The newly elected leaders of the Haines borough have shown an interest in a different design for the Lutak dock rebuilding project. Recent communications from the contractor indicate the company is committed to the current design. A consultant says we are running out of time. Borough leaders are attempting to talk with the federal agency funding the project.
Turnagain Marine Construction has been hired by the Haines borough to rebuild the Lutak dock. A recent letter from the company president Jason Davis to Haines Borough Manager Annette Kreitzer has caused a stir. It says:that to date, Turnagains has completed work to the value of nearly $10M. It notes that local leaders have expressed an interest in changing the design of the dock. The letter ends in a request that the borough provide evidence of its capacity to pay Turnagain for its work.
The implications are that the borough could be on the hook to repay Turnagain that amount. Multiple attempts to speak with Davis were unsuccessful
Mayor Tom Morphet says Davis expressed a similar sentiment when they spoke on December 12th.
Morphet: “My conversation with him was that if we were to have a stop order, there would be damages of multiple millions of dollars. And he said that was for materials, and for shipping contracts, and it was apparent to me in that conversation that he had gone ahead.”
Manager Kreitzer says Turnagain acted on their own.
Kreitzer: “The contractor, and I understand it, they were making a conscious decision that there is a supply chain problem with getting steel, and I think they were concerned about our project, and so they decided at their risk to go ahead and order the steel in October.”
She says she was unaware of the purchase at the time.
Kreitzer: “We were unaware that they went ahead and purchased steel. You don’t know everything that your contractor is doing. I can’t know that, you can’t know that if you have a contractor.”
Kreitzer says she learned about the purchase through the letter, on November 17th. She says she did not act on it because she was on vacation out of town. She says when she returned three weeks later she started gathering a team to understand better the implications of the purchase and the letter. Kreitzer says she did not want to share her findings with KHNS before she could present them to borough assembly members.
Robyne Thaxton, a lawyer who was hired by the borough to advise on the contract, says the borough did not authorize the expenditure.
Thaxton: “They were not authorized to incur any costs that would be not reimbursable under the MARAD grant or anything like that. The borough did not authorize that.”
Thaxton says that apart from the implications of the steel purchase, a change of design would be difficult to implement within the federal grant’s timeline.
Thaxton: “Those deadlines, the September 20th 2024 deadline is set in stone.”
Thaxton says changing the design would mean restarting the permitting process from scratch, and would make it close to impossible to meet the deadlines and qualify for the grant money.
Mayor Morphet says he is trying to move the discussion forward as fast as possible. He has scheduled a special assembly meeting. And he is working on meeting with representatives from MARAD, the federal granting agency.
Morphet: “I just want to note that the assembly hasn’t yet, or the mayor hasn’t yet spoken directly with MARAD in terms of what is doable and what is not doable by September 30th. Lisa Murkowski’s staff has told us that we can make an ask, and that they can help us.”
The special meeting will take place in assembly chambers and on zoom, Friday 22nd at 3pm.