Assembly adopts FY2026 adjustment to fund harbor roof, dam-breach study and GIS support

The Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday approved Ordinance 2025-13, a FY2026 budget adjustment that allocates $180,000 for a harbor shed roof, $59,942 for a Blind Slough Hydro dam-breach study and $15,000 for continued GIS support for the borough utilities.

The change passed on a 6-0 voice vote. Clerk roll call recorded members Newman, Vice Mayor Marsh, Valentine, Lynn, Staunton Gregor and Schwartz as voting yes.

Assembly members and staff focused most of the discussion on the Blind Slough Hydro dam-breach study, which Power and Light staff said would be used to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reclassify the dam’s hazard rating. Carl, a Power and Light staff member who spoke to the assembly, said recent lidar mapping provided by the U.S. Forest Service lowered the expected cost and improved the borough’s ability to pursue a reduced hazard classification. “The lidar information ... has saved us a a large sum of money,” Carl said, describing how updated aerial data and a new FERC project engineer make this an opportune time to seek a classification change. He added, “We're at high. We're trying to go to significant. Try to Significant is a step down.”

Assembly members asked whether the hatchery that receives flows from the dam might help pay for the study; Carl said that was unlikely because the license obligations to the hatchery are separate and the principal benefit of the study is to reduce the borough’s future regulatory costs. The assembly also discussed the long-term inspection cycle and regulatory costs: Carl said the periodic inspection costs roughly $75,000 and a more comprehensive assessment could cost about three times that amount, and that reducing the hazard rating could reduce future required inspections and associated costs.

Harbor Master Wall addressed the harbor shed roof portion of the ordinance. Wall said the roof work had been planned for several years, the bids ultimately came in well under a previously anticipated estimate, and the harbor fund will cover roughly $160,000 of the bid plus engineering oversight. “We just forgot about putting it into the ... budget this cycle. It’s been on our plans for 3 years,” Wall told the assembly, adding that the contractor hopes to complete the work in the coming fall.

The $15,000 GIS line item was presented as additional funding to continue a support contract with RDI and to allow further training of in-house GIS technicians; the amount is to be split among the electric, water and wastewater utilities.

The ordinance was moved and seconded during the meeting; the assembly voted 6-0 in favor. No amendments to the ordinance were recorded in the transcript.

Budget amendment details and next steps will be reflected in the borough’s FY2026 financial documents; the assembly packet includes a copy of the McMillan proposal for the dam-breach study and the GIS contract documents.

The assembly then moved on to other agenda items.