Author: kfskadmin

Petersburg’s City Council and City Manager will try and work through their inter-personal conflicts without seeking the help of a mediator…at least for now.

The Four Dam Pool Power Agency has now become a two dam pool.
The organization finalized its partial split-up and restructuring this week. As a result, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan have formed the new Southeast Alaska Power Agency, a public organization which now owns and operates the two hydro-electric plants that power the three southeast towns. Meanwhile, the two electric cooperatives that serve Kodiak and Copper valley have split away from the pool and taken independent ownership of their two plants. Agency officials and town leaders say the new arrangement will mean more local control over energy development and potentially lower rates in the long term.

Moose antler rules, black bear harvests, martin trapping and sea otter populations are several of the topics up for discussion at this week’s meeting of the Southeast Alaska Regional Subsistence Advisory Council. The group is one of ten regional councils that make regulatory recommendations to the Federal Subsistence Board, which manages subsistence hunting and fishing on federal lands and waters in Alaska. The advisory councils meet each fall to talk about regional fishery issues and proposals. They meet again in the late winter-early spring to talk about wildlife. This week’s wildlife meeting is being held at Petersburg’s Alaska Native Brotherhood hall.
Matt Lichtenstein got a preview from Forest Service subsistence coordinator Robert Larson and Advisory Council member Mike Bangs of Petersburg.

The charges for using Petersburg’s gym, pool and other parks and recreation facilities could be going up and some could go down under a new ordinance that passed its first reading by a slim margin at Tuesdays City Council meeting. The Council also voted four to three to pass the first reading of an ordinance about cutting trees on city property. Even the councilors that voted for the measures still had some concerns, so both matters are likely to prompt more debate when they come up for a second vote next month.

A crowd of more than 40 people turned out to show support for Petersburg’s City Manager at Tuesdays meeting of the City Council. It was the first annual evaluation for manager Richard Underkofler, who faced criticism from a slim majority of four members. They acknowledged Underkofler’s competence, knowledge and work ethic. However, they complained that he had treated them with disrespect. They were upset about the way he had publically disagreed with some of their directions and they accused him of pitting city staff and the other councilors against them.
The other three councilors gave Underkofler high marks and emphasized his work product far outweighed any problems with his demeanor. Their stance was backed-up by the audience, many of whom spoke to Underkofler’s talents and extensive experience as an administrator. They urged the council to keep underkofler in the job and many of their comments drew applause from the rest of the crowd.
The testimony ultimately prompted the four-member majority to back-off on a move to fire the manager. Instead, they agreed to seek mediation to try and improve their strained relationship. Matt Lichtenstein has a more detailed look at Tuesday's lengthy discussion.