Petersburg’s Borough Assembly has a light agenda ahead of its meeting this afternoon. The Borough is looking for feedback on an ordinance to update next year’s budget, and will make a final pass at updating the Borough Code.

At today’s meeting, Petersburg residents will get a chance to give testimony on an ordinance to fund a laundry list of new budget items. The biggest change is payroll increase of about $186,000 to cover wages the assembly approved this summer in its contract negotiations with PMEA, which is the union representing Petersburg’s municipal employees. 

There are also a couple new amendments to the ordinance, which the assembly passed unanimously in its first reading. The first amendment would tack on $26,000 to the supplemental budget for a couple new garbage dumpsters. One of them will be planted near the local schools to protect their trash from bears. Early last month, bears broke into the plastic cans at Rae C. Stedman Elementary, leaving garbage strewn across the lot in front of the playground. The other container would act as a spare for big projects around town.

The second amendment would add about $16,000 to the supplemental budget to repair the Assisted Living kitchen, which is currently out of commission due to water damage. 

The Assembly will also make the final decision on an ordinance updating the Former City of Petersburg Code. It would essentially update the language to account for the formation of the Borough in 2013, changing all mentions of “city” to “borough.” It’ll also change the code to reflect that the Borough Manager can sell property with an estimated value of less than $15,000 — a big raise from the previous limit of $5,000. The assembly approved this ordinance unanimously in its first and second readings.

In today’s only item of new business, Mayor Jensen will decide whether or not to approve a land dedication for a plat south of Papke’s Landing, offered up by the State Department of Natural Resources.

Then the assembly will break out into an executive session, which is closed to the public. They’ll discuss Petersburg Chief of Police Jim Kerr’s civil rights suit against the Borough of Petersburg and Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht. The case was withdrawn from the state superior court and moved to the district federal court late last month. 

The Assembly will meet today at noon in the assembly chambers. KFSK will broadcast this meeting live and post the recordings in our Borough Assembly Archive. Anyone from the community can join the meeting in person, by phone, or on Zoom. There’s more information on KFSK’s community calendar.