Sorted by date Results 403 - 427 of 5622
With education funding undecided, Director of Finance Karen Morrison reported to the Petersburg School District Board during its meeting on Tuesday about possible budget scenarios for the next school year. The need for an increase in funding both at the state and local levels has been driven by inflation, rising utility costs, and the implementation of the Alaska Reads Act as well as the end of the district's hold harmless provision and COVID-19 funding going away. Earlier this month, the...
The Petersburg Arts Council recently installed a new wireless sound mixer at the Wright Auditorium that will make productions easier and improve sound quality according to Dave Berg. The upgrade was made possible by a $1,000 grant given by the Petersburg Community Foundation during the Little Norway Festival last year. The Mackie Wireless Mixer will be used for concerts, plays, dance recitals, and other events put on by the Petersburg School District and local organizations. The previous sound s...
Since last September, the Elks Lodge has provided $25,000 in meals to support local youth fundraisers, $26,000 to locals in need, and $20,000 in volunteer time and other associated costs of running their kitchen and dining hall. That all started with a $7,500 grant from the State Elks Association. When that grant ran out, all the costs shifted to being absorbed by the local lodge. "We expect to get another grant, but until then we can just absorb the cost, since all of this falls under our...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved a fuel adjustment charge for the annual Southeast Alaska Power Agency shutdown during its meeting last week. SEAPA is scheduled to shut down its hydroelectric power supply to perform maintenance to Tyee and Swan Lakes from May 31 to June 9. During those 10 days, the borough will run its diesel plant, which the fuel adjustment charge looks to offset the high cost of doing. According to Utility Director Karl Hagerman, the adjustment will take...
The Petersburg School District announced last Friday that it has hired Gustavus High School Principal Brad King as the new principal of Petersburg High School and Mitkof Middle School starting next year. According to the school's announcement, King has over 30 years of experience in education ranging from teaching, administration, curriculum development, budgeting, coaching, and more. "Mr. King will bring a calm, steady hand to our school, and a wealth of educational experience," the district...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly discussed potentially hiring an independent specialist to review the borough's current hiring practices and safety policies during Tuesday's meeting. Over a dozen people spoke and even more crowded the assembly chambers, filling it so much that some had to stand along the perimeter, to show support for a review. The assembly ultimately voted to direct borough staff to contact Alaska Public Entity Insurance-the borough's liability carrier-along with The Safety...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously during Tuesday's meeting to approve the borough's FY24 budget in its first reading. No amendments were made to the budget, though some are expected to be introduced in successive readings. During the meeting, Assembly Member Dave Kensinger proposed an amendment to increase the funding for Mountain View Food Services to $43,000, though it failed in a 3-4 vote with Assembly Members Kensinger, Jeff Meucci, and Scott Newman in support. The proposed...
A press release this week announced that Petersburg Medical Center Youth Programs will offer expanded summer programming to better meet the community's needs by providing additional options for childcare. Kinder Skog, the popular outdoor forest school, will expand to include a "Forest Kindy" program designed specifically for five and six year olds. Following a recommendation from the State of Alaska Childcare Program, Kinder Skog will transition from a licensed childcare program to a recreationa...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an extensive resolution during its last meeting that will move the Petersburg Medical Center new facility project one step closer to shovel-ready status. The resolution, passed in a 6-1 vote with Assembly Member Donna Marsh against, approved the North Haugen site as the location of the future hospital and authorized the PMC board to proceed with a preconstruction services contract with Dawson Construction. The new facility project was made the borough's...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed a supplemental budget during its April 17 meeting that includes spending for dredge projects, attorney fees, and more. The FY23 budget revision was amended in its final reading to increase the South Harbor dredge project budget by $1 million, bringing the borough's total budgeted amount up to $2.1 million. The project, which has removed approximately 29,351 cubic yards of material so far, has faced difficulties removing hard blue clay from the...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly held a work session on Monday to review the borough's FY24 draft budget ahead of its first reading. Finance Director Jody Tow walked through the presentation, along with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht and other borough department heads, which gave assembly members an overview of what next year's budget may look like. Giesbrecht said this upcoming budget was a bit of a challenge to put together due to increased costs of insurance, inflation, uncertainties in...
The Alaska Press Club held its annual conference in Anchorage last weekend where Petersburg-based journalists representing the Petersburg Pilot, KFSK, and CoastAlaska received awards for their work over the last year. The three-day conference was the first held in-person in four years and featured speakers, breakout sessions, and professional development opportunities with reporters from across Alaska. The Petersburg Pilot was awarded a third-place prize for Best Weekly Newspaper in the state....
Brad King, the current principal at the K-12 school in Gustavus, visited Petersburg over the weekend as a candidate for secondary school principal. He's lived in Southeast Alaska ten years, serving as principal in Hydaburg and then Gustavus. Before that he was the district curriculum coordinator in the Fairbanks school district. A teacher for 14 years before turning to administration for the last 19, King still tries to teach a class at every school he works at. He's taught social studies, Germa...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers were filled during Monday's meeting with members of the community there to request a third-party investigation into the July 4, 2016 van crash that killed Marie Giesbrecht and Molly Parks and to hear a report on the practices and procedures instituted by the borough's HR Department in its aftermath. Along with those who spoke at the meeting, many Petersburg residents wrote letters to the assembly in favor of a third-party investigation into the borough's...
Jim Roberts was appointed to the Petersburg Medical Center Board by Mayor Mark Jensen with the approval of the assembly during Monday's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting. Roberts previously served on the hospital board from 2018 to 2021 but lost his bid for reelection. "The hospital is a vital part of our community and it needs to grow to provide the services required by our community," Roberts wrote. He also worked for 41 years at the Central Intelligence Agency as a computer scientist and a...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted on Monday to hold a work session to discuss the borough's FY24 draft budget and reschedule its first meeting in May. The work session will give the assembly and the public their first opportunity to review next year's borough budget ahead of its first reading. The work session will be held on Monday, April 24 at 6 p.m. in the assembly chambers. The assembly also voted to move its meeting scheduled for May 1 to Tuesday, May 2 at noon. The rescheduling was...
The Petersburg High School band took the ferry down to Ketchikan last week to perform at Musicfest and cheer on other bands who made the trip from Metlakatla to Skagway. The 28 PHS students spent three days putting on concerts in front of a packed Ketchikan High School auditorium as well as playing solo and ensemble pieces. "We've been working really hard in here and we performed better than we had been performing in class, which is always the goal, so there were lots of smiles from our kids...
The Lighthouse Assembly of God church is a well-loved landmark in Petersburg, both to those who attend service there and to those who simply enjoy the sight of it. Inside, there is a large stage that hosted live music for a good part of the Assembly of God's 75th anniversary celebration service Sunday night. The anniversary program included much standing and clapping, with a few chances to sit down and hear some of the stories that have come out of the church over the years. The Assembly of God...
While Easter typically conjures up images of egg hunts under the sun and tranquil Sunday services, this year saw high winds blow down trees across Mitkof Island, damaging power lines and prompting a response from Petersburg Municipal Power and Light. "It was a very, very strong, very intense windstorm that came through," Utility Director Karl Hagerman said. "We did not see that in the forecast, so it kind of took us by surprise." One tree hit the distribution line near 8.5 Mile Mitkof Highway,...
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...
