Haines Assembly will start weighing two bids to run its cruise dock Nov. 17

The Haines Borough Assembly agreed Tuesday to start weighing two bids to run the town's cruise dock at a Nov. 17 work session, but set no date to decide which, if either, it will pursue.

A company formed by Huna Totem Corp., the Hoonah village corporation that owns Icy Strait Point, and Survey Point Holdings, with Viking as a partner, wants a 35-year lease on the Port Chilkoot dock. Global Ports Holding, which says it runs 35 cruise ports around the world, wants 15 or 20 years.

The borough owns the dock, which brought in about $712,000 last fiscal year. It hasn't decided whether to lease it at all and could keep running it itself.

The Huna Totem group would pay $9 per passenger, with at least $250,000 a year, and its bid includes a buyout option for the borough. It plans a floating dock and a bigger tender pier for the 2028 season, and it forecasts that passengers at the dock will more than double over the next decade.

Global Ports offers options ranging from $1.3 million up front plus $100,000 a year for 15 years to $425,000 a year for 20 years with nothing up front. It would cap passengers at 175,000 a year at first, rising in steps to 275,000 by the 2040s.

It wants the borough to pay about $2.85 million for dock improvements, including a covered shelter and decking. It would give $100,000 each to the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation and Haines High School if selected.

Borough staff had proposed starting with a side-by-side look at the bids Oct. 29, then a Nov. 17 session on the borough's priorities.

Assembly member Eben Sargent first proposed skipping straight to priorities, saying the borough put out its request "without a lot of specifics." "I think we need to determine what we want out of this," he said.

Assembly member Cheryl Stickler asked to combine the two, saying a side-by-side review would help her. Sargent dropped his motion, and the Assembly voted unanimously to do both Nov. 17.

Residents get their first scheduled forum on the dock Dec. 1. Staff's schedule still calls for a closed-door session on negotiating strategy Dec. 14 and a Jan. 7 work session to set a negotiating framework.

No date is set for the Assembly to give formal direction. It could negotiate with one or both bidders, ask for best-and-final offers or reject both.

Mayor Douglas Olerud and Assembly members Beau Bradley and Anne Marie Palmieri took office earlier in the meeting, after the Assembly certified the Oct. 6 election. They replaced Mayor Tom Morphet and members Kevin Forster and Craig Loomis.