Port meeting scheduled for Friday

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- In an effort to dedicate more time to the issue, three assembly members exercised their right to call a special meeting to discuss an upcoming arrangement with wood-chipping company NPI LLC to finance a deep-water dock at Port MacKenzie.

Assembly member Jody Simpson made the initial request Friday for the special work session, which will be held Friday at 3 p.m. in borough assembly chambers. Assembly members Jim Colver and Mary Kvalheim supported Simpson's request.

Three items are on the agenda for discussion at the work session. An ordinance accepting and appropriating $3 million from NPI for improvements related to the Port MacKenzie deep-water dock construction and a dock use and non-exclusive right agreement between the borough and NPI will be discussed, along with a funding arrangement for dock improvements. The funding arrangement proposed would allow the borough to sell up to $10 million in certificates of participation or other funding mechanisms to finance the improvements. A certificate of participation allows investors to buy shares of the revenue expected to be generated by lease agreements.

"I really wanted a little more time outside the regular meeting to discuss these items," Simpson said, "outside of our regular short agenda … We thought the time would be better spent focusing on these three items than dividing our time between all of the other items on the [Aug. 19] agenda."

The worksession will be held in addition to a public hearing on the matter that will be discussed at the assembly's regularly scheduled Aug. 19 meeting. The assembly is expected to take action on the items at that time.