The City of Unalaska is finally moving ahead with construction of its new wastewater treatment plant. 

At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, councilors voted unanimously to award an engineering and design contract for Phase I of the project to Bristol Engineering Services Corporation.

Councilor Dennis Robinson noted the contract was somewhat unusual.

“I just wanted to state that I don’t particularly like the idea of giving contracts out to indiv[uals] or to anybody without going out to bid, but I think in this specific instance it’s warranted.”

City Manager Chris Hladick explained that the City didn’t put the project out to bid because it’s on a tight timeline.  The City has been in ongoing litigation with the Environmental Protection Agency via the Department of Justice over wastewater treatment.  The parties have come to an agreement, although it won’t be made public until the end of February.  Hladick says the project needs to move forward in the interim and Bristol is the best company to do it. 

“They have a lot of information about this project and they are the design firm we need to hire.  In fact if we did go out to bid for it, I believe it would be a formality, that they would win it anyways because of the intensity that they’ve been involved with this just in the last 6 months is amazing.”

Council also addressed the DOJ settlement in an executive session during the meeting.

In other business, councilors were briefed during a work session on proposed changes to the planning and zoning code.  City Planning Director Erin Reinders said the three most significant changes would be requiring 10 foot easements on any new lots, changing the set-back for corner residential lots, and reducing minimum lot size to 6,000 square feet.

The changes provoked considerable discussion from councilors worried about what the requirements would mean for future development, but no action was taken.

Council also discussed the Mayor and Council Travel Policy during work session.  Back in November there was some disagreement about how to interpret and apply the policy.  Councilor Dick Peck suggested amending it to read:

 “Any travel that is authorized by the Council and would benefit the city.”

City Manager Chris Hladick also suggested changing the per diem to a flat rate, as opposed to the destination dependent rate currently used. Councilors made several other wording suggestions and asked that the policy be included as an action item on a future agenda.

Using the existing policy, Council gave the okay for Mayor Shirley Marquardt and councilors Dennis Robinson, Dave Gregory, Zoya Johnson to travel to Juneau in March for the annual legislative lobbying trip.

Council also passed a resolution identifying the 2013 legislative priorities as $4 million for the new wastewater treatment plant, $6.5 million for paving Ballyhoo, $28 million for expanding the Unalaska Marine Center and funding for a fourth engine for the powerhouse.