A Sitka-based residential treatment program for Alaska teenagers is moving to Juneau.Raven’s Way treats teens who have been diagnosed with substance use or dependence. It’s operated by the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). But sometime later this year, the program will merge with Juneau Youth Services (JYS), which SEARHC is in the process of acquiring.
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It’s beginning to look like Sitka will have a bit more money than it needs next year, but fewer employees.When the Sitka Assembly met in a special budget meeting last week, it learned that – due to a combination of factors – it could enjoy a small surplus in the 2024 budget. But a staff shortage is reaching serious levels.
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Residents of Whittier and Girdwood will now have their 9-1-1 calls answered over 500 miles away – in Sitka. The Sitka Assembly on Tuesday (2-28-23) approved a contract worth $55,000 to provide dispatch services for those two communities, in a move Sitka’s police chief says will help him shore up efforts to recruit local dispatchers.
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The Sitka Assembly wants to establish a tourism task force, but they’re still fine-tuning the details. When it met on Tuesday (2-28-23), the assembly discussed creating a committee that would look into the recent surge in tourism and make recommendations, but struggled over the composition of the group.
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Sitka’s trail plan is due for an update. Trail works, the local nonprofit which created the original plan twenty years ago, recently surveyed the community for its ideas on new cabins, trails, toilets, and bear-proof trash containers. Over 500 Sitkans responded, generating over 3,000 detailed comments. Trail Works has been crunching the numbers. KCAW’s Katherine Rose spoke with executive director Ben Hughey to learn how the new plan is taking shape.
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Rates for several of the city’s enterprise funds– electric, water, wastewater and solid waste – will likely go up next year, pending assembly approval. Some will increase at or below inflation, but other funds are encountering unanticipated costs.
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It’s “Discover Your Potential” week at Blatchley Middle School, and a group of 8th graders is discovering their potential, plus picking up serious job skills, training as baristas at a local coffee bar. KCAW’s Katherine Rose stopped by to see how it’s going, and sent this audio postcard:
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Alaska’s gymnastics team scored big at the Arctic Games in Alberta, Canada, earlier this month. The four gymnasts from around the state won the top award for the team competition, the Gold Ulu. Then two days later they racked up medals during individual team competition. Sitkan Trisha Bessert coached them to victory.
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Sitka is facing another hydro project that’s likely to cost more than expected. The Green Lake Dam is nearing its 40th birthday and in need of major repairs. However, not only has borrowing the money to make those repairs become more expensive, the repairs themselves will only grow more costly the longer the city delays taking action.KCAW’s Katherine Rose reports on how the Sitka Assembly tackled the situation at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
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City staff hope to make Sitka’s streets safer, with the help of half-a-million dollars in federal grant funding.
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