Author: kfskadmin

After six months as Petersburg’s Interim City Manger, Bob Prunella is back home in Wrangell. At 73, the former Wrangell manager is not retiring. He plans to continue working as an interim administrator and possibly a municipal consultant as opportunities come up around the state.
Prunella took the helm in Petersburg last July, shortly after a split city council fired the previous city manager. It was time of political discord between some councilors and staff as well as amongst the councilors themselves and the public at large. However, with a substantially new council in place by fall, Prunella’s time as manager was relatively quiet. He was the runner-up for the permanent job.
Just before he left Petersburg at the end of last month, Prunella shared some of his perspectives on local government with KFSK’s Matt Lichtenstein.

Petersburg High School and Middle School students raised about four thousand dollars for Haitian earthquake relief. The money will go to the Red Cross. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with Junior Class President Ashley Kawashima, sixth grader Kylie Wallace, and middle school principal Mike Brawner about the week-long fundraisers.

Students and staff successfully prepared for the worst during two surprise lockdown drills on the Petersburg School District last week. The exercises were aimed at teaching kids where to go and what to do if there was a dangerous person on campus. The district has had lockdown drills before, but this was the first time it came without advance warning. As Matt Lichtenstein reports from the Elementary school, the kids and adults were quickly able to make their way behind closed doors or away from campus.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the commercial crab fleet are trying out some different approaches to estimating the amount of red king crab in Southeast. The effort was prompted by crabbers who say the department’s current stock survey under-estimates crab abundance. The fishery has remained closed for the last four years because of low survey numbers. The department tried out two new survey methods last fall and presented the results of that pilot project to crabbers late last month.

The festivities marking the 100th anniversary of the city of Petersburg are underway. Dozens of local residents gathered Sunday afternoon in the Sons of Norway Hall as the Petersburg’s Centennial Committee and the Petersburg Arts Council unveiled a new logo for the city’s 100th year, and honored local artist Polly Lee for her contributions to the community. Here are some sounds from Sunday’s party, including the voices of centennial committee member Sue Paulsen, mayor Al Dwyer and Polly Lee.