed by American Filmmaker Deia Schlosberg. The documentary focuses on the amount of plastic products in waste worldwide and points out the inadequacies of recycling plastic waste. According to the film, about 32...
On Monday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy released state health mandate #18, which eases previous restrictions on intrastate travel. The newest health mandate supersedes state health mandate #12, which had limited travel between Alaskan communities to critical infrastructure or critical personal needs. State health mandate #18 now opens up all purposes of travel for communities connected by the road system and the Alaska Marine Highway System. Travel between those communities does include the use of boats...
Petersburg Magistrate Judge Debra O'Gara is retiring from her position with the state court system to pursue a PhD in indigenous studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her last day on the job is Friday, May 15. O'Gara, who moved to town last summer from Juneau for the magistrate judge position, said her decision to retire isn't a reflection on how she feels about Petersburg. In fact, she will continue to live in town while attending UAF, since her studies will be done remotely. "This is...
The borough assembly met with Matt Weatherly of Public Sector Personnel Consultants on Tuesday afternoon to review the preliminary findings of a recent compensation survey of borough staff for the 2020 fiscal year. According to survey documents, the borough's current entry pay ranges are more than five percent behind market averages for 52 percent of the borough staff survey sample, resulting in 48 percent of entry wages for borough positions being competitive. Less competitive were the maximum...
The Petersburg School Board approved the 2021 fiscal year operating budget at their meeting on Tuesday, which has a revenues budget that is $105,060 above expenditures to account for unknowns in the coming school year. The budget has $8,832,258 in revenues, with most of the funding to Petersburg School District coming from the state and Petersburg Borough, according to PSD Director of Finance Karen Morrison. The state contributes $6,861,054 to the Petersburg School District, making up 78...
A modern, custom built home designed and built by Andy Grauel, located along the Farragut River inside of Farragut Bay, was given away for free last year and recently was barged to Petersburg by Charles Davis. In 2002, Grauel listed the house for sale with realtor Leif Stenfjord with an asking price of $129,500. Since the house had to be relocated from the property, no sale ever transpired and Grauel ended up giving the home to a Juneau resident who intended to tear the house apart and haul the...
The borough assembly passed an ordinance adopting the borough's fiscal year 2021 operating budget in its first reading on Monday. Expenditures for the general fund in the proposed budget total $9,838,846, but it's balanced out equally by $9,838,846 in revenues. The current 2020 fiscal year budget has a total of $9,533,511 in revenues and $9,467,855 in expenditures. There were several challenges facing department heads in creating the upcoming fiscal year's budget. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed 100...
The borough assembly on Monday failed to make a motion to extend public health mandate #4, the local face covering mandate, past its May 5 expiration date. The face covering mandate first went into effect on April 21 and was set to last until May 5 at 11:59 P.M. The local face covering mandate requires all persons to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth in certain social situations to help prevent the spread of droplets that could infect others with COVID-19. As of Monday, May...
In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared May 10 Mother's Day as a national holiday. Hannah Balcom never planned to marry, let alone have children and celebrate Mother's Day as a Mom. This May 20 however, she is scheduled to have a C-section in Ketchikan to bring her third child, a little girl, into the world. Hannah and her husband Brad Balcom met and fell in love on Princes of Wales Island (POW) seven years ago and moved their young family, Seth now four and Arianne now two, to Petersburg...
In the event that the Petersburg Borough can't hold an in-person municipal election this fall due to state health mandate limitations, the borough assembly passed an ordinance in its first reading on Monday that would allow the municipal election to be held remotely. If passed in three readings, ordinance #2020-16 would allow the borough assembly to direct borough staff to conduct an election by mail with no precinct polling place open for regular in-person voting on election day, according to...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht told the borough assembly on Monday that the borough has been working with Icicle Seafoods and Trident Seafoods on their plans for bringing cannery workers into town during the upcoming fishing season. Giesbrecht said the two canneries' plans are being reviewed by medical professionals at Petersburg Medical Center. Both canneries are making modifications to their plans and submitting them to the state for approval, said Giesbrecht. The borough is having a...
One of the things Petersburg residents look forward to with the change of the season and the weather is The Market, which in the past has been held in the John Hanson Sr. Hall and included homemade baked goods, fresh vegetables and flowers, local jewelry and art and more for purchase. This year The Market is going to have a different look, because like a lot of other things in the world right now, COVID-19 is bringing about a change. Chelsea Tremblay, chair of The Market board says this year...
Borough officials will be having a work session with state medical professionals next Wednesday to talk about the state's current and future approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said on Wednesday that the information gained from the work session can be used by community leaders to prevent a widespread COVID-19 outbreak as Petersburg begins to reopen parts of its economy. "I think it's very important to understand where the state is going with testing, and...
Southeast Alaska Power Agency is still in the process of trying to replace a damaged submarine cable that provides Petersburg with power, as complications increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bob Lynn, chairman of the SEAPA board, told the Petersburg Borough Assembly at their meeting on Monday that there are concerns over whether the project can be completed this year. The damaged cable is one of four submarine cables that connects the terminals between Woronofski and Vank islands to provide...
Another case of COVID-19 was reported in Petersburg on Monday, bringing the local number of COVID-19 cases to three, though two of the individuals have since recovered, according to a joint-statement made by the Petersburg Medical Center and the Petersburg Borough. PMC has sent out a total of 134 test samples to state and commercial laboratories to be tested for COVID-19, according to PMC Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Lauri Miller at Wednesday's community COVID-19 update. Of those samples,...
The borough assembly on Monday failed to make a motion to extend public health mandate #4, the local face covering mandate, past its May 5 expiration date. The face covering mandate first went into effect on April 21 and was set to last until May 5 at 11:59 P.M. The local face covering mandate requires all persons to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth in certain social situations to help prevent the spread of droplets that could infect others with COVID-19. As of Monday, May... Full story
Sherry Tamone, a professor of biology at University of Alaska Southeast, held a virtual lecture this month as part of the Petersburg Science Series on her research in crab species in Southeast and the effect that warming sea temperatures has on their molt timing. Crustaceans grow in size through a process called molting, said Tamone. Molting is when a crustacean sheds its exoskeleton and builds a newer, bigger one. The process begins when they're newborn larva and lasts through adulthood. When i...
Nine sewers and artists have given new life to old pieces of clothing and curtains by repurposing them into entirely new functional items, as part of Clausen Memorial Museum's virtual art show, Upcycled. Museum Director Cindi Lagoudakis was first approached by the Reduce Plastic Use Petersburg group earlier this year with the idea of hosting an exhibit at the museum that used old fabrics from clothes, table cloths, curtains and other cloth items to create whole new items that can be used instead...
The borough assembly approved a public health emergency directive at a special meeting on Tuesday that implements a temporary quarantine and isolation program for first responders, healthcare works and homeless individuals and families to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19 in the community. Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said just after the formation of the Emergency Operations Center, the team identified a need to create a plan on how the borough could help the homeless populatio...
The Petersburg School Board approved the fiscal year 2020 spring budget revision at their board meeting earlier this month, resulting in a $154,037 increase in revenue over the winter revision. Director of Finance Karen Morrison said the increase in revenue was due to increases in local and student activity revenue. Additionally, the school district received $141,577 in a one time grant from the state that wasn't budgeted for. "Now we have additional revenue that we've been able to use to...
Petersburg Medical Center has received $5,769,680 in loans and grants to help cover financial expenses and losses being experienced by the facility due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to PMC Controller Rocio Tejera at a PMC Board of Directors meeting last Thursday. "Flattening the curving that everybody is talking about has a high price tag and our financial situation has changed," said Tejera. A majority of the financial assistance has come from Medicare advances and the Payroll Protection...
A public health mandate requiring residents to wear face coverings in public when social distancing requirements can't be met was passed by the borough assembly at their meeting on Monday. Public health mandate #4 requires all persons to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth in certain social situations to help prevent the spread of droplets that could infect others with COVID-19, according to the health mandate. A face covering does not have to be a medical face mask, but...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly held a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss a list of questions from Gov. Mike Dunleavy on the state's decision to reopen the state and local economies; however, the assembly's discussion on those questions was scrapped, because the governor would only be taking feedback from smaller communities to be used when creating a plan to reopen the economy. During a teleconference between Dunleavy and other state officials with Alaska's municipal mayors and managers...
