Author: kfskadmin

The U.S. Forest Service is closer to making a decision on what to do with nearly 600 miles of forest road on the Petersburg Ranger District. The agency is finalizing its access and travel management plan for the logging roads on Mitkof, Kupreanof and Kuiu islands as well as the mainland near Petersburg. The planning document looks at which roads should remain, open, which should be closed to motorized use and whether some of the roads should be demolished. A public meeting on the latest plan is tonight in Petersburg. Joe Viechnicki spoke with District Ranger Chris savage about the plan for open and closed roads.

There will be contests for three of Petersburg’s City Council seats in the October election. Meanwhile, one sitting councilor and the Mayor will be unopposed. As the deadline came and went, Matt Lichtenstein spoke with the last few council candidates to file and has this report:

Along with several contested city council races this fall, Petersburg voters will also have to make decisions on a variety of other candidates and issues. That includes the proposed recall of a sitting councilor and three other ballot questions. There are also contests for school board and library board seats. Here’s a brief rundown of the names and propositions voters will see on the fall ballot:

Petersburg school officials are easing rules that bar students from participating in activity travel if they have more than one “D”. School administrators talked with the Petersburg school board this last week about making some changes to the policy. The idea appealed to board members who liked the idea of giving students more opportunity to improve a bad grade. Matt Lichtenstein has a look that issue and other news from Tuesdays regular meeting.

A Petersburg City Councilor is now suing two city employees. Councilor Bob Nilsen filed suit against the city’s Harbormaster back in may, alleging invasion of privacy and defamation of character. The suit is related to public allegations that Nilsen and three other councilors violated the state’s Open Meetings Act. Nilsen named a second harbor employee as a defendant in his suit late last month. The two city employees deny Nilsen’s claims and their attorney has asked for trial by jury. Matt Lichtenstein has an update on the case.