The Haines Borough Assembly unanimously voted to award the $4.7 million Portage Cover boat launch project to Skagway-based company Hamilton Construction in a special meeting.
The project includes a two-lane boat launch ramp, parking lot and harbor park.
At a July 23 meeting, the borough assembly voted to postpone three of the smaller projects included in the scope of work, including electrical, paving and lighting until state funding is more secure.
Last month, two bids for the project came in about $1 million over engineer estimates with Hamilton Construction as the low bidder against Southeast Roadbuilders.
Public facilities director Brad Ryan recommended the assembly award the contract to Hamilton, cutting out work items to save $250,000 in landscaping, concrete memorials and restroom access stairs to the scope of work.
The assembly was set to award the contract to low bidder Hamilton at their July 18 meeting, but postponed the decision when Southeast Roadbuilder’s area manager and former owner, Roger Schnabel, submitted a 24-page formal protest requesting Hamilton be thrown out the day before the meeting.
Schnabel argued Hamilton did not comply with the terms of the bidding process, according to his interpretation of the timeline.
He contested that the unofficial bid results, which borough staff emailed on June 4 at 8:51 p.m., counted as the official posting of the bid, which would start the clock on when the apparent low bidder had to submit required paperwork to get the contract.
On Wednesday, the borough assembly unanimously denied Schnabel’s protest as recommended by borough attorney Brooks Chandler.
“The question about whether the list was submitted late, I think, is very easy to answer,” Chandler said on Wednesday. “It doesn’t make sense to me that sending an email to people saying that bid results are unofficial was intended by borough staff to be this posting notice of bids that is referenced in actual bidding documents.”
Assembly members Heather Lende, Tom Morphet and Stephanie Scott said they were concerned about some of the issues in Schnabel’s protest, but would like to rely on the attorney’s opinion.
“I believe that Southeast Roadbuilders has some real legitimate concerns, (but) not being an expert with construction contracts I feel I need to defer to the advice of our attorney,” Lende said.
The bidding documents were written by the project’s engineers and were not the standard documents the borough normally uses, which Lende said could have created some confusion.
Assembly members Will Prisciandaro and Sean Maidy said that the attorney’s explanation was clear.
The bid met with controversy last month when Schnabel privately contacted four assembly members to push for rebidding the project. He also accused Ryan of having something to gain from recommending the assembly award the contract to Hamilton, as Ryan was being considered for a manger position in Skagway.
Assembly member Brenda Josephson recused herself from the special meeting for conflict of interest—she works for another company owned by Schnabel. Borough manager Debra Schnabel also recused herself weeks earlier as Roger Schnabel is her brother.