By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly will discuss the future of the city-owned Marine Services Center on Katlian Street Tuesday night, including possibly selling the facility.
The discussion on the Marine Service Center is among a dozen items on the agenda at a regular Assembly meeting, which starts 6 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
It will be the first full meeting of the Assembly since three new members took office on Oct. 9. They are Valorie Nelson, Kevin Mosher and Mayor Gary Paxton.
City Administrator Keith Brady placed the Marine Service Center discussion on the ballot. Currently, the Seafood Producers Cooperative, which has a plant next door, is the only tenant. The facility was built nearly 30 years ago with a federal grant that came with restrictions, but those restrictions have expired, Brady said today.
“I’ve heard from the public and I’ve heard from Assembly members: sell land the city has into private hands for economic development or use,” Brady said. “If we want economic development we need to get land into the hands of private developers, and this is a first step.”
One idea is to put out a request for proposals and see what the response is.
“Generally, private business could do more than we can do,” Brady said. The facility has a concrete cold storage building and dock, and an adjacent open lot with a sheet steel-faced bulkhead on the water side.
One of the issues is the bulkhead. In 2015 the city requested $7.9 million from the state to “complete critical repairs,” because “the existing bulkhead is at risk of failure.”
A letter in the Assembly meeting packet from SPC said that it is interested in the details of any future request for proposals, but that the cooperative is not currently in a position to purchase the facility.
Brady said he hopes to have some good discussion, and get direction from the Assembly.
Also on the agenda is an update on the SEARHC offer to purchase the Sitka Community Hospital business.
Brady said SEARHC and the city are working through the due diligence process, and the city is expecting SEARHC to put together a “definitive agreement” in the coming weeks.
“A lot of things should converge in two weeks,” Brady said. As far as how negotiations have been going, he said, “I think the city will get what it needs.”
Also on the agenda are ordinances related to a seaplane base project on Japonski Island, and state grants. Another ordinance up for final reading is on an updated procurement policy.
An executive session is scheduled to update the Assembly on lawsuits for damages filed by two officers in the Sitka Police Department.
