The Daily Alaska empire., 1940-02-26
CITY REJECTS
 N0RTHLAND'S DOCK OFFER
Council Schedules Another Meeting for Tonight
 on Leasing

A proposal from the Northland Transportation Company for leasing of the City Wharf will be acted upon by the Juneau City Councii at a special meeting at o'clock this evening.
 Presented with an "ultimatum" from the company last Saturday that the proposal be acted upon before 10 o'clock that night, the Council Held special meeting late Saturday afternoon.
 At that time a vote on the sign- ing the new lease resulted three to three, with Mayor Harry I. Lucas voting mo" to reject the proposal for further stt~,.
 To Reconsider
 Later Councilman Harry Lea gave notice of reconsideration of his vote so that the matter could be brought up again this evening. He, with Councilman E. J. tKelly) Blake and Elroy Ninnis, voted against the proposition. Voting to accept were Councilmen Sam Feldon, Ralph Beistline and Henry Messerschmidt.
 R. E. Robertson, attorney for the company, who had served notice on the Mayor by special delivery let ter Saturday morning that the Northland offer would be with drawn at 10 o'clock that night, agreed after the Council meeting to extend the deadline to 10 o'clock tonight.
 The lease drawn up by the Northland Transportation Company provides that the firm. at its own cost, under its own management and with its own employees. con- duct the City Wharf as a public wharf with facilities available to the public.
 No Rate Increase
 The company would agree not to increase wharfage rates without the permission of the City Coun- cil, but would be able to decrease them at will
 Vessels of the Northland company would have priority to docking fla cilities, on the serving of six hours written notice to the City Clerk, The City would be required to maintain fire insurance on the property and to keep: up piling, cap ping and decking The remainder of the premises would be main tained by the Northland Company, which, however, would not be re- sponsible for damage due to fire or act of God. The company would keep the wharf painted, but would be under no obligation to paint it more often than once every five years. Damaged fender piles would be replaced by the company.
 $500 Per Month
 The Northland Company would pay the City $500 per month rent for the wharf and would pay all Federal and Territorial license fees. The company would receive all reve- nues from the wharf, without hay ing to account for them to the City. A provision in the lease would allow the Northland Company to terminate 1t on 90 days written no- tice, but the City would have no right to terminate the agreement. :,
 The lease would run for five years from April 21, l940 and then would be renewable for further five year period on the same terms and con- ditions.
 Several Changes
 Robertson agreed at Saturdays meeting to insert provision which would allow the rental figure for the second five-year period to be determined by a board of arbitra- tion in case the company and the City could not agree at time of renewal
 Robertson also agreed to pro- viso that the lease would automat- ically expire at the end of the first five years in case the City should sell the wharf in the meantime. The lease is similar to one which was held legal several years ago by the Appellate Court. No vote of the people would be necessary to close the agreement.
 Councilman Feldon made the mo- tion Saturday to adopt a resolution accepting the leases He was sec onded by Beistline.
 The Figures ' z --'''. g The City figures 1t would make e a net profit of $1. .44i.50 per- year n on the City Wharf under the lease, : after deducting $1O00 for mainten- |, ace, $500 for fire insurance and ,, $155850 for depreciation (the 193s l. figure). In addition to the $360C r rental from the Northland company : the City would also receive an esti- : mated $7o0 per year in tonnage taxes.
 Last year the City's net profit from the City Wharf was $2,365 88 ' or $924.38 more than it would net { each year under the proposed new agreement. It was explained by officials, however, that several items