With Wrangell’s municipal election approaching on Oct. 1, incumbent Mayor Patricia (Patty) Gilbert and Vice-Mayor David Powell stopped by KSTK separately to talk with News Director Colette Czarnecki about what their priorities are in the public service role.
Gilbert informed the community on achievements that she and the borough assembly accomplished, the time it takes to follow through on goals and why she wants to run again.
Powell goes over what the most important topics in Wrangell are that he’d like to address if he won the seat. One of them includes pushing projects forward at a faster pace so they get done sooner.
Mayor Patricia (Patty) Gilbert (from Talk on the Rock interview)
Vice Mayor David Powell
The interviews have been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
So first off, will you give us a brief synopsis of who you are as a person?
Gilbert: As most of Wrangell knows, I’m an old timey schoolmarm. I’ve taught math and science at the high school level for 50 years, 26 years outside and 23 years with Wrangell Public Schools, and then I’ve also taught 15 full summer school terms. So I round that off to an even 50 years of high school experience. I’ve also served six years on the city council and then when Wrangell became a borough in 2008 I’ve served six years on the Wrangell assembly, and then the last two years I’ve served as mayor of Wrangell, so for 14 total years on city government, if you will.
I’m also president of the WMC foundation. It’s a non charitable organization that provides scholarships to our high school seniors, for students enrolled in health career courses. And last May, we offered three students $12,000 worth of scholarships. And then we also have another branch of WMC Foundation, and it’s something you’re familiar with. It’s Cancer Care and we offer reimbursement grants to patients who seek care outside their community, and we cover lodging and transportation up to $1,200 a year. And we cover communities of a population 5,000 or less, from Petersburg down through Southeast.
Powell: My name is David Powell. I’ve lived here for 57 years, 58 years out of my 62 years. Been in business here for 40 plus years, joined the Assembly about nine years ago.
I manage the shop (Bay Co.). We have three locations, Ketchikan, Craig and Wrangell and I manage the Wrangell. I am vice mayor here. This will be my two years stint. I’ve been vice mayor before and I was vice mayor for two years then. Then I wasn’t vice mayor for a while and now I’m vice mayor again
(To Gilbert) How has your experience been as mayor over the past two years?
Gilbert: It has been wonderful. When I ran for mayor in 2022 my two main goals was infrastructure improvement and economic development, and I was so driven with those goals that we embedded those issues into every assembly meeting. Department heads and leadership team and our borough directors’ managers were all driven towards those two major goals, and I figured if I could make a dent in our infrastructure – rehab, repair, regular maintenance – I would feel pretty good about what I’ve accomplished. If I can promote economic development strategies and try to get something moving, like the Alder Top Village Subdivision, or trying to market the Six Mile Mill site, I will have made an accomplishment, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve got progress on both fronts.
Tell us why you want to serve the community as mayor.
Gilbert: I do not want to lose the momentum. We have made positive forward progress and I have my goals.
First of all, I still want to improve rehab, maintain our infrastructure. I don’t want to lose that thread. We have a bond issue on the ballot for October 1, and it involves the Public Safety Building that I will talk about a little bit later. I also want to explore and complete projects and promote economic development. We’ve got a blank slate at the Six Mile Mill site, 40-acres deepwater port. We should be able to leverage that into economic benefit to the community, new businesses, new industries, new jobs for the community. I also want to advocate more for ferry service to Wrangell, in fact, all of Southeast. I want to advocate for fisheries and mariculture issues, and very importantly, I want to advocate for transboundary issues that other communities are experiencing. I want to maintain our current property mill rate at 9.75 mills. We lowered it two years ago, three mills, from 12.75 mills to 9.75 mills. And it’s my belief that we can maintain that mill rate this year for FY 25 budget. We cut expenses in all departments and we did something different this year. We set the mill rate first and then built the budget to match the revenues coming in, instead of setting the mill rate after we develop a budget, so it makes you fiscally responsible and very conservative in how you do that.
I want to continue to strengthen our relationships with the Wrangell Public School District, with the U.S. Forest Service, with WCA, with our area agencies. I want to, this is number eight, I want to secure our borough entitlement lands we have. We were granted from the state in 2008, when we became a borough, 9,006 acres of lands surrounding Wrangell proper, and we need to lay claim to those. It’s a lengthy process. I want to continue to leverage state, federal and agencies’ grants to maximize our efforts as a borough. In the last nine months, we have secured, it’s unbelievable, but almost $38 million worth of grant money with a promise of 14.5 million more, perhaps later this year. It just depends on how Congress votes.
Number 10, my goal is to update, and it’s in progress, our emergency operations plan, and maybe even to think more broadly instead of just a city emergency plan. How does our emergency actions blend in with all of Southeast, or at least our southern to southeast, our neighbors? Because, in a tragedy, you really do. Neighbor helps neighbor, as we witnessed.
I have a few more. I want to continue to improve communication to the community. The Economic Development Department took this on as one of their goals. They have newsletters coming out to the community. They’re having monthly coffees where the community can give their opinions or their suggestions for economic development or actually anything. And of course, the community’s always welcome at assembly meetings and the community input at assembly meetings has really directed the assembly, in particular the issue of boat insurance for salvage and liability insurance that the community participation really helped the assembly make decisions on. I want to continue to strive for responsive, efficient, effective delivery of government services. I think we’re doing a very good job. We’ve got inventories of parts that we need. Public Works are experts in repairing pumps and repairing water mains. I mean, they have patches on top of patches. Our crews are excellent at troubleshooting and problem solving, and they’re dedicated to what they’re doing. This is one of my most important, and I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I want us to develop a short range and a long range plan to address road repair maintenance, sidewalk repair maintenance. That is a high dollar problem, and I don’t quite have it figured out. I have an idea, but to try to make a sustainable, consistent road repair year after year, tackle the worst roads and drainage problems and try to move forward the next year with a different road and with underground utilities, and then number 14: support local businesses and promote new businesses. So those are my main goals for the next two years.
Powell: Basically, I just want to shake things up a little bit. I want to get more involved being mayor with other mayors of Southeast Alaska. One of the things is I want to try to get our ferry system back up and running really well. As being mayor, I get to go to more meetings that I can voice that opinion and hopefully get them on board too. Also, there’s a lot of things going on that I like to push. We need commerce here.
I actually got some notes. In our industries, we don’t have no industry here to really speak of. We have fishing, we have tourism, and neither one of them are really doing that well here, and we need to shake that up and really push that forward. Hard conversation is how many ships we want to have come here for tourism. We have multiple jobs going on here, multiple things happening with the Fifth and Sixth Avenue for Industrial Park. I want to make sure that goes through. I’d like to get more industrial lots sold. Like to get affordable housing here. We have Alder Top Village, hopefully we’ll have those up for sale next spring. Like to see that push through. And there’s multiple other things that as mayor you can do a little bit more harder pushing and I’d like to do that.
Our roads are terrible. I mean, you probably drive on and walk on them and the infrastructure underneath of them is failing a lot. I mean, we have main breaks all the time and we need to address that. Also our schools, the funding for our schools, we need to start thinking outside the box, because the state’s not going to keep giving us money all the time. Thank gosh that we have got some of the funding that we’ve had to get was from the state, but it’s not going to be there all the time. So we need to start thinking about how to fund the schools. And those are most of the main issues that I have: are the schools, the infrastructure underneath our roads, our road systems, affordable housing, our ferry system.
We need to really push hard on that. I ship boats out all the time and this year I was on standby five different times that the boats didn’t get out. And that’s that’s not acceptable. That’s our highway. It’s not a tour boat. So we need to start pushing that issue in Southeast Alaska.
How would you, as a mayor, be able to work on some of these priorities?
Gilbert: I’m a little fearless with talking to our legislators. For instance, Governor Dunleavy. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to him four times now, and each time I’ve mentioned our 120 year old timber, earthen reservoirs and how they need to be stabilized and analyzed. And by gum, he put in $5 million in his budget, and we have $5 million to stabilize our reservoirs. I asked him, and I’m not taking credit, but I asked him to support schools and increase the BSA, and he did $680, but it’s one time funding. Then I asked him to support our CIP project for the school. We had $6.5 million requests with the Department of Ed to match our $3.5 million bond that the voters passed two years ago to improve our schools, and we were successful on that. I’ve talked with Commissioner Rick Anderson with Department of Transportation and we showed him the rock fall problem out at eight mile on Zimovia Highway, and about a million dollars later, the OTS repaired it. So I think it’s being the squeaky wheel. It’s not being afraid to go to our legislators and ask for funding. What could be the worst they could say is no? And our borough manager is fearless. In that regard, our department heads, they lobby for federal, state, agency assistance all the time.
Powell: Well, you get to go to different meetings – AML and I’m at a loss for words on this one. I can’t remember what it is but we have a meeting with all the mayors and you get to go to that. So we get to push that harder. You got more power when you’re the mayor to go to those kinds of meetings.
(To Powell) How do you see yourself doing things differently than what’s been done?
Powell: I’m pretty blunt as everybody knows. I’m not very refined as when I have to not say the right thing, I just come out to say what I say on that issue. I would say that I speak freely. You know, I speak my heart. And most people know that they can come and talk to me, and I’m going to listen to them and as being mayor, I think that one of the biggest issues is that I want to be able to speak freely and make people hear it. You know, one of the biggest issues I have, and I want to really push this issue, is I’d like to get more people to voice their opinions at our meetings. It’s a lot easier to do your job when you hear from the people there rather than the people on the street.
(To Powell) How else can you fill the mayoral role better?
Powell: I’m not going to say I could do it better, okay. I think that Patty has done a great job. I’ve been at it for nine years and I think I just feel that this is the next step – to be the mayor.
Is there anything else you would like to add that the mayor and the borough assembly achieved over the last two years that you can think of?
Gilbert: We have a good, solid, cohesive assembly. We’ve got good leadership. I am proud of the forward progress. I can see where we need to do more, and we can. We looked at when we negotiated the collective bargaining agreement with the union, we took that opportunity to look at the grade scale of all of our employees and adjusted them. For the most part 99% upward, so that they were getting the pay that they should be getting for this locale. So I’m proud of that.
There’s a lot. You want me to read you my list of what we’ve accomplished? I’m proud of the relationships that we’re trying to strengthen with the Forest Service. I’d like to have a multi-agency cooperative agreement with the Forest Service. That’s what we’re working on, that covers all hazards and then I think I mentioned in terms of the Emergency Operations Plan, to think a little bit broader and try to make sure that we have an inventory of all of our emergency equipment, where it’s located, who maintains it, what the maintenance records are, because communities do loan out their emergency equipment and help one another, which is one of the strengths of Southeast. Advocating for ferry service, we’ve got to get coordinated and we can do that through Southeast Conference and contact all coastal communities served by Alaska Marine Highway services system and make a concerted effort to improve our ferry service.
Senator Lisa Murkowski earmarked through congressional designated spending I think $240 million towards our ferry system. So we should be able to make, if we work together, some impact and improve services to our community.
Powell: That’s a very broad question because we’ve done a lot of stuff. I’ll say one thing what we did I feel that the town did well. We had that slide last year and I think this town came together really well. I think the assembly funded what they needed after the slide.
Other than that, it’s listening to the people and doing what the people want to do. I mean, the assembly is just a board of the people. I feel we don’t just do things without the people knowing. And I hope that will continue that way and everybody knows they can come talk to me anytime they want. And I do get a lot of people, I say it in meetings all the time. I’ve had these people come and talk to me and they go, ‘Why they come and talk to you?’ Because I’m accessible. They know where I’ve been for the last 40 years – in one spot. So I would say that being said, that’s where I’d like to continue.
We spoke a little bit about accomplishments. How do you think the borough assembly could improve?
Gilbert: I think if we adopt my goals, which they did for the last two years, and we just embed those goals into our every meeting so that they’re not something that you just thumbtack to a bulletin board and forget about. I think we will make some progress.
Powell: I’ll be honest you, I think we’ve got one of the nicest, hardworking assemblies that I have sat on in years. Right now, this was a very hard decision to me to run for mayor because I feel that way. I really hope that our board will support me as mayor, if I become mayor. I 100% support Patty if she becomes the mayor. But improve? I don’t know how we would improve because we ask for everybody to come. We listen to them. I feel that the assembly listens to them quite well, unless I’m not hearing what other people are saying. I don’t know how you would improve on our assembly.
What would you say the most significant responsibility of a mayor is?
Gilbert: I think you need to attend community meetings. And we have planning and zoning meetings. We have economic development board meetings. Attend those. You need to be open to the public. Listen to their suggestions, listen to their complaints, welcome them at assembly meetings and just be responsive to the public.
Powell: I guess the most important function of a mayor is to listen to the people.
Why should a voter vote for you?
Gilbert: I hope that Wrangell can sense in my voice that I’m passionate about this. Wrangell is my forever home. I can see the improvements that working together can materialize. I want to be in control, like most of Wrangell is in control of our future and to drive our future, to maintain our quality of life, we have a pretty good quality of life. We had three department heads come up with Wrangell’s Kid’s Club, where they offer activities after school from 2:30 to 5pm, three days a week. I mean, that’s pretty darn good. So we have a dynamic set of city employees that are all driven to the same goal, and that’s to maintain and improve our quality of life.
Powell: I plan on trying to shake things up and get things done a little quicker. That’s all I can really say is that I want things pushed. I want to see them pushed hard. We have a new bureau manager that is pretty gung ho. I want to push him to his limits. He’s not going to like that, but I’d like to push him.
What are your thoughts on the pace it has taken to accomplish some of these projects for the borough, such as affordable housing and the infrastructure and roads?
Gilbert: I know that is the worst part of having a vision and being excited about something is that you have to slow down because of government. I think our city government works pretty fast, but federal and state governments do not. For instance, we were awarded $25 million for our inner harbor rehabilitation project, but we probably won’t see that for three years and already I want that just to begin. We have 36 projects in the queue right now, so we have enough projects to last us, and the majority of the funding is already established and secured. And that’s probably enough projects for two or three, four years.
But to answer your question, nothing happens quickly. We need a public process. We need to make sure that the work that the assembly is doing is what the community wants. For instance, the idea of finally developing the old Wrangell Institute property into a subdivision, that took a lot of planning, a lot of town halls, and we’re just starting with that. So it does take a long time. And to write grants, which I didn’t realize the full impact of writing grants to secure money, is 100 hours per grant easily. And we do that mostly all in house.
Powell: I think we could get things done a little quicker. I think he (the borough manager) feels the same. I believe we do a lot of lot of studies and stuff, and I know they’re necessary, but I would like to either get them done quicker or do more outside of that realm and push things to be just done quicker than they are being done right now. It’s hard to do things at a municipality, because a private industry can do things quick, and a municipality has to do things right, I would say, and I’m not saying that other construction companies or whatever don’t do them right. It’s just that they have a lot of rules. They have a lot of rules they have to go by, municipality wise, and private industry does not have to.
