Griffith to fill top MEA job

PALMER — Matanuska Electric Association didn’t have to look far to find its new general manager — he was already occupying the office.

The MEA board of directors hired Joe Griffith in June to steer the utility on an interim basis in the wake of the board’s decision to fire the previous general manager, Wayne Carmony. Griffith is a former general manager of Chugach Electric Association. Among his duties as interim general manager was to begin a search for candidates to replace him permanently.

But on Monday, the board decided that rather than embark on a long and costly nationwide search — Griffith estimated the $50,000 budgeted for the search would likely not be enough — it would just offer Griffith the position. Griffith accepted, but the deal is contingent on contract negotiations.

In an interview Thursday, Griffith said that when he took the job he thought he’d only want to do it temporarily.

“At my age, (68) all you’re hoping is that you can get up tomorrow,” he said.

But when he got to looking at MEA, he said, everywhere he turned there were new challenges, things that needed to be set right or given a new direction.

“When I initially took a look at this I felt I could make the necessary fixes and changes in six months,” Griffith said. “Having been at it for six months now I think it’s a three-year task at best.”

Griffith said he sees a broad range of tasks he needs to accomplish in this job. Some are very large: Every utility in Alaska’s Railbelt — MEA included — needs to figure out where the power is going to come from now that local gas supplies are dwindling and infrastructure is aging. Griffith said electrical cooperatives are going to have to work together to solve that problem. Some of his tasks seem almost quotidian: MEA needs to implement systems to replace its trucks more frequently and clear vegetation under its lines more often.

“As fast as the undergrowth grows around here you’ve got to cut it every five to seven years. And we’re right here at about nine,” he said.

He said he sees himself staying in the job for three to five years.

“My theory, having been in several of these kind of positions, is that after three to five years you’ve either got to think about changing the way you do business substantially or moving on,” he said.

As for the board of directors, its decision to offer Griffith the job was unanimous, though not without hesitation. Board member Larry DeVilbiss said he didn’t like the way the meeting was advertised. This piece of the agenda was labeled “general manager search.”

“In all fairness to our membership, it’s better process to state what our intentions are rather than setting it up like we’re starting a search process,” he said.

He said the board could spend this allotted time talking about what kind of contract it would like to see rather than just completely changing the agenda to offer Griffith the job.

Board member David Glines said he was hesitant about offering the job to Griffith, but had no objections to his performance as a general manager thus far, saying Griffith is doing a great job.

“I did object to the process,” Glines said. “I just feel a little bit ambushed tonight, that’s all.”

Glines and DeVilbiss are often considered to be minority voices on the board. The other members tend to vote the same way on most issues. And that majority contingent was in favor of offering Griffith the job.

“It was my opinion after thinking about it that we have the best man in position,” said board member Janet Kincaid.

Board member Peter Burchell, reading from a prepared statement, said he’s been very impressed with Griffith’s tenure thus far.

“The cloud of fear has been replaced by one of accountability, training, cooperation and trust,” he said. “We have a new day at MEA we have the fiduciary responsibility to keep it going.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.