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Mayoral veto upheld on FY2026 facilities contract after override vote fails
Summary
Kodiak Island Borough Assembly failed to muster the two-thirds vote required to override Mayor Scott Arndt’s veto of contract FY2026-6 awarding borough facilities work to MK Enterprises LLC. The veto cites changes in staff bid-evaluation methods; several contractors and assembly members urged rebidding or clearer procurement guidance.
The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly on Sept. 11 failed to override Mayor Scott Arndt’s veto of contract FY2026-6, a facilities contract the assembly had approved at an earlier meeting. The motion to override required five affirmative votes of the seven-member assembly and did not reach that threshold, so the veto stands.
The veto letter, read into the record by the mayor, said staff had “continually alters their method of bid analysis” and criticized how staff treated what the mayor described as “differential per pricing” and “nonresponsive bids.” The veto letter cited “Alaska statute 44.62” and borough procurement guidance in arguing bidders were not properly notified of a shift in evaluation practice.
The issue drew public comment from contractors who said the changes in review methods were opaque. “We’ve been asking staff questions in reference to the way they process bids for over a year,” said Jeremy Williams, who identified himself as the owner of a maintenance company and a bidder on the contract. Williams said his bid used a flat fee approach and that prior practices and a previous assembly decision had allowed different formats.
A Sept. 3 letter from Brecon Construction’s vice president of operations, Yascha Sabetnoff, urged awarding to AIM (identified in the letter as the low bidder under the historical-average method) and recommended adding historical quantities to the bid items to improve future comparisons. The packet before the assembly also referenced a contractor protest that remained outstanding.
Assembly member Jared moved to override the veto. Debate centered on whether staff had simply applied existing rules to flag allegedly “unbalanced” bids or whether the procurement approach had in practice been different previously and required a rebid for transparency. Some members said new staff were enforcing written standards the borough should follow; others said the process had been inconsistent over time and recommended restarting the procurement to avoid litigation and to improve transparency.
The motion to override did not receive the five votes required from the full membership and the mayoral veto therefore remained in effect.
The assembly directed no formal follow-up motion on the floor at the Sept. 11 special meeting; staff and the manager will address next steps for the procurement process and any pending protests outside the meeting record.
