ANCHORAGE —
Tribal leaders from where the school was planned to be built in Kivalina say they did not know about the assembly’s December trip beforehand, KTUU-TV reported Tuesday.
“I just learned on the phone that this is the third meeting that the Assembly has had on this proposal,” said Stan Hawley, Kivalina’s tribal administrator, who called in to testify by phone at the Dec. 16 meeting. “So that tells me that these meetings should be relayed to the Native village of Kivalina, likewise, way beforehand so that we can prepared and be available.”
Costs for the trip included more than $49,000 for hotel expenses, $32,000 for airfare and about $35,000 for daily allowances and meeting fees.
Borough Mayor Clement Richards’ proposal to award a no-bid contract to Remote Solutions for construction of the school was voted down at the Dec. 16 meeting.
An attorney for the school district had said the proposal might violate a state law that requires competitive bidding on such projects and district officials argued they could do the job for less money.
“This decision should not be made in Seattle, Washington,” school district director of property services Craig McConnell testified at the meeting. “It should be made here in our region. So people can speak in person.”
Patrick Savok, Richards’ chief of staff, said the mayor suggested Seattle as the venue for the trip and that the meeting was a matter of timing and convenience.
“I don’t think there was any withholding of public involvement in any way, shape or form,” Savok said. “The meeting just happened to coincide where all assembly members were present.”
The $115,000 trip came as the Northwest Arctic Borough, which represents 11 villages near the Arctic Circle, has received reduced funding from a state revenue sharing program in each of the last three years.
