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The next Petersburg Borough budget was passed by the assembly on Monday after amending it three times in its final reading. This approved budget for fiscal year 2025 will start at the top of July and includes maximum funding for Petersburg School District to the tune of $3.4 million. Several speakers from PSD testified their gratitude to the borough for supporting the so-called "to-the-cap" funding in the borough's FY25 budget. "Inconsistent and unreliable state funding has created instability...
For the next few years, school meals will be free to all students enrolled in Petersburg School District. All three school sites in PSD now qualify for the USDA Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to student families because the meals are ultimately reimbursed by money from the federal government. PSD Food Program Director Carlee Johnson McIntosh managed the administrative push for getting the CEP. "It's such a great need ... I've seen it...
Later this month, the Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Council will have every seat occupied after swearing in Christine Yatchmenoff as a newly appointed Councilmember. The council filled one vacant seat in March, swearing in Brandon Ware, and sought to fill another vacancy left by Everett Bennett, who was elected to the council in January but later resigned to pursue the PIA tribal administrator position left by Chad Wright and started the job May 20. Yatchmenoff will be sworn in to fill Be...
Through recent surveys, Kinder Skog families and Petersburg Medical Center employees showed interest for more summer enrichment options for youth, and the Community Wellness program of PMC has worked to meet that demand. More camps will be offered through the ORCA (Outdoor Recreation Creation Adventure) program in Petersburg this summer, including a kayaking expedition, fly-fishing, and an extra session of theater. The POD (Play Outside Days) programs will include running and basketball again,...
After twenty three years working for the Petersburg School District, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter will retire on June 30. In early 2001, Kludt-Painter's dad told her there was a job opening for a principal in Petersburg, Alaska, and said he thought she'd like Petersburg, a town about the same size as her hometown of Orofino in rural northern Idaho. She jumped at the opportunity. Barb Marifern, who was on the hiring committee, said that after a series of phone interviews with each...
About 1,758 acres of state land on Mitkof Island is in process to be conveyed to the Petersburg Borough - a fraction of the total 14,666 acres that the borough is entitled to be granted by the state since becoming a borough a decade ago. The lands are Summit Island, Wilson Islands, 480 acres by Blind Slough on the southern part of Mitkof Island, about 157 acres selected that include part of Woodpecker Road, about 80 acres at Blind Point including the gun range area, and approximately 1,012...
The multi-million dollar funding request for the Petersburg hospital replacement project was not included in the most recent state FY2025 capital budget, despite being the Petersburg Borough's top priority capital project and months of advocacy to the legislature. In January, the borough assembly unanimously approved a capital projects list that ranked the Petersburg Medical Center replacement project as the very top priority for funding. In February, individuals from the borough, board and...
Silversmith Erin Kandoll has always considered herself an artist. When the Pilot visited Kandoll's studio, her ginger-color hair sat atop her head in a hair bun while she sorted out dozens of turquoise stones. Twisted Ginger, the name of Kandoll's silver-and-stone jewelry business, was born from a creative pastime. "Started from a state room on the Kestrel with my tackle box ... then to the garage ... to selling everything, to quitting, and then to this," Kandoll recalled. "Now, I'm just ... liv... Full story
On Saturday, the Petersburg Community Foundation (PCF) granted over $26,000 to nine Petersburg nonprofits and awarded Volunteer of the Year to Jim Stolpe. The Petersburg Community Foundation formed in 2008 as a local affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation (ACF). PCF continues to grow its community grant-making endowment fund, thanks to the support of the Rasmuson Foundation, ACF, and generous local charitable giving. Every year, dividends from its investments are used to provide financial...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly is considering an ordinance that may increase the local sales tax cap for the first time in over two decades. If passed, the ordinance would appear as a ballot proposition this fall, allowing borough voters to decide the hike. The proposed ordinance seeks to raise the maximum taxable transaction amount from $1,200 to $5,000 by amending code language. Under the current municipal code, any purchase exceeding $1,200 is only taxed on the first $1,200 - capping the...
The Petersburg Borough budget for the next fiscal year (FY25) is nearly decided. Currently, the proposed general fund budget for FY25 anticipates total revenues amounting to $13,009,827 and expenditures of $13,408,975 - spending a deficit of nearly $400,000. This budget includes maximum funding for the Petersburg School District. The borough finance department attributes the FY25 general fund budgeted deficit spending primarily to the school district funding increase request, however the...
The Petersburg School District is considering three scenarios to reduce the financial burden of student activities on the district's general fund. The three scenarios each involve different adjustments to activity fees, expenses, or a bit of both. The first proposed scenario is all price hikes for activity fees and no cuts to expenses; the third option does not change activity fees, but cuts expenses significantly. The second scenario tries to balance the other options and does a bit of both....
Skol! This year's Little Norway Festival kicks off today with over fifty festivities to choose from including new events, entertainment, and around 70 street vendors. Petersburg -nicknamed "Alaska's Little Norway"- traces its Norwegian foundation back to the late 1800s. Petersburg's Little Norway Festival, first held back in 1958, coincides with May 17, Norway's Constitution Day. Although the festival has changed with the times, visitors can taste traditional Norwegian foods, watch traditional d... Full story
On May 7, negotiating teams for the Associated Teachers of Petersburg (ATP) and Petersburg School District met for a private discussion. The certified teacher contract negotiations have been in a stalemate for months. The situation is constrained by inadequate state education funding that has not adjusted for inflation since 2017. The lack of funding is causing trouble for the district budget to meet the union's expressed need for teacher salary increases. At the May 7 meeting, the district...
Feel like dancing during this week's festivities? Then you're in luck! High energy, multi-genre Seattle-based band the Staxx Brothers are set to perform two fun, riveting and especially groovy shows in Petersburg for the Little Norway Festival. Founded by band lead Davin Michael Stedman in 2002, the Staxx Brothers are a high energy American band from Seattle who play a mixed genre of music, but like to define themselves as "Hard Ass Soul." "The energy you get from the Staxx Brothers show is...
Today, the Mitkof Mummers community theater group is hosting a sloppy joe dinner and silent auction to fundraise for fellow Mummer, Beth Loesch. Although the spring Mitkof Mummers performance is canceled, the theater group is gathering community support with a fundraiser to show up for one Mummer during a time of hardship. Everything starts at 5:30 p.m. downstairs at Moose Lodge. There will be homemade sloppy joe sandwiches, coleslaw, chips and a giant cookie - first come, first served for $15....
Fram Street flooded Tuesday evening when thousands of gallons of water poured out of the ground and created a stream after an old part of a water main ruptured. First-hand accounts said the ankle-deep water flowed out onto Fram Street, above 8th Street, and mostly flowed into the ditches. According to the borough utility department, nearby site work for the new hospital project is not believed to be responsible for the rupture. The problem section of the pipe was isolated without any loss of ser...
Assembly members voted on the proposed FY25 borough budget for the first time on Monday, as well as two additional ordinances related to revenue — unanimously passing all of them in their first readings. Alongside the first draft of the next Petersburg Borough budget for fiscal year 25 (FY25), two ordinances regarding the borough’s transient room tax were introduced. One clarifies the uses of the fund, and the other would raise the 4% TRT rate to 7%. Transient room tax is essentially a “bed tax” paid by patrons of hotels and lodges. “This i...
On Monday, Assistant State Fire Marshal Mark Brauneis traveled to Petersburg to announce that Captain Daniel Bird of Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is the recipient of the 2023 Ken Akerley Fire Service Leadership Award. Recipients of this statewide award are nominated by their peers from among Alaska's 8,000 firefighters. The criteria to be deserving of this award, Brauneis said, the candidate "must exhibit an extraordinary commitment to leading in their fire department and earning the tru...
"I want to thank the crew serving today, and all who served aboard Anacapa over these many years, for their dedication and service to our country," said Rear Admiral Charles Fosse, commander of United States Coast Guard District 13, during the decommissioning ceremony for USCG cutter Anacapa on April 26 in Port Angeles, Washington. Commissioned in 1990, Anacapa spent 32 of its 34 years homeported in Petersburg, and the last two years in Port Angeles. The 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter carried a... Full story
The USDA Forest Service is starting the process of revising the Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan, which will shape local and regional management for years to come. Over the past 27 years since the Forest Plan was developed, the land and lifestyle in Southeast Alaska has changed significantly. As a result, the Forest Service is seeking input from the public to ensure that the revised plan reflects the evolving needs and concerns of the community. The current Forest Plan was developed... Full story
All mud dump fees for the new hospital project will be waived. Although the fees would have amounted to about $186,000 in revenue for the borough, the Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the request to waive the fees because it will be an in-kind contribution, which can help PMC secure additional funding for the project, and improvements made by work on the project is saving the borough about $160,000 in expenses. At the assembly meeting on Monday, assembly member Thomas Fine-Walsh...
Petersburg Municipal Power and Light invites the public to celebrate 100 years of hydropower in Petersburg by attending an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Blind Slough Powerhouse this Thursday, May 16, from 1 to 3 p.m. "As part of the Mayfest celebration, we're going to ... show the community the new plant," Utility Director Karl Hagerman told the Pilot. At the open house, visitors get to see the revitalized facility -complete with a new turbine and generator- and learn about the...
In January, Petersburg resident Sondra Hurst learned that seniors at a retirement home in her hometown of Springville, Utah had worked together for three months to piece together the world's largest commercially available jigsaw puzzle. Hurst decided to round up helpers in Petersburg to try and do the same, and on Sunday, May 5, dozens of community members who took part in the effort gathered in the community gym to see the puzzle be completed. She recalled to the gathering how her husband had d...
The U.S. Forest Service plans to build six new cabins and a new campground in Southeast Alaska and wants to hear from the public on proposed fees for the facilities. One of the new cabins, the Woodpecker Cabin, will be on Mitkof Island, accessible by road and a 300 ft trail, about 30 miles away from downtown Petersburg. The site features a south-facing view of Sumner Strait. It has a fish-bearing stream nearby, and is in close proximity to a marine boat launch. It is likely to be used...
