The City of Wrangell struggles to meet peak water demands. Last year, the city decided to build a new $9 million water treatment plant to fix that, but the project stalled. Now the city has finally secured enough federal money to move forward. 

The City of Wrangell applied for a $3 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration. That was a year and a half ago. The agency said it would finally sign off or deny the request by the end of last month.

Assembly woman Patti Gilbert wasn’t optimistic that the feds would fork over the money.

“I just thought, well, they’re just going to send us at the very last minute a letter that says ‘We’re not going to fund you at this time’,” Gilbert said.

But the EDA did say yes.

“It just never ceases to amaze me the glacial speed governments have to work at,” Gilbert said.

City staff went back and forth with the agency. The EDA would ask for more information, the city would provide it, and then the EDA would continue to come back with even more points of clarification.

“I asked them ‘Is this normally how long an EDA application review takes?’ and they said ‘No’. So I said ‘Why did ours take so much longer than normal?” said Amber Al-Haddad, the Public Facilities Director for Wrangell.

EDA told Al-Haddad that a water treatment plant is not something the agency would normally fund.

But Wrangell made the case that water is essential for all aspects of life in town, including the economy.

‘We went to our largest employers in the community to ask, if we had adequate water, will you be making additional investments within your business,” said Carol Rushmore, the city’s Economic Development Director.

In that case, seafood processors, a healthcare provider and many small businesses said they’d invest tens of millions of dollars in the town over the next decade.

The city will pair this grant with $7 million already secured in grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The new plant would replace Wrangell’s current slow sand filtration system which is… slow.

“I hate to say it’s probably the easiest thing to tackle,”said assembly woman Gilbert. She knows it’s just one fix to Wrangell’s water woes. This will hopefully take care of Wrangell’s water treatment. Wrangell still struggles with storing, delivering and getting enough water.

“It doesn’t involve digging up all the pipes, it doesn’t involve building a new reservoir, and of course we can’t control the availability of water,” Gilbert said.

The city is working these angles as well, from fixing leaking pipes to asking the community to conserve.

The city says the new plant should be up in running in three years.

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The Forest Service wrapped up a comment period on the Central Tongass Project this month. The plan would reshape land uses in the Petersburg and Wrangell ranger districts of the national forest for a 15-year stretch.

In a letter to the federal agency, The City of Wrangell says it supports Alternative 2 of the plan, which calls for the largest timber harvest at 150 million board feet of old-growth and 80 million board feet of young-growth trees.

Carol Rushmore is the economic development director for the city.

“Because that provides the most opportunity,” said Carol Rushmore, the economic development director for the city. “Ultimately, more and more of those areas will be pulled out as they look at site-specific areas and what the impacts from all the standards and guides and other requirements are. But Alternative 2 provides the most opportunity initially.”

The city also wants more recreation and subsistence access. That looks like renovations to some of Wrangell’s key tourist destinations, including the Anan Bear Observatory and Rainbow Falls Trail. The city also calls for help repaving the Spur Road extension to North Country Trail, maintenance to remote docks, repurposing log transfer sites to serve all users, and turning soon-to be closed roads into ATV trails. The city also hopes for another cabin on the south end of the island.  

Rushmore questioned the planning process itself, specifically the flexibility for public input during all stages. The Central Tongass Project is different than previous Forest Service plans. It uses a broader brush.

“Because it’s such a new process, I think it’s just the concern that the borough and the public are involved when [the Forest Service] starts looking at their annuals plans and what can and cannot happen in particular areas,” Rushmore said. “So there’s additional time to comment.”

The city is not the only one with this opinion. A federal judge ruled that a similar landscape level analysis on Prince of Wales Island did not provide the public with enough information to adequately comment on the plan. The ruling blocked an upcoming timber sale on the island.

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Wrangell’s local government recently Googled itself. And didn’t like what it saw. Now, the city is working with a contractor to brush up its online image.

Most folks have probably Googled themselves. Wrangell’s economic development director Carol Rushmore typed in the city she works for into the world’s most popular search engine and found the results wanting.

“I just think the representation can be different,” Rushmore said.

For example… a Google search for Wrangell shows top destinations in town: Petroglyph Beach, a popular hiking trail and a park. Not bad. But then there’s the description. It’s just Census data that looks like it was lifted from Wikipedia.

“The information in the box is technical information. Why can’t we provide some basic, fun information about the community?” Rushmore said.

So, the city hired a contractor that works closely with Google. The city will pay Truly360 about $1,500 a month to curate what could be — for many — people’s first impression of the town.

“If they don’t like what they see on Google, they might not even get to your website, your Facebook, your Instagram,” said Eric Trautloff, a rep with Truly360.

He says the global search engine can be guided. 

“Google’s taking information from wherever they can find it, and putting it in if you guys are not actively doing it yourself,” Trautloff said. “So that can be terrifying at the same time because you don’t know what’s going up.”

To curate Wrangell’s Google presence, Trautloff started his trip driving around Wrangell’s humble 30 miles of road taking shots for Street View. Soon anyone with an internet connection will be able to take a virtual tour via Google Street View. 

As part of the deal, the contractor will advise the local tribe, the Chamber of Commerce, and local businesses on ways they can improve their digital footprint.

Brook Leslie runs the tour company Alaska Waters. She attended a training with Trautloff, and says she’ll start referring customers to rate her business on Google, not just TripAdvisor and Facebook.

All of this is to attract more visitors to town.  With summer coming to a close, Rushmore says the now is the time to act.

“It’s actually good timing,” she said. “So we’ll have it in advance of people really searching for their next summer’s vacation.”

By that time, Rushmore says she’ll have counted clicks that show web traffic. Then she’ll be to see just how many more virtual visitors have dropped in to check out her town.

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Carol Rushmore and Marjy Wood

Talk on the Rock is KSTK’s live call-in show. Every Tuesday at 1pm we welcome a local guest to discuss events and topics of interest to our little island town. For today’s episode, host June Leffler spoke with Carol Rushmore, the economic development director at the city, and Marjy Wood of the Stikine River Jetboat Association. The topic was tourism, and our guests gave us a sense of what kinds of cruise ships we’re seeing in town and how that impacts our local economy. Marjy said the Wrangell tourist is a bit of an adventurer looking for an authentic Southeast experience. 

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Wrangell municipal employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers pose on the picket line June 22, 2017. They’ve since reached a new contract agreement with the borough, which now goes before the Assembly. (Photo courtesy IBEW )

Wrangell has a new agreement with its unionized workers.

If approved by the Borough Assembly, it will end three years of sometimes acrimonious talks over wages and benefits.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members went on strike June 22. That came after the Assembly approved the borough’s final contract offer, which workers had already rejected.

The strike ended about a week later after the two sides returned to the bargaining table.

But the municipality rejected a new union contract proposal. Rather than return to the picket lines, workers asked for more negotiations.

Interim Borough Manager Carol Rushmore said the talks led to new terms.

“There’s basically one change from the contract that the Assembly ratified on June 20. And it has to do with the health and wellness benefits – the medical benefit – for union members,” she said.

Terms of the agreement, posted on the borough website, drops the percentage of insurance costs paid by long-time employees. Those hired before January 2011 will pay 10 percent, down from 15 percent. Those hired later will pay 15 percent.  

Assembly members will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. July 13 to consider amending the contract they already passed. Rushmore will recommend approval.

The union voted in favor of the agreement at a July 10 meeting. A representative said it would make no statement at this time.

Twenty-four Wrangell utility and other employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Another 35 management and non-union staffers also work for the borough.

The Assembly will discuss the contract change behind closed doors, then vote in a public meeting.

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Alaska’s IBEW Local 1547 represents 24 Wrangell municipal workers. (Photo by Casey Kelly/ KTOO)

Wrangell’s municipal employees’ union has authorized a strike. But one of its leaders said members don’t really want to.

Mark Armstrong is a shop steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 24 city and borough staffers.

He said the union voted to authorize a strike twice before this year. Both times, municipal officials responded by resuming contract talks. He hopes that happens again.

“I don’t know anybody who wants a strike. Certainly the community members don’t want us to strike. I’m sure the city isn’t looking forward to a strike. And neither are the union members. The purpose of the strike is just to bring the city back to the table so we can continue negotiations and hopefully reach a contract that’s agreeable to everybody,” he said.

The Borough Assembly scheduled a special meeting at 5:30 this evening to consider the situation.

Wrangell’s unionized workers have been without a contract for three years.

Management and labor made final wage offers earlier this month. The union proposed an across-the-board, $2.50-an-hour raise. The municipality offered 75 cents.

Armstrong said the union’s proposal balances out another contract term that calls for workers to pay 15 percent of their health-insurance costs.

“We’re not seeking a wage increase. We’re just trying to compensate wages enough so that in the end, we don’t fall backwards because we’re going to pay that insurance premium,” he said.

He said the borough’s offer would essentially cut paychecks by several hundred dollars each.

The municipality has been preparing for a strike.

Interim Borough Manager Carol Rushmore said it’s recruiting temporary, fill-in staff. And she’s released a list of services that would slow or stop if workers strike.

She said some tasks would be covered by about 35 managers and non-union staffers.

Armstrong said the union has not asked for a wage increase to be retroactive to when the previous contract expired.

“We chose not to pursue that because of the extra burden that that would have been on the city. We realize things are extremely tight,” he said.

Rushmore, in a prepared statement, recognized the right of union workers to strike. But she said the municipality’s responsibility is to build a budget it can afford, especially given ongoing state spending reductions.

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Wrangell City Hall (Photo by Shady Grove Oliver/KSTK News)

Wrangell’s municipal government is preparing for a strike. That’s after borough officials and union members rejected each other’s wage proposals.

Twenty-four municipal employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been without a contract for three years.

Management and labor made final wage offers earlier this month.

The union proposed an across-the-board, $2.50-an-hour raise. Wrangell responded with a much-lower amount, though it wasn’t made public.

Interim Borough Manager Carol Rushmore said she was informed the offer wasn’t accepted.

“The Assembly had been notified by union members on Friday that a vote had occurred and that they had voted to strike,” she said. She said no strike date was given.

Union shop steward Mark Armstrong said members are waiting for a new offer from the borough. He said strike plans will only be discussed if there’s no acceptable response.  He also said the borough’s last offer was a 75-cents-an-hour raise, which would not cover workers’ increased health insurance costs.  

The Borough Assembly scheduled a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider the situation.

Rushmore said Wrangell has about 35 managers and non-union staffers. And it’s looking for more in case of a strike.

“We have put out a public notice for temporary employees that might be able to assist us with certain skills. So, there’s a job announcement just for temporary assistance so we can draw from a pool of applicants,” she said.

Police and firefighters are not part of the union, so their services would continue.

But many other government functions would slow or shut down.

That includes road and sidewalk maintenance, building permits and inspections, and boat haul-outs at the Marine Service Center.

“One of the things that we have said would be suspended at least initially would be curbside garbage collection. So that is something that we would have to handle and they would maybe have to haul their own garbage to our waste transfer station,” she said.

That’s where collected trash is moved to shipping containers that are barged to Lower-48 landfills.

Rushmore said non-union staff will continue necessary public services, including water, sewer and electricity. That’s unless there’s a major breakdown.

Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said the strike threat has delayed planned maintenance of the power grid that supplies his community, as well as Wrangell and Ketchikan.

“It appears with the labor negotiation situation that Wrangell may be minus some people. And they asked if the rest of the Southeast Alaska Power Authority members could hold off on this planned shutdown while they work on their labor issues,” he said.

It’s seasonal work, that shoots for a time when energy use is down. That reduces the expense of using diesel generators instead of hydroelectric plants.

“We use the most electricity in the wintertime for electric heat. So, in the summertime, we like to try before the cannery processors start to get up and running full speed, we do maintenance. And to do that we have to bring the intertie that connects us to the rest of the system down. And Wrangell does the same,” he said.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers agreed to an earlier plan to increase members’ health benefit costs. The union said the raise is needed to keep workers’ overall pay from dropping.

It also said it’s not asking for the raise to be retroactive, which saves the borough money.

Read Wrangell’s strike-alert press release and list of affected  services:  http://www.wrangell.com/community/borough-prepares-public-union-strike

Editor’s note: This report has been updated with quotes and additional information. 

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Two ferries dock at the Ketchikan Shipyard in 2012 while one is drydocked. Four of the marine highway’s ships are slated to be tied up for the 2016 season. (Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

Port community leaders worry next summer’s Alaska Marine Highway System schedule will be as unreliable as this summer’s.

Budget cuts and mechanical breakdowns left many of this year’s passengers stranded, dropping destinations or switching to air travel. Town leaders say that hurt tourism, especially small-town excursions, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts.

During Wednesday’s schedule teleconference, Wrangell Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said she’s being asked whether it will happen again.

“It’s just so critical from an economic standpoint for our businesses and communities that if we have all these cancellations in July and August, it’ll just be disastrous,” she said.

Small communities dependent on the Alaska Marine Highway were hardest hit, since they had fewer alternatives.

Pelican Mayor Patricia Phillips said officials need to have backup plans when ferries break down.

“It’s essential to reschedule canceled service due to mechanicals or scheduling changes. We have freight out here waiting to ship out, so it’s important to reschedule that service,” she said.

Pelican isn’t in the draft schedule, though officials say it will be. But it, Sitka and many other communities will see reduced service .

The schedule is a worry for more than Southeast. Prince William Sound, for example, faces significant service cuts with its fast ferry tied up next year.

Alaska Travel Industry Association President Sarah Leonard said a third of her 700 member businesses are in ferry ports.

Transportation Department Deputy Commissioner Capt. Mike Neussl oversees the Alaska Marine Highway System. (Photo courtesy Department of Transportation)

“The changes to the schedule last summer resulted in a 14 percent decline in non-resident travel on the ferry. And members told us that they lost thousands of dollars in business due to the rebookings and cancellations,” she said.

Alaska Marine Highway officials said they’re doing their best to design a schedule that can be maintained.

That’s the reason for the deep reductions proposed for next summer, which reflect a $25 million budget cut.

Transportation Department Deputy Commissioner Mike Neussl said everything depends on legislative funding.

“There’s always risk and uncertainty there. I will do my best in testifying and communicating that it’s important that we lock that schedule in and fund the schedule we publish,” he said.

Neussl and other ferry officials say they’ll make some changes in the draft schedule for next summer. It should be complete in December.

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