Articles written by Greg Knight & Shelly Pope


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 6 of 6

  • Is 'tax-free' going the way of the dinosaur in Southeast?

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|Jun 20, 2013

    With Petersburg foregoing a tax-free day this spring, is Wrangell next on the list of Southeast cities that will abandon their customer-friendly days of no sales tax in the Borough? This past weekend’s tax-free day was the latest sales holiday where money the Borough would usually take in did not make it into city coffers. With the distinct possibility of a 5.5 percent sales tax rate reduction looming on the October ballot, the City and Borough of Wrangell could see an end to the tax-free holidays local citizens have enjoyed since its i...

  • Southland fired, Nicholls hired by TBPA

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|May 2, 2013

    The Thomas Bay Power Authority Commission met in a special meeting last Friday to discuss another counter offer by Mick Nicholls to the commission for the position of TBPA General Manager. Nicholls, who is still acting as foreman until today, said he is looking forward to taking the reins at the TBPA office. “My plan is to make sure that Tyee continues to run in a very efficient manner,” Nicholls said. “I believe that the GM’s job should be centered toward the plant and not toward the public....

  • Nicholls offered Tyee GM position, retires as foreman

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|Apr 25, 2013

    Michael J. Nicholls, who oversees the operation and maintenance of the Tyee Hydroelectric Project as the site’s foreman was offered the position of Thomas Bay Power Authority General Manager on Monday, April 15 – an offer Nicholls initially declined, then sending a counteroffer of his own. “The TBPA board finally made me an offer on Monday, April 15 which was so ludicrous it insulted me,” Nicholls wrote in an email to the Sentinel. “The offer would require me to take a 15-percent cut in pay, l...

  • SEAPA board to discuss group retreat

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|Feb 7, 2013

    The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board of Directors will meet in special session this week to discuss a possible junket for the five voting members to hash out organizational policy and the administrative oversight of staff members. The board will meet tomorrow in Ketchikan to mull over a possible board retreat where Wrangell board member Brian Ashton said they would decide whether to pursue such a trip. “Over the past year, some board members have voiced a desire to have a retreat, in order to address some foundational issues pertaining to SE...

  • SEAPA O&M on hold until 2013

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|Dec 13, 2012

    The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board of Directors voted on Tuesday, Dec. 11 to hold off on accepting an operations and management proposal from D. Hittle and Associates which recommends the streamlining of operations and management at the Tyee and Swan hydroelectric projects under a single operator. SEAPA commissioned the report, which was released in September, as an alternative to current staffing and risk management solutions at both locations. According to the agency’s chief executive officer, Trey Acteson, the change in operating s...

  • SEAPA may streamline hydro project operations

    Greg Knight and Shelly Pope|Sep 27, 2012

    The meeting of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board of Directors on Sept. 19-20 in Petersburg discussed an agenda item that may signal the end of the Thomas Bay Power Authority, as we know it. A decision by the board to consolidate TBPA and Ketchikan Public Utilities in SEAPA, based on the finding of an internal agency report, will have to wait, however, for input from the Borough Assembly, Petersburg’s City Council and the Ketchikan Borough Assembly. John Heberling of the consulting firm D. Hittle and Associates performed the study of t...