The municipality is now obligated to pay for the work the general construction manager has done so far — under a contract upgrade that hasn’t been approved — or else the city will face a lawsuit, city attorneys say.
A construction site for the East Anchorage homeless navigation center and shelter, adjacent to the former Anchorage Police Department headquarters, is seen on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022 near the intersection of Tudor Road and Elmore Road.
“It’s a big error,” LaFrance said. “And what’s to say we’re not going to continue to have errors? And what other kinds of errors are out there? Especially when we see the price balloon, and we have not yet seen an operations plan. This is a really big deal.” Under that expedited process, the contractor hired by the city for design and pre-construction work can be retained to finish the project, if the city chooses to amend the agreement. That means the city doesn’t solicit bids from other firms for the construction portion of the project. Instead, it negotiates the scope of the work with the original contractor and then gives them the go-ahead to begin.
Wilber also referred to previous Assembly legislation on the city’s homelessness plans, which have outlined the city’s intent to construct a shelter and navigation center, as reasons for the misstep. That resolution also made the funding contingent on a firm written commitment and good-faith effort from Bronson to convert the former city-owned Golden Lion Hotel into a substance misuse treatment center, conditions that several membersAccording to past interviews with Assembly member Felix Rivera, who chairs the Committee on Homelessness, the Assembly could kill this version of the project and move to find a different location for a navigation center and shelter.
“Of course, we did not get that step and we learned after the fact that the administration had moved forward with the project in a very significant way, without public input, without Assembly notification and approval. And, frankly, that jeopardizes the entire project — obviously. So I really don’t know where it will go from here,” LaFrance said.
And the city will still need to find another $6 million or more to have it fully ready and furnished.While the city is building a purpose-built facility for homelessness services, and so the costs may be higher than a usual project, ”I am just at the point where I’m still struggling to understand how the cost of this is in excess of what we would spend if we were to build, brick and mortar new, like full-scale construction,” he said.
“Frankly, the contractor has told us if we don’t continue and pour the foundation this year, we could see an additional cost of approximately a million dollars due to the work that will have to be done,” Demboski said. “There’s like a football field worth of rebar that has been laid.” “I personally fall into the camp — we should pay these folks — but that doesn’t mean that we should adopt the contract and move forward with the center,” he said.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Anchorage Assembly votes to use the Golden Lion as housing for homeless, not emergency shelterThe Anchorage Assembly decided that the city-owned, former Golden Lion Hotel will not be part of this winter's emergency homelessness response — but most Assembly members want to use its 85 rooms for non-emergency housing of the homeless.
Read more »
Anchorage Assembly pushes Bronson administration to open longer-term housing for homeless in former Golden Lion HotelThe Anchorage Assembly has withdrawn a contested proposal to open the city-owned former Golden Lion Hotel as an emergency homeless shelter this winter and has instead doubled down on using the building as longer-term housing.
Read more »
Digital Asset Bank Custodia Files Lawsuit in U.S. Court Over BNY Mellon's Crypto ApprovalCustodia alleges the Kansas City Federal Reserve Board of Governors showed favoritism over approval delays, while giving BNY Mellon a green light to engage in crypto custody.
Read more »
Walk through 2 million holiday lights in Marble Falls during free 44-day holiday celebrationMarble Falls’ annual Walkway of Lights is a 44-day holiday celebration where guests can walk through more than two million lights at a lakeside park.
Read more »