HOMER NEWS
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Your Community Newspaper
Voi' 5* No* gg r -_November 4, ;954 t0 Cttnts Per Cq,
m
H E FACT S
In the belief that all information
possible concerning the hospital-health
center should be printed, the NEWS
printing the following supplementary
report of work accomplished on the hos
pital to date that was issued yesterday
by the PUD ♦
i. The property where the health
center is proposed to be constructed
Purchased after considerable discussion
of the location by the directors*
2s The Department of Health informed
the PUD that title to the property would
have to be transferred to the Territory
in order to receive matching funds from
the Territory, A warranty deed was
given to the Territorys
3s An abstract of the property was
accomplished and it was determined
that an error existed which would be
cheapest to resolve thru a quiet title
suits The quiet title suit was brought
to the District' Court at Anchorage and
no protests were fileds The quiet ti
%le suit was initiated on the advice
of the PUD attorneys
4s The Territory requires of the
PUD that all outside utilities includ
ing water supply, electrical service,
telephone service, sewage disposal,
and access road be constructed by the
applicant for Territorial financial
assistance, and that such installations
be approved by the {Territory by means
of approved engineering and architec
ture, before funds can be made avail
able from the Territory,
5. The Department of Health in or
der to insure continuance of the pro
ject required a bond for completion of
the water and sewage lines and pump
house in the amount of i'17,55°' Should
this bond become in default the PUD
would be Habit to the Surety, and the
Department of Health in the above
amount The bond was executed and is
on file at the PUD.
6* The water supply tests show
that the.hospital water is very high in
both iron and alkalinity, therefore
treatment of the water is indicated*
The engineer, Mr* Charles W. Tryck has
suggested to the Department of Health
that permission might be granted to
use the water in view of the need for
treatment- which will remove the high
iron content and that the higher alka
linity might be permitted, Ho question
has been raised as to the purity of
the water, for consumption. Gaining
approval from the engineers and the
Department of Health for the water has
delayed initiating construction of the
sewage disposal facility since a deici,
sion could not be made on sewage dis
posal until the water problem had been
resolved*
7, Considerable time was lost ob
taining an engineered access road draw
ing from the engineers. After the plan
and map was received Hr* Henning John
son was employed to stake out the road
and compute the yardage of earth to be
moved, In the course of Hr* Henning
Johnson's work he discovered a 10-de
gree error in the layout of the engin
eers and had this corrected while in
Anchorage, Several days elapsed until
$ revised map and plan of the road
mere received. Hr, Johnson was again
employed to stake out the corrected
(Cont, on Page 4, Col, x)
THE PETITION
Ttie following is a cony of the peti
tion that is currently being circulated
in homer asking the district court to
issue an injunction to stop all work on
the hospital-health center or to call
for a general election to dissolve the
PUD,
"To the better interests of the Hom
er Community, we, the undersigned do
hereby petition the honorable court of
the Third Judicial District, Anchorage,
Alaska,
"WHEREAS; the existing site for the
Homer Health Center was never properly
presented to the residents for accept
ance or rejection;
"WHEREAS; it seems that individual
interests have exercised undue influ
ence in selecting this site;
"WHEREAS; architects and engineers
have advised against the present site
because of inaccessability and high
construction costs and maintenance;
"WHEREAS; on or about October ag,
tQ54, at a special meeting of the Kenai
Public Utility District No* t, residents
voted 27 for and 2 against, to stop con
struction and select a more suitable
site:
"AND WHEREAS; the existing Board of
Directors of the i3. IL D» have disre
garded the vote of the people;
"How, therefore, we,the undersigned,
do hereby petition the Honorable Court
to grant us relief from misuse of pub
lic funds and issue an injunction stop
ping all work on said Health Center site.
If we cannot obtain relief as petition
ed herein, we further petition the Hon
orable Court to call for a general
election to dissolve the P, (J* D, "
THE COSTS
Following is a resume of costs for
work accomplished to date at the Homer
hospital-health center as furnished by
the PUD, The total amount is $6,423.07
and, is broken down as follows,
August 31, 1953, 5 acres purchased,
$525; October 31, cat work to clear the
ground at site, $152; Out, 31, abstract
of property, $69,50; Nov. 30, deep well
drilled by Thorn (part payment), $327;
Dec. 31, pumping well and preparing cas
ing, $127; Dec, gt, legal work, $15;
Jan, 5, 1954, hauling well casing to
site cutting casing, $21; Jan, 26, deep
well drilling balance, $766. 97,
Feb. 1, plastic hose for pumping
well and fittings, $113.24; Mar, 17,
legal recording re quiet title suit,$5;
May i, legal work, pumping of well,
$142,50; May 12, engineering services
to date(Tryck), $1773*90; May 12, plan
ning and programming designing, $127, 50;
June 7, telegram reply td Dr« Albrecht,
$6,83; June 7, electric service and con
nection, fee, $6,05; June it, send water
sample to Tryck, $2,*g9; June 21, labor
for electric service and materials, $24;
.June 2t, legal recordings and affida
vits, $7.50; June 21, bond for construc
tion, water and sewer line pump in
amount of $17,550, $175*
June 22, labor on well, $105; July 7,
electricity service minimum, $7,50; July
7, warranty deed on property to Terri
tory of Alaska, St0; July 27, legal ser
vices in quiet title suit, $155, 76; Aug,
3, clean out well for pumping, £225;
(Cont* on Page 4, Col, 2)
h crown oj about 50 persons was on
hand for the special meeting of the
board of directors of the PUD last Fri
day evening to consider the access roar
to the hospital-health center♦
President of the board, Bob granich,
stated that the board had rejected th<*
bids on the access road because they
were too high, The board, he said, was
trying to get the road built for the
Si500 provided by the Territory, Had
the low bid been about S300, they would
have accepted it,- he said, He noted
that $350 had already been spent laying
out the road and that it would cost
about j>qoo to gravel the road This
would leave about $300 for the cat work,
he said.
Two contractors, Morris Killen and
Howard Wicker sham, and the surveyor,
Henning Johnson, disagreed with the
board stating that there had been poor
judgement an th4 part of the board from
the beginning and that the real reason
the bid was rejected was becaus4 of a
conflict between the access road and a
read on th4 abutting property owned by
board director Harry Gregoire.
Henning Johnson suggested that the
hospital site be changed because of the
inaccessability of the present site and
asked that a vote of those present be
taken to get an idea of how they felt
about the site« To this end he offered
the following motion; "I, Henning John
son, a taxpayer in the PUD do hereby
make a motion that actioh be taken to
ask the -membership for a referendum
vote'calling for a new selection of hos
pital site that will better fit the
needs of Homer as to acceptibility and
utility* That, pending such action, the
membership be allowed to select by their
popular vote the site they desire? The
motion was voted on and passed 27 to a.
During the discussion on the change
of site Johnson made the offer that if
there was no land available he would
donate a site. Yule Kilcker, who had
been very vociferous in stating his
opinions, offered to do the cat work
free on a new site• Johnson also offer
ed to do the survey work free on a new
site
In conclusion, the board stated that
they felt that any change of site at
this time would jeopardize the building
of the clinic. They felt, they said
that the acceptance of the site by the
Health Council, which represents numer
ous local organizations, had been suf
ficient and that local residents had
had sufficient time since the site was
chosen to express their disapproval,
After this special meeting, which
concluded about to , the directors
held a second meeting and voted to go
ahead with the construction of the ac
cess road on an hourly basis of con
struction costs, Atithis second meeting
board president, Bob Kranich tendered
his resignation stating that since 1935
he had tried to the best of his ability'
to serve the people of Homer and that
he did not feel that he had to take the
public abuse that he felt he received
at the earlier board meeting•
The board reluctantly accepted gran
ich's resignation and appointed Clare
Miner to serve on the board,
When Miner was contacted Saturday
he declined to accept the position«
The board will meet again Monday,
Movember 8 to appoint anew director and
elect a new president•