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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-04-12 Harbor Commission SummaryKENAI ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Kenai City Hall John Williams, Chairman AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. AGENDA APPROVAL 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of February 15, 1983 5. GUEST SPEAKERS 6. COMMUNICATIONS Many communications are in your packet for information. 7. REPORTS a. Trip to Juneau - Chairman Williams and Commissioner Quesnel 8. OLD BUSINESS 9. NEW BUSINESS 10. PERSONS PRESENT NOT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD 11. ADJOURNMENT KENAi ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Kenai City Hall John Williams, Chairman 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL Present: John Williams,. Allen Houtz, Paul Weller, Leon Quesnel, M.W. Thompson Absent: Tom Thompson and Marvin Dragseth, both excused 3. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION :~ Commissioner Weller moved, seconded by Commissioner Quesnel to approve the agenda. There were no objections 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of February 15, 1983 Commissioner Williams stated that "far the record, copies of these minutes were~ sent to the City Council last week With the motion in question circled in red". MOT ION: Commissioner Weller moVed to apProve the minutes as read, seconded by Commissioner Quesnel Minutes were approved by unanimous consent. 5. GUEST SPEAKERS None 6. COMMUNICATIONS a. Letter from PNWA to Corps 'of Engineers The Commission reviewed the letter and asked that a letter be sent to PNWA thanking them for their support of the City of Kenai's reconstruction of the boat ramp. KENAI ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Page b. Letter to TAMS Engineering, from Keith Korn. eli. s Chairman Williams stated that the efforts of the department were appreciated in reviewing the Contract for modifiCationS to the boat ramp, however, many of the items mentiOned did not necessarily have to go into the contract at this particular time. Commissioner Weller suggested a member of the engineering department be asked to attend those meetings dealing with such details in order to avoid delays that will be costly and also avoid duplication of efforts. An engineer present would hear exactly what was going on and would not have to do a second review. MOTION~ Commissioner Weller moved to request that to prevent unnecessary delays with our programs that the Council assign an engineer to attend the Harbor Commission meetings so that the CounCil and Administration can stay abreast of what the Harbor Commission is doing, seconded by Commissioner Quesnel. Motion passed unanimously. i.c. Public Notice frOm Corps of .EngineeKs: Modification of Permit Only one adverse comment was received concerning the dredge material disposal site. Included is letter' from U.S. EnVironmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service. The'seCond letter indicated that the dUmpings'of the dredge material at 9th and K would "intrude into areas now available to water foul and serve no stated purpose, we believe alternative upland areas are available, however we will not object 'to permit issuance provided the following condition is made a part thereof, that the dredge fill material not be deposited in wetland areas". As an alternative Chairman Williams suggested that the material could be jetted across the river to the far bank where there is virtua±ly no wildlife. At. this point there is no danger of tides and draining back into the river. It was decided that if these agencies were objecting to the dUmping of the dredge material at this point, they most certainly would object to the proposed harbor at this same point. A letter will be sent to TAMS asking for their consideration and coments. It had~been understood in the past that if the project lay within'the 4' tracts indicated as the boat launCh area, there would be no problems such as mentioned in the two letters. Commissioner Houtz asked if the City, were going to pursue the boat ramp project by itself. Chairman Williams indicated that it will be KENAI ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting April 12, 1983 Page 3 pursued, Commissioner Houtz asked if his understanding was correct in that money was available to do that work, Chairman Williams indicated that there was money available. Commissioner Houtz then asked if there was a problem, since "we're pretty well shot in the foot as far as actually get'ting anything done in time to be used this season" and Kornells letter indicates a September start and is there a problem with that, answered no, if Council approves the spending of that money. Commissioner Houtz then asked if only one permit exists, Chairman Williams stated he felt there was and that permit entails the entire project. Commissioner Houtz asked if TAMS put a package together with the boat ramp separate and is it ready for bid. Answer, no, Kornelis apparently reviewed the entire project and what was needed was just the ramp at the time. Commissioner Houtz stated that since the project was so far behind, should the Commission not forge ahead and try for the September date, answer yes, the problem seemed to lie in the fact that fishing season starts June 27th and the City could not feasibly start construction in the middle of fishing season, therefore if the project cannot get started and go for bid by May 1, September is the lo. gical date. Two Very Important items, 1) Horton specifically said on February 15th that there was no problem obtaining the permit for the ramp itself, this permit must be obtained to get the bigger job done, but the money isn't availabie for the bigger job, so we don't need to wait for this permit, therefore to be resolved is 2)do we have authorization in terms of a permit to just the boat ramp._~ Letter"~to .go to TAMS. Chairman Williams informed the Commission that he had received a phone call from TAMS asking if there were some holdup or dissatisfaction from the City Administration or Council since things were moving so slowly. TAMS was in a positiOn where, if it was sure the City was not going ahead with the bid on schedule, they would have to pull some of their engineers off to go to other Projects until they again heard from the City. Discussion came back to the letter submitted by Keith Kornelis, indicating that the comments went beyond the scope of the proj~ect at hand and if the modifications that were recommended were Put into the contract, the' entire project cost would come prohibitive and could be added at a later date. Items suggested such as parking lots, Signs,' (requested 3 years ago to the public works department)' 80 concrete Planks' to be Stockpiled, etc. Ail commissioners agreed that these were good ideas and will be considered depending upon the available money .but should not be added at this time as they will delay the process. In order to bring together some of the questions asked above and tentative answers, Chairman Williams requests a status report from administration on, 1) the application for the permit from the Corps of Engineers, 2) status KENAI ADVISORY HARBOR. COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Page 4 of the boat ramp project only, 3) status of entire turning basin and fuel ramp project, and the following questions: a) has the City Engineer completed his reView, b) have the plans and request,~for changing'in the specifications been sent to TAMS, c) what is the anticipated date for bidding the project, d) what is the anticipated beginning date of the actual construction. The Harbor Commission requests action of the City Council at it's April 20th meeting as to its recommendation in the minutes of February 15, .1983 for the issuance of the proposed contract to TAMS. "Further, the Harbor Commission requests closer communications between the Administration and members of the Harbor Commission in the future." Support seems to be missing that at one time was strong.' The Commission is trying to show the community that the City is trying to provide some additions to our facilities. A memo will go to Bill Brighton regarding an administrative assistant. NOTE: Councilman Wagoner entered. 7. REPORTS a. Trip. to Junea.u Commissioner Quesnel informed the Commission that on March 24th he and Chairman Williams travelled to Juneau and met with the Governor, Lt. Governor, members of the Senate and Legislature along with several others, however the Commissioner was impressed with the legislature although not favorably so, alot of activity was going on, although if it was productive is a question. The overall picture, after having visited with these ladies and gentlemen was that "have you seen the other guy". Commissioner Weller asked how well the two commissioners were received. Commissioner Quesnel stated that they were received well, time given to them, however no committment or. promise or hope. "It should be a lesson to the voters that the one most powerful man can't do a thing for the Peninsula". Hugh Malone had stated that he would try to put together a coalition of Peninsula delegates who would work together to forge some type of a financial package that they could bring back to the Peninsula, whether or not that package would include the 1.75 million dollars is yet to be seen. Tom Wagoner informed the Commission that Bill Brighton has been in touch with Royce and either a bill was introduced by Malone or was going to be introduced for the money requested. Commissioner Houtz asked Councilman Wagoner if the proposal to let the contract for the boat ramp project by itself come before the City Council yet, Councilman Wagoner stated that he wasn't sure, the whole packet came before the Council but was not sure that they were told there was a plan to separate Out phases. Chairman Williams KENAI 'ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Page 5 had made a presentation stating that the only thing we could get along with was the boat ramp that night, so what the~Council has seen is only the whole package is unaware that there are separate phases. Commissioner Houtz understood that this was indeed what was happening, the Council is confused about the phases, the boat ramp with the small basin and fuel float as two projects; the boat ramp by itself and the dredging and the building of the grid which are two separate projects and the third being the contract which was intended.to carry on further studies to define the ultimate project which is the phase beyond either of those first two. At this point, the Harbor Commission needs to send a specific proposal to the City Council that they approve the boat ramp project by itself so that the funds that have already been committed for this part of the harbor work is put aside and committed to doing that first step. A problem exists in that the money needs to be approved before the first phase can go to bid, in addition, thank Mr. Kornelis for his. comments, perhaps retain the sign suggestion since that had been a previous~ request some years back, to make it comply with the bid procedures for the city. "To make a compromise, we'll buy the signs since you haven't been able to do it over the last .2½ years, we'll include that in this project, but the additional dirt work is just expanding the scope of the job, not an acceptable thing to do at this time, it's a good idea, but we're not going to spend the money right now to do that, and that is the harbor cmmission's recommendation to the City Council". That's the whole reason for having us coming down here to meet, is to advise them, and that is what we should do. Having an engineer here would save so many steps...~ Councilman Wagoner suggested that the City set up at least a minimum of three specific maintenance periods on those ramps after they're put in and brought~up t° snuff, including putting gravel in there, compacting it, once in spring, once mid-summer, once in the fall, or it will be the same way it is now. Councilman Wagoner explained the bid process to be: if the Council passes the proposal and puts in the specifications that all bids and all bidders must be ready to proceed with their work on a specific date, and not given alot of time to get the bond since there is nothing that says how much time must be given, it still could be feasible to get the ramp repaired before fishing season starts. It doesn't take long to get the pilings into the muck down there. MOTION: Commissioner Houtz moved that the HArbor Commission recommends to the City Council that the bid package prepared by the TAMS engineering firm on the. boat launch ramp only be released for bid as soon as TAMS has brought the document into compliance with the City of Kenai forms and the bid package will be expanded to include 10 spare concrete planks in accordance with Mr. Kornelis' letter of March 28th. It is the Commission's opinion that at this time the additional scope of the work proposed by Mr. Kornelis is not appropriate for this project, seconded by Commissioner Weller. KENAI ADVISORY HARBOR COMMISSION Regular Meeting, April 12, 1983 Page 6 VOTE: Motion passed .by unanimous vote It was decided to hold the letter dictated by Chairman Williams until such time as the Harbor Commission decides it is necessary. 8. OLD BUSINESS None 9. NEW BUSINESS None 10. PERSONS PRESENT NOT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD None 11. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be set and the Commission notified at a later date. Respectfully submitted: et LoPer, SeCretary