Skagway resolution would shift clinic's federal grant to its nonprofit by 2028

A Skagway Borough Assembly resolution would declare the borough's intent to hand Dahl Memorial Clinic's federal health center grant to the clinic's nonprofit, Dahl Memorial Clinic, Inc., by Jan. 1, 2028.

The Assembly will hold a public hearing at 7 pm Thursday, Nov. 5, and may adopt the resolution that night.

Today the municipality and the Dahl Memorial Clinic Board receive the grant as co-applicants from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The resolution calls that arrangement not typical and says it has in the past led to conditions on the grant award, which it does not describe. It also says rising costs make providing health care increasingly difficult for the borough, and that the goal is a single grant held by a nonprofit.

The transfer would use HRSA's Successor-in-Interest process, in which the borough gives up the grant to a successor. The resolution says the borough has worked toward this since 2023.

The borough's stated goal is for clinic employees to remain municipal employees, with the borough continuing to pay them, but only "if legally possible" under Alaska law and HRSA requirements. The goal that the building and land stay borough-owned, with the borough paying for the facility, carries no such condition.

The resolution calls Jan. 1, 2028, a tentative date of succession that could change. It asks Mayor Orion Hanson to form an ad hoc committee to guide the transition and ensure transparent communication.

The clinic board discussed the successor process on Aug. 27 and again Oct. 29.

The Assembly will also introduce the borough's draft fiscal 2027 budget Nov. 5. It carries about $1.35 million in federal health center grant money for clinic operations, plus about $2.3 million from the sales tax fund, up 16.5%, and $2 million from cruise passenger revenue.