KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly can look forward to being very busy in the coming months. The assembly met with Borough Attorney Cheryl Brooking last night during a work session to discuss the plan of attack for approving and building the Long Term Care Facility near Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center.
Brooking presented the plan to assembly members, and stressed the tight timeline the borough is working with.
Many of the decisions regarding the facility will be brought to the assembly during a future meeting, but Brooking helped explain other items that the assembly will have to decide on, like approving a contract for a construction manager.
— (LTC Plan 1 : 48 "Rather than just go with a low bid contractor, this is a construction manager that is hired at the beginning and works with the architect, the engineers, through the initial phase of the project, at that point provides a guaranteed maximum price. At which time the assembly would either accept that and go forward, or the project stops. There’s a lot of stop go places here, that’s one of them there. If that guaranteed maximum price is acceptable, then the next phase of the contract is entered into. The construction manager then is responsible for hiring all the subcontractor, you have one contract with the construction manager, who then handles all of it basically from start to finish.")
The stop/go points that Brooking refers to means if various items, like the price of the project, were not approved by the assembly, then the project would cease to continue. Another point that this possibility arises is on the hospital side of things. Providence must acquire a Certificate of Need for the facility, which is anticipated to be obtained in the coming months.
The seemingly small possibility that the certificate will not come through was not OK with assemblyman Mel Stephens. In fact, Stephens said he wasn’t necessarily on board with the project in general, based on the short timeline brought before the assembly.
— (LTC Plan 2 :59 "I think this project is unrealistic. I do not think it can be done within the time frame that you have. I do not think the KIB has the staff qualifications and expertise to pursue this. Now I realize that I was on the minority in voting against going ahead with the design of this. I will just say well I don’t intend going around trying to block everything. I am not going to vote for something that I think is going to endanger the KHS project. And right now when I look at this, the high school project is in bad, bad shape now. It looks to me like we’re about a year behind time. And here we’re talking about oh this thing has to be done in the summer. So, fine, well I see the nice diagrams and one thing or another. There are lots and lots of things that I worry about on this, and I’m not simply going to rubber stamp something that’s put in front of me.")
No decisions were made during the work session and ultimately, portions of the project will require a public hearing and be put to a vote by the assembly. The building, if built, will be owned by the borough, but leased to Providence. That lease contract is still being negotiated and must be approved by both the borough and Providence.
Another item that will allow a public hearing and be brought before the assembly again is the potential for covering the cost of construction through bond sales.
If all goes according to plan, the Long Term Care Facility is expected to be built and operational by January 1, 2014, which leaves about a year for assembly decision making and construction.
