LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Judge Rules for City In Dock Bid Lawsuit
By Sentinel Staff
A judge has ruled in favor of the City and Borough of Sitka in a lawsuit filed by former mayor Marko Dapcevich, who challenged the process by which the city awarded the contract to build a dock at Gary Paxton Industrial Park.
In his Jan. 9 decision, Superior Court Judge Trevor Stevens granted the city’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that the city’s bid award on the dock did comply with the city charter’s competitive bid requirement.
“It’s very good news,” City Attorney Brian Hanson said Wednesday.
Stevens’ ruling was filed late Tuesday in Ketchikan, and Hanson said he first saw it Wednesday morning.
“It was a favorable ruling in every respect,” Hanson said, summing up the judge’s decision.
“We followed the code properly. It was OK the way our proposals went out and were ultimately awarded – our contracting methodology followed a code that was in compliance with the charter.”
He also hailed the judge’s finding that the mayor and the administrator had immunity from personal liability in the performance of their official duties.
Dapcevich’s suit arose from the city’s Nov. 22, 2016, award of a $6.8 million design-build contract to Turnagain Marine Construction Co. for a multi-use dock at the industrial park. The final contract was negotiated with Turnagain, which had been determined by city officials to be “the best apparent value proposer” among the three finalists in city’s call for design-build bids on the dock.
On Jan. 20, 2017, Dapcevich sent a letter to the city demanding that the city cancel the Turnagain contract and readverise the project for award in compliance with the competitive bidding requirement in the city charter. The Assembly did not act on his demand, and he filed suit against the city on March 30. He claimed that the “design-build” approach is not consistent with the charter’s competitive bid requirement for major projects.
On April 18 he amended his suit to add City Administrator Mark Gorman and Mayor Matt Hunter as individual defendants. On May 9 the Assembly passed an ordinance in which the city would defend Hunter and Gorman for actions the two officials took in their official duties.
In his 69-page ruling on the cross motions for summary judgment, Judge Stevens held that the city had complied with the requirements of the charter and the detailed city ordinances on the award of city contracts, and that the ordinances were not prohibited by the city charter Section 14(a), competitive bidding.
He stated that “the court finds that the city’s ordinances relating to the use of the design-build alternative contracting method are not prohibited by the charter’s ‘competitive bidding’ requirement as the method involves a public solicitation for proposals, the proposals satisfied the ‘bid’ requirement, the process is competitive, the ‘bid’ review process involves the neutral application of previously noticed appropriate scoring criteria, including price, and the determination of the best value option basically involves the same considerations as are expressly stated in SGC 3.16.070, which are generally recognized criteria.”
Before concluding that the dock contract was properly awarded, Stevens devoted 11 pages of his written opinion to Dapcevich’s argument that the city administrator and mayor should be held personally liable for all costs to the city related to their alleged failure to abide by the city charter.
The judge concluded that the officials are protected by “qualified official immunity.”
“The Alaska Supreme Court has recognized ‘that some form of immunity for public officials is necessary simply to insure that government continues to function,’” he said in his written opinion.
The qualified official immunity rule developed by the Supreme Court “applies when the public official is alleged to have violated a statute, a constitutional mandate, an ordinance or a charter provision if the act at issue is discretionary, ... the official was acting within the scope of his or her official duties and the act did not violate clearly established law...,” Stevens ruled.
Dapcevich was represented by Juneau attorney Joe Geldhof, and the city by Anchorage Attorney Michael Gatti.
Dapcevich will have 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court or file a motion to reconsider, Hanson said.
“We’re going to have to decide whether to file for attorney fees,” he said.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.