Municipal administrator John Leach discusses the staffing shortage in the Sitka Electric Department: two journeyman lineman jobs, and two leadership jobs. He says pay is among the best in the region, but a per diem provision in union contracts is creating an incentive for workers to stay in temporary positions. Additionally, a widespread problem with utility bills has resulted in the city’s investment in radio-frequency meter readings that reduce the chance for human error.

Bears and e-bikes were high on the minds of Tribal Council members, during a recent government-to-government meeting of the Sheet’ka Kwaán and the Sitka Assembly.

The two bodies gather twice a year to share a meal, and to brainstorm ways to collaborate on everything from health and public safety, to childcare, to electrical infrastructure.

Note: The Sitka Tribe of Alaska has begun the process of transitioning to the name Sheet’ka Kwaán.

The October 23rd meeting of the Tribal Council and Sitka Assembly was focused primarily on tribal issues. The Sheet’ka Kwaán has an active committee structure that gives the council an exceptional ability to multitask. 

Council member Martha Moses outlined her committee’s extensive research into Sitka’s bear problem, which is concentrated in the Indian River neighborhood. Moses said her committee had obtained public records showing that the majority of the 99 tickets written by Sitka Police for garbage infractions in 2022 were in the Indian River neighborhood – 90 of them written by a single officer. Of the 13 bears put down that year, however, none of them were put down in the Indian River area.

Council member Lesa Way believed that too much emphasis from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game was now on protecting bears, rather than protecting people and children.  

“I think that we need to start working together to change this,” said Way. “And if we have to put pressure on the state, I think that’s appropriate for both the city and the Tribe to do. Our citizens up on Indian River are clearly living in the forest — it’s beautiful up there — but we really need to start changing the way we handle this.”

E-bikes fell under the Tourism agenda, but the Tribe’s concerns were primarily safety-related. A lot of summer visitors are riding e-bikes around Sitka, who might not otherwise ride bikes, creating a potential hazard.

Council member Louise Brady advocated for stricter enforcement of Sitka’s existing regulations for bicycles.

“I walk a lot both on the Cross Trail, and when there are a lot of bears, I go out to Whale Park,” Brady said. “E-bikes, the wrong side of the road, the right side of the road, and on sidewalks. And I understand we’re a bike-friendly community. But at some point, I think the police need to be writing tickets.”

The e-bike issue generated many questions, and few answers, but it pointed to a larger question: Has Sitka exceeded a healthy capacity for tourism?

Council member Alana Peterson said it was too early to tell.

“We do think that the community businesses should be given a bit more time to adjust to the increased load before we institute a cap (on cruise tourism),” said Peterson. “With COVID, and then one or two seasons, you know, I think businesses are still trying to figure stuff out.”

Childcare and schools also generated ideas. The Tribe distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in childcare grants, but has been feeling frustrated recently about how to support schools. Last year, the Department of Education announced it was cracking down on communities that were contributing money over and above the funding provided by the state – called the Base Student Allocation. Local governments contribute a large share of school funding – but it’s only permitted for classroom instruction, and it’s capped by state rules.

Sitka administrator John Leach said the city and Tribe could look for ways to absorb non-instructional activities into their own budgets. The city has both the marijuana tax, and now the additional 1-percent seasonal sales tax, to devote to schools, and it was time to get creative. 

“I’m looking at taking the maintenance folks from the schools and combining with the city in some way, and sharing those resources. Parks and Rec is a great example. There’s no more Community Schools now. So you never have the argument of: do we pay teachers? Or do we do Community Schools? Now it’s the city’s parks and rec program. The Blatchley pool is an issue, and we’re looking at bringing that into our operation. So we’re really doing everything we can to absorb some of the noneducational things.”

Lastly, the Tribe was concerned about Sitka’s electrical grid, as it looked to convert the Baranof Island Housing Authority four-plexes on Indian River Road from fuel-fired boilers to heat pumps. In some cases, the Tribe has been told the grid won’t support additional conversions. Administrator Leach said that Sitka’s transmission and distribution system was in need of serious work.

Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said maintaining existing service had become the Electric Department’s top priority.

“It’s a crossroads that we’re at, it’s a community discussion of where we need to go,” said Eisenbeisz. “But I’m also reassured that we’re one of 10 communities in the United States that runs entirely off of hydro. So while there is always more room for sustainability, we are leaps and bounds ahead of most other cities within the country. So at this point, I’m a strong proponent of going back to the basics, focusing on the basics, and making sure that your power turns on when you flip the switch.”

There was more on the agenda, but after two hours council chair Woody Widmark decided to bring the meeting to a close. He said “The health and safety of our citizens, tourism, schools and children, and infrastructure were probably our major points that we wanted to share with you.” He suggested that any other issues could be taken up staff-to-staff, or over a cup of coffee.

The two governments will meet again in the spring.

A Sitka resident and charter operator has pleaded guilty to felony theft of electricity, and he’ll have to pay $150,000 in restitution and fines immediately, or face additional civil enforcement from the city.

59-year old Richard A. Forst pleaded guilty in Sitka Superior Court on January 31, 2022, to one count of criminal mischief in the 4th degree, a misdemeanor, and to one count of theft in the 2nd degree, a felony, for the theft of electric power at his home on Islander Drive, and at his dock property on Halibut Point Road – for at least the last seven years.

Forst was arrested and charged in 2019 after technicians with the Sitka Electric Department noticed that the locking seal had been removed from Forst’s electric meter, and replaced with another not supplied by the utility. A large motor was audible in Forst’s garage. The department subsequently pulled the meter and found that two bypass wires had been installed to divert power into the garage, without first going through the meter. The main circuit breaker was opened, and the motor inside the garage nevertheless continued running.

Technicians later observed that the meter at Forst’s commercial property at Guckers Island Dock on Halibut Point Road had been bypassed in a similar manner. Police were informed of the situation; they obtained a search warrant to investigate inside the buildings at the two properties and found that the bypassed circuits were feeding refrigeration equipment. Based on the age of the equipment and further investigation into Forst’s electrical consumption, the department estimated the value of electricity diverted over a period of years to be around $200,000.

Municipal attorney Brian Hanson appeared at Forst’s change of plea hearing to deliver a scathing victim impact statement, on behalf of all rate payers in the community.

“Sitka is not a cement building at the end of Lincoln Street,” Hanson told the court. “It is not a full of faceless bureaucrats. The City and Borough of Sitka is approximately 8,500 citizens: Men, women, and children who live, work, go to school, and recreate in this community. They also are electric ratepayers in this community. Some are in poverty, many are low income, and the citizens plead to our assembly to keep the rates of electricity as low as possible. Mr. Forst you stole from those citizens and you stole from them for years.”

Under the plea agreement, Forst must pay $144,925 in restitution to the City of Sitka, and fines of $5,200. In an email to city assembly members, Attorney Hanson wrote that “If Mr. Forst fails to immediately pay the judgement, I will initiate civil enforcement.”

Forst will also be on probation for two years, and subject to the the terms of the Court’s “Order to Probation on Suspended Entry of Judgement.” If he’s found to have successfully completed the terms of his probation by 2024, the charges will be dismissed. Otherwise, the judgement will stand and the felony conviction will be entered into Forst’s record.

Neither was Superior Court Judge Jude Pate conciliatory. He told Forst that, had he not accepted the plea agreement, he could have faced 1-3 years in prison for the original charge of theft in the first degree, and paid up to $100,000 in fines. The original charge of criminal mischief in the third degree carried potential jail time of up to two years, and a $50,000 fine.

Judge Pate agreed with the state prosecutor Amy Fenske that when a citizen of nominal good standing, a prosperous business owner, abuses the system so flagrantly, something more damaging than mere theft occurs.

“The bigger and possibly the more long term harm is, as Counsel Fenske pointed out, tearing at the social fabric,” said Pate. “And that’s just the lack of trust that these actions have brought about, at a time where our society is already at odds on so many things. And you pour in this this doubt, this mistrust by stealing. It causes citizens not to trust the government. It causes citizens not to trust each other. It erodes our very community on both a financial and sociological, psychological level.”

Judge Pate offered Forst the opportunity to address the matter in open court, but he declined.

“Mr. Forst, is there anything you’d like to tell me before I decide what to do?” Pate asked. “You’re not required to speak. But if you’d like to speak now be the time.” 

“No, judge,” Forst replied.

Judge Pate went on to observe that if the COVID pandemic had not intervened, this case likely would have gone to trial. As a result, public reaction to date has been “somewhat muted.”

In his remarks, Forst’s attorney, Juneau-based August Petropulos, suggested that the entire question of Forst’s guilt would be moot if two as-yet-unread motions received favorable ruling from the court: the first to dismiss the original indictment, and the second to suppress the evidence in the case. Nevertheless, Petropulos said he wasn’t there to litigate, and urged the court to accept the plea deal.

“We’re taking this deal,” Petropulos said. “I think it’s a fair compromise, given the two motions that were filed. The fact that Mr. Forst has no prior convictions, and that this guarantees the city gets the $144,924. I’d ask the court accept it.”

In addition to the restitution and fines, Forst will serve two years of probation. He also agreed to perform 80 hours of community work service.

Note: This story was updated on February 5, 2022, to reflect that the Sitka Superior Court issued an “Order to Probation on Suspended Entry of Judgement,” which means that Forst’s felony conviction will not be entered unless he fails to successfully complete his two years’ probation.

(UPDATED at 3:40 a.m. )

Sitka experienced widespread power outages shortly after 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning (12-23-20).

The outage affected Electric Department customers on Halibut Point Road and Sawmill Creek Road, throughout downtown Sitka and on Japonski Island. It lasted around two hours. 

In an email to KCAW, Electric Department Director Scott Elder wrote that the windy conditions caused the outage. A damaged tree fell into a transmission line on Jarvis Street around 1:11 a.m. Electric crews removed the tree and power was restored to all of Sitka shortly before 3 a.m. 

911 phone lines were temporarily down for part of the outage, according to a post on the Sitka Police Department’s Facebook page. 

Sitka was under a “high wind warning” on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning,  with the National Weather Service predicting wind gusts ranging from 35 to 60 miles per hour. 

Original post (2:00 a.m.): Sitka began experiencing widespread power outages shortly after 1:15 a.m. out Halibut Point Road, downtown and on Japonski Island. Due to the weather event, Raven Radio is temporarily off the air. Until our signal is up-and-running again, updates will be posted to our website and Facebook page.

An Electric Department staffer said high winds caused several trees to fall today, pulling down power lines with them, including a tree along HPR, near the Alaska Marine Lines dock. A wind gust of 65 mph was recorded by an automated weather station in the area. 

Shortly before 1:30, the city issued a press release about a second power outage on Japonski Island, due to a fallen tree on Old Airport Road. The electric department fixed the line and power was restored shortly after 2 p.m. 

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for Sitka until 3 p.m today. A flood advisory is in effect until 8 a.m. on Wednesday for Sitka, Juneau and Gustavus.

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and may be updated.

Other areas of Sitka that may be affected include the stretch of Halibut Point Road north of Sandy Beach, the north side of Japonski Island, and a stretch of Sawmill Creek Road between Allen Marine and Whale Park, though outages may not be limited to those areas.

Update: The outage time has been extended to 2 p.m.

Handler Hannah Blanke is holding Zappa, Sheila Swanberg performing the exam. Photo by Britainy Wright.

Some Sitka electric customers were out of power for a brief window on Sunday (1-13-19) afternoon when an eagle became stuck on a power line near Crescent Harbor.

Jennifer Cedarleaf, Avian Director of the Alaska Raptor Center, said the eagle seemed stressed when she arrived to the scene, but he wasn’t tangled up.

“I looked up and I saw this poor eagle who was kind of stuck on the cross bars of the power pole and seemed to be touching the wire, we’re not really sure on that,” Cedarleaf said. “He was just kind of laying there panting like he was in some pain.” 

After a line crew arrived, at 2:46, the electric department shut off a section of the grid in order to safely remove the bird. According to Electric Utility Director Brian Bertacchi, power was restored nine minutes later, and the bird was turned over to Cedarleaf, still alive.

“He was a little out of it, didn’t have a lot of energy and was soaking wet, because he had been up there for at least an hour,” said Cedarleaf.

Rescuers took the eagle back to the Raptor Center, gave it warm fluids and put him in a kennel to rest. Cedarleaf is unsure if the bird was receiving any voltage during its ordeal, but they do know that it has no broken bones, thanks to a brand new digital x-ray machine.

“He was our first bird that we x-ray’d on the new digital x-ray, which is so cool,” she said. “It took like half the time it would have taken to do it the old fashioned way.”

Cedarleaf says the eagle seems fine now. They plan to move it into the main flight sometime this week. If the bird does well, they’ll release it in the spring. And in the tradition of the Raptor Center, they gave it a name: Zappa.

Although there’s no way of knowing why Zappa went into harm’s way on the electric pole, Cedarleaf does have a theory: someone nearby may have left food out for the bird. Eagles are hungry this time of year, and they’ll go for anything.

“I have actually fed an eagle McDonald’s french fries, and he was hungry enough that he ate them,” Cedarleaf said. “So they’ll eat anything. If they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat it.”

Cedarleaf says while it’s technically legal to feed wild birds in Alaska, she hopes Sitkans will be mindful of bird safety. She encourages people take the food up into a muskeg, or on the beach, away from roads and power lines, where it’s less likely they’ll be injured.  

Three of GCI’s five new cell towers service Halibut Point Road, including the vicinity of the Old Sitka Dock. Only GCI customers can access the new network for the time being, but subscribers with other carriers will likely be accommodated.  “A lot of things can happen between now and cruise season,” says GCI’s Josh Edge. (Photo courtesy of Chris McGraw)

GCI turned on five new cell towers in Sitka just before New Years — at least a full week ahead of schedule.

The Alaska-based telecommunications company struck a deal with the Sitka Electric Department, which invested $300,000 installing the 60-foot towers. The towers resemble Sitka’s regular utility poles.

GCI will lease back the poles for $120,000 per year for the next twenty years, netting the Electric Department over $2 million in revenue over the life of the contract.

Right now, the new infrastructure only benefits GCI customers. But GCI spokesperson Josh Edge says that could change by summer.

Three of the new towers cover Halibut Point Road past the Old Sitka cruise ship dock. KCAW asked Edge if GCI had taken cruise passengers into consideration.

KCAW — Josh, what’s going to happen when a monster cruise ship is docked out there at Old Sitka? Can 5-6,000 cell phone customers arriving from outside of town monopolize the network that you’ve just invested in here?
Edge — Well, we’re anticipating it being substantially better than it has been here in past seasons, as we build out more infrastructure and have more cell sites, we’re better able to distribute the traffic through these sites, rather than having them overload the ones that we already had there. So, adding more towers should add capacity, and I think people will have a much better experience with their wireless service come this next cruise season.
KCAW — I’m assuming that most of the thousands of people who come in on cruise ships don’t even know about cruise ships or that it’s our Alaska-based telecommunications company, but obviously their cell phones are going to work on your network?
Edge — It could depend. Right now it’s set up to handle just GCI traffic. AT&T customers will not receive service over this network. They have their own infrastructure there in Sitka. A lot of things can happen between now and cruise season, but right now it is primarily set up to support GCI customers.

In addition to the lease-back deal that CGI made with Sitka in exchange for installation of the 5 poles, the new cell antennas — plus a 400-amp service on top of Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital — will all purchase power from Sitka’s Electric Department.

Revitalizing the Marine Street substation is the Sitka Electric Department’s key project in preventing power outages, according to director Bryan Bertacchi. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

Downloadable audio.

This summer’s drought forced Ketchikan Public Utilities to run diesel generators and limit use of hydroelectric power from the Swan Lake Hydro Facility due to low lake levels. Since mid October, the city has been powered exclusively by generators, incurring high costs in fuel and maintenance.

Bryan Bertacchi, Utility Director for the Sitka Electric Department, joined KCAW’s Katherine Rose on the Morning Interview to discuss what steps Sitka is taking to avoid similar measures.

One of the key projects is the revitalization of the Marine Street Substation, which was built in 1980. The Electric Department’s biggest concern at the facility is the nearly 40-year-old switch gear, essentially the substation’s circuit breaker.

“If we have a failure in there, it could be a very very long outage like 3, 4, 5 months without power for 80 percent of our customers,” Bertacchi said.

Bertacchi said Sitka did not have to rely on generators this year thanks to the the Blue Lake Dam expansion project, which saved electric customers $7 million dollars on fuel and maintenance costs for diesel power generators.

The annual flushing began last week on the Transmission Line.

This week and next week’s schedule is as follows:

Oct 22nd – Outer Lincoln Street
Oct 23rd – Monastery Street and Verstovia Street neighborhoods
Oct 24th – Downtown Area
Oct 24th – Edgecumbe Drive, HPR and side streets off HPR
Oct 25th- Edgecumbe Drive, HPR and side streets off HPR
Oct 26th – Sawmill Creek Road
Oct 29th – Sawmill Creek Road
Oct 30th – Japonski Island

Those with questions may contact the Public Works Department at 747-1804.

On Friday morning (10-19-18), some Sitkans on Japonski Island lost power. The outage lasted from 3:48 a.m. until 4:15 a.m. and impacted Alice Loop, Sealing Cove, the city’s wastewater treatment plant, the airport, and the Coast Guard Air Station among others. An overhead connector failed during the morning rainstorm. The equipment was replaced by an on-call line crew and this required a short outage to make that repair.