Southeast Alaska Power Agency board members recessed into executive session at the end of the monthly board meeting Tuesday to discuss future operations at the Tyee plant.
The item was mentioned briefly during the CEO report section of the eight-hour meeting before noon, and was on the agenda as an executive session that evening. The Wrangell Borough Assembly approved a resolution to direct borough manager Jeff Jabusch to enter into negotiations over the future of operations at Tyee and the Thomas Bay Power Authority. The issue has been under discussion since October, when the Petersburg borough assembly voted to withhold their portion of some TBPA expenses, triggering lively public debate in Wrangell.
While details of executive sessions aren’t public, SEAPA board chairman Robert Sivertsen said he anticipated only a discussion of the Tyee facility and possibly direction to staff.
“We consider this almost like a counter offer,” he said. “That’s the reason we’re going into executive session. I want to give the board the opportunity to talk about it.”
Discussion over the debate would likely focus on the financial burden the continuing operations are placing on Wrangell, which has since October single-handedly funded operations at Tyee.
“There’s gonna be discussion about a true-up on those things,” Sivertsen said. “I don’t believe there’s going to be any vote.”
In other business, the SEAPA board also voted 5-0 to retain recordings of SEAPA meetings for two years with minimal debate. Board members and SEAPA staff said the retention of records would not pose an undue burden on the agency to maintain, and files would likely be placed on the SEAPA website.
The issue arose in the Wrangell borough special energy committee after SEAPA staff said they did not keep minutes on discussion items.
The likelihood of long-term state budget deficits could also negatively influence future construction projects in Southeast, Acteson told the board during his report.
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