Last week, Turnagain Marine Construction reached out to members of the Haines Borough administration and assembly asking for payment on an outstanding invoice for work it did developing a replacement for the Lutak Dock.
In a series of emails, company president Jason Davis disputes the borough’s reasoning behind refusing to pay a mid-April $2.8 million invoice, and lays out a timeline of communication between the borough, its advisors and the company that he said “demonstrated a lack of commitment,” to its contract and Turnagain.
Mayor Tom Morphet said he called a special assembly meeting after realizing the company had given the borough 7 days to respond to its July 10 email.
“You know, ideally we wouldn’t have special meetings but this is a $20 million contract and we’re in a sensitive position with our contractor, so I thought the meeting was warranted,” he said.
Morphet, who got the email along with borough manager Annette Kreitzer, assembly member Natalie Dawson and the borough’s consultant on the project R&M Engineering, said there is some dispute over the timeline and assertions that Davis lays out in his email.
Davis did not respond to an email Sunday seeking clarification on his email to the borough.
“I think, you know, we’re getting back into the history of what’s happened here since January and they are providing a history we don’t agree with entirely,” Morphet said.
Ultimately, he said the borough was billed for work it did not authorize the company to do.
“The way this is supposed to work is, they ask us to do something, we ask the federal government to authorize it, they do it and then the federal government sends the money,” he said. “They’re not supposed to be acting without authorization.”
Assembly members met Monday and before they went into executive session assembly member Natalie Dawson laid out for the handful of people in the room and online what Turnagain is asking for, including:
- That the borough designate an “owner’s representative” to act on behalf of the Haines Borough – essentially wanting to be told who is in charge.
- Gives notice that Turnagain reserves the right to stop work if its not paid $275,690 on an outstanding invoice and if the borough does not provide financial assurance that it has the funding to pay Turnagain for work it has already done
- Demands written assurance that the borough will adhere to its contract with Turnagain (notice of claim for relief)
The assembly met with its attorneys for about two hours in a closed-door session; Morphet said the assembly directed attorneys to respond given that it is clear Turnagain’s communication was, at least in part, written by lawyers.
“This isn’t a lawsuit, this is kind of a little dance that’s going on between lawyers,”he said.
Morphet said the borough agreed to pay for some of a performance bond but is still disputing some of the work the company invoiced.
“We’re agreeing to pay for some things and we’re questioning other things in that invoice,” Morphet said.
The assembly also directed manager Kreitzer to make sure Turnagain received a response by July 17.