Anchorage Assembly weighs Girdwood road contract that drew one bid

The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to consider a contract Tuesday on its consent agenda for Western Construction & Equipment to plow, grade and repair Girdwood Valley roads for up to nine years, worth as much as $10.8 million.

The contract covers snow and ice control, grading, road repair, drainage work and sweeping in the Girdwood Valley Service Area, with crews working as needed through purchase orders. The first term runs through April 30, 2031, capped at $1.2 million a year. Two two-year renewals, by mutual consent, would raise the ceiling to $10.8 million. The city guarantees Western no minimum amount of work, and funding after 2026 depends on future appropriation, according to the memo Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted to the Assembly.

Western held the previous five-year contract, and its new hourly rates are higher. A staff table in the Girdwood Board of Supervisors' Sept. 21 packet shows a grader rising from $140 to $200, a loader from $85 to $180 and an excavator from $50 to $175. The board's draft minutes record that "price increases will need to be incorporated into the budget."