Committee hears request for $977,504 to add SCADA controls to Central Peninsula landfill project

The Kenai Peninsula Borough finance committee opened a public hearing on Ordinance 2024-19-35, an appropriation request to add $977,504 to the Central Peninsula Landfill Leachate Infrastructure Improvements Project.

Brandy Harbaugh, finance director, said two large contracts for the project were awarded earlier in 2024 to Polar North Construction and Heartland Water Technology and that, through implementation, staff determined a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system is required to complete the project properly. "Purchasing and solid waste are requesting an additional $977,504 to be transferred from the general fund to be added to the project," she said.

Committee members asked for more technical detail about the scope and cost. One member noted the request appeared to reflect work that should have been in the original scope and asked how the need was not foreseen. Harbaugh said staff would contact project manager Mr. Hedges and follow up with answers and that, if needed, the committee could postpone formal action until the project manager could be present.

Harbaugh later added that the SCADA cost is comparable to standard control systems used elsewhere in borough facilities and that similar control systems can range in price (she referenced Siemens systems used in schools ranging from $300,000 to $900,000) and characterized this request as a standard-level SCADA system. The committee did not take a vote in the finance meeting; the ordinance remains scheduled for further hearings.