In the space of a week, the federal government dry cargo dock at Lutak became the center of intense discussion among federal, state and city officials. 

The dock was the subject of a public meeting March 10, and a further meeting among officials at the three governmental levels took place yesterday at the city council chambers.

According to Mayor Gail Wallace, yesterday’s meeting centered around determining an appraisal price for the dock which the federal government’s General Services Administration is attempting to dispose of, and which the state of Alaska and the City of Haines are interested in acquiring. The price still remains to be determined, Wallace said.

Present at the meeting were Vernon L. Barnes, director of the real property division of GSA and Cindy Brown, realty specialist for GSA from the federal level; state officials Donald Harris, Don Statter, Dave Ward, Keith Hart, and Dickerson Regan; city council members, the mayor, members of the city overall economic development committee, members of the city port development committee, and attorney Mike Holmes from the legal firm representing the city.

The city and state tentatively agreed to explore joint purchase of the dock pending an acceptable sale price which will be determined after a new appraisal by the firm of Hugh Thompson for GSA.

City and state officials have discussed the pros and cons of the acquisition brought up at the earlier meeting in an effort to come to an area of common understanding. 

GSA, who had planned to place the dock up for public bid almost immediately, will report back to the city in two or three weeks time, and will hold off putting the dock up for bid until at least that time. In the meantime, city and state officials will continue discussions to attempt to arrive at a satisfactory arrangement for the joint purchase of the dock, Wallace said. 

While awaiting word of sale price from GSA the state will conduct an engineering study of the condition of the dock to assist in determining an acceptable price.

If an agreement on price cannot be reached with GSA, the dock will then be made available for bid sale to the general public. 

The area to be sold is a tract of about 68 acres including the dry cargo dock and upland area across the Lutak road from the dock.