Rerouted Creek Boosts Hydro Plant Power Output by Nancy Erickson

Ready to Connect by Rachael Kvapil

We Aren’t All Going to Be the Same–Office Ergonomics by Samantha Davenport

Virtual Fly-In Draws New AGC Participants by Rindi White

Economic Uncertainty Might Provide Opportunity to Recruit by Rindi White

Loken Construction, LLC by Rachael Kvapil

Kuna Engineering by Samantha Davenport

Brice Equipment Rentals by Victoria Peterson

Durable by Design by Rachael Kvapil

President’s Message by Gary Klebs

Executive Director’s Message by Alicia Siira

New Members

Tons of Toys for Tots

In Memoriam

Contractors & the Law by Michael C. Geraghty and Wiley G. Cason

Human Resources Update by Paula Bradison

Safety Report by Chris Ross, CSP, CPLP

Financial Services & Contractors by Shane Shidaker

Occupational Health by Brennen Portalski, C-SAPA

Member News

Jenith Flynn
Davis Constructors & Engineers Inc.

David Haynes
First National Bank Alaska

Pearl-Grace Pantaleone
Cornerstone General Contractors

Gary Klebs
KLEBS Mechanical

Aspen Knight
Coldfoot Environmental

Alicia Siira
Associated General Contractors of Alaska

Christine A. White
R&M Consultants Inc.

Rindi White
Editor

Monica Sterchi-Lowman
Art Director

Linda Shogren
Art Production

James K Brown
Graphic Designer

BUSINESS STAFF
Charles Bell
VP Sales & Marketing
257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com

Janis J. Plume
Senior Account Manager
257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com

Christine Merki
Advertising Account Manager
257-2911 cmerki@akbizmag.com

The Alaska Contractor is published by Alaska Business Publishing Co. Inc. for the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. Contents of the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AGC of Alaska or Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Copyright 2020 by the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. For information about articles in this edition or for permission to reproduce any portion of it, contact Alaska Business Publishing Co.

ith everything happening in the world today, it’s easy to get dragged down in the negatives. I could sit here and type away at all the things that have gone wrong lately, but that’s not the kind of person I am. And, quite frankly, nobody wants to hear it.

They say it takes twenty-two days to change a habit. Well, this month marks just about a full year of living with COVID-19—and we’ve had plenty of time to adjust and adapt. But when we look back at this period in a few years, instead of simply reflecting on our struggles, wouldn’t it be great to be able to point to some positives that came from such adversity?

elieve it or not, we’re already a quarter into the new year. And with respect to the pandemic, things are finally beginning to look up. Not only are we seeing daily case numbers continue to fall, Alaska is leading the country in vaccination rates. The implications these factors have on our state’s economy can’t be understated—especially if the recently released 2021 Construction Spending Forecast is anything to go by.

The blow COVID-19 dealt Alaska’s economy in 2020 was always going to mean lower construction spending in 2021. But the report prepared by McKinley Research Group holds a variety of reasons to remain optimistic. The estimated $4.3 billion in total spending is shared almost equally between private and public construction projects. This shows that both our government and local businesses recognize the importance of this essential industry.

ith the flip of a switch, a diverted glacier stream outside Homer began flowing into Bradley Lake’s hydroelectric plant last fall with the potential to increase the availability of low-cost power to customers as far away as Fairbanks.

Located 27 miles from Homer in the Kenai Mountains, the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Plant provides some of the least expensive power in the state—approximately four cents per kilowatt hour—to utilities along the Railbelt electrical grid. Owned by the Alaska Energy Authority, or AEA, and operated by Homer Electric Association, the plant was energized in 1991 and began transmitting electricity to residents from Homer north to Fairbanks via two parallel 20-mile transmission lines that connect to a larger transmission system to move power north.

Diversion of the west fork of Upper Battle Creek into the lake enables the facility to increase its annual output by about 10 percent—enough power to light approximately 5,000 homes, according to AEA Executive Director Curtis W. Thayer.

rom start to finish and all points in between, ASRC Construction’s work and stature foster abundant personal and professional satisfaction.

“There are not many strangers in our company,” says Director of Operations Paul Kari. “A lot of ASRC shareholders are also employees. In other words, our owners also work for us, and they have real buy-in. They’re really participating in our success.”

ASRC Construction is one of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation’s, or ASRC’s, many subsidiaries. The parent company originated shortly after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. ASRC is Iñupiat-based and is the largest Alaska-owned and -operated business in the state.

Photo courtesy of HC Contractors

y the end of summer, North Pole Utility will be the permanent water source for the nearby community of Moose Creek. The two-year project is ahead of schedule, after a productive 2020 summer and fall, in which construction crews completed a chunk of work initially slated for spring 2021. When completed, the Moose Creek Water System Expansion Project will provide potable water to more than 200 properties affected by perfluorinated-chemicals, or PFCs, in the groundwater.

HC Contractor Project Manager Jordann Conlon says the project has gone smoothly despite the pandemic and unexpected environmental challenges that arose last year.

“We were fortunate that our vendors got materials to us on time, and we were able to bring more crews to work on the project,” she says.

Photo courtesy of Gray Services LLC

ecause many Alaskans have modified their lives to working from home during the pandemic, Elisa Hitchcock of Gray Services LLC says workstations have changed like never before.

“There have been times throughout the past year where people go between work and home. It is quite difficult because you end up with two workstations, or, you end up carrying your work things back and forth,” says Hitchcock. “(Now) so many people are in a home setting, doing the work that they used to do in the privacy and comfort of an office, where we weren’t interrupted fifteen times a day.”

yler Loken speaks about his ownership of Loken Construction, LLC with a humbleness rarely seen today. He takes every opportunity to acknowledge his employees’ hard work contributing to his success and to express gratitude for the lifelong journey into a rewarding construction career.

“I’ve had the privilege and honor to work with a lot of people who seem to make everything work,” says Loken.

By the time Loken started Loken Construction in 2003, he already had an in-depth knowledge of the industry obtained by growing up in it. Loken’s father owned a contracting business in Montana and South Dakota, and used it to teach his children the value of hard work and leadership by bringing them into the workforce.

he Iñupiaq values of honesty, integrity, commitment, and respect are how Kuna Engineering conducts business.

“We pride ourselves on building on the Native values,” says Suzanne Taylor, Kuna’s director of marketing and communications, who has been with the company for nearly two decades.

Kuna Engineering provides services ranging from water resources and rural development, architecture, commercial facilities engineering, surveying and geospatial services, civil engineering, and transportation and environmental services. In addition to civil, they also have environmental, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hornak, Cornerstone General Contractors, Inc.

laska’s healthcare system took a positive step forward when Medline Industries, Inc. opened a new facility in South Anchorage last August.

As one of the nation’s largest distributors of medical supplies, Medline Industries tripled the space it was leasing in Anchorage when Cornerstone General Contractors completed a new 150,000-square-foot facility on King Street. The new distribution center features thirty-two loading bays, administration offices, two mezzanines, and state-of-the-art custom racking with automated stock-picking capabilities.

“We wanted to build a distribution center in Alaska that would not only be useful for today but also for the future as well,” says Medline Public Affairs Director Jesse Greenberg. “This is a medical-grade distribution center. There’s a lot of space and a lot of technology in there. We are very proud of the systems we have built.”

rice Equipment, under the Brice Incorporated umbrella, can be found in both Fairbanks and Deadhorse, and maybe even on the side of an Arctic ice road repairing a tire or two.

Brice Incorporated began in 1961, and is responsible for building some of the interior’s first roads and infrastructure, like Chena Hot Springs Road. The company was one of the original contractors of the trans-Alaska pipeline. In 2006, the company started Brice Equipment to provide construction support and equipment for the oil, gas and construction industry on Alaska’s North Slope. Brice Equipment now has a fleet of more than 300 pieces of equipment, ranging from heavy construction machinery to mobile support equipment.

“We saw a need for versatile equipment rental in Deadhorse,” says Christian Gou-Leonhardt, an operations manager with Brice Equipment. “Essentially, we’ve been growing since then.

he Associated General Contractors of Alaska has organized a new, virtual CESCL (Alaska Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead) training program.

CESCL is aimed at enhancing the Department of Environmental Conservation construction general permit for stormwater discharge. Enrollees can take a two-day, sixteen-hour course, with renewal required every three years.

As of 2008, CESCL training is required for all contractors working on all US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District projects, and on all Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities construction projects. But training in the midst of a global pandemic isn’t easy. Other states were also struggling to provide online training options for industry certifications; Alaska decided to build its own.

evin Barnhart says there is a certain irony that his final project with Cruz Construction, Inc. before going into semi-retirement is on the same stretch of road where he started his career. The Tok Cutoff is no stranger to rehabilitation. Multiple crews have improved the 125-mile route over the years, most recently completing the stretch between mileposts 38-50.

“I’ve come full circle,” says Barnhart, Cruz’s construction manager for the most recent upgrades. “I first worked on this stretch of road back in the ‘80s with another company. I’ve grown up in the area, and I’m really familiar with this road.”

s the pandemic enters its second year, the increasing availability of COVID-19 vaccines appears to offer hope of an imminent return to normalcy. Alaska has led the nation in the early stages of vaccination—distributing more doses per capita than any other state, despite our geographically dispersed population.

As more people become eligible for the vaccine, however, the conversation around their distribution is likely to shift. Currently, the central question is: “Who should be allowed to get a vaccine?” However, once vaccine doses become more widely available, and are opened up to the general population, the central question will likely become: “Can someone be required to get a vaccine if they don’t want one?”

rofessionally and personally, 2020 has left its mark. Entering spring 2021, leadership continues to need business continuity planning and a more narrowed focus on well-being. No longer is there a separation between work and home life. We now experience both, at once, all day. This new professional environment has had some surprising results. According to Harvard Business Review, or HBR, the major tickers that affect the decline in workplace well-being are:

1. Disengagement from work
2. Lack of leadership support
3. Job security concerns
4. Existential concerns

Below are best practices and current research from The Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, Gallup, and HBR to empower leaders positively through uncertainty.

n January 21, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to consider workplace emergency temporary standards, or ETS, related to COVID-19.

The OSHA segment of the executive order, “Protecting Workers from COVID-19 Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act,” directs the secretary of labor to:

1. issue, within two weeks of the date of this order and in conjunction or consultation with the heads of any other appropriate executive departments and agencies (agencies), revised guidance to employers on workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic;

t’s the question that every contractor asks themselves when acquiring equipment: Is it better to rent or buy?

The construction industry was thrown a curveball with the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of the first quarter of 2020. As a result, there was a considerable amount of economic uncertainty in the second and third quarters of 2020, which led to some lenders taking a more conservative underwriting approach. Many contractors also chose to be cautious, as they elected to rent equipment instead of financing, even with historically low interest rates.

andom testing has been a vital component of drug-free workplace programs for many years. Employers may be required to implement random testing programs in accordance with federal or Department of Transportation, or DOT, regulations, and all employers may choose to implement non-regulated random testing programs. Doing so can help secure a safe and drug-free workplace, but there are various components to consider to ensure the program is effective.

Coffman Engineers in February announced it donated $100,000 to American Red Cross, a gift continuing a strong, decade-old partnership between the two organizations.

Dave Ruff, Coffman’s chief executive officer and president, along with Coffman principals Craig Lee and Tom Arnold, presented the donation on February 3. Lee and Arnold have previously served on the board for the Greater Inland Northwest chapter of the American Red Cross.

“The American Red Cross mission and commitment to assist those in tragic situations, and just as importantly help avoid tragedy altogether, are values near and dear to Coffman and our employees. Especially after the challenges of last year and current weather events, we are grateful for the tireless work of the Red Cross organization and look forward to what our partnership can achieve this year,” says Ruff. The multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firm has 600 employees in 17 offices across the U.S. and internationally.