City Composting Plans Funded, Firmed Up

Jay Barrett/KMXT

The Kodiak City Council approved a budget increase to the new composting facility Thursday night by adding a $3-million loan it received from the Alaska Clean Water Fund. It was necessary because, as City Engineer Mark Kozak explains, the bids for the facility came in higher than expected.

“The project currently has $3.3-million available for construction. When the bids were opened, they were higher than estimated,” Kozak said. “In order or award the project, we need to amend the project budget by including the $3-million Alaska Clean Water Fund loan into the budget at this time.”

Long time City Councilman Charlie Davidson said the project’s cost is largely due to how long it’s been in limbo.

“I just want to add information for the public that this has been an ongoing project since 1999 practically. And that’s when, in the middle of those years since then, the borough has been unable to accept any more of the bio-solids coming from the waste water treatment plant. It gives the public an idea how long it takes to get this program situated,” Davidson said. “This is a mandate from the EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. It shows you the price increases with each year of delay, how much more it costs us as a result.”

Thursday night the council also voted to award the construction contract to Brechan Enterprises for $3,390,350 and for construction project management to CH2M Hill for $394,000.

“It’s just great to see this facility finally get up and running. We see Juneau right now shut down their incinerator, which was how they were dealing with their bio solids and are now faced with the cost of barging all of their bio solids out of town. And I’m just so glad we don’t have to face those two options,” Haines said. “You know, what we’re doing here with this facility, and we worked very closely with CH2M Hill, and I can’t say enough great things about the people we work with them. They’re on the cutting edge of this technology. What we’re doing here is ecologically responsible and it’s also responsible to the tax payers, and gives us a long-term solution to this.”

The compost site will be on about three-and-a-half acres within the borough’s landfill fences.