The Association of Village Council Presidents Regional Housing Authority had a grand opening of their new regional offices in Bethel on Friday, December 21st.
The doors were opened to a ribbon cutting ceremony and a blessing was made by the Russian Orthadox church. Commissioners for the AVCP Regional Housing Authority were in attendance for the ceremony.
The new building was erected using local labor from several of the fifty-six surrounding villages according to Catherine Cedars. Funds for the new building were taken from the $19 million American Recovery and Re-Investment Act fund that that the AVCP Housing Authority received. $5 million was used for labor for the building, other monies in the form of grants were used for the construction materials.
According to Cedars, the pilings for the building were laid in 2009 and in 2010, piping and utilities were brought to the building. The building was to be complete in March of this year, but the date kept moving further and further back. Delays in shipping and barges were cited for the delays.
Many of the crew of approximately 30 for the construction received their training from OJT and Alaska Works Partnership, giving them career skills and experience for future projects.
The new building is quite a welcome change from the cramped space in the Authority’s older accomodations. Employees now have ample workspace. Cedars related that the new building is so big that when a tour of the building was conducted, one person in the tour got lost and had to go back to the entrance to wait for the rest of the group.
Other monies from the fund were used on constructing a $7.3 million nineteen-unit multiplex for housing in Hooper Bay, and another $6 million was used to build seven other buildings. Three of those buildings were built in Alakanuk, and another four in Chevak. Each of those new buildings were tri-plexs.