Kodiak Island Borough Assembly approves $4.2 million hospital chiller replacement

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly approved four contracts Thursday to replace the failing chiller at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center, a $4,239,116 project. Three contracts passed unanimously. The fourth, $230,826 for Providence project management, passed 6-1.

The votes settle the contracts the Assembly was set to take up Thursday, as Alaska News reported Oct. 6. The chiller was running at about 35 percent of capacity, Alaska News reported Sept. 11.

Borough Manager Aimee Williams said $3,801,380 comes from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program and $437,736 from the borough's hospital repair and replacement fund.

Davis Constructors & Engineers gets $3.86 million to remove the old unit, build a new pad, buy the new chiller and upgrade piping, electrical and fire suppression systems. AMC Engineers gets $102,005 for commissioning and construction administration. Alaska Testlab gets $37,325 for mandatory inspections.

Delivery of the chiller could take 30 to 50 weeks, Williams said.

Assembly Member Jeremiah Gardner backed the other contracts but cast the lone no vote on the Providence deal. "It feels like we are front-loading their staff's salary to me, and it feels wrong. It feels a little bit greasy," he said. Assembly Member Bo Whiteside voted yes but said Providence missed a chance to contribute.

Providence's project budget sets its fee at 5.8 percent of the project's capital cost. Borough staff wrote that grant requirements and a lack of staffing left the department no other path forward.

Providence will run day-to-day work while the borough keeps authority over payments, vendors and contract changes, Williams said. Asked by Mayor Jared Griffin what would happen if the contract failed, she said the borough would probably need an outside project manager because its own staff could not handle it.

Assembly Member Jeff Woods, who recently spent time at the hospital after a birth in his family, said "they literally can't get parts of that building cool enough for the comfort of delivering mothers."

Williams said the project should wrap up by June 30, 2027. The Alaska Department of Health says first-year Rural Health Transformation Program funds unspent by Sept. 30, 2027, are subject to federal recapture and redistribution.