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The Petersburg Borough Assembly authorized Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht to sign off on the agreement between the Petersburg Borough, the City and Borough of Wrangell and the Thomas Bay Power Authority (TBPA) that transitions operation and maintenance of the Tyee Hydro Lake facility to Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). The four bodies have been negotiating the agreement since last year when the Petersburg assembly voted not to fund its share of a portion of the TBPA budget labeled non-net billable—a bill Petersburg and Wrangell have t... Full story
The Thomas Bay Power Authority (TBPA) Commission terminated TBPA General Manager Michael Nicholls' contract with three months of severance pay alleging months of lack of communication from him to the commission. TBPA, the organization responsible for operation and maintenance of the Tyee Hydroelectric Plant that provides power to Petersburg and Wrangell, is undergoing negotiations to transfer its operations to Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). Commission members hadn't been receiving... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following information during the last Borough Assembly meeting: Petersburg Police Chief Kelly Swihart and Giesbrecht met with community stakeholders regarding transient/homeless issues. The group discussed potential problems and solutions and is gathering more information. Swihart assisted Superior Court Judge Trevor Stevens and staff with a security assessment of the courthouse. There were several highlights from the recent Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) Board meeting in Wrangell. Official...
The Thomas Bay Power Authority has become an outright embarrassment for the founding communities of Wrangell and Petersburg. From name-calling on the streets of Wrangell in September of last year, to this week's closure of the office after Manager Mick Nicholls and Administrative Clerk Rhonda Christian were placed on paid leave and asked to leave the office. Interestingly, both incidents were related to disagreements between the TBPA office employee duties and their right to be involved with decision making by the commissioners. When SEAPA CEO...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) board of directors voted 5-0 June 26 to terminate the Operations and Maintenance contract for the Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility. Tyee Lake is presently operated by a joint creation of the Petersburg and Wrangell assemblies— the Thomas Bay Power Authority. The future of the Authority has been in question since the Petersburg assembly voted to withhold a portion of its operating costs known as the Non-Net Billable in October 2013. Borough assemblies in Wrangell and Petersburg passed December r...
The Thomas Bay Power Authority (TBPA) Commission placed General Manager Michael Nicholls and Administrative Clerk Rhonda Christian on paid leave last Friday after a reported lack of communication from the TBPA office. TBPA, the organization responsible for operation and maintenance of the Tyee Hydroelectric Plant that provides power to Petersburg and Wrangell, is undergoing negotiations to transfer its operations to Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). Commission members haven’t received financial information and haven’t approved a bud...
Hammer and Wrangell Clerk Kim Lane, accompanied by Wrangell Police Chief Doug McCloskey arrived at the TBPA office headquarters about 3 p.m., when a Wrangell Sentinel reporter was interviewing Nicholls. The interview was the first notification of the imposition of administrative leave, Nicholls and Christian said. Nicholls disputed claims by the Thomas Bay Power Commission that there had been a lack of communication between commissioners and staff prior to the June 6 special meeting. "At that time, both Robert (Larson) and James (Stough) said...
The Thomas Bay Power Commission will hold a meeting in the Petersburg Borough Assembly Chambers Friday, June 27 at 10 a.m. The commission will elect new officers after previous TBPA President James Stough resigned his position last week. Commission member David Galla also resigned. The commission will also discuss the transfer of TBPA Operations and Maintenance to Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) and work on providing all the necessary documents for the transfer to the Wrangell Borough Manager. The commission will also discuss the fiscal...
Former Thomas Bay Power Authority (TBPA) Commission President James Stough resigned last Thursday-the same day the TBPA Commission questioned his lack of communication and participation at commission meetings. Stough didn't attend the most recent meeting held in Petersburg last Thursday. "This is the second meeting he has chosen not to attend," TBPA Commissioner Joe Nelson said at last Thursday's meeting. "He has chosen not to communicate with us. We have no idea what his thoughts are." Stough...
WRANGELL — Thomas Bay Power commissioners voted 5-0 to support the handover of Tyee Lake to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA). The special meeting, held June 5, was the commission’s first in at least two months and drew Petersburg commissioners as well as the Petersburg mayor to the borough assembly chambers. Critics of the transfer have said the handover would essentially put borough resources in the hands of an unelected bureaucracy. Supporters generally say the transfer will limit the liability Wrangell faces in connection with Tye...
WRANGELL — The borough assembly voted 5-0 in favor of a motion authorizing negotiations over the Tyee Lake power facility. The vote was taken on May 7 in open session after a roughly two-hour closed-door executive session with borough attorney Bob Blasco. Assembly members declined comment on the motion or the executive session, saying they were legally constrained from open discussion on the proceedings. The vote comes after a seeming impasse over the future of operations and maintenance at the facility stemming from an April 4 c...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency took no action regarding a request made by the Petersburg Borough Assembly to reduce wholesale power rates to member communities in lieu of issuing annual rebates. SEAPA typically gives member communities rebates, a lump sum fund, once a year. The letter, approved by the assembly last month, requested the current 6.13 cents per kilowatt-hour rate be reduced to 6.8 cents. “The agency now has enough history to accurately predict its financial performance, so that a modest lowering of the rate would not a...
WRANGELL — The future of the Thomas Bay Power Authority and the commission governing it took center stage at Tuesday’s borough assembly meeting. The heart of the matter focused on the role the Thomas Bay Power Commission will play in future negotiations about the future of the Tyee Lake electric plant. James Stough, the sitting president of the Thomas Bay Power Commission issued the cease-and-decist letter April 4 on TBPA letterhead in his authority as TBPC president without notifying other members of the commission of the letter in adv...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a letter requesting the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) to consider reducing its wholesale power rate to member communities in lieu of issuing annual rebates. According to a letter written by Vice Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis, “While we appreciate the annual wholesale power rebates from SEAPA, it is increasingly difficult to factor them into the budgeting process.” The letter goes on to state that SEAPA has taken no action despite community delegate requests that the rate be lowered. The letter sta... Full story
The Thomas Bay Power Authority needs to censure its president, James Stough, for his action two weeks ago that ordered, via letter, the end of negotiations to allow the Southeast Alaska Power Agency to take over operations at the Tyee Lake Hydroelectric Project. Stough took the action without the approval and in some cases without the knowledge of his fellow commission members. It was an irresponsible move and he had no authority to carry it out without the joint approval of his fellow TBPA commissioners. Again, without the support of fellow...
WRANGELL — The president of the Thomas Bay Power Commission sent a letter this week to the chairman of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency ordering an end to negotiations for SEAPA to take over operations at the Tyee Lake Hydroelectric Project. The letter claims those negotiations – borough manager Jeff Jabusch characterized them as discussions – are being conducted in violation of section 3.40.50 of Wrangell code and a “substantially identical ordinance of Petersburg,” according to the letter from TBPA president James Stough to SEAPA board cha...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly and Power and Light staff will meet this Friday to determine whether or not to raise electric rates by 2 percent. Power and Light Superintendent Joe Nelson requested direction from the assembly last Monday evening. Nelson said his department had two options to consider as it prepares next year’s budget. “Should we go with the rate increases, stay solvent make sure that we have adequate money for depreciation looking forward or should we draw the reserve down and postpone that for future years,” Nelson asked...
The Petersburg Borough assembly unanimously approved a resolution supporting a similar Wrangell resolution recommending the operations and management of the Tyee Hydro Electric project be transferred from Thomas Bay Power Authority (TBPA) to the Southeast Alaska Power Authority (SEAPA). Six commissioners representing Wrangell and Petersburg currently conduct management and operations of TBPA. SEAPA owns the hydro plant. The joint resolution, in part, accepts SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson’s August 19 offer to take over operations at TBPA. As part of t...
WRANGELL — The Thomas Bay Power Authority commission elected Wrangell borough assembly member and TBPA commissioner James Stough to the commission’s presidency Monday. Stough also briefly served as chairman of the borough’s special energy committee. The election marks the transfer of the presidency from John Jensen of Petersburg, who’d held the presidency since he joined the board in 2007. Stough was appointed to the board in December. Stough has since September been publicly critical of the transfer of an operations and maintenance contrac...
Petersburg Power and Light Superintendent and Southeast Alaska Power Agency board member Joe Nelson made a motion to suspend the Petersburg-Kake Intertie Project last week. Nelson made the motion after SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson reported to the board about future funding challenges associated with the project. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the City of Ketchikan and the City of Saxman all listed the Swan Lake Reservoir at the top of their capital project lists. Governor Sean Parnell’s fiscal year 2015 capital project list doesn’t include the pro... Full story
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 tha... Full story
Despite uncertainty over the continued existence of the Thomas Bay Power Authority, commissioners voted 5-1 Dec. 19 to renew the commissions travel and liability insurance for another year. The uncertainty stems from the possibility the TBPA in its present form may be placed on idle status as a result of negotiations between the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, and representatives for the Petersburg and Wrangell borough assemblies, set to begin after the Wrangell assembly voted Dec. 10 to approve a resolution authorizing the negotiations....
WRANGELL — The council voted 5-0 to approve a resolution that would begin the process of moving the Thomas Bay Power Authority-run Tyee Lake facility over to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency. The resolution reflects a draft resolution approved at the Dec. 3 special assembly meeting, and keeps most of the terms of that resolution intact. TBPA employees would be “kept whole” in terms of wages, benefits, and positions during the conversion process. SEAPA would absorb the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) unfunded liability. Wrangell and P... Full story
WRANGELL — The borough assembly voted 5-0 Tuesday night on a draft resolution which — if approved next week — could begin the process of putting Tyee Lake operations in the hands of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency. Assembly members instructed Borough manager Jeff Jabusch to look through and fine-tune the resolution, which would empower him to enter into negotiations on a formal written offer for the SEAPA transfer “which essentially accepts the terms of the August 19, 2013 memo from the SEAPA CEO to the TBPA President,” the measure reads. Th...
The Blind Slough hydroelectric reservoir is three feet below normal heading into the winter months after two dry spells. “A year ago in October we had the driest October on record which is the normal month we refill,” said Joe Nelson, Power and Light Superintendent. “Because this year was a relatively mild year we were not able to refill the reservoirs.” Petersburg buys roughly 80 percent of its wholesale power from Southeast Alaska Power Agency and offsets the other 20 percent of its costs with generation from the Blind Slough project... Full story
