McCarthy Area Council Convenes for its First Meeting of 2021
Photo by Shanika Dunn
More than 50 people tuned in to the first McCarthy Area Council (MAC) meeting of the year on March 25.
Incoming president Nik Merlino started the meeting by thanking former president Mark Vail for his 10 years of service and reminding participants of MAC’s objectives, which include “improving the lives of locals and visitors, providing structure for discussion and decision making, and receiving/dispersing funds for community projects” according to the meeting minutes.
Attendees were given updates on three 2020 projects: westside road maintenance, the playground surfacing project, and CARES Act spending.
Westside road maintenance included two summer bladings and three winter plowings of the mostly residential road on the west side of the Kennicott River. The work was funded by MAC and community donations.
An identical maintenance plan was proposed for this year and will be voted on at the next meeting.
In 2019, land near the ballpark was donated to the community for the purpose of constructing a playground. An estimated 6,000 square feet of land was cleared in June of 2020 and surfaced with woodchips. The clearing and resurfacing project was made possible through MAC funding and community donations of money, time, and trees.
Hannah Rowland, MAC’s vice president, said plans for the playground structure have yet to be finalized.
Like many other communities in the Copper Valley, the McCarthy-Kennicott area received $75,000 in CARES Act funding last year. A community task force was created to oversee distribution of the funds. Local businesses and residents who applied for relief accounted for 60 percent of the funding, 30 percent was awarded to the McCarthy EMS and Kennicott-McCarthy Volunteer Fire Department, and 10 percent was used to cover the cost of administration and miscellaneous COVID-related expenses.
New business included a McCarthy-Kennicott road maintenance proposal, a McCarthy EMS (MXY EMS) building project proposal, and the introduction of two Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Service employees who will be replacing the Acting Kennicott Unit Manager Stephens Harper.
Harper, who will be shifting his attention to the southern area of the park, has served as a liaison between the community and the National Park Service for years. Mark Miller, Team Lead for Resource Stewardship and Science/Park Research Coordinator, and Joshua Scott, Chief of Lands and Planning, will be taking over his duties in the Kennicott Valley.
In addition to the westside road maintenance proposal, a new road maintenance project was introduced.
Local business owner Dan Talcott, who provided a shuttle service from McCarthy to Kennicott last summer, suggested annually funding maintenance for the stretch of road that connects the footbridge near McCarthy to the town of Kennicott, as well as from the museum to the McCarthy Lodge.
Because the road to Kennicott is state-owned, there was some discussion around whether approval for the maintenance would be needed from DOT. The MAC board of directors plans to reach out to DOT regarding the issue and said it will try to have more information at the next meeting. Talcott said the work would benefit locals and visitors alike.
A third road maintenance proposal to fill potholes from the McCarthy Lodge to past the ballfield is expected to be made at the next meeting.
The MXY EMS also presented their plans for a medical services and ambulance storage building and requested $40,000 to help fund it.
A site for the building was cleared and prepped near downtown McCarthy last year. It is designed to be constructed in three phases and estimated to cost $225,000. Jacob Shultz, a member of the MXY EMS board of directors, said they have received $11,000 in donations to-date and that an investment from MAC would show strong community support for the building and help leverage additional grant funding from other organizations.
He said the goal is to construct the first phase in 2022 but if funding for the entire project can be secured, it would be cheaper and easier to construct all three phases at once.
This meeting marked a year of Zoom proceedings for MAC, and there was debate over where and how to hold the rest of 2021’s meetings. A motion was made, then withdrawn after discussion, to start convening in person again at the next meeting.
Those in favor of the motion stated the inconvenience of spotty connections, the clumsiness of online communication, and the allowance of participants from outside the community as reasons why the meetings should return to the traditional in-person format.
Others voiced support for Zoom proceedings, saying it allows for more community participation and offers locals a way to be involved even when not physically present. Suggestions were made to hold the meetings outside, in a larger indoor space, and to offer community members the option of attending in person or on Zoom.
The MAC board of directors had already resolved to hold April’s meeting by Zoom but said it would take the discussion into consideration when deciding how to move forward with the remaining meetings of 2021.
The next MAC meeting is scheduled for April 29.
By Amanda Swinehart
