Fairbanks City Council rejects lease for downtown riverfront cabin, plans Request for Proposal

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - The Fairbanks City Council on Monday voted 5-1 against approving a lease put forward by Mayor Mindy O’Neall which would have granted the Log Cabin on 1st Avenue to Alaska Universal Productions, after the Yukon Quest moved its operations out of the cabin during the spring.

As proposed, O’Neall said the property would have housed a cafe with sandwiches, wraps and coffee, opening for business on June 15.

“We were looking for a space that would be activated with food and beverage,” she said, “a space that would be open seven days a week... so we have consistent activation in that space.

The mayor said her administration released a Request for Information (RFI) and received proposals which did not fit what the city was looking for, adding that the city is seeking an active space to take advantage of the tourist activity in the area.

At Monday’s meeting, council members cited concerns over how the lease was prepared, with Jerry Cleworth arguing that the RFI was meant for “planning and informational purposes” only.

“We did not, I think, go through with a formal procedure as to how we are going to lease that building, and nor do I think the council in a work session ever gave definitive advice as to what we would want to see there or not want to see there. I remember talking about it briefly, but that’s about it. Other than that, I don’t think we ever gave firm direction,” Cleworth said.

Asking for consistency in how the city awards its leases, council member Sue Sprinkle echoed Cleworth’s concerns about the transparency of the process.

Council member Crystal Tidwell, meanwhile, said, “I feel sad not being able to vote ‘yes’ for it, because it would be fantastic to have something in there this summer, but I think doing it the right way is more important than doing it fast.”

Citing community complaints that some businesses did not know about the opportunity, Tidwell said the council should not rush into an approval.

In a sometimes contentious exchange, the mayor argued that the process has been transparent, while Sprinkle and O’Neall disagreed about whether the council has been kept involved with decisions about what will fill the space.

Chief of Staff Mike Sanders agreed with the mayor that the way the city came to recommend a lease for the property was fully within code.

“It’s the way this has been done,” he said, adding that if the council wants to make every lease a three-month process, “we’ll just lose opportunities, but I mean that’s something, like I said in the work session, if that’s what the council wants to do, we’ll, we’ll do it. I mean it, it has an opportunity cost but that’s, that’s a decision that that you all have to make.”

Speaking to Alaska’s News Source on Tuesday, O’Neall said the process of putting out a formal Request for Proposal will begin, giving businesses the opportunity once again to put their hat in the ring for the lease.

First, the council must approve the terms required of proposals and the evaluation criteria, and the mayor estimated mid-June before that will be available.

From there, interested parties will have 30 days to submit their proposals.

O’Neall expressed hope that the cabin will be occupied by a business this summer, expecting that whoever takes over the space will remain active in the winter as well.

Acknowledging that months would be lost in finding someone to lease the cabin, Cleworth argued that it is more important that the city go through the right process.

About the council’s decision, the mayor said, “I’m really disappointed... there’s an opportunity cost to not approving a lease that has, you know, been put out to the public fairly. It has been transparent. It’s been advertised. The city followed a process that we have, and the Council didn’t like it.”

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