Wrangell’s municipal election held two contested races, that being the school board and the borough assembly.

Two, three-year seats were up for grabs on the school board. The unofficial municipal election results show newcomer Bonnie Ritchie with 196 votes and incumbent Liz Roundtree with 125 votes. 108 voters voted for Jayme Howell, 72 votes for incumbent David Wilson and Brittani Robbins had 69 votes. Jayme Howell ran as a write-in candidate. Other write-ins made up five votes.

Ritchie believes that being on the school board is not only the right thing for her to do, but also the responsible thing to do as a parent with her kids in the school district.

Roundtree, who took the other school board seat, believes more community members should be involved with the school district by voicing their opinions.

Phillip Mach leads in the borough assembly one-year term seat

Incumbent Phillip Mach with 188 votes will serve on the borough assembly for the following year. The other contestants were incumbent Brittani Robbins with 61 votes and David Wilson with 53 votes. There was one write-in.

Mach believes that this is a pivotal time for Wrangell, making it a time for residents to act and move forward.

Both incumbent David Powell and newcomer Dan Powers ran uncontested for the two, three-year term borough assembly seats. Powell finished with 234 votes and 270 voters voted for Powers. There were 17 write-ins.

Uncontested Port Commission seats

For the two uncontested, three-year term seats on the Port Commission, 272 voters voted for incumbents Winston J. Davies and John Yaeger had 268 votes. There were 10 write-ins.

Incumbent Antonio Silva ran uncontested for the one-year term Port Commission seat. He received 292 votes. There were two write-ins.

In total, 325 voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s municipal election. There were 68 early voting ballots that have yet to be counted. That’s about a 40% decrease than last year. These election results will remain unofficial until the borough’s Canvass Board meets on Thursday in City Hall at 1 p.m. The Borough Assembly will certify the results at a special board meeting Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m.

The post Wrangell’s unofficial 2025 Municipal Election results appeared first on KSTK.

There are two, three-year term seats open on the school board during the Oct. 7 City and Borough of Wrangell municipal elections. 

Jayme Howell recently filed as a write-in candidate for one of the seats. She has not responded to KSTK’s offers for an interview as of publication.

She will be running against four others: Bonnie Ritchie, Brittani Robbins, and incumbents Liz Roundtree and David Wilson.

According to the city clerk, those who want to vote for a write-in candidate must write in the candidate’s name in the space provided. The name needs to be written as it appears on the letter of intent with the borough clerk. Additionally, the voter has to fill in the oval opposite the candidate’s name.

The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The post Jayme Howell files as write-in candidate for Wrangell School Board appeared first on KSTK.

Four candidates running for Wrangell’s School Board participated in Monday evening’s candidate forum. Incumbents Liz Roundtree and David Wilson sat with challengers Bonnie Ritchie and Brittani Robbins. They spoke about why they’re running for two of the three-year term seats and what their values are. KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki and the Wrangell Sentinel’s Jonathan Dawe moderated the event.

The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Opening statements

Bonnie Ritchie: Hello. My name is Bonnie Richie. I live here in Wrangell, Alaska. I’ve been here for over 20 years. I have three children. They’re generation six from Wrangell. I have one in fourth grade, a freshman in high school, and also a junior in high school. Our family’s mostly been a fishing family and I absolutely love the community that I live in. I have a heart to serve this community and I am involved with lots of different things here.

David Wilson: My name is David Wilson. I’ve lived here in Wrangell for 27 years, more years than I’ve lived anywhere else in my life. So I consider myself pretty much a Wrangellite. My wife is a teacher. She just retired after 43 years of teaching. I’ve been around education and coaching. High school football, high school baseball and working in other areas in school districts south and here in Wrangell. I’ve graduated six students and a foster daughter from Wrangell High School. All six of my children graduated from here. My daughter came back with her husband. Kaylene Harrison and and my youngest son is here, works in the harbor department. I love Wrangell. I love the schools and what Wrangell can bring to our students, our community. I’m deeply committed to doing all that I can to help further and help progress our school district and students.

Brittani Robbins: Hi, thank you for having us today. My name is Brittani Robbins, I’m a lifelong Alaskan. Thirty-six of my 40 years have been here on Wrangell Island. I have served on the school board previously for a three-year term. (I) serve on the borough assembly currently, and currently running incumbent for the one year seat for now.

My family moved here in 1989 to run what is now Wrangell IGA in 1998. We purchased Wrangell IGA in 2008, well, it was Benjamin’s. Became Bob’s IGA, sold (it) in 2018 and is now Wrangell IGA.

Interestingly, it came to me as I’m sitting in this room with these three amazing people, that I used to make Bonnie’s favorite coffee. I graduated with Dave’s second oldest child, and my daughter and Liz’s daughter are going to graduate together. It’s a really homey room right now. That’s really in a studio that I used to have a show in when I was in high school. That’s kind of a really warm feeling that I’m getting sitting here right now. So thank you for having us.

Liz Roundtree: Hi. So I prefer Liz, just throwing that out there.

We have been here eight years. I currently work at Wrangell IGA, in the office or the liquor store is where you’ll find me. Been on the school board for three years. We moved here because my husband got a job offer with TSA. I couldn’t say no, because of how adorable Wrangell looked from afar. Got here, fell in love. I joke that they’re gonna bury me in the basement because I am never moving again. I have three kids. My oldest is a freshman in high school. My next one is an eighth grader. And then I’ve got a nine month old son.

(I) did all kinds of other things: Girl Scouts, Chamber board, no longer doing that, either one of those. I am the post adjutant for the American Legion. So if you have any questions for veterans, I can help you out there too. I can’t think of anything else.

What motivates you to run for the school board?

Wilson: I see our children as our greatest resource for the future. They are so important, and their education is tantamount to what their futures will be. I think that I am motivated, because, as I said, I graduated six students from here. I saw what they went through and the many great opportunities they had. They’ve all gone to college. I want to see us continue to give them the best opportunities that we can with the resources we have. Whether they’re college bound or whether they’re trade bound, or whether they’re going to be fishing. I think we’ve got a great program.

Roundtree: I was originally motivated to run for the school board three years ago to give the community a voice. Kind of learned the community only comes out when they really want to. I’m still hoping they would come out more. The community needs to have more involvement in our students and our schools.

Robbins: There’s a lot of motivation. I have three years prior on the school board. Prior to that, I actually worked for the school district. I saw some inner workings that gave me pause, as well as some great inner workings. I saw some things with students, interactions with students. I really built a deep connection with the district in some areas. I really wanted to see Wrangell Public Schools flourish and grow. Additionally, like I said, I’ve been here my whole life. I went to school here K-12. This is also my school. There’s this other connection there that I want to watch my school continue to be a great school. I have two kids in school, seventh and ninth grade, which is terrifying. I’m very empowered by what we can give to our students and the voice we can be for our students, our staff and our community.

Ritchie: I knew that I wanted to be involved in some way. I wasn’t sure exactly what that looked like. I just kind of felt like I really did want to be helpful with the school with the school system. I’ve homeschooled my kids. With my kids being enrolled in the public school now, I really want to help out in whatever way that I can. When this came up, I decided that this was not only the right thing for me to do. But as a parent with kids enrolled in the school, I felt like it was the responsible thing for me to do. Also as a member of the beautiful community of Wrangell that I live in.

Is there anything the school district can or should do to increase enrollment, or is that simply a function of a declining population?

Roundtree: I don’t want to steal his thunder. I think there are ideas, and if you have a moment, maybe you should ask the superintendent, because he has some fabulous ideas, and I don’t want to steal his thunder.

Wilson: We’ve certainly had a declining population but I think that we still have ways of attracting students. I think the better programs that we develop, there are some that are homeschooling, that if we can give them the right motivation, the right choices, they will come back.

As I said, I had six students graduate here, but I’ve also got seven grandchildren that have all been in the schools, and I’ve watched them as they’ve grown, look for more and more opportunities, college classes being one. The counselor that we had helped my son, Daniel Harrison, who now works for the city, spend the last two years taking college classes to where he almost got his Associates. He’s been able to branch out and get into a lot of the different classes that you know we hadn’t had before. So I think we can bring them back.

Ritchie: I like this question. Like I said I’m primarily a home school mom, and I think that I know most, if not all of the home school families here in Wrangell, or whether they do independent teaching or whatever, and I think that it’s just really important that our school district and our public school system encourages opportunities for home school families. I think that if they felt like it was a safe place to kind of explore options, I think that more families would be willing to enroll their kids in public school, in some classes, if not all the way.

Robbins: Of course, there has been a decline in population. We saw that in the mid to late 90s. I graduated in the 2000s. I’m not quite that old, but yes, we saw the start of the decline of population and that has been ongoing. We do have a much higher population of senior citizens in Wrangell than we do the parent and younger age group. I don’t think that is the only issue, though. I think there are absolutely things that can be done. That’s definitely a discussion that is ongoing with the district and with the borough. There are some ideas that have been put out there. There have been ideas of a homeschooling program that we would do similar to like PACE in Craig. Let’s talk about a program where we bring in kids to work in the VOC tech, and they get counted as students in our district. That increases our funding from the state, which is where the real problem lies.

What do you see as the biggest issue facing the Wrangell school system and students in the coming years? What are the solutions that you can see for these issues?

Ritchie: I guess that I would have to say that I’m not comfortable making a huge statement about that, because I guess I haven’t really dipped my toes in the water too much to know. I feel like one of the biggest things that we should do moving forward in all areas is transparency and honesty so that we can make a good decision on what needs to happen, or if there are changes that need to be made, so that those can happen.

I think that the solution would be, again, all things transparent and honest and communication with the parents and staff in the school.

Robbins: On a grander scale and a 20,000 feet view, I would say it is our decline in population. It is our lack of housing that was discussed when we were here as the assembly. It is our need for more jobs that would bring families to the community, and not just those jobs, but the housing to be able to accommodate those families.

We get more students in the building, we get more funding. We get more funding, we get better opportunities for classes and extracurriculars and after school activities.

And I want to just echo Bonnie that transparency is really key. And then, as someone who helps out in the district a lot and has been on the school board, communication is a huge key there that I think is a lacking position between whether it’s between the two buildings or it’s between the borough and the school or the staff and the teachers, versus certified versus classified. So I think that communication and transparency is one way to help that.

Roundtree: Like Brittani was saying, funds, budgets, figuring out there’s no wiggle room in the budget. So finding funds and creating wiggle room in the budget for all the cool stuff that our students deserve, whether that’s through fundraising or getting creative, bringing in exchange students, or more population, there’s ways to get creative. The community needs to put their mind together and come up with ideas. It can’t just be the five people sitting on the board making decisions and changing everything without the input. We only have so much brain power.

Wilson: Well certainly, the communication has already been mentioned. I think (it) is a big spot that always needs to be worked on. And I think that the district has been working. They’ve developed a good communication plan. Each year, we’re getting further and further and continually developing that.

But I think our biggest obstacle right now is funding. I think (with) the state and federal government, nobody is willing to come to the table and really bring it about. I think our borough has been working hard at it and I think we can all work even harder, the district and the borough assembly. But I think that getting the state to answer and come to the table with what they need to do. But with funding we can continue to grow.

We have partnerships in our community, and the partnerships that we have, some of them are key with the tribe and with different businesses in the community. We just developed having Tlingit and Haida bring their Head Start into our building. It’s a big step in another partnership that we have.

As we develop those partnerships, we’re going to be able to develop more and more opportunities for our children, and some of it will even bring opportunities for economic development in our community, which will bring familes, will bring money. And when people look at a community to move into, they’re going to look at education and health care. The school board’s responsibilities make sure that education is an attractive thing for people that want to move into the community.

It’s unlikely that there will be significantly more state funding, borough funding, or a significant increase in enrollments. If that holds true, the district faces another budget gap next year and the years thereafter. What are your ideas for balancing spending with revenues so that the district can stop drawing on its declining reserves?

Wilson: I am person of faith. I believe in miracles. So I’m still hoping that the state will start to see something. I think that the message is getting stronger and stronger through to the state. I think that there are more and more people. Last year, I took heart with the number of the people in the legislature that were speaking out wanting to see our state own up to its responsibilities. But I think that as we go forward, we’re developing partnerships, and the more partnerships we can get, the more programs that are coming in. Some of them are going to bring income. And we’re looking at developing an ad hoc committee this year to look at ways to bring in revenue.

Ritchie: I’m not sure if I have a right answer for that, but what I can say is that I like to think that I’m a solution finder. Instead of focusing on the problem, I like to see what is the best solution that we can come up with. So that’s what I can say, that I could offer. That’s all I got.

Robbins: This is a really tough one. I don’t know that we can say, at least not in the next fiscal year that we’re going to start drawing on our on our reserves. It is a trickle down problem with the state, as Mr. Wilson pointed out, and on my own personal level, I do lobbying for it.

I spend hundreds of hours talking to legislators going to Juneau, I’m going to DC in the spring, doing some similar work for that. And that’s on my own time outside of what I’m doing for my regular job. It’s tough, because there are legislators who care a great deal. I’ve seen legislators come to tears in those seats and on those boards, and no matter how far they get, it either doesn’t pass, or it gets to the governor and it gets vetoed. So there is a huge struggle there. And I don’t know how much really the district can give in terms of their time to work on that, but I don’t think on a local level, there’s a whole lot of wiggle room there.

Roundtree: Just gonna say what everybody else was saying. On a district level, we’ve made cuts where we can make cuts, and it’s going to get to the nitty gritty soon.

So I don’t know, maybe we should join Brittani and start lobbying. Everybody start writing letters. I mean, I don’t know what else we can do at this point. Like I said, we got to get creative, and we need more mind power than the five people that are sitting on that board. So it’d be great if the community would email us, text us, call us, give us some kind of idea, help us.

In your estimation, what does the school district do particularly well?

Robbins: For what we have when we’re talking about funding and our resources, I think that we do excellent activities and getting the community involved in our activities. I think there’s a great deal of community involvement in our sports and things to that nature. And I think we do a great job there.

I also think that we do a great job keeping our students as gauged as best we can in a district where we have very little excitement to offer. It’s great that we offer the core classes, that’s really important. These kids need those classes. They need that knowledge. But it’s really hard to make kids want to stay when they don’t have anything exciting or fun to do outside of that. And a lot of our teachers are good at making those topics a little more exciting.

We do have a fair amount of things that keep kids wanting to come to school every day. And I think that is one thing that we excel at here at Wrangell Public Schools.

Ritchie: I think that we have some fabulous teachers in the school district. I can’t say enough good things about the teachers that show their love and care for each student that comes through their classroom. That’s appreciated a lot.

I also think that our sports is awesome, and the fact that we are able to take students and help have them travel around Southeast Alaska. I think that’s an amazing experience, and I think that they do that very well also. So that’s what I have to say about that.

Roundtree: I believe the school district does a great job putting the kids first. From the administration level all the way down to the paraprofessionals. I’ve always known and seen them go out of their way for the kids, whether it’s helping them with homework, helping them after school retake a test. Coaches are helping, spending extra time with players, getting them to where they want to be physically. The people that work at our school district is part of the reason why I’m never leaving. Because no matter what, at the end of the day, they have that heart for our kids.

Wilson: So I think one of the things that we have is we have a staff, administrative, teachers and paraprofessionals that care about the students more than I’ve ever seen anywhere else, and I’ve been in other communities and stuff. But the way our teachers and administration care, the way they reach out, we have teachers that come up with such innovative ideas that really involve our students in new things. Laura Davies, with her videos that she has done, has brought tremendous excitement to our students, and it’s going to continue, because we have that kind of a staff.

What makes you a good candidate for the school board seat?

Roundtree: I am dedicated to our kids and to the district as a whole. I don’t know. I love Wrangell and I love our kids. I’ve enjoyed the last three years on the school board, and I would love to continue to hopefully, maybe bridge that gap between the community and the district.

Robbins: Wrangell is my lifeblood. I’ve been here for as long as I can remember, and being Southeast lifelong, but raised in Wrangell, there’s a very special connection that I have with our K-12 district. And there’s even at least one teacher still teaching there from when I was at school. It’s no secret that one of my major passions is education, even on the assembly and in my own personal lobbying time, that is one of my major priorities, is education.

And it’s not just Wrangell, it’s a statewide passion that I have. Alaska deserves great education. Wrangell deserves great education, and I think I have a lot of passion and energy when it comes to finding ways to provide that great education, or even just speaking out to our legislature or our federal government in trying to get the resources we need to have a great education. So I think that’s a big part of it, is that passion and energy.

Ritchie: I think that I would be a good candidate for the school board because I have done some school at home, and so I understand both the beauty and the challenges of teaching kids that have different personalities and interests. I think that I can offer a fresh perspective from the community.

I am involved with a lot of things in the community, a lot of the things that the kids are involved with. Like I said, I have a heart to serve the community, and I am a parent of kids that are in the public school. I also just think that it would be great to just try new things in our school, things that maybe we haven’t tried before, and I feel like I can maybe bring a creative idea to the board.

Wilson: I really care and love our students, and I want to see them flourish. I have eight years experience on the board. I’ve learned and been able to advocate and work with other school board members throughout the state, with AASB, the Alaska Association of School Boards. I know most of their officers and most of their people that work there. It’s a big job, and there’s a big learning curve, and I will work and study hard. I don’t let down. I prepare myself for everything that we discuss, everything that we’re working on and learning and I think that I’ve got a dedication and a compassion that is unstoppable, and I will always work that way.

What are the two things you want to see the district improve?

Roundtree: I we had all the money in the world, I would love to see more extracurriculars and arts. And we got a great music department, but like pottery and painting and ceramics, acting and plays. All those things, if I had a budget for trillions of dollars, I would love to see that. I know there’s a few teams that are working on fundraising, but I would love for the school and the teams themselves to fundraise and not rely on the booster club, the WAC (Wrangell Athletic Club). I think that’s it.

Robbins: Liz is right. If I had all the money in the world, my answer might be a little different, but with limited resources, I would love to see the same thing – extracurriculars, like I was saying earlier.

I think that there are aspects of education that keep kids wanting to come to school every day that go beyond those standard core classes in the curriculum that we are required to do by state law and federal law. I understand that there are requirements for that, but having extracurriculars like acting, debate, speech and finding creative ways to fill those positions, for example, I would love to volunteer for that. However, I can’t work for the school district, and if I can’t work for the school district as a school board member, then the kids wouldn’t be able to get credit for that course. So there are creative ways to kind of think about that. I know that’s only one.

I think the other thing would be finding money, but that’s really hard to do in times like these.

Wilson: As I said earlier, we’ve been working and working on our communication with the community. I’d like to see us continue that, to even improve it more, so that we can develop more partnerships.

You know, what we’ve done with T3 and the Forest Service and some of the other programs that have been developing, I see as a great opportunity. I think there’s more out there.

I think there’s more partnerships that can be had. Communication with the families, with parents, getting parents involved more. I would love to see us get the parents more in the schools. We’ve been doing some literacy nights that have helped bring in some but I think we can do even more. So I think that’s another thing that we could do to improve.

Ritchie: I want our public schools to be a strong school system that offers quality education. I would like to see each student reach their full potential by mastering a subject before maybe moving on to the next one. I think that checking a box just so that they can get them through is not what I like. So I would love to see (that) more specifically targeted at the subject before moving on.

And then the other thing is just like I said, because we are in such a small community, I think that it’s really important to just encourage other students who may come from a different background.

What do you see as the most important role as a school board member?

Ritchie: I think that the most important role as a school board member is to have an open mind, to be able to find solutions to problems and to have a love and a care for the kids and the students and the staff in the school district.

Robbins: Bonnie nailed that. It really is about having the care for the students and the school. It really is about having that open mind, that creativity and it’s about being prepared. The things that are brought forward to the school board are not small things, and making sure you’re prepared for the entirety and not just a single item that maybe is important to you. Finding that importance among other people, and finding out why those are things that are important to the community or the school or the staff or the students. And making sure you’re really understanding the whole picture, and you’re not there for a single specific item or agenda.

Roundtree: It’s hard to say it any other way than the way the two ladies here just said it. But being open minded. Don’t go in with a mindset if it’s my way or the highway, like you need to be open to changing your thoughts and opinion, because it’s not about you and it’s not just about your students. It’s about all the students and the entire community. It doesn’t matter if it’s what’s best for my daughter, it might not be best for Bonnie’s son, so you have to keep your mind open and available to all of the big picture, not just this small little picture.

Wilson: I think the most important role we have is to motivate and inspire our students. We need to do everything we can to help them realize their dreams, help them realize the visions that they have for their own lives. I think we have teachers that help them develop those visions as they’re going throughout the years and as they help them and nurture them, then we need to turn them into lifelong achievers. So motivating and inspiring the students is, I think, our most important role.

We have to work with the budget policy and curriculum and everything else to get there. But that’s the end result that we want, is to motivate and inspire every student that we have that comes through our schools.

What role should the board play in supporting teacher professional development?

Roundtree: The board? I believe that should fall on the administration, but I mean, it’s budgeted. We approve the budget, but other than that, the teachers and the administration should decide, other than what’s required by law, what they need to develop professionally. I mean, who am I to tell them where they need to grow. They work together all day, every day. They have a better idea. I’m not in the classroom. I mean, that’s just me.

Ritchie: Wow, I don’t know the answer to that one, but what I can say, and I don’t know the logistics, but I believe that the teachers should have strong support from the board, and I think that we should be a place that they should be able to communicate with. We should be a people that they should be able to communicate with.

Robbins: So Liz is absolutely correct. It is not the board’s place to have any say in teacher professional development. The board oversees the administrator and the superintendent only. We can have conversations with the superintendent and give our personal position outside of a board situation.

There cannot be more than two board members with that superintendent at that time. It’s okay to be supportive of whatever professional development these teachers might be wanting to get or are getting, and they can absolutely reach out to a board member and say, “Hey, I think it’s an idea.”

And then that board member can take that information to the superintendent and say, “Hey, you know this is where some of the ideas that came from teachers, and that is where it ends.”

The board directs the superintendent, and the superintendent only.

Wilson: This last year, we wrote and adopted a new strategic plan, and in that strategic plan, everything focused is built around the students and the students learning, but part of that is making sure that the staff and the teachers get the development they do.

And so that’s part of our goals, is to make sure that there’s opportunities for teacher development. We encourage the administration to find the opportunities for the teachers to get out there.

And then we need to budget. We make sure that there is a way to budget funds so that they can go and get the development they need. But what Liz and and Brittani have said, we ourselves don’t put our hands in it, but we certainly need to be supportive, and we certainly need to make sure that there are resources there that can help feed that development.

What’s your stance on addressing bullying, discrimination or mental health challenges in schools?

Roundtree: That’s a good one. I think our school, at least from what I’ve seen, does a great job with this.

My children have been bullied, and the current secondary principal has done a fabulous job nipping it in the butt and protecting those that need to be protected. I think it should be zero tolerance, bullying is just the worst possible thing ever, because it can shape somebody for the rest of their lives.

I think we could do more, but I think we’re doing a fabulous job, at least in the secondary school because I don’t have any kids in the primary.

Ritchie: I agree with what Liz said. I think that there should be zero tolerance for that as well. And I think that being able to have the students feel like they are comfortable with communicating these problems to the principal or teacher or whatever is really important. And so that’s how I feel about that.

Wilson: This is an issue that in the eight years I’ve been on the board, we have never stopped working at, and I think it’s improved over the years.

As Liz said, we have an administration that is working very hard at it, and they’ve done a great job. I know there are people that don’t agree, but I know that they also, if they sat down with the administration and visited with them, they would learn what’s being done or what they could do to help.

I think it’s an important zero tolerance, definitely. But it’s something that is an ongoing issue and an ongoing project. We can’t stop working at it, and we’re going to continue and as long as we have to.

Robbins: I’ve seen a lot of improvement over the years, which I’m really proud to say I’ve seen because of course, bullying has never not been a thing, and I don’t think ever will not be a thing, but it is great to see the changes that have come in the recent years. We do have an exceptional administration right now, and I’ve actually worked with all of the current administration as well, and I have seen amazing things coming out of this group that I’m really excited about.

Not the most recent previous administration, that was a great administration as well, but there are previous administrations I have seen that I felt were falling very, very short, if not being bullies on their own.

So I’m really happy to see what I have seen. I’m happy to see it moving forward. And it is something that has always been on the table. Always been part of working on and trying to get better at zero tolerance is really hard to do, but I think it’s really important because there’s such varying levels of bullying, discrimination or mental health issues.

What is your philosophy on parental input and making curriculum decisions?

Robbins: Please come. We have a curriculum committee. It is public. We would love your input on that. We do have standards that we have to follow to some extent, whether that’s federal or state. But please come and join that committee, and not just the curriculum committee, but come join our policy committee. Come join our budget committee. Right now, there’s only about three of us that keep showing up for that one, but we have these committees, and they meet every single month. So please join a committee. Please give us that input, because that input is what can help us drive what’s going to happen for the next generation, and we want you to be a part of that, not just the board. As Liz has pointed out many times, the board is five people representing varying opinions, and we want those opinions to come forward and not just be the five people sitting in that room that day.

Wilson: I believe it’s vital. I think it’s a part of the curriculum, choosing a curriculum that can’t be missed and can’t be ignored.

As Brittani said, we have a curriculum committee. In the eight years I’ve been there, we’ve worked and worked and worked and the last three years, our curriculum committee has worked very hard coming up with new curriculum for math, science and language arts. This year, we’re doing social studies and physical education.

We need input from the community. We need input from the parents that have the students in the school, the grandparents that have the students in the school. You’ve experienced education. You’ve experienced the need for good curriculum. Our past superintendent used to say that for social studies, history ends in Vietnam. Well, that doesn’t end there. So this year, we’re going to make sure that we get a curriculum that’s going to help, but we need the parents there to help us.

Ritchie: I am a bit of a curriculum junkie myself. I absolutely love finding new curriculum. I think that as our world continues to grow and change, I think it’s super important to kind of keep up with the new curriculums, and if parents are involved in finding those or having new ideas, I think that is amazing.

Roundtree: Can I just say ditto? No, they said it. The parents should be at the curriculum meeting.

When I showed up and I was on the committee, it was all teachers and administrators. Other than the teachers themselves being parents, I don’t think there were parents in the room, so I would love for the parents to come out to these meetings. You can come in, check out the curriculum we’re checking out, take it home, peruse it, bring it back, check out another one. Tell us what you think. I don’t know why they don’t, but they should.

Closing statements

Robbins: Once again, thank you, Colette and Jonathan for having us today.

I’m really excited about what is happening within our school district. Already, like I said, I’ve had the opportunity to work with all of the three administrators. I did work with Mr. Clark previously, but the new (principal at the) elementary school, and Dr. Garrett, the new superintendent. I am really excited about the energy I’m seeing from these guys. So I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen next.

As I have said before, lifelong Alaskan. What I remember of my entire life in Wrangell, K-12, WPSD graduate, two kids in the district, and I am just incredibly impassionate about education. Because education is the future of this planet, and if we don’t have kids who are getting a great, well-rounded education, and are excited to receive that education, then who knows what’s going to happen later?

We’re already seeing some scary things happening within education, from the federal government down. And so I just really want to put out there how important education is to me, especially in Alaska and especially in Wrangell. These are all my kids. And I think that a lot of, like these other candidates here, can say the same thing.

When I first started working at the school district, I said I came in here with two kids, and I walked out the first day with 250. I love these children. I remember when Bonnie’s were born, I graduated with Dave’s kids. It’s just a really special place for me, and I’m extremely passionate about education.

Wilson: I really appreciate you having this forum that we could come and answer questions.

I too, am very, very passionate about education, and one of the things that I sometimes overlook, that I don’t want to overlook, is that we need the students themselves. We need the students’ input into their own education. When we talk about parents and curriculum, we need students on the committees to be coming.

We’ve had some of the most profound statements and best statements made by students that have sat on the committees in the past, especially the curriculum committee. We had students attending, and they added so much. So we need to get community involved, the parents involved. We need to get the students involved. It’s their education. And when they get involved, and they have some buy in, they have skin in the game, and they work at it.

I want to be continue to work hard, as I have, and work even harder, and I pledge that I am not going to let down, and I’m going to do everything I can to get the best education programs that we can buy and that we can field, that we can dream, that we can bring about with students, community board members, the administration, the teachers. Everybody working together can achieve much more than five people on a board or just the teachers by themselves, or administration by themselves. It all has to come together, and I want to be part of that.

Roundtree: I hate talking about myself, so I will say thank you, and I will say I have enjoyed the last three years, and I hope to continue, whether I’m on the board or not. I am so excited for the new superintendent and the administration and what their thoughts and ideas are. The things I have heard and we have discussed are fabulous, and I would love to stick around and see it through and be a part of it.

Ritchie: Thank you guys so much for having me. I feel like I’m new (with) all these vets here. And so anyways, I just feel like whether you have a past of home schooling your kids or public schooling, I think that we can all agree as a community that education is one of the most important things that we have here.

And so, like I said, I have a love for our community and a love for our kids, and I just want to do the best I can to help make our public schools the best that they can be.

The post Wrangell School Board Candidate Forum; four candidates running for two three-year term seats appeared first on KSTK.

Two Port Commission seats will be voted on during this year’s municipal election. Wrangell Port Commission Chair John Yaeger and Port Commission member Winston Davies will be running unopposed for the three-year term seats.

Yaeger said he’s had a seat on the commission for over 15 years and he understands the ins and outs of ports and harbors.

Davies said he’s looking forward to continuing this work and seeing the Inner Harbor Basin project to completion.

They talk to KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki on why they’re running again.

The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

John Yaeger

Winston Davies

These interviews have been edited lightly for clarity and brevity.

Will you introduce yourself?

Yaeger: My name is John Yeager. I’m a 21-year resident of Wrangell. I’m currently the chair of the Wrangell Port Commission. I co-operate and own Alaska Charters and Adventures with my wife, Brenda, and we are also commercial halibut fishermen.

I’ve been chair for the last two years. I think I’ve been on the commission over 15 years. I don’t have an exact amount, but it’s been quite a while.

Davies: My name is Winston Davies. I’m a teacher here at Wrangell Public Schools. I’m also a commercial fisherman and I’m on the Port Commission. I guess my term’s up, so it must have been a three-year term. Time’s flying.

Why are you running for Port Commission again?

Yaeger: I really enjoy working with the Port Commission. We have a lot of positive potential for the community coming up here with some of our projects, and I would just like to continue to see those work through and become something that the community can be proud of.

Davies: I never really intended to run in the first place. There was an empty seat and I think three years ago on the last day nobody had filed for it. So I said, “I might as well just do my civic duty.” So that’s kind of where I’m at right now. I don’t have an agenda. I am just trying to be involved in the community. 

What issues are important to you that you would like to work on in the Commission?

Yaeger: Every community has issues and I don’t pick one in particular to stand on. I want to continue to volunteer my time to help solve issues that come across the Port Commission and hopefully see it through to make Wrangell really proud of our decisions.

We have some projects going on down in Meyers Chuck, with some new dock and float systems going in, which I think is very important for that community down there. Also the Reliance Harbor, Inner Harbor Basin potential for the rebuild there. We received some grant money for that project, and so we’re working on design concepts with that. And then the Commission is also involved with some of the other projects, with possibility of moving the barge ramp, and also with partnering with American Cruise Lines. They’re still in the working process, and so I just want to continue to be a part of that through the Port Commission.

Davies: Right now we’re tackling derelict vessels and how to deal with those. We’ve got a pretty nice port facility here, and we’ve got some boats that are causing issues, and trying to figure out a way to deal with those. Also, we’re pretty excited about the Inner Harbor Basin Project coming online. It’d be neat to be a part of that.

What makes you a good candidate?

Yaeger: I don’t think I’m any better than any other candidate. All I can say is I’ve been on the Commission for a long time. I’m in the industry, tourism, commercial fishing. I understand what it takes to make ports and harbors work. I’m here to volunteer my time.

Davies: I don’t know if I’m a good candidate. I spend a lot of time in port walking the docks. Being a commercial fisherman, I’ve got a slip at Heritage, but I use the harbor year round. We use the launch all winter trapping. A lot of times I’m the only vehicle in the parking lot.

What would you say the most important purpose of the Port Commission is?

Yaeger: I think the most important part is that we continue to put Wrangell on the map as a community where we can safely and efficiently provide moorage for vessels both in our own community and also for those that are visiting here. I also think that it’s important that the Port and Harbor continue to provide sources of employment. I think that it’s important for us to just keep our eyes out on the horizon and look for opportunities to put Wrangell on the forefront.

Davies: The most important purpose is giving people a safe place to tie up and know that their vessel is in good hands with good facilities. I also see it as kind of an economic thing. It’s another way to attract business to Wrangell, whether it be yachts, people stopping by, spending money in town, paying for their moorage. But also, commercial fishing, you can live wherever you want. And I know some people who have moved from other communities to Wrangell, not specifically because of the port, but that’s definitely been a plus. They can tie their boat up wherever they want, and they choose to tie it up in Wrangell and make Wrangell their home port.

How do you see the Port’s role in supporting Wrangell’s community and economy over the next five to 10 years?

Yaeger: If the city decides to continue and move forward with the waterfront development revitalization plan, that could help us lead to some possibility for better use of the waterfront, and that would provide economic opportunity for small retail businesses. Also with the talk about relocation of the barge ramp, that could help us with providing some more space in the Marine Service Center, which would allow us to haul more boats, maybe open more vendor space for people that want to come here that have a skill. And so I think that there’s a lot of potential in the next five,10,15 years in the Port and Harbor areas, especially with our new harbor going in here. We would be able to tailor to more specific sized vessels and that’s all a healthy economic position to be in is when we can provide more opportunity for people that want to come here.

Davies: Kind of along the lines of what I was just saying, just attracting more boats. So we should be able to free up a bunch of new space there with the Inner Harbor Basin Project coming online. Again, hopefully attracting some bigger boats. There’s a need for these bigger stalls that we don’t currently have. Right now (we) are maxed out, so hopefully we can fill those with some yachts that pass through, or some more commercial fishing boats.

Is there anything else you’d like to add to this conversation?

Yaeger: I’m just happy to be what I think as a Wrangell resident after all these years, and I like to volunteer my time. We have a great Port Commission. We have a good Harbor Master, and I enjoy working alongside the assembly, and hopefully I can continue that, but if it doesn’t happen, then I’ll be happy to move on to something else.

Davies: No.

The post Port Commission members run unopposed in this year’s municipal election: John Yaeger and Winston Davies appeared first on KSTK.

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Antonio Silva has been sitting on Wrangell’s Port Commission since this spring when Gary Morrison resigned. The seat expires this October and Silva’s running again for an uncontested one-year term seat.

At age 39, he’s a younger member of the commission. He hopes his role will help support the younger to middle career fishermen in Wrangell.

He chatted with KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki about why he wants to continue serving the community through this seat.

The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

This interview has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.

My name is Antonio Silva. I’m a Wrangell resident here for the past 13 or 14 years. And local commercial fisherman with a lovely wife, Kendra McDougall and my two kids.

Why are you running for Port Commission this time around?

My current seat, I’ve only held from the spring. And in the summertime, there’s a lot of us that are pretty busy, so I’ve only been able to attend a few meetings since then. So I’m just starting to dip my toes into that world there, and I find it interesting. It’s great to start to understand the processes there with the Port Commission, and I would love to continue to be a part of it for the next year. 

What issues are important to you that you would like to work on in the commission?

Obviously being a commercial fisherman myself, a lot of my interests lie in helping the community continue to support fishermen and making sure that we’re not lost by the wayside. Every different aspect in the community is important. I mean tourism is important, commercial fishing is important. And the general sports fishers and subsistence fishermen are important. It’s all just trying to find that balance amongst all of us with the ports and harbors and all of the changes that are constantly happening, which, right now, there’s quite a bit of changes going on.

What makes you a good candidate?

I think my age. I’m 39 and I’m hoping to continue to be involved in this for a while. I think I help support kind of the younger to kind of middle career fishermen there that are still heavily invested in trying to keep this community encouraging for fishermen. And I think that with my eagerness and my age, that I should be able to hopefully help the community there for the next while.

What is the most important purpose of the Port Commission, in your opinion?

I think kind of what I said earlier. They’re finding that balance between all of the different groups of people. Because whatever your goals are, whether it’s work related or sport or subsistence, that’s the wonderful thing about Wrangell, is that we should be able to provide for everyone to enjoy what Wrangell has to offer, which is what we all know and love.

How do you see the Port’s role in supporting Wrangell’s community over the next five to 10 years?

We’ve got some big topics. Obviously with the barge ramp topic. The City Council is making a lot of those decisions, but the Port and Harbor is involved heavily with it. The Inner Harbor is going to be having an overhaul. There’s a lot on the plate to address here over the course of these next years, and now I’m just excited to be a part of it. Like I said, I’m kind of just dipping my toes into it, and so it’s all a new experience, but I’m looking forward to learning about it all and being involved in it.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I think that if you see me on the street and you want to talk about anything, I’m happy to talk about it. I am confident that I’m not one that’s so firm on my ways that I couldn’t be swayed either or. I love listening to people’s complaints or issues or things that they like or don’t like. And I’m a big advocate of, you know, let’s talk about it, and you bring it up to Port Commission meetings and talk about it. And who knows? I mean, we’re in a constant evolution of changes, and it’s just great to be part of it.

The post Wrangell’s Port Commission member Antonio Silva runs for another one-year seat appeared first on KSTK.

Wrangell’s municipal elections are approaching early next month, on Oct. 7 and there’s two, three-year term seats on the borough assembly. Two candidates, Borough Assembly Vice Mayor David Powell and school board member Dan Powers, signed up to run and are uncontested.

Powell said one reason he’s running is because he wants to see the completion of current projects he’s been working on with other assembly members. 

Powers said although he sits on the school board, this opportunity to take a seat with the borough assembly is a great opportunity to serve the Wrangell community even more.

They chat with News Director Colette Czarnecki about what they bring to the table for the next few years.

The municipal election is Oct. 7 at the Nolan Center, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Vice Mayor David Powell

Dan Powers

These interviews have been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.

Will you introduce yourself?

Powell: My name is David Powell. I lived here basically all my life. My wife is Kimberly Powell, she works at the school system. I work at the Bay Company, and I’ve been on the assembly for about 10 years now. I have four children.

Powers: My name is Dan. I have eight children. I have a beautiful wife. I love my community, I play music, I drive a school bus and all sorts of buses for that matter, and I figure it’s time to do more.

What motivates you to run for the borough assembly?

Powell: There’s a lot of things that we’re in the works of completing, and I’d like to see those to completion. I might be able to get them completed in the next three years.

We have Alder Top land for sale. We have the American Cruise Line tourist thing going on. We have the six mile mill property that we got a lot of stuff working on.

Powers: I think there’s been a lot of recent topics that I seem to kind of be involved in in some way, and have had lots of different meetings with our borough manager and other assembly members and community members who have just recommended, “You should try this, you should try this.”

Happened to be a seat available, and I put my name in the hat.

What’s your vision of the Wrangell community five or 10 years down the road?

Powell: I hope that other things that we are doing right now five, 10 years down the road will bring in a lot more commerce and bring in more people.

Powers: I would love to see young families, working age people moving to town. Jobs created. I would love to see our school system grow. I feel like if a new family was to move to town, or consider moving to town, they’re going to look at the school system. 

How do you balance immediate needs with long-term planning?

Powell: We are always on a tight budget. So immediate needs, I would say that we just have to look at them as they come along and see what we could do with them, while we’re planning everything else. I know it’s going to take a lot. We got a great crew at the city, great leadership. And it amazes me how they find money, but they do.

Powers: Immediate needs, obviously there’s things that you have to figure out right away. As a landlord, I’m looking at, how do I invest in properties to make this more sustainable, more long term.

(I) think about my family, what’s going to impact my kids and what’s going to impact the people around me.

So long term is always my goal. I think that kind of viewpoint of strategizing, planning ahead, dreaming, it’s going to roll over from what I do personally, hopefully into the city council.

For people who don’t often engage with local governments, what would you say to them on why their participation matters?

Powell: I’ve always been really an advocate of coming to meetings, being informed. It’s really nice that our clerk got in where we can actually watch a video of our meetings and stuff. I know KSTK broadcasts them. And you can participate that way.

It’s really hard not to be at the meeting though, if you want to be heard, you need to go to meetings and you need to be informed of what’s going on. I would just say that we’ve had some multiple meetings in the last year or so where people have come and they’re not informed and things get a little bit out of hand sometimes, because they are pretty passionate. Then I try to inform people as much as I can, but they need to watch some social media. They have posts on there, KSTK, any way that they can look at the city website. But be informed of the issues of what’s coming up and what meetings have been taking place too.

Powers: I was guilty of this, especially when I was younger, I kind of maybe lived in that apathetic kind of mindset of like, well, it doesn’t really matter anyway. My opinion doesn’t matter. So the more I grew up, the more I aged, began having children, began starting companies, all those sorts of things, I realized that’s wrong. I’m limiting the capacity to see things grow, especially if you have an opinion about it, show up. Let’s have a conversation, rather than wait till the last minute and then show up and bring your boxing gloves. Let’s leave the boxing gloves at home. Let’s talk.

So come early, show up often. If you know of people that could have some sort of an interest. For instance, there’s a topic that comes up and maybe I’m not interested, but I know someone else is. Why wouldn’t I call them? At least get them involved and jump over. Get your voice out there. Every little bit helps. 

What challenges does the assembly face?

Powell: People not being informed at all. That’s the biggest challenge that I have, is that people will come after a meeting, and (they say), “I can’t believe you guys are doing that. ”

And I explained to them, “This is how many meetings we have had, and this has happened in the past quite a bit.”

They’re going like, “I didn’t know that.”

That’s why, before your other question, is be informed, nothing’s hidden. You can go talk to the city clerk any time you want, and she will let you know everything.

Those are our biggest challenges, is people not knowing what’s going on in their city government.

And I will admit that before I even got on the assembly, I was probably that way.

I mean, you got to understand rumors are all over the place all the time. But if you want to know the facts, go to the city and you’ll know them. And that’s our biggest challenge.

I talked to a lot of assembly members and (another one of) our biggest challenges is not having enough funds to do the things you want to get done.

Powers: I don’t have a solid answer to that yet. I am not even in.

I’d like to see a challenge of there being so many things going on that we simply just need more help.

For instance, there’s talk about moving the barge lines. There’s talk about new docks being built. It’d be amazing to see so many new projects happening, that we need more help and that community engagement is coming in.

How could the assembly improve?

Powell: I don’t know that, to be honest with you, and I’ll tell you why I say that. It’s because, you look at the last two to three elections, last two honestly, is nobody’s running, and I’m hoping that means that we’re doing the right things, and we’re giving people the right answers, and we’re moving forward, like people want.

I would really think that if they want us to improve, they need to come and say, “Hey, we don’t agree with what you’re doing,” or run for a seat and say, “Okay, I want to move in this direction, and you’re moving in the wrong direction.”

So when it comes to improving, I will be honest with you, in the 10 years I’ve been there, I think we’ve made leaps and bounds on the assembly being very informed of what the whole crew is doing. So improvement is hard for me right now, because I think we’re doing the right thing. I think we’re moving forward the way the town wants us to move forward.

Powers: Continued communication, continued community engagement.

I think personal invitations from assembly members and city workers to community members saying, “Hey, we would like to see you there.” That’s happened. I’ve had several city workers call me and say, or text, “I’d love to see you at this meeting. Can you please show up?” And those are the ones I usually show up to. So maybe just a little bit more reach in the community. 

What has been the most important task as an assembly member for you?

Powell: I am very avid with our budget. I look at it very hard. When we go to a budget meeting, everybody kind of goes like, “Okay, what’s Dave going to take away from us now?”

I don’t do that all the time. I mean, this year I fully suggested to fully fund the library, and they had cuts taken. And in the past, I’ve seen a lot of waste.

Right now, I think we got a very good, tight system going on. I’m on just about every negotiation team there is, and I enjoy it. And I think we do a really good job on that, I’m a very active assembly member.

Powers: To slow down and help make wise decisions. Not to be the loudest voice in the room by any means, but to just help kind of balance out, if this is logical and if we getting emotional. Let’s make sure we’re taking care of people, and we’re not going to win every time.

What do you bring to the assembly that’s unique or especially valuable?

Powell: I run one business. I own a business. I’ve always said that I believe that the city is a business, although it’s not, but I think it should be ran like a business. We collect money and we give service just like a business. So I bring a good business sense to the assembly.

Powers: I think there’s a kind of a steadiness, I don’t typically get riled up very easily.

So I’m hoping that my reach into the community…like I said, I drive a school bus and I’m doing events constantly. I’m meeting new people in the tour industry. There’s a constant influx of me and my face being present often. So I hope that brings some sort of a community trust to the assembly. 

Is there anything else you’d like to add to this?

Powell: I said it earlier, get informed. Get involved. If you don’t like the way things are going, come and talk to one of us. I’m really accessible. I have a lot of people talk to me when it’s a really contentious item. But also come to the meeting, because a voice and a person seen at our meetings has a lot more weight than just talking on the street.

Powers: I am really proud of what our assembly and our city management is doing these days. They seem very proactive. They seem like they’re charged and empowered. And I really want to support that. It’s going to be a new season and I’m not scared of it.

The post Wrangell Borough Assembly candidates for the three-year seats: David Powell and Dan Powers appeared first on KSTK.

KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki and the Wrangell Sentinel’s Jonathan Dawe interviewed the contested borough assembly candidates seeking the one-year term on Sept. 11. Incumbents Brittani Robbins and Phillip Mach sat with challenger David Wilson at KSTK and spoke about their priorities and views.

Opening statements

Phillip Mach

I’m Phillip Mach. I’ve been a resident here in Wrangell for about two and a half years almost. My background is in the seafood industry. I have been fishing since I was 12-years-old with my dad, and after college, kind of got into the processing and management side of things and really enjoy that. So that’s what brought me here to Wrangell. And like a lot of people say, when you get here, you really fall in love with the place.

So that’s kind of what got me excited to be more part of the community, and part of that was seeing an opportunity with the assembly and an open seat, and putting my kind of letter of intent and see if I would be chosen to join for a few months. And amazingly, it’s been eight months, and time has flown by. The summer is clearly gone with all this rain. So you know, it’s been a great experience. And I will say that the city has a lot of opportunity and a lot of exciting things happening. And so that’s why I’m running. 

Brittani Robbins

My name is Brittany Robbins – lifelong Alaskan. I’ve been in Wrangell since 1989. There are a lot of new people here now. So for those of you who don’t know me or my family, we were the previous owners of what is now Wrangell IGA. You hear it called Bob’s a lot. That was when we owned it. We moved here in ‘89 for my dad to be the general manager. And so sometimes you do still hear Benjamin’s, and that is what it was called when we moved here back in the ‘80s. I went to school here, K-12. My kids are now going through here, K-12.

And when we sold (it) in 2018, I actually was working at the school, and then moved to the Chamber of Commerce after that. During my time at the Chamber of Commerce, I saw a need at the borough as I was attending meetings as the chamber director and just being knowledgeable about what was happening within the borough. So I actually sat down with my kids at the time and I said, “Hey, I know that I’m on the school board and that I’m at the Chamber, and I do a lot of meetings and I’m not home all the time, but this is what’s going on. This is for the city. It would be helping making decisions for your future here. What do you think?” 

My daughter looked at me, this was three years ago, so she was around 11, and she said, “Well, I don’t want you to have more meetings, but I want you to help Wrangell and so that was the moment I put in my official Declaration of Candidacy, so I am three years incumbent on the borough, and it has been a really educational and challenging front to do, and I have loved every minute of it. There have been a lot of hard decisions, and actually, Philip has been around for many of those hard decisions.

David Wilson

I’m David Wilson. I’ve lived here for 27 years. (I) have six children that we raised in this community that have all graduated from our school system here. I’ve been heavily involved in different things. I’ve been on the school board now for eight years. I’ve been heavily involved in some of the youth activities and sports. I just love Wrangell. I’ve won a chance to give back. My wife just recently retired, so we have even more time, or I have more time. I know there’s a lot of great things that are happening right now in Wrangell and I’m excited about what’s going. I would just want to be a part of it and try and do my part and give as much as I can.

Why are you running for this office? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Robbins

That’s an easy one. I am running for this office just to continue my time on the borough. Wrangell is incredibly special to me. Like I said, I’ve been in Wrangell since 1989. There are sometimes mistakes, I’ve read in the Sentinel that I was born here. That’s not true, but I was raised here, and I am a lifelong Alaskan. I have lived in Cordova and Yakutat as well, but it’s just a really special place for me, and I want to see it thrive, not just survive. And we’ve been surviving for a very long time, and we’re really starting to see Wrangell turn around and start to thrive again, and that’s been a very exciting venture for me.

Wilson

I love it here. As I said in my opening statement,

I think I have some things to offer. I’ve got a desire to do the best that I can. I am very good at studying out and researching things that are going on. I think we’re at an exciting time in Wrangell where we’re looking at different areas of growth. I’m excited about what’s going on with the waterfront. You know, how things are really shaping up. I want to be a part of it. I think that I can be and I think I can offer something. And so I’m here to offer it.

Mach

I think the reason I’m running is, it’s a very pivotal time for Wrangell. It seems like the community knows that we have our hurdles, and we have a great leadership team at the city, not just the borough manager, but the directors. And there’s a lot of ambitions. There’s a lot of movement forward, and I think it’s truly the time to act and to move forward. You know, we can talk about all the options, day in, day, night, day and night, but truly, I think it’s really time to act. And I’m running because I think that (I) have a new set of eyes, someone that hasn’t been here as long as some of the other people in town, but views from different angles, and I think I can add some other insight that others may not.

What are your top three priorities? (KSTK)

Robbins

I think my top three priorities, coming at it as an incumbent, I would say, are, of course (the) six mile property and waterfront. The decisions to be made there, again, no decisions have been made. We’re still really feeling all of that out, but making a decision sooner than later. Because, like I said, I want Wrangell to thrive, not survive, and we need to, like Philip just said, now is the time to move forward. Now is the time to change. 

I think education funding and as much education help as we can, even if it’s not funding that we can provide, just ideas and conversation with education, that’s a big part of why people move anywhere that they move. 

And then I would say the third priority would be, that’s such a good question. I think probably those are my two priorities, and I’d have to think a little harder about what other priorities might be.

Mach

I think my top three are economic development, housing and childcare.

To add on to my last item there is that this city has so much potential. It really has potential for growth and building on the current infrastructure, whether it’s the Marine Service Center, the waterfront, things like that, there’s so much potential for growth. But I also think that really a part of that is, if we’re going to grow our economy, we need to bring people in. We need to have people to be part of that economic growth. And that really comes down to housing. And we’ve done great progress on Alder Top. Really excited about that. But I also think that childcare is also a big part of it. If you want families in town, if you want to grow our school, we have to have an opportunity for them to be here and to raise their kids from newborn to K-12.

Wilson

I would have to say economic development, waterfront development (whether it be six mile property or whether it be the shipping yard, there’s different things that can be happening) and education, of course, that’s probably my top priority. 

Is the education system in our community…I don’t think that education can be enough. It’s life blood of the future of the community. It’s what we want to develop and what will bring people into the community. 

Two main things that people are going to look at in their community, if they’re thinking about moving somewhere, is one, healthcare and two, education. And SEARHC (Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium) is doing a great job right now in healthcare, we need to do our job with education and then economic development.

Do you support the effort to move the town’s barge landing to the six mile mill site, and why? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Robbins

I wouldn’t say it’s an effort to move it to the six mile mill site. That is the site that we are currently working with AML (Alaska Marine Lines) to discuss the potential of. Should that be the decision we make, I would say I’m going to support the best decision for all of Wrangell. It’s just whatever decision I make will be based on what’s best for the community as a whole, not a certain facet of the community, not a certain group within the community, it will be what’s going to be the overall best for all of Wrangell, and that is really all I feel comfortable saying about the six mile property and barge system right now.

Wilson

I would certainly like to be able to study it out more. But, you know, I think that’s a very viable option to move out there. It takes it right out of the city, center of the city, but rare, do you have such an industry or a barge line or something like that, right in the middle of the city? I think it would be a better place for it. But I don’t know all the information. I don’t know all the studies going on right now, but I think it’s very viable, and I think it’s wherever it is. It needs to be redone. I mean, what we have right now is not sufficient, and I think we need to definitely look at that as a very viable option.

Mach

This is a hot topic for sure, as many have heard about it and spoken about it, I think that a lot of this is really a partnership between the city and AML and Sampson. We really have to work together with them. They are the service of freight to town, and they are a core part of this town. Without them, we won’t really be able to survive. So it’s really a partnership.

We have to find something that works for both the city and their operations. I know that there’s a lot of concerns about what that would mean if they went down, and it would affect many parts of the economy, but I also think that there’s pluses and minuses, and you know, the great thing is, is that people have been very open about it and willing to reach out to some of the assembly members. So it’s definitely something that’s being worked on. 

If you could set the top priorities for growing our local economy, what would they be? (KSTK)

Mach

That’s a good question. I think that top priorities for growing, we have some great things.The borough has really pursued different opportunities in the lumber industry that has a lot more momentum than it has in the past. I think that tourism is a big part of the community. It’s something that’s been fairly consistent other than the COVID time period, but it’s also an opportunity. The waterfront ties into that, for sure. But I also think that the Marine Service Center is some place that could see a lot of growth. I think that’s something that makes Wrangell very unique. And I think that there’s a lot of opportunity there. We’re known around Southeast Alaska for the services we provide, so supporting the current infrastructure and economies we have, those are probably some of the main ones there.

Wilson

As Phillip just said, a lot of the big growth is right in the marine center, the marine centered industry, the boat haul out brings a lot to this community, and it has since it began. I don’t think anybody saw how far it was going to go and how much it was going to grow, and I think it still has more potential to grow even further. So I’d like to see that continue to be developed. There’s other industries that have been interested in coming in. I know that they’ve been talking about some other things happening out at six mile, but I think bringing people into the community also will help us develop our economy.

Robbins

I would have to agree with Assembly Member Mach and Mr. Wilson, what we have economically, the Marine Service Center, the waterfront and tourism, while maintaining control when we’re talking about tourism, I know that that’s a topic within the community, maintaining control of the waterfront, but definitely opening it up to allow for a larger footprint, especially heads in beds.

And then I think it’s really important to remember the bringing in of new industry, that one’s a difficult one for a lot of people within the community, because we are Wrangell, and we have what I call the Wrangell mentality. “Oh, it’s Wrangell, and we want it to stay the same.” And unfortunately, we can’t 100% stay the same. The world is evolving around us, and we have to evolve a little bit with it, too. So I think a priority would just be getting more of the public on board with introducing new industry to the community and what that could bring to us.

What do you see is the most pressing issue our borough is facing in the next two years, and how would you address it? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Wilson

That’s a tough one. I think there’s quite a few different pressing issues. Certainly we’ve already mentioned several. You know, what are we going to do at six mile property? What are we going to do to grow? I honestly think right now that one of the biggest things that we need to stand behind, and for me, is education, developing our education and to higher levels than what we have right now. We’ve been dropping down. We’ve been failing, and it’s getting less and less emphasis. And I think we need to put more emphasis there, because that will help grow our community. It will bring people in if they’ve got something to come here for.

Mach

 I think the topic there would be, for me, housing. I think that’s really kind of a center point for a lot of what’s happening. If we want to grow the economy, you have to have a place for people to live. You want to grow our schools and bring in more state funding, we need to have a place for these people, these families, to live. If we want to encourage the current business owners to grow, they need people who can work for them.

And I hear that a lot from local business owners, that they just can’t find the people they need. And so housing, like I said, Alder Top has been a great opportunity, but I think there’s a lot more. One of the ways I think we’re addressing it, is with SEARHC. They’ve been a great partner with the borough, making their planned unit development not far out of town. So housing is definitely one of the higher topics.

Robbins

I would have to agree with Assembly Member Mach and I think that’s been a pressing issue for quite some time, and something we’ve talked about ad nauseam, truly, as a community, not even just as the borough, but just in Wrangell, is housing. There’s a housing crisis. It’s not unique to Wrangell, but it is still a problem. People can’t move here if they don’t have somewhere to live. So if we want to grow, we need somewhere for people to live, as Assembly Member Mach said as well. So I think housing.

When you talk about the biggest problem, of course, finances. We don’t have a ton of money coming in, but we can’t bring in more money if we don’t have people to spend that money. And we can’t have people spending that money if they can’t move here and live here. 

What’s your take on Wrangell’s housing shortage, and how would you tackle it? (KSTK)

Wilson

We definitely have a housing shortage here, and how to tackle it is, it’s not just having property available, it’s also being able to have the industry to do something with the property. And right now, we’re short of contractors and people to build housing, and so we have to do something to attract not just people to buy property. We need to attract businesses to build it, contractors. We’re in desperate need for it. My wife and I have just been putting an addition on our house, and it’s murder to try and get somebody coming to help do work. So I think we need to somehow attract the housing industry, the people that actually build into the community as a real place to come and work.

Robbins

It’s an issue. It’s a pretty big issue. It’s an issue that I think, should we find a way to come up with solutions, would help us really expand our economic development. We have seen the great partnership with SEARHC as Assembly Member Mach brought up in the last question. They’re building housing for their staff. That’s going to open up a lot of rentals, because they do have so many traveling staff that work at the hospital that take up a lot of the rental units. So that’s going to open up a lot of currently utilized housing. That’s going to make a big difference, I think 

Additionally, it’s coming back to us again as an assembly. But there’s going to be some six plexes being potentially built over by the old hospital and across from the elementary school. That’s helpful. So things where we can not just sell land but have the development preplanned out are really effective.

Mach

We all agree there’s definitely housing shortage. I agree with Mr. Wilson that it’s not just the inability of land, but also the ability to to have something built on it. 

And I think the biggest thing that the borough can do is, Mayor Gilbert says it every time, there’s land for sale, if you’re interested, reach out to the borough. But I think the biggest thing the borough itself can do after that is to make the process simpler. If you’re a builder, if you have property and you want to build, a lot of these processes can be very complicated. And, you know, permits, and getting financing, Army Corps, permits, planning and zoning. If we can streamline that and assist these people coming forward and being excited to build, that’s where the borough can really step forward. 

Do you support the effort for a joint borough cruise line project to build a new dock on the downtown waterfront to accomodate smaller ships for overnight stays? Why or why not? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Wilson

Yes, I do support. I think we have to put something forward. We have to make it easier for these cruise lines and more accommodating for the cruise lines to come in, especially smaller cruise lines. I don’t know all the information about it. I got to admit, the two incumbents here probably know a lot more about what’s being discussed than I do. 

But I think if you’re going to move forward, you have to put something into it yourself, and I think that’s something for our community, that they went ahead and they put something into our marine industry, when they started up the boatyard, and it has blossomed. I think the same thing is the potential there is for making it easier for the small cruise lines to come in.

Robbins

I very much support it. I will say that I have feelings about tourism, but when we’re talking about this particular project, the keyword that you said was joint, the borough intends, to my knowledge, and it’s in the MOU,  that is very public, that we would maintain control. It’s a partnership. It’s not selling the waterfront. We’re not selling the waterfront. The dock can be used by other patrons that the borough’s choosing. So, yeah, I absolutely support it. We need more people in town overnight, you know, feet on the ground, heads in beds, and the more of that we have, then we can bolster our summer season, as Wrangell has really two economic seasons – summer and winter. So if we can bolster summer, it can help us get through winter.

Mach

The topic that you’re bringing up is American Cruise Lines, and I think it’s a great opportunity. I do support it. American Cruise Lines is not your typical cruise ship company. It’s not your 2000, 4000 person boat. It’s a 170-person vessel. It’s a great fit to the community. They plan to stay overnight, more time in town, more time to go eat out, spend some time in our shops and truly boost our economy. It’s not a 2000-person ship that stays for five, six hours and off it goes. So it’s a great fit, and I think being kind of a joint partnership in that is very much a positive part for me. Like Brittany said, kind of blooming together and trying to see where it all fits in. 

If tough budget cuts are needed in the future, what areas would you prioritize protection? (KSTK)

Robbins

That’s a really difficult one. We’ve had to make some tough budgeting decisions in the past. I think one – water and sewer. Obviously, we need people in those positions. We’re already short handed in those positions. 

You could say the same about our police department. We’re okay.

I would need to look and see if we were in that position, who are we talking about? Where are we talking about it? Because I can’t say in any one position that I think is necessarily more important than another. They all are extremely important. They all make the borough work. They are all part of this well-oiled machine that we have built and done so difficulty, because it already is pretty stretched in every department, I would say. I would just sort of prioritize the issue when it came to hand.

Wilson

If I’m understanding correctly, you’re saying, what areas would we want to protect the most? Well, of course, near to my heart is going to be education. I think education needs to be protected. I agree with what Brittany is saying, that everything is important. We need to have it all working together, but I think that if we don’t protect and continue to educate our children, then we’re going to be losing the future. It’s not going to matter how well we oil right now, but it’s going to be less in the future, and the engine is going to seize up. So I think that’s what my priority would be, is protection.

Then also the development. Our marine industry needs more growth, and that’s going to be a lot of what’s going to help our community to keep going.

Mach

I think that you know, over probably the last six months when we were going through the budget, it was a very similar process that we would have to do is literally go line by line through the budget and see where we could cut some fat. 

But to me, the thing I would prioritize is the safety and the life support of this town, which is water, sewer, electrical, the police, the fire department. Keeping them fully funded is very important to me. If anyone’s ever had any interactions with our police department or our fire and EMS group, they are fantastic. That is a core part of a community and definitely ours. 

How do you plan to schedule out your time to serve on this seat? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Mach

It’s a good question. I have a unique career, I guess, that gives me some time, especially in the winter months, to spend some time really look through agendas and pick the minds of our city management. Definitely summers are busy for most of us, but I think the time and effort, and there’s definitely times when you stay up late looking through the whole agenda, but being in that position as an assembly member, I take it seriously. I think that it plays a big role in the movement forward of the community. And there’s going to be a late night or two, it’s definitely something I would prioritize.

Wilson

I’m retired, so I’ve got lots of time to study and to read. I’m good at researching things out. I’m good at learning as much as I can. I would be putting time in every day. I’d be scheduling, I’m very good if I structure my time. So I would have structured time every day to be putting forth to studying out the issues, learning what I can do, and to giving what I can and I don’t mind going and bending other people’s ears. So I would be putting forth some pavement time where I’d be going out and asking.

Robbins

I’ve been doing it for three years. Two of those three years I served as the school board vice-president. So that was another dance around that I had. I’m incredibly committed and take this position that I have currently very seriously, much like Assembly Member Mach. I don’t get a whole lot of sleep. I have two kids. I have a full time plus job – 60 hours plus a week – travel a lot for both that and medical. I’ve been known to jump on via Zoom from an airplane for meetings that I felt very passionate about being part of. I’d have missed many in my time, which is actually pretty remarkable considering all of the things I just noted. I have a digital calendar again, I don’t sleep a whole lot, but it’s a very important thing to me to be a part of it, and I do whatever I need to do to make sure I’m there and prepared.

What role should the borough play in balancing development with environmental and cultural preservation? (KSTK)

Wilson

I think that, if I’m not mistaken, the assembly has been working very hard to continue to build a partnership with the local culture. I see culture as many different things. People think of culture, they think right away of just some kind of race or language or something. But I see culture as all encompassing. We have a fishing culture here. We have a boat building culture here. We have an educational culture, a forestry culture, and, of course, we have the Tlingit and Haida culture. And they all have to work together, and they’re all a partnership. So working with the WCA (Wrangell Cooperative Association) is very important. I think we’re even showing it with what’s been developed.

Mach

I think it’s a key role in the borough’s plans of moving forward. I think the borough has a great relationship with the WCA, that are working together on many items, kind of working with each other in many aspects. 

But I also think that when it comes to the environment and environmental preservation, I think the borough is very keen on that, and they make sure that they dig deep before they move. 

But it also comes to the culture and the atmosphere of town. A lot of people have concerns about tourism could be becoming too big, or other items that don’t click with the town. I think that the biggest part is just maintaining the atmosphere and the culture of Wrangell and making sure that the borough can work together with that.

Robbins

As both Assembly Member Mach and Mr. Wilson said, we do as a borough have a great working relationship with WCA and with the Forest Service for the most part. And I think it’s taken very seriously at the borough that we make sure to do our due diligence before even really bringing things forward to an open meeting with the assembly. It’s important, and we know that it’s important to understand culture, whether it’s our local culture, Indigenous culture, our migrant culture, which would be the fishing industry and the forestry and I think environmentally as well. And as somebody who works in environmental preservation, I would note that Wrangell is quite clean and very environmentally friendly, comparatively speaking, and so I take actually, a lot of pride in that. 

What mistakes or missteps, if any, has the borough assembly made recently? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Mach

It’s a tough one. You know, I can’t look back as far as some of the others here. But I think what we can really work on is acting, doing our due diligence, doing our research, finding the best path. And we need to stop waiting for the perfect item. When opportunities arise, it’s time to move Wrangell forward and to take advantage of opportunities that come forward. Some of them are good, some of them aren’t, and it’s part of the borough’s management and the assembly to find those and make right decisions. But overall, I think it’s time to act and move the community forward.

Wilson

I would echo some of what Mr. Mach just said, that, you know, we in the community, we tend to think that we’ve got to wait for the perfect day. We’re the perfect thing, perfect mix. And I don’t think that’s going to happen right off. I think that’s something that grows. You know, if I wanted to take my family on a picnic and I was going to wait for the perfect sunshine day. I could be (for) months. And so you got to take action, and you got to see what’s there now. What can we do to grow now with what we have and then greater opportunities are going to come forward, and we’re going to be able to make bigger steps in the future. But we have to go with what we have right now, baby steps, if it is or small steps, we got to do what we can.

Robbins

I’m just going to start with saying that mistakes happen all the time, everywhere, and there’s no way to completely get around having mistakes happen or missteps happen. 

But I’m going to flip the narrative just a little bit and brag a little bit on this current borough assembly and administration. I think that a lot of great things have been happening, and I think we’re seeing a lot of action. Finally, as somebody who’s been in Wrangell for as long as I have, I can tell you that these decisions that have been made recently are decisions that could have been made many, many times before. And there has been in the past mismanagement or just hemming and hawing. Too many studies, too many, too many people worried about upsetting, you know, a certain demographic, or whatever it is. So I would actually switch that and brag that I think recently, we’ve had a lot of great steps, and that mistakes are still a possibility. Some of the decisions we made could end up being a mistake at some point. But right now, I’m still really happy with our assembly.

How should the borough support schools and school programs within the constraints of the budget? (KSTK)

Mach

Funding, of course, is something that’s not just a local issue, but it’s a statewide issue, and there are restrictions on what the borough can do in funding the schools. I’m happy to see that we are stepping forward, not just to what was kind of set aside in previous years, just funding via sales tax, but actually dipping into general funds to make sure that we fund the school as best we can. So it’s definitely a core part of our community. And funding is tough. We all feel it, whether it’s in the borough or if it’s at home. I think that it all comes back to that the borough needs to grow to be able to fund more and also to have more kids come to school and get that funding from the state.

Robbins

This one’s near and dear to my heart. It is. There are some constraints that go far beyond the borough, as Assembly Member Mach kind of pointed out. We have restrictions on how we can use funds for the school:  what funds, where they come from, and how they can be used by the school. There’s a lot going on there. The biggest issue, being the fact that really, what the borough provides to the district gets absorbed by the state, and then the state takes credit for that. So whatever the state decides is the maximum a school can receive, the borough or municipal contribution, they call it the local required contribution, goes into that number and the state takes credit for it. So what this borough can do, like Mr. Mach said, is we can help Wrangell grow. We can try to get more people here, have them bring families here, get more kids in our district, and help out where we can with small things as much as possible, building programs out. We have internship programs as well.

Wilson

As they’ve mentioned, there’s a lot of dropping the ball on the state level and on the federal level, and with federal there’s a lot of uncertain things right now, but I think that the community needs to fund it at its maximum contribution it can give. 

Then with bringing in families, we can get certainly more. Children build it back up. But if we don’t bolster what we have now and build it back up, there’s not going to be a reason for people to move here. And so I think we have to give it the maximum that we can, and then look for other ways that we can help the community, the partnerships, and certainly use what we have. 

You know, we got a three and a half million dollar bond several years ago to do work on the schools, and it still hasn’t been done. We’ve got 10 million total. Nothing’s being done right now.

What has the assembly really gotten right in the last few years? (Wrangell Sentinel)

Wilson

I think, other than the fact that I’m running, the assembly right now is doing really well. I think that there’s a great environment there. I think there’s a lot of cooperation working together. I think what they’ve done right is that they are building, that there have been some personnel growth. I think we’ve got a management team that can go a long ways right now, I think what we need to do is just continue to help that, nurture it, but I think we also need to look at what is being done. As Brittany said, there are some great things happening, but we also need to catch up on some of the things in the past that have been put to the side, that need to be done.

Robbins

Little bit more bragging. I think this assembly has done incredible things. Made some really hard decisions we set out three years ago. When I was first elected to the assembly and Mayor Gilbert was in her first term, we said infrastructure, economic development, and I’ve seen both of those things come straight through. 

You know, I’m excited about the, as everybody knows it, City Market hill. I know that the borough manager keeps using the actual name of the road, St Michael. So, City Market Hill, seeing that done, knowing that that underground infrastructure is being taken care of, as they are doing the roads is so important, and it’s another step in the right direction of something that was put off. Front Street was done many years ago, when my daughter was an infant. They didn’t do anything underground. We’re going to have to rip it up again.

Mach

I think the one thing that the assembly has done really well is start the momentum. I think that the borough, not just the assembly, but management has started making connections, been reaching out, been really ambitious, and these connections are moving forward, and it’s pretty exciting. There’s a lot of movement. I feel like people are starting to see things done. You got St. Michael Street, you’ve got plans for McKinnon, and that’s just infrastructure itself, but we’ve seen it in the last few weeks. You have a fully staffed public works department that’s making huge steps in fixing the potholes and various other things. And so we’ve made really good steps. We have a new water treatment plant, $20 million, which is amazing for a town like ours. And so a lot of great steps. We have a great team at the city, and can’t say enough good things about them.

Closing Statements

Mach

I think I want to start out with saying thank you for having us here, and Jonathan as well, thank you for being here. You know, I think you touched on a lot of great points. There’s a lot of things coming forward, and being on the assembly and being able to see that in the last few months has been a great experience for me, and I want to continue that. It’s been great working with those on the assembly with the city, and there’s a lot of exciting opportunities coming our way. And it’s time to act. It’s time to take these opportunities and run with them. At the same time, making sure they’re the right opportunities to act upon for the city. So economic development, housing, all things that have opportunities in front of us, and making it something easier for those outside to come in, step in and say, “I want to invest in Wrangell” and making that process easier. In the big picture, we’ve got to move our great town forward. We can’t be stagnant. We need to move forward and grow.

Wilson

I’m proud to live here in Wrangell. You know, of all the places I’ve lived in my life, this is the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere. And so whether I was born in Alaska or not, or born in Wrangell or not, it doesn’t matter a whole lot to me. I belong to Wrangell, and so I think we are seeing some good things going forward. Right now. It’s taken a while, but I’m glad to see some of the projects that are happening. And I think if we can continue that, as Phillip said, the momentum is there. Now we just need to keep that momentum building. I don’t want it to come stagnant and just say, “Okay, we’ve done.” It’s got to keep on going. 

And I want to see now the projects at the school get done, and see some momentum there, so that we can build all facets of our community. I think we’ve got a great assembly, and I respect the people that are on it. That’s why I’d like to be part of the team. I respect those people, and I respect the work that they’re doing, and I think that it’s a team effort, which isn’t just the members of the assembly, it’s everybody in the community. We need to get some of the people in the community more enthused about what’s going on and contributing more, because it can be done. You know, we’re a small town, but I was surprised when we moved here at how big Wrangell really is. Maybe small in numbers, but what we have here in this town to offer is far outreaching other communities I’ve been to that are twice the size. So I just like to see it grow.

Robbins

Wrangell is an incredible town. It does envelop people who come here. I don’t know how many people I’ve talked to that had zero intention of ever moving to Wrangell, but they came here, they visited, and they had to come back. There is something very special about Wrangell and who we are here. I would say that on borough assembly, I’m always going to make the decision that’s going to be best for Wrangell as a whole community. And I really am excited about the momentum that we have going. I want to continue being a part of that momentum. It’s been really valuable, and really exciting to to be a part of those decisions. And like I’ve said earlier, too, we’ve had to make some really hard decisions this year. 

I think what I love the most about our assembly is that we’re willing to make those decisions. And it’s not always cut and dry. It’s not always a unanimous vote. And I think that’s amazing, because isn’t that what an elected governing board is supposed to be, varying opinions of different facets of the community? I think it’s amazing. And the forward motion that we’ve seen with our administration and with our assembly and outreach within the community and really trying to get more people involved. Phillip talking about going and chatting with people, and I try my best to do the same as well when I am in town again. I am a very, very busy mom of two who works full time plus. But, you know, it’s been really rewarding to be a part of the borough moving forward with such strong momentum and seeing big things happening and seeing the potential for what could happen in the future.

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Wrangell’s municipal election will have two contested races Oct. 7. The borough city clerk confirmed the ballot Aug. 29 after candidates filed by 4 p.m. that day. 

Incumbents Phillip Mach and Brittani Robbins refiled for re-election. David Wilson will challenge them for the one-year borough assembly seat.

The other contested race is for two seats on the school board. 

Incumbents Elizabeth Roundtree and David Wilson will be racing against Bonnie Ritchie and Brittani Robbins for the three-year term. So, Robbins is running for a seat on the assembly and the school board.

The rest of the races will be uncontested.

Incumbent assembly member David Powell has filed to run for another three-year term. Dan Powers is running for the other available seat on the borough assembly. 

And incumbent Port Commission members Winston J. Davies and John A. Yaeger filed for re-election to the two, three-year seats and is running unopposed. 

Lastly, incumbent Antonio Silva will be running for the one-year term on the Port Commission. As there is only one seat up for election, it won’t be contested.

In total, eight seats on the borough assembly, school board and port commission are on the Oct. 7 local ballot.

Though the ballot stands as it does, Wrangell voters can submit declarations to be a write-in candidate. 

Write-in candidates can only be elected to a borough position if they have submitted a letter declaring their candidacy to the borough clerk before 4 p.m. on Oct. 3.

Absentee voting begins Sept. 22 from 8 p.m. to 4 p.m. at City Hall.

The post Who’s on the ballot for Wrangell’s municipal election appeared first on KSTK.

The Wrangell Cooperative Association certified this year’s Tribal Council election results on Friday. They counted 358 votes. The election also resulted in a tie between two candidates. 

Incumbent Tim Gillen and Jennifer Davies tied with 48 votes each. Gillen ended up with the seat after a tie-breaking ceremony on Friday. It consisted of a coin toss performed by the Election Committee Chairperson, Einar Hassath. 

Incumbents Sandy Churchill and Lu Knapp will continue serving on the Council for additional two-year terms, with 76 votes and 58 votes, respectively. 

Ken Hoyt was re-elected, claiming 61 votes. He previously served on the Tribal Council for half a term in 2013. 

Candidates who didn’t win a seat include Christie Jamieson with 43 votes. She previously served on the Tribal Council in 2014 and between 2019 and 2021.  DaNika Smalley received 23 votes and Tony Harding had one write-in vote.

The post Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tribal Council election results appeared first on KSTK.