Juneau -- Senator Robin Taylor today asked the House and Senate Finance Sub-Committee for Fish and Game (F&G) to investigate the Department. The request concerns the purchase by F&G of a 42 foot used fishing boat now named the R/V Kittiwake III.

The request for bids was offered in area newspapers in April of 1998. Only two people offered boats. "Of those one did not meet the basic requirements but was offered at a lower bid price. The department disregarded their bid requirements and chose the lower priced boat. That lower priced boat ended up costing the state more than $100,000 to bring it up to the departments requirements." said Taylor.

After the purchase was completed and F&G took possession and the work began. Three months after the boat was supposed to be in service, it arrived in Juneau with a new paint job. But that's is not what took three months. After an original winning bid of $194,950 the gillnetter had been outfitted from top to bottom with a new engine, transmission, shaft and propeller. These fixes along with others came to a total of $107,135.

"This is a clear case of abuse of the system. It is impossible to justify this kind of disregard for the rules and regulations in place, not to mention ultimately costing us more money." Taylor added, "It's haphazard spending like this that is increasing the budget problems in the state. These monies came from the personnel line item and were supposed to be used for employee salaries. I look forward to the Commissioner of Fish and Game coming to the Capitol to try and explain this type of waste.

For more information or to get a copy of the breakdown on the money spent to fix this boat stop by our office on the first floor of the Capitol.

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