The Sitka Assembly will invite a Kodiak-based company to bid on the operation of a new, publicly-funded marine haulout. When the group met on Tuesday (1-28-25) it approved the invitation for Highmark Marine to bid on the haulout contract, but continued to hear pushback from industry folks who want it to be a city-run operation.
Highmark Marine manages the Kodiak shipyard and owns a marine fabrication business. Earlier this month, the Gary Paxton Industrial Park board of directors unanimously recommended the assembly invite Highmark to bid on haulout operations.
GPIP Executive Director Garry white said if the assembly voted yes, Highmark would quickly respond with its pricing- how much it would have to charge per-foot to run the haulout.
“Within three, three plus weeks, we should have an idea of where their their costs are, and then we can bring it to the GPIP board, and then bring it to this assembly…and then the community can also weigh in on whether costs are too high, too low,” White said.
The GPIP Board prefers private management of haulout operations, but Highmark is the only qualified company pursuing the contract. This has prompted concerns from Sitka’s fishing fleet and marine tradespeople, who want to see more competition in the process. Some have worried that Highmark’s position as a fabrication business would present a conflict, and some have continued to push for a city-run haulout.
Precision Boatworks owner Mike Litman told the assembly that he appreciates the urgency with which the board is trying to get a haulout up-and-running, but the decision of how it will be managed will have major impacts for years to come, and should take some time.
“Selecting from a choice of one candidate isn’t a promising start,” Litman said. “I think having the city operate the haul out is the best alternative for the following reasons — more money will stay in Sitka, since there will be no profits leaving town. The plan is reversible. If it becomes advantageous, we can hire a contractor at any time. The plan can also be corrected and refined. We’re not bound by a contract.”
Jeremy Serka, a marine fabricator said an open, city-operated boatyard would be more equitable.
“There has never been a boatyard that a municipality has developed and then put out to bid for a private operation,” Serka said of other haulouts throughout the state. “Even Kodiak, this Highmark yard, they ran their own yard to start out.”
Assembly member Chris Ystad said he understood the concerns, but wanted to see Highmark’s offer before going back to the drawing board.
“So it’s not over by sending this out, by any means. It will continue to go through the public process, and everyone will get a voice,” Ystad said. “I just feel like, right now, I don’t want to kill anything until we have something to actually judge.”
Assembly member Thor Christianson agreed that they should finish the process with Highmark, and said a city-run haulout wasn’t out of the question but it could drag out the timeline. Right now the first phase of haulout construction is underway, and expected to wrap this spring.
“I also would not be shocked if it comes back and we say no, because we can. We’ve done that in the past,” Christianson said. “The problem is, if we did have to run it, it might not open quite so fast, because we’d have to gear up to do it.”
The assembly unanimously agreed to let Highmark present its bid. If it’s approved by the GPIP Board, it will come back before the assembly for a final vote.
