The Haines Borough appears ready to greenlight a Portage Cove expansion contract next Tuesday to Pacific Pile & Marine for $13.2 million.

Last Tuesday, the borough assembly voted 4-3 against holding a proposed public referendum on the scope of the expansion project. That removed the last opportunity to rethink the broad strokes of the project’s first phase.

This issue is so hot that roughly 80 people attended Tuesday’s special meeting.

Mayor Jan Hill and assembly members Margaret Friedenauer, Mike Case and Ron Jackson voted against the referendum. Assembly members Tresham Gregg, Heather Lende and Tom Morphet voted for the referendum.

Borough manager Bill Seward expects to put the first phase contract on next Tuesday’s assembly agenda.

On Wednesday, borough staff briefed the assembly on Pacific Pile & Marine’s bid, indicating the low bidder will receive the contract.

Pacific Pile & Marine submitted a bid of $12.05 million for the basic project, a figure that included some contingency money. The bid increased to $13.26 million when three pieces of additional work on dredging and the steel barrier were included.

The first phase of the harbor expansion 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.

All this means that the assembly will likely vote on whether to award the contract next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Morphet – who introduced the public referendum proposal that was defeated this week – said he will soon introduce legislation to require a public referendum on any borough project exceeding $5 million in costs.

Overall, the first phase appears on track to cost $17.6 million when other expenses are added. So $1.9 million of the $19.5 million in state money allocated to the first phase appears to be available for other work on the second through fourth phases of the harbor expansion.

Also Tuesday, the assembly voted unanimously for borough staff to ensure an analysis of the first phase’s economic ripple effects be completed by sometime in January.

Tuesday’s assembly referendum vote and the current set of bids address the first phase of the harbor expansion plans.

Morphet and Lende have been on the borough assembly since Oct. 25. 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 $33 million project.

Morphet and Lende argued they support improvements at the harbor, but are concerned about whether the majority of the public actually supports all or parts of the proposed expansion. That’s why they called for the referendum.

A complicating factor had been the Oct. 25 opening of first-phase bids, which started a 60-day clock that ends Dec. 24. In other words, the bids are considered valid until Dec. 24.

Meanwhile, there is a legal 45-day waiting period between the assembly approving a special referendum and when that public ballot can be held.

Lende, Morphet and Jackson called for a special meeting for last Tuesday on this one issue. That meant if it passed, such a referendum could have been held on Dec. 15 at the earliest.

On Tuesday, 32 people spoke on Morphet’s and Lende’s call for a referendum on the project.

Twenty-six speakers opposed the referendum proposal and wanted the first phase to begin this year. Five supported the referendum proposal. One person’s stance was not clear.

Referendum opponents argued many public meetings have been held on the subject in recent years, and the first phase needs to go forward as soon as possible.

“We need to get these bids out and get these contractors here,” said Norman Hughes, chairman of the port and harbor advisory committee.

“It’s choose Design A or what? Go back to zero? … Where’s your Plan B?” said Rob Goldberg, who chairs the borough’s planning commission, but was speaking as a private citizen.

“This is our money. … If we don’t do this, someone else will … This is an investment in our future,” said fisherman Haynes Tormey.

Meanwhile, referendum supporters countered that Haines has nothing to lose by holding a public ballot, while gaining confidence on knowing how the majority of people currently feel about the project. They contended public input frequently got sidetracked in the numerous and shifting sets of meetings on the subject.

They also argued that the long-term maintenance costs of the expanded harbor have never been calculated – along with no sources identified to pay for those costs.

“There’s only 2,000 people in this borough to pay for this money. I don’t think it is fair for people to pay this money and not have a vote on it,” said Joe Parnell.

“I don’t see where we have anything to lose by holding this,” said Paul Nelson.

Both sides accused each other of some deliberate political sleight-of-hand.

Resident Bill Rostad accused the referendum backers of wanting to schedule a public ballot when many fishermen – a group wanting the project on a fast track – would not be in Haines.

“I don’t like the timing of this event. It will take place when the maximum amount of harbor users will be out of town. That smells,” Rostad said.

Lende noted that she and Morphet requested that the first-phase bids not be opened on Oct. 25 – wanting to avoid starting the 60-day clock on awarding a contract. “We were roundly criticized for that,” she said.

Lende contended the arguments against delaying the first phase don’t hold water. She noted that the planning commission persuaded Seward to delay the bid-submittal deadline from Sept. 21 to Oct. 19. And then another few days were added to the delay because one bidder could not get a proposal to Haines in time due to snow, she added.

Ultimately, the assembly deadlocked 3-3 on Morphet’s and Lende’s proposal.

Morphet and Gregg argued that enough public objections and concerns have surfaced so that the assembly cannot have a good idea what the majority of the public wants.

“A vote will determine people’s sentiments. … Either way, the harbor wins,” Lende said.

Gregg said: “It’s only right that the taxpayers have a say in what government costs.”

On the other side, Case said: “I don’t think the people of Haines want us to go back to a (public) vote.”

“We have heard these things for the last 18 months,” Friedenauer said.

“If the (public) vote is 50 percent plus one, or even 60-40, I do not consider that a resounding mandate,” Jackson said.

With a 3-3 tie, Hill cast the deciding vote to kill the referendum proposal. “I intend to do whatever it takes to support the project. We need to go forward, and I’m not willing to delay,” Hill said.

Ultimately, the first phase is expected to cost about $17.6 million, said Brad Ryan, the borough facilities manager, and Shawn Bell, the borough’s harbormaster.

The math breaks down as follows:

The borough had $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, $2.9 million has been spent on engineering and other preliminary work. Pacific Pile & Marine’s bid is $13.2 million, including $500,000 in contingency money.

Those two figures total $16.1 million.

Also, the borough’s staff is budgeting $1 million for administration and inspections of the project, plus another $500,000 in extra contingency money.

That $1.5 million plus the $16.1 million equals $17.6 million – leaving $1.9 million to be applied for phases two through four.

Right now, borough staff calculates that the second phase – installing a ramp for sport fishing boats – will cost $3.5 million to $4.5 million. The borough is seeking a $3 million to $5 million grant from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for the second phase.

The third phase would add 39 boat slips to the 111 slips already in the harbor. The preliminary cost estimate is $4.7 million, Ryan and Bell said.

The fourth phase would add a boat ramp for commercial vessels with a preliminary cost estimate of $5.9 million.

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