Engineers speak out against proposed ordinance

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough Assembly Manager John Moosey proposed a change to borough code that would prevent contractors that completed preliminary work from being able to bid for a complete job. While Moosey’s intent had the borough’s best interests at heart, members of the engineering community came to Tuesday’s meeting to voice their displeasure at Moosey’s proposed change. A total of nine people spoke during public comment on the proposed Ordinance 20-009 adopting MSB 3.08.225 and all nine speakers voiced their opinion that the ordinance would be harmful.

“We want people who bid to say the Mat-Su Borough is trying to do the right thing. I may not win but at least I know that I’ve got a shot,” said Moosey.

Charles Kenley was the first speaker representing and engineering firm to voice his concern over the ordinance. Kenley said that he had received a call from Wastewater and Septage Advisory Board Chair and PE with the Borough Mike Campfield to investigate the cost estimate to repair the Shirley Towne Bridge that would have provided a second egress to Willow residents when Willow Creek flooded Deneki Road late last year, isolating residents and continuing to provide difficulty of transport for nearly a month.

“I think we do a good job but we don’t do a perfect job and so what my attempt was was to provide some consistency, some clarification, make this as much a black and white issue as we could,” said Moosey. “Regarding Houston Middle School, we had an instance that we went out I believe for an RFP to do some preliminary work on design and engineering for HMS. It came back. Once we received that, Federal guidelines would not allow this company to bid on the full blown process. They appealed to me and I said no, you’re not going to be able to bid. I’m not risking any FEMA dollars.”

Moosey hoped that adhering to a Federal guideline would help ensure the availability of Federal funds for Borough jobs, a concept that many engineers disagreed with. Working with HDL, Dave Lundin was instrumental in removing the ice that had flooded Deneki Road for the Willow residents following the Willow Creek flood as HDL was hired by the borough. Lundin was one of the star-studded list of engineers who spoke out against Ordinance 20-009.

“This ordinance could cost us over $2 million in unrealized revenue in road bond projects alone,” said Lundin. “The ordinance is unnecessary with unintended consequences and will not achieve the desired result.”

Lundin and HDL worked on five of the 18 road bond projects issued by the Borough. Many of the members of the public who spoke in opposition to the ordinance at the Assembly meeting noted that firms would have to choose whether to do preliminary work on a project or to hold out for the project bid, resulting in lower quality work on either end depending on the project. Speakers also noted that Moosey’s perception that firms completing preliminary work gained an advantage in bidding was false. Following the mountain of testimony in opposition, Moosey asked that the ordinance be tabled indefinitely.

“This wasn’t even a foul ball, it was a complete whiff,” said Moosey.