Author: kfskadmin

Petersburg’s mayor says he has called a meeting of the city council Monday to discuss terms for buying out the remainder of the city manager’s contract and plans for filling the manager’s job on an interim basis.

The latest plans for a large hydro electric power plant on the mainland north of Petersburg call for tunneling into a remote mountain in Thomas Bay and siphoning water from the perched mountaintop lake for generating electricity. The private company seeking to build the project says it will sell the power initially to customers in Southeast Alaska, but eventually hopes to export the electricity. Cascade Creek LLC presented revised plans for its Cascade Creek hydro plant to Petersburg residents last week.

A federal judge is requiring the U.S. Forest Service to swear that it has released all of the documents related to the disciplinary action it took against a whistleblower employee on the Tongass National Forest. Marketa Ith asked for the documents about her late husband, Glen, under the Freedom of Information Act.

The city of Petersburg will be looking for a new city manager. The city council Monday voted to negotiate a settlement for the end of city manager Rich Underkofler’s employment. That was despite more than an hour of passionate public testimony urging the council to put aside their differences and keep Underkofler. Councilors held their discussion in a closed-door executive session and did not give a reason for their decision last night.

A group of international and national tour operators visited the Petersburg-Wrangell area last week, for a special tourism development mission. The trip was an opportunity for local vendors to make business connections and learn how to sell the area to a wider tourism market.