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The Petersburg Borough Assembly couldn't come to a consensus last Tuesday for next year's budget spending after it was tasked with providing direction to borough staff to make any changes the assembly would like to see. The assembly met with department heads last week and went over budget line items department wide. During Tuesday's budget hearing, members of Petersburg's community service organizations-organizations the borough funds annually-lobbied for their respective funding needs....
Two superintendent applicants toured Mitkof Island, Petersburg and visited with various community members including district staff and administrators on Wednesday. Virginia Jewell Jewell grew up in New England and has spent more than five years of her educational career building start-up American schools in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. "Interestingly enough, overseas, you get a lot of non-Americans who want to have an American education," Jewell said. She is currently working at a start-up school... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to increase electric rates by 4 percent over a two-year period. The rate increase comes after Petersburg Municipal Power and Light (PMPL) Superintendent Joe Nelson asked for guidance from the assembly as he moves forward in creating next year’s budget. Nelson told the assembly one of two things needed to be decided, one of which was the rate increase. “The other one would be to purposely approve a deficit budget which draws our reserves down and basically kicks the can down the road for a few... Full story
Petersburg Search and Rescue members assisted U.S. Coast Guard personnel with the rescue of a Petersburg man after he went missing Monday evening. The man launched his 14-foot skiff Monday from Banana Point on the south end of Mitkof Island. When a family member became concerned they called emergency personnel. Petersburg SAR Director Robert Carter got the call around 8 p.m. Carter and SAR volunteer Ted Sanhofer contacted witnesses who thought they saw the lost man on a small island near Green’s Camp. The two SAR volunteers set up base camp at...
Patti Steele won this year's Petersburg Parks and Recreation's Losing BIG Petersburg competition by a public majority vote. Steele was one of ten contestants, split into two teams, led and encouraged by team captains Christin Fankhauser and Shelly Pope. Each contestant entered the competition with a set of goals to meet and guidelines to follow each week related to exercise, diet and stress relieving activities. Each week, Petersburg residents tracked how contestants performed through Facebook...
Commercial troll fishery public meeting to be held in Petersburg The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will hold commercial troll public meetings in Petersburg on Wednesday, April 2 at 12:30 pm in the Petersburg Library Conference Room. Meeting topics will include, but are not limited to, plans for the 2014 spring and summer troll fisheries, the 2014 Pacific Salmon Treaty Chinook salmon abundance index and quota, and a review of the 2013 troll season. All members of the public are welcome to attend. State seeks public input on ferry schedule...
Members of Petersburg Boy Scout Troop 24 slept in snow caves and igloos last week as they participated in the annual 'Frostbite Challenge' just across the Canadian border near Skagway, Alaska. Petersburg scouts dug two snow caves out of 10-foot tall berm and constructed five igloos-two of which received honorable mentions in the judging contest. Petersburg scouts also took first place in several competitions including axe throwing, snowshoe races, snow canoeing and other snow related...
District Attorney Nick Polasky dismissed a case against Petersburg resident Martin Massin who local police charged with Theft and Criminal Trespass after he took his runaway dog from the pound. Massin said his dog Lucky jumped the fence at the local dog pound when Massin went to check on him. “When he (Lucky) saw me he jumped halfway up the fence, climbed up and bolted over,” Massin said. “I wasn’t thinking it was a big deal. It’s my dog right?” Massin paid the fines associated with having an unregistered dog and the impound fees several day...
Two Petersburg students won awards in the Alaska Statewide Youth Art & Writing competition. Helen Martin, 8th grader at Mitkof Middle School, won third place for an excerpt of a mystery novel she’s writing and another third place award for a flash fiction short story. Martin’s mystery novel is set in Denmark and chronicles a girl who discovers a body in a bog on land her father owns. “I’ve been writing for a really long time,” Martin said. “My mom has documents on her computer from when I was orating stories to her when I was five.” Mart...
Local healthcare consumers face an imminent deadline. After twice extending the deadline to sign up for a healthcare plan under the Patient Affordable Care Act – known colloquially as Obamacare – the date finally stuck at March 31, with little indication that officials will change it, according to various national news outlets. Uninsured patients will thus face a penalty on their next tax return. Consumers who fail to enroll will face a penalty of $95 or one percent of their income, whichever is greater. Families must pay $47.50 per uni...
The Petersburg Medical Center submitted a balanced budget to the assembly earlier this month. The budget for fiscal year 2015 anticipates a net gain of $333,014 after covering $13.5 million in total operating expenses compared to $13.3 million last year. More than $9 million is budgeted for salaries, wages and employee benefits—an increase of around $229,000 from the year before. Net patient revenue is anticipated at around $13.7 million compared to $13.5 million last year. In creating next year’s budget, the PMC Board operated under sev...
Fifty years ago today, March 27, 1964 the largest U.S. earthquake ever recorded rocked southern Alaska. Petersburg resident and Harbor Way Parts Owner Phil Meeks was seven years old at the time. He was building a snow fort in his Anchorage front yard just before the 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck. "I remember feeling frustrated that my fort wouldn't stand up," Meeks said. "It kept caving in." Meeks said when the Great Alaskan Earthquake began he noticed the sound more than motion. "It went from...
Summer break will start early for Stedman Elementary School students this year after the Alaska Department of Education Commissioner gave the Petersburg District School Board tentative approval to release students four days early so construction can begin on the elementary school’s exterior renovation project. The $2.3 million project will require a large amount of shuffling of classrooms and supplies and the extra few days will allow staff to pack up and move before full access to the building is granted to contractors on June 6. Exterior w... Full story
Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Production Manager Bill Glass said plans are moving forward to continue production at Crystal Lake Hatchery even if it can’t immediately reconstruct the incubation facility destroyed by fire earlier this month. “We don’t anticipate any delays or reductions in future productions beyond what we lost in the fire,” Glass said. “Plans are that the entire hatchery will continue on as is without any decreases in programs.” The hatchery lost 550,000 Chinook eggs that were bound for Neets Bay, 200,000 Coho that w... Full story
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the Sitka Sound herring roe fishery is on a two-hour notice as of 8 a.m. March 20. A test sample taken March 17 from shallow waters near Magic Island revealed a high percentage of immature roe with an average weight of 201 grams, which is higher than average. Although the immaturity levels during that time were considered high, the past several days may have allowed more growth time as well as the separation of less mature herring from the mature schools. The guideline harvest level this season... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly and Power and Light staff will meet this Friday to determine whether or not to raise electric rates by 2 percent. Power and Light Superintendent Joe Nelson requested direction from the assembly last Monday evening. Nelson said his department had two options to consider as it prepares next year’s budget. “Should we go with the rate increases, stay solvent make sure that we have adequate money for depreciation looking forward or should we draw the reserve down and postpone that for future years,” Nelson asked...
Three Petersburg School District Superintendent applicants land in Petersburg early next week for interviews and will speak with PSD staff and administrators, visit with the community and tour the island. Jay Thomas, Virginia Jewell and Lisa Stroh have all been selected as finalists for the position. Thomas is currently the Assistant Superintendent in Unalakleet, Alaska. “During my 13 years in rural Alaska, I have been a coach, mentor, teacher, principal and assistant superintendent,” Thomas wrote in his application’s cover letter. “In every s...
Petersburg High School may soon offer a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course. PHS Principal Rick Dormer said the course would be added to the school’s vocational technology class offerings. “It would allow kids to walk out with a diploma and a CNA certification,” Dormer said. PHS currently has a shop and aquaculture program. The CNA program would consist of one school year’s worth of classroom lessons as well as clinical experience at Petersburg Medical Center. Angela Menish, PMC Director of Patient Services and Registered Nurse, would b...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved 4-3 the first reading of an ordinance that would rezone residential property to commercial in the Olsen Subdivision. Richard Burrell and Aaron Miller and Katrina Miller applied for the rezoning through the Petersburg Planning and Zoning Commission last year. The body approved the property owner’s request 7-0 and passed its recommendation to the borough assembly for final approval. The Millers want to eventually build a warehouse on their property, which isn’t allowed under residential zoning codes. The...
A bill being considered in the State Senate could impact local ferry workers. Senate Bill 182 amends Alaska State law pertaining to bargaining rights to eliminate what is known as a cost-of-living differential. This provision of contracts allows for salaries to be automatically adjusted to match the cost of living of a certain area. For individual employees, this can amount to as much as $4 per hour, or roughly $8,320 per year for, in particular, Alaska Marine Highway System employees, who are currently bargaining with the state for a new...
(Sitka) – The brown bear hunting season opens March 15 in Game Management Unit 4 (GMU4) with two registration hunts; RB088 and RB089. Both hunts open March 15th but have different closing dates. Inside drainages (RB089) close May 20th, and outside drainages (RB088) close May 31st. For boundary clarifications, refer to the 2013-14 Alaska Hunting Regulations and online maps. Hunters are reminded of the requirement to watch the brown bear identification video called “Take a Closer Look” prior to registering. This can be viewed online ADF&G...
WRANGELL — It’s an ethical dilemma as old as the hills. You find a wallet stuffed with money lying unattended on the ground. What do you do? Members of the Wolves varsity basketball team and the pep band found themselves in just such a situation during the Region V basketball tournament, March 5. Some members of each student group were at a Fred Meyer’s store during the tournament loading into a van to return to Juneau Douglas High School, when freshman Sig Decker noticed something lying in a snow bank. “I almost let it go because we were al...
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...
Director of the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research Dr. Gunnar Knapp encouraged community members that doing more with less will be a central theme in the coming decade for fishing communities such as Petersburg and others across Alaska. Knapp was the guest speaker for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet last weekend. After touting Petersburg as one of the most successful fishing communities he's encountered, he encouraged the community to adapt in changing t... Full story
In an effort to balance next year’s budget, the Petersburg Medical Center Board voted Tuesday to increase patient fees and reduce employee raise mechanisms. Inpatient and long-term care patients will see a 3 percent cost increase and outpatients will pay 5 percent more. Most PMC employees are typically given yearly 2 percent wage increases, similar to a cost of living increase, and an annual ‘step’ raise of 2.7 percent. The board-approved budget reduces the wage increase to 1 percent and eliminates raises. Employee salaries, wages and benefits... Full story
