The clock is ticking on expanding the Portage Cove harbor.
Actually, two clocks.
Clock No. 1: The Haines Borough opened six bids Tuesday, starting a 60-day countdown to award a contract on the expansion’s first phase to one of the six firms. Those 60 days end Dec. 24. The apparent lowest bid came from Pacific Pile & Marine, ranging from $12.05 million to $13.26 million, depending on the size of the project.
Clock No. 2: Newly-elected assembly members Tom Morphet and Heather Lende called for an advisory public referendum on pieces of the overall expansion. The assembly will vote on this idea on Nov. 8. With a legally mandated 45-day delay from an assembly decision to a referendum, that would put the public ballot on Dec. 23.
And a referendum depends on whether the idea can get four assembly votes on Nov. 8 – which cannot be guaranteed.
The harbor expansion’s first phase is to install a steel breakwater barrier and fill up the harbor’s uplands area with the potential to make it a paved parking lot. It also covers some dredging.
The borough has $19.5 million in state money – a combination of a 2012 statewide construction projects bond and a legislative grant – allocated to the first phase. So far, $2.7 million has been spent on engineering and other preliminary work.
The borough aimed for a $15 million price tag for the first phase. The money is for construction, and will not cover annual maintenance costs.
Pacific Pile & Marine submitted a bid of $12.05 million for the basic project, a figure that included contingency money. The bid increased to $13.26 million when three pieces of additional work on dredging and the steel barrier are included.
“This was a godsend today. This was very good news,” said borough manager Bill Seward on Tuesday. He estimated that the $13.2 million apparent lowest bid leaves $1.5 million to $1.8 million that the borough can potentially set aside for the expansion’s second phase, which is installing a $3 million to $5 million ramp for sport fishing boats. Borough officials are seeking state money for the second phase.
The apparent second lowest bid came from Orion Marine at $13.14 million for the basic work and $14.3 million with the extra work.
The apparent third lowest bid came from Cruz Construction at $13.57 million for the basic project and $14.95 million with the three additional pieces of dredging and breakwater work thrown in.
The assembly scheduled a Nov. 2 workshop to be briefed on the details of the six bids in preparation to make a decision on the matter on Nov. 8.
Meanwhile, Morphet and Lende were sworn in Tuesday for their first assembly meeting. The campaign platforms of both called for a public referendum on whether to go ahead with all or parts of the harbor’s expansion. (Disclosure: Morphet owns the Chilkat Valley News.)
The pair introduced a resolution calling for the public referendum to include the entire project. The proposed referendum also calls for “yes” or “no” votes on individual parts of the four phases of the overall $37 million project.
Morphet and Lende proposed voters be asked to give thumbs up or down on the steel breakwater and the uplands fill-in parts of the first phase. The proposed referendum includes a vote on the sport boat launch ramp in the second phase. And it calls for votes on a drive-down float and more moorage in the third and fourth phases.
“I hope to get voter endorsements of the project, which would be the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. … There is going to be a lot more to this project (in the second through fourth phases), and we are going to have to pay for the extra work,” Morphet said.
Morphet argued that the public has not had a chance to say what exactly the majority supports in the harbor controversy.
Assembly member Margaret Friedenauer countered that 74 percent of the borough voters supported the harbor’s expansion in 2012 when $15 million for the project was included in a statewide construction bond ballot.
Lende, Morphet and Tresham Gregg wanted to set the assembly’s vote on Friday on whether to hold the referendum, which is the earliest legal date for such a decision. Then they pushed for next Tuesday for the assembly to decide on whether to hold the referendum.
The trio’s rationale was to start the clock on the 45-day waiting period as soon as possible so the referendum could be held earlier in December.
However, Friedenauer, Mike Case, Ron Jackson and Mayor Jan Hill defeated both moves – instead setting Nov. 8 for when the assembly will vote on whether to hold a referendum.
“This is a lot to digest in a real short time. … There are a lot of facets. … The timing is terrible,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile, nine Haines fishermen each told the assembly they want the harbor expansion to move ahead this year.
“I don’t see any reasons to hold this up. It’s the most inadequate harbor in the Southeast,” said fisherman Dennis Gudmundson.
Haynes Tormey noted he recently bought a new commercial fishing boat. “I don’t have a safe spot to put that vessel,” he said.