Ashton hiring causes flap at TBPA

An internal email from Thomas Bay Power Authority is revealing a power struggle between an employee and administrator Paul Southland over staffing and hiring practices at the agency.

The email, which was sent from operations foreman Mick Nicholls to Southland and members of the board, directly challenged a decision to hire Wrangell resident Brian Ashton as a maintenance and operator at the Tyee facility – and called into question the decision to hire Ashton, who also sits as a member of the board.

“I am writing this in regard to the recent hiring of Commissioner Brian Ashton as a relief operator/general maintenance person at the Tyee Power Plant,” Nicholls’ email states. “I have been and remain steadfast in the need for Tyee to have an operator/electrician. To date, Mr. Southland has not advertised for an electrician. Instead, Mr. Southland made a unilateral decision to hire Commissioner Ashton contrary to my specific objections.”

The email also questions whether Ashton was qualified for the job.

“In light of this, I respectfully urge the Board of Commissioners to review the job description and Commissioner Ashton's qualifications; furthermore, I request the board to reverse the decision to hire Commissioner Ashton and to aggressively seek a qualified candidate for hire,” the email states.

Southland said he hired Ashton after a number of non-starters had been hired for the position at Tyee.

“He obviously would not have been able to be an employee and a board member of the Thomas Bay Power Authority,” Southland said. “He was aware of that. We have had a relief operator and general maintenance position open at the plant and Mr. Ashton had an application in for a number of months. We had hired someone previously who did not work out, and another offer we made was denied. So, even though we were aware there could be political ramifications, we offered it to Brian because he was best qualified.”

Those political ramifications could involve the dissolution of TBPA – a decision by the Southeast Alaska Power Agency board to consolidate TBPA and Ketchikan Public Utilities into SEAPA, based on the findings of an internal agency report, is currently under consideration and awaiting input from the Borough Assembly, Petersburg’s City Council and the Ketchikan Borough Assembly.

Ashton, in an Oct. 12 email, declined to accept the position based upon the uproar his hiring has caused, and stated that he believes he acted appropriately in applying for the job.

“I apologize for becoming embroiled in this issue,” his email begins. “Having my application for employment tendered with TBPA, and going on record to avoid any participation on associated board issues (abstaining when these issues came up because of a direct conflict of interest), I felt I was behaving appropriately.”

Ashton then removed himself from consideration for the job.

“It has come to my attention this morning that some feel I should not have remained a TBPA board member with an application for hire on record,” Ashton states. “This was the first time I have heard this concern… I understand that I was the third person considered for this position. Although I was not the first person considered, I thought the decision to hire me was jointly agreed upon by the foreman and general manager. As this is clearly not a unified decision, I respectfully withdraw my acceptance for this position.”

According to information provided by TBPA office manager Rhonda Christian, during the February TBPA board meeting, Ashton asked whether he should tender his resignation or abstain from any conflict of interest discussions at that point. Christian reiterated that the board did not ask for his resignation at that point, but that Ashton did, in fact, abstain from discussion over applying for the position.

The position currently remains open and an employment application is available on the TBPA website.