Negotiations for SEAPA takeover of Thomas Bay Power to begin

 


The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to go ahead with negotiations with Wrangell, Ketchikan and the Southeast Alaska Power Agency to provide a conversion plan for the transfer of operations and maintenance of the Tyee Hyrdo Facility from the Thomas Bay Power Authority to SEAPA.

The vote comes after the Wrangell Assembly drafted a resolution earlier this month that, in part, accepts SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson’s August 19 offer to take over operations at TBPA.

As part of the conversion plan and Acteson’s offer, the resolution states that current TBPA employees should be “kept whole as it relates to wages and benefits through the conversion process and that SEAPA be responsible for TBPA Public Employee’s Retirement System (PERS) unfunded liability.”

The resolution also states that non-net billable costs—administrative portions of the TBPA budget—that the Wrangell Borough has been paying in full since the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to stop funding be shared until the conversion is complete.

During Petersburg’s assembly meeting, assembly member John Havrilek said SEAPA should keep TBPA employees only if they meet its expectations.

“I don’t feel SEAPA should be given employees no matter what and have to make them whole for two years no matter what their performance,” Havrilek said.

Mayor Mark Jensen agreed and said he’d like to see a few changes in the language of the resolution but that the assembly should await SEAPA’s response before discussion continues.

The Petersburg borough assembly voted earlier this summer to accept SEAPA’s offer to take over TBPA.

The assembly also voted to reappoint Joe Nelson and John Jensen as SEAPA board members.

 

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