Petersburg will seek to recoup the cost of challenging legislative boundaries in court.

Petersburg’s borough assembly voted Monday to direct an attorney for the borough to seek the 67-thousand dollars it cost to challenge new district lines approved by the Alaska Redistricting Board back in 2011. That plan put Petersburg in house and senate districts with Juneau and ended up being the alignment only on an interim basis.

The state’s supreme court called for a new permanent redistricting plan for the 2014 election. Petersburg backed the new alignment which included Petersburg in a house district with Sitka and 22 other small Southeast communities.

Mayor Mark Jensen Monday read from a letter to the assembly from attorney Tom Klinkner. “While the borough did not challenge the redistricting board’s revised districting plan for Southeast, the board only issued that plan after the borough successfully challenged the board’s original plan,” Jensen read. “Thus the borough may be considered a prevailing party in this case for purposes of an award of cost of attorney’s fees.”

The legal cases over the plan are wrapping up after a superior court judge signed off on the new permanent redistricting map. That interim map will still be in place for the upcoming legislative session – meaning Petersburg will continue to be represented by Juneau democrats Beth Kerttula in the house and Dennis Egan in the Senate. That will change for the start of the legislative session in 2015.