Petersburg’s Borough Assembly has a long agenda ahead of today’s meeting, which will be newly-elected assembly member James Valentine’s very first. Bob Lynn was the other winner of this year’s assembly race, and he will keep his seat.
Valentine is scheduled to take his Oath of Office, and then settle in with the rest of the assembly to vote on seven items of new business.
The Denali Commission has offered the borough $900,000 in grant funding to replace a floating breakwater at the Banana Point Boat Launch, which is at the remote south end of Mitkof Island. But there’s a catch: the Denali Commission requires a ten percent match for the project, or $90,000, which would come from the borough’s coffers – or from other services.
One local business has already submitted a proposal for work on the project. Harai and Associates, Inc. has offered to do permitting and engineering services on the breakwater for a total cost of $25,000. If the assembly accepts the proposal, the $25,000 expense could go towards the required ten percent match for the Denali Commission grant.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, has proposed a new rule to reduce the risk of work hazards for emergency responders.
It requires that emergency responders get annual medical screenings, and complete many hours of training for disasters that Petersburg is unlikely to ever face: like large chemical spills. It would also mandate costly upgrades for vehicles and equipment.
The borough says the rule could devastate Petersburg’s small volunteer-based fire and emergency services department. That’s because it doesn’t recognize the differences between large, well-resourced urban emergency services departments and small, volunteer-based departments like Petersburg’s.
The assembly will vote on sending a letter to Alaska’s federal delegation outlining Petersburg’s concerns with the proposed rule.
The assembly will also look over an application from a local developer to purchase several plots of borough land below its assessed value. That’s under something called “a public benefit purpose.” Entities who buy borough land in that circumstance must prove that what they’ll do with the land benefits the community in a way that outweighs the loss of borough funds in the sale.
Ambre Burrell, owner of Skylark Park, LLC sent in the proposal. She wants to use the land to build a subdivision of single-family homes, or manufactured homes built after 2023. Burrell’s justification for how the project meets the standards of a public benefit purpose is that it would give the community more affordable housing options. The assembly will decide today whether Burrell’s application will move further along in the application process.
Petersburg’s Borough Assembly will meet at 12, noon today in the Assembly Chambers of the municipal building. KFSK will broadcast that meeting live and post the recording in our Assembly Archives.
