Kodiak Island Borough assembly reviews ARPA spending options, bids for mental‑health building, firefighter gear and other capital requests

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly met Dec. 17 in a work session to review a slate of contracts, procurement requests and code amendments and to discuss how to obligate the borough's remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds before the end of the month.

The meeting opened with a citizen comment noting environmental and emergency‑response risks posed by damaged lithium‑ion batteries in electric vehicles. "If it were to get fire or get damaged or get recalled it is going to cause a huge environmental problem and a huge expense," said Patrick Ducelot, a resident who asked the assembly to consider underwriting or otherwise preparing for possible hazardous‑materials response costs.

Assembly discussion then turned to the borough's uncommitted ARPA balance. Staff reported a remaining obligated grant balance of $1,712,770.97 and reminded the assembly that funds must be obligated — defined as having a fully executed contract — by Dec. 31. Borough staff urged the assembly to consider obligating more than the exact remaining balance as a contingency buffer in case contracts fall through before year end.

"If you have obligated $1.9 million to that $1.7 [million] and one of the other contracts in part or in whole falls through, then we have other areas to backfill that amount," a staff member said. The assembly discussed a list of candidate projects and previously allocated items, including roof and skylight work and sewer lift station improvements, and asked staff to prepare ordinance language that would reallocate amounts as the assembly directs.

Bids and contracts: mental‑health building abatement

Staff presented the results of a recent competitive solicitation for phase‑one demolition and abatement of two vacant mental‑health buildings that were vacated in June 2022 and later damaged by a frozen domestic heat pipe. The borough received five bids. Far North Services LLC was identified by staff as the lowest responsible…