Petersburg’s borough assembly Monday may decide on their next move for a potential land exchange with Petro Marine.
That company has proposed swapping land it owns across from the community cold storage in exchange for borough land that Petro leases across from its Petersburg plant. The company and the borough do not yet agree on terms of that exchange. The municipality wants Petro to pay just under 200-thousand dollars ($199,500) for revenue the borough stands to lose by ending the lease. Petro was expecting the borough to pay over 100-thousand dollars to make up for a difference in value of the properties.
On Monday, the assembly could decide whether to continue negotiations or end those talks. The borough’s harbor department was hoping for the Petro property for a centralized maintenance facility for the harbors. Assembly members may go into a closed-door executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss their strategy for the talks.
In other business, the assembly may vote on whether to fill a vacant sergeant’s job in the police department and whether the borough should hire a consultant to look into improving finances at the assisted living facility at Mountain View Manor. Other potential budget decisions are just discussion items. Those include the addition of a position in the fire department to help with ambulance calls, reducing community service grants, merit increases for department heads and the end of snow removal outside of the former city limits.
The assembly will also hear updates from the CEOs of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency and the Petersburg Medical Center. There are also reports from the Petersburg Economic Development Council and the chamber of commerce.
The meeting starts at noon Monday in borough assembly chambers and KFSK will broadcast it live.
