Daily Sitka Sentinel

Boat Haulout, Hospital Top Assembly Agenda

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

The boat haulout will be on the Assembly’s agenda again Tuesday night as the city continues to wrestle with the problem of replacing a vital piece of the fishing community infrastructure in the months remaining before Sitka’s privately owned one shuts down in the spring.

On Jan. 12 the Assembly postponed issuing a request for proposals for construction of a privately funded haulout at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park. The proposal before the Assembly at Tuesday night’s regular meeting will shorten the RFP advertising period to 60 days, but other details remain to be decided.

The major one is on how to weight offers that call for sale of the city land against ones that propose a lease. A majority of Assembly members favors the lease option, but have also expressed openness to a purchase under certain circumstances.

The proposed RFP was referred to a work group made up of City Administrator John Leach, Assembly members Thor Christianson and Kevin Knox, and Garry White, director of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park. The group proposed some amendments that will be on the table at the Tuesday meeting.

The Assembly is working under a tight deadline, since Halibut Point Marine will stop its haulout business this spring in order to pursue visitor-related projects this spring.

Knox said today, “There’s still a lot of questions the Assembly has to answer and come to a consensus on, how we weight a lease versus a purchase. The work group couldn’t make a final determination: is it built into the point scoring, is it built into the community benefit section, or is it a new section?”

It could also be a straightforward question of assigning a point total for those proposing a lease, he said.

Two amendments are on the table, proposing a schedule of benchmarks, such as infrastructure and operational performance “to ensure the haulout will meet the needs of the community and fleet.”

Another possible amendment before the Assembly makes it clear that the city’s preference is for the lease option, but that it “will accept all proposals including ownership options. Scoring will be weighted toward lease rates or purchase prices that provide the long-term benefits to the community.”

If the Assembly votes to approve the RFP, responders will have 60 days to submit a proposal after it is published.

Hospital Sale

Another major issue at the Tuesday meeting is related to the sale of the old Sitka Community Hospital building and grounds to SEARHC.

The item on the table is an ordinance for introduction allotting $30,000 from the fund dedicated to professional services related to the potential sale of the old hospital real estate.

Currently SEARHC leases the property and provides long-term care as well as outpatient services.

The request from consortium President and CEO Charles Clement said SEARHC wants to purchase the land, buildings and all improvements at 209 Moller Drive, 202 and 204 Brady Street and 302 Gavan Street. 

City Controller Melissa Haley said today, “While sales of real property need to be deposited into the city’s permanent fund, these expenses (referred to in the ordinance) may be reimbursed from the proceeds of the sale,”  

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Remote access is also available through the city page: cityofsitka.com and the YouTube channel.

Other Items

Also on the agenda Tuesday are:

– a liquor license renewal to Pizza Express.

– a resolution for a $75,000 Department of Homeland Security grant application. No matching funds are required for the grant, which would fund a communications repeater in Mud Bay.

“Currently there are a number of communications holes in the radio coverage of Sitka due to the large mountains surrounding the town, and now the road system is being extended 9 miles into Katlian Bay, where there is close to zero radio coverage because of a large mountain,” Police Chief Robert Baty wrote in a memo to the Assembly. “This repeater will cover all of the emergency response agencies in Sitka (Police, Fire and EMS, and Search and Rescue).” 

– Assembly direction for the closeout of Sitka Community Hospital accounts. The motion in the packet refers to direction given at the Jan. 12 meeting in executive session. The motion is to “in accordance with SGC 4.40.040, write-off certain unpaid accounts with Sitka Community Hospital, hereby deemed to be uncollectible or not in the best interests of the municipality to continue to collect, as identified and considered in Executive Session at the regular meeting of the Assembly on January 12, 2021, and direct the Municipal Administrator and Finance Director to take the necessary action to write-off those unpaid accounts as appropriate under SGC 4.40.040, and, further, direct that the specifics of those accounts remain confidential to the extent and as required by law.”

– an appeal filed by Andrew Friske to allow the city to consider a sales tax refund for the sales tax they paid to build their home at 420 Kramer Avenue, which was destroyed in a 2015 landslide. Since the Friskes missed the filing deadline, a waiver is needed for the appeal to be considered, city staff said.