Unalaska, AK – The United States Postal Service is considering closing one of the post offices in town but no decision has been made yet. Postal Service communications specialist Ernie Swanson said a special committee is considering the consolidation of post offices around the state and the country in order to save money.
"The situation in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor is we're looking at both situations to see if we decide to pursue a consolidation, which location would we prefer to stay in, which would be best for our customers, so on and so forth. At this point that's on the table but no final decision has been made."
Unalaska, AK – A new viewing guide released by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game features the wildlife of Alaska's coast between Unalaska and Cordova. The new book tells visitors and residents what kinds of birds, marine mammals, and other animals to look for and where as they travel along the Alaska Marine Highway system, which is referred to as a wildlife trail.
"It's kind of like having a little naturalist in your backpack with you as you travel to these places," said Beth Paluso, the watchable wildlife coordinator for ADF&G. "You can kind of flip through to different places to see what kind of history and animals are in that area."
Unalaska, AK – Trident Seafoods will pay more than $112,000 for not reporting large quantities of hazardous chemicals to the Environmental Protection Agency. The company violated the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act by not telling local emergency response teams that they had large quantities of ammonia, a hazardous chemical, at processing plants in Akutan, Kodiak, Petersburg, and Seattle. EPA public affairs specialist Tony Brown said this endangered the surrounding communities.
Unalaska, AK – The city council discussed the fiscal year 2010 budget at two work sessions on Monday and Tuesday. The city plans on spending $41.3 million on capital projects during the next fiscal year. That includes $2 million for the PCR community center expansion project, $6.75 million for the Ballyhoo road paving project, $6.1 million for the Carl E. Moses boat harbor on Little South America, and $2 million for city housing. It's currently unclear where $11.9 million of the proposed total will come from. A line by line description of the operating budgets is available on the city's website. The total operating budget for 2010 has a 3 percent increase from last year's budget for non-personnel related expenditures from the general fund. The first reading for the budget will take place at the May 12 council meeting at 7 pm in the council chambers.
Unalaska, AK – Each year Unalaskans participate in the community clean-up week. But some take the project to a deeper level. KUCB's Anne Hillman joined the Unalaska Divers Association as they cleaned beneath the surface a week before the official clean-up starts on May 10.
Unalaska, AK – The city council unanimously passed the first reading of an amended smoking ban Tuesday night. After almost an hour of public comment the council decided to change the smoking ban so it does not apply to any employer-owned bunk housing. Many community members, including those who own their own private residences, said regulating smoking in bunkhouses infringes on people's private lives and it would be too difficult to enforce. All but one council member agreed.
Unalaska, AK – The city council decided to approve the landfill rate increase. In accordance with a rate study, the city will increase rates for commercial users 11.5 percent per year for the next three years. Residential users will only see a $5 monthly increase. This will help keep the landfill afloat; it is currently being subsidized with $1.1 million per year from the general fund. The council has been discussing the increase for a number of months. However, before it passed the second reading, council member Dick Peck suggested a substantial change. He wanted to increase rates for commercial users and not increase the rates for residential users. Peck says that residential users pay 2.5 times more per ton for refuse than commercial users and he wanted to balance that.
Unalaska, AK – There are no reported cases of the swine flu in Unalaska, but the clinic is prepared if the disease does enter the community. Clinic nurse Aaron Highfill said the community already has high instances of infectious diseases because of the international nature of the town and therefore the swine flu does not present a new threat.
"If you do get sick, if you have a fever, a cough, which are the most common symptoms of any type of influenza, then we tell people, Don't come into the clinic because then you'll infect everyone else here. Stay home, drink lots of fluids, and rest,'" said Highfill. "If you think you have swine flu--you have these symptoms, you've been around someone who's recently traveled to an infected place--then we want you to call the clinic. We'll arrange to have somebody come and swab your nose. They actually stick a Q-tip up your nose and send it into the lab in Anchorage and they grow it out and see if it's the actual swine flu."
