Author: kfskadmin

The Alaska Mental Health Trust is taking a major land exchange proposal to Forest Service and Congressional officials in Washington DC later this month. The plan is aimed at resolving conflicts between the trust mandate to make money off its lands and the concerns of neighboring residents in Southeast Alaska. However, as Matt Lichtenstein reports, the uneven acreage in the latest version of the exchange could make it a tough sell.

The former city manager of Cordova could be Petersburg’s next city manager. The Petersburg City Council Friday voted to offer the job to Scott Hahn of Salida, Colorado. He was one of two finalists, along with Bob Prunella, former city manager in Wrangell and Petersburg’s current interim manager. The city council met in closed-door executive session for well over an hour Friday, discussing the two finalists. After recovening in open session, city councilors had no discussion about the two candidates. They did cast written ballots, keeping their preferences private. The vote was four votes in favor of Hahn and three who wanted to hire Prunella.
The 51-year-old Hahn was Cordova’s manager for six years and left that job in 2009. He also worked as manager in Salida for five years and was town manager in Hayden and Erie Colorado in the 1990s. He has a master's degree in public administration from the University of Colorado. Hahn is still negotiating the details of his contract with Petersburg’s mayor and two council members and expects to be on the job within the next two weeks. Joe Viechnicki spoke by phone with Hahn Monday.

An independent federal agency will investigate allegations that the Forest Service retaliated against a whistleblower employee on the Petersburg Ranger District. The Office of Special Council is reopening the case of Glen Ith, a Forest Service biologist who died in 2008.

Alaskan harbors, boat yards and vessel owners may have to make some changes in future years to better comply with environmental rules. Some local officials have been expecting more scrutiny of their port facilities as the state of Alaska assumes control of permitting and enforcement for the federal Clean Water Act. But the regulatory process will be gradual according to state officials who say they’ll be working with communities on the issue.

A national news magazine has ranked Petersburg High School among the top public high schools in the nation. PHS was honored with a silver medal in U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of top public high schools in the nation. The magazine ranked schools using test data from the year before. U.S. News and World Report looked at reading and math test scores from state high school qualifiying exams and also at the performance of low-income and minority students on those tests. Schools that performed well enough in those two areas were then rated for college readiness. That number is based on how many students take, and perform well on, advanced placement and international baccalaureate tests. The magazine awards gold medals to its top 100 schools in the nation based on college readiness. No schools in Alaska won gold medals. Another 461 schools around the nation won silver medals for college readiness. Petersburg was the only Alaskan school to win a silver medal. PHS was a bronze medal winner on the magazine’s list the year before. Six other schools in Alaska this year were recognized with bronze medals for student performance on standardized tests. Those six are Cordova Junior-Senior High, Mt. Edgecumbe High, Nikiski Middle-Senior High, Polaris K-12 school in Anchorage, Susitna Valley High and Unalaska Junior Senior High School. District superintendent Robert Thomason says PHS has benefitted from not having a lot of turnover in its teaching staff.