Listen to the September 25 Craig Parks and Recreation report with Victoria Merritt, Dawn Sheets, Gretchen Klein and guests.

The post Craig Parks and Recreation Report appeared first on KRBD.

A ballot proposition in Ketchikan’s municipal election next month will ask city voters to authorize up to $25 million in spending power. If approved, city officials say the bonding authority would help pay for upgrades and repairs for its electric facilities. 

All city bonding authority must be approved by voters. Using the bond for utility projects then must be approved by the city council. Interest or repayment on the bond will only take shape if the city uses those funds.

Abner Hoage is the Ketchikan City Manager and Ketchikan Public Utilities General Manager. He said the ballot proposition isn’t asking voter permission to draw from a bond right away. 

“It doesn’t mean we’re actually immediately borrowing the $25 million,” Hoage said. “Any projects that are funded under that will still go through the regular council process for authorization of expenditures for the borrowing itself, the actual borrowing of the money.” 

Hoage said the city has $83 million in electric projects on its needs list. Some funding sources, like grants, require a funding match from the city. He said the bonding authority could help with that. 

One of the city’s top electric projects is a diesel generator replacement or repair at the Bailey Powerhouse, which helps power the city when hydropower is down. Hoage said one of its four generators is out of service. 

Several of the city’s electric substations also have aging equipment that needs to be replaced. Hoage said if that equipment failed unexpectedly, costs for emergency replacement would be higher for the city. 

“So we’re trying to stay ahead on those things and replace and repair the components, refurbish the components that are starting to age and wear out, so that we have an even more reliable system than what we already have,” Hoage said.  

Hoage said if the city borrows the full $25 million bond, the maximum potential impact to city ratepayers is an additional 1 to 1.25 cents per kilowatt hour on their electric bills. A kilowatt hour is equal to using 1,000 watts of electricity in an hour. The city currently charges residential ratepayers about 15 cents per kilowatt hour.

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

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Here is a link to the Arts Council website.

KAAHC Facebook Page.

Phone: 907-225-2211

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. 

The post Arts Council Report appeared first on KRBD.

The Metlakatla Indian Community has a new laboratory facility. The space will help the tribe’s Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor for paralytic shellfish toxins, or neurotoxins that can form in oysters, clams, mussels and other shellfish, which are important subsistence foods. 

Currently, the tribe outsources its shellfish toxin testing and doesn’t test as often in the summer months. Metlakatla Mayor Albert Smith said the new lab will allow the tribe to test year-round. 

“It’s an exciting project,” Smith said. “It’ll help us monitor the PST levels to living off the land like we always have. We’ll be much safer in the future.”

The facility has three lab spaces, one of which is specifically designed for PST testing. The others are designed for handling liquid material and genetics testing. 

The $1 million lab was federally funded by a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Smith said tribal staff will soon be trained on how to use the new labs. 

“It’s exciting to know that we’re growing and we’re looking out for the best health and interest of the community,” Smith said.  

Funding for the new laboratory was approved in 2024.

And the facility isn’t the only project the tribe has recently received federal funding for. They were just awarded over $16 million for infrastructure improvements at the Tamgas Creek Hatchery. The goal of that project is to increase salmon hatchery production. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Metlakatla Indian Community constructs new shellfish testing lab appeared first on KRBD.

Hear about KWC activities during Filipino-American History Month, a special Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library storytime at the library, and the Stomp the Stigma March and Rally is this Saturday. Alma Manabat Parker and Cazrina Cabillo give details about this and more.

Here are links to KWC’s website and Facebook Page

Phone: 907-225-9355

Location: 60 Don Finney Lane, suite 203

The post Ketchikan Wellness Coalition Report appeared first on KRBD.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly has officially and publicly condemned a planning commissioner who made discriminatory comments against the local tribe, Ketchikan Indian Community. 

Darlene Dollimont-Svenson holds a rural seat on the borough’s planning commission. In a public meeting last week, there was an agenda item regarding a requested parking variance for the tribe’s planned support center for locals facing housing insecurity. 

“I want us all to know one thing that has been continually said from seven different sources, and that is — and it’s really not that nice — how much more do white people have to pay for KIC in this community?” D-Svenson said at the meeting. “I know it’s on record, and I know you can fire me for it, but we have to, I got emails about it. I just don’t understand the division.”

The variance is for the tribe’s planned S’eenáa Hít Navigation Center, which will have greater capacity than its current warming shelter. The intent is to provide day services, overnight shelter, case management, and support services for the community’s unhoused population. To meet parking requirements, KIC would have to buy more land or build a parking structure. That could add up to $1.2 million to the project. 

Borough staff recommended the planning commission grant the variance, which was ultimately approved 4-1 with D-Svenson voting no. In the past, D-Svenson has also voted against the rezoning to move forward with KIC’s tribally led healing center. 

At the borough assembly regular meeting on Monday, members unanimously approved a resolution requesting D-Svenson resign from her position.

Planning commission seats are appointed by the mayor and can not be recalled like an elected official. Borough Mayor Austin Otos said they are working on changing the municipal code to allow for people in appointed positions to be removed due to misconduct. If D-Svenson chooses to not resign, it would require a minimum of two public hearings for a municipal code change to go into effect. There is a special meeting to have the first public hearing scheduled for Sept. 28. The second is scheduled for Oct. 5. 

There were over two hours of public comment at the assembly’s regular meeting, with many testifiers condemning the racist comments. 

Organized Village of Saxman President Joe Williams was one of them. 

“I’m totally shocked by such remarks, singling out solvent tribal governments and portraying Native people as a burden in our own homeland,” he said. “Racism does not become less harmful because someone admits that the words are not nice before they say them. Quite frankly, I thought that we were well past that, because I grew up in a time when it was very, very much in my face.” 

At the podium, KIC Tribal Administrator Emily Edenshaw thanked the mayor for quickly denouncing D-Svenson’s comments, but requested policy change and deliberate efforts moving forward. The requests include educating public officials about tribal sovereignty, setting up meaningful government-to-government consultations and strengthening standards of conduct. 

Edenshaw questioned if she can be sure the governmental relationship with the assembly is one based on mutual respect. She said public trust has been broken and she wants it to be repaired.

“I should not have to wonder whether sending a staff member into a room means sending them somewhere where they may be scoffed at rather than respected,” Edenshaw said. “I should not have to look at a pattern of votes involving our tribe and wonder whether the outcome would have been different if the applicant were not KIC.”

D-Svenson initially agreed to an interview with KRBD after the Monday assembly meeting, which she previously had said she was going to speak at. She did not speak at the meeting and has since declined an interview with KRBD. 

In a text message, she said she was speaking on behalf of local businesses and “repeating taxpayers concerns does not mean that I adopted an allegation of racial discrimination or acted with discriminate intent.” 

She did not answer whether she intends to submit her resignation, but says she plans to evaluate and vote according to “applicable facts, codes and standards and information — not race.” 

D-Svenson was appointed to the planning commission in 2023 and her term is set to expire March 2027. She was appointed by the former borough mayor, Rodney Dial. Now an assembly member, Dial apologized for appointing her to the position and said he now regrets making that decision. 

All of the assembly members, including Bridget Mattson, who requested the amendment to the resolution include a request for D-Svenson’s resignation, thanked the community for speaking up. 

“I express along with others the regret that these words were piercing to so many, and that pierced tender places in so many,” Mattson said. “As a borough and as partners and neighbors together, I’m grateful to be part of this community.”

Her request for the amendment passed unanimously. 

Immediate response

Ketchikan Indian Community put out a statement last week following the planning commission meeting, denouncing the comments and asking the borough to remove D-Svenson from the commission. In the statement they also requested the emails she referenced be disclosed and made public. 

“Public service comes with a responsibility to serve all people fairly and with dignity,” KIC president Gloria Burns said in the statement. “Native people should not have to walk into a public meeting wondering whether the person sitting in judgment of an issue involving our Tribe sees our very presence and our government as a burden on ‘white people.’”

Mayor Otos also called on D-Svenson to resign in a public statement last week. Others have come forward to condemn her statements and call on her to resign, including City of Saxman Mayor William “Billy Joe” Thomas, Metlakatla Mayor Albert Smith, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Peterson, and House District 1 Rep. Jeremy Bynum. 

Correction: A previous version of this story said D-Svenson did not attend the meeting. She did not speak at the meeting.

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The Divas and Divos fundraiser is this Saturday and tickets are still available. They also are in need of volunteers to set up the night before and to help during the night of the show. And “Shrek: The Musical” opens in October. Elizabeth Nelson and Amanda Glanzer give details.

Here are links:

First City Players website

First City Players Facebook page

Phone number: 907-225-4792

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post First City Players Report appeared first on KRBD.

Hear about some of more than 550 jobs available in the Ketchikan area and on Prince of Wales Island; along with other services offered by the Job Center. Reed Harding gives details during the September 21 report.

You can contact the Ketchikan Job Center at 907-225-3181.

Here is a link to find jobs on the State of Alaska website.

Here is a link to the Rapid Response site offering support to employees who are fired or laid off.

The post Job Center Report appeared first on KRBD.

The weather contributed a few inches of rain to Ketchikan this past weekend, but annual precipitation is still well below normal. Hear more about this and the outlook for the week. Meteorologist Spencer Fielding gives details for the week of September 21.

Here is a link to CoCoRaHS – the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network for those interested in becoming weather observers.

Here is a link to the NWS Juneau’s Facebook page.

Here is a link to NOAA’s Alaska Weather site.

The post Weather Report from NWS Juneau appeared first on KRBD.

Last week, KRBD’s news team hosted live, on-air forums with the candidates running in Ketchikan’s 2026 municipal election. We asked candidates running in the upcoming municipal election questions about a variety of issues to help you get a better idea of their priorities and how they differ.

Missed the forums when they aired? Listen below.

They will also be rebroadcast on KRBD before Election Day.

Ketchikan School Board Candidate Forum

Candidates Vicki OBrien, Frances Klein, Marissa Medford and Rob Holston were in attendance.

Originally aired Sept. 15, 2026. Want to hear it on your airwaves? Tune in Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.

Ketchikan City Council Candidate Forum

Candidates Jack Finnegan, Riley Gass, Ashley Snyder, Michael Fitzgerald, Tommy Haugum, Jai Mahtani and Spencer Strassburg were in attendance.

Originally aired Sept. 16, 2026. Want to hear it on your airwaves? Tune in Sept. 28 at 12 p.m.

Part one:

Part two:

Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly Candidate Forum

Candidates Tim Montgomery, Sharli Arntzen, Dan Ortiz and Kathy Bolling were in attendance.

Originally aired Sept. 17, 2026. Want to hear it on your airwaves? Tune in Sept. 29 at 12 p.m.

Want to learn more? Check out KRBD’s 2026 Election Center.

Editor’s note: the rebroadcast times have been updated.

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