MEA power struggle concludes

PALMER — Though the details are murky, it appears Matanuska Electric Association has finally closed the chapter in its history surrounding a 2009 change in management.

The board of directors of MEA dismissed the electric utility’s then-general manager Wayne Carmony in the summer of 2009, an act that sent lawsuits flying through Superior Court. The litigation traveled a tangled, years-long path to resolution.

Just prior to his own firing, the board directed Carmony to terminate two high-ranking executives — information technology director Bruce Scott and human resources director Tuckerman Babcock.

Scott and Babcock filed a lawsuit almost immediately, alleging MEA had not lived up to the contracts they had signed. MEA eventually settled those contracts for $650,000 out of court. They could have owed a total of $1.1 million in severance.

But MEA still managed to take that case to trial, with Carmony in its crosshairs. The utility alleged that Carmony had given Babcock and Scott those contracts without proper authorization and should therefore be liable for the $650,000 settlement. A jury disagreed, ruling against MEA.

In August 2011, Carmony filed a lawsuit against MEA in Anchorage Superior Court. Early last month, word got out that Carmony and MEA had settled out of court. Asked for comment at the time, MEA declined, asking for time to speak with its lawyers.

“The attorneys are still working out the agreement. When they finish, we will advise you. Until then, we cannot say much other than we have settled the disagreement,” Carmony’s replacement, MEA General Manager Joe Griffith, wrote in a Feb. 2 email.

On Thursday, Griffith said he’d checked with lawyers and couldn’t say anything else.

“We have a settlement agreement, the details of which are confidential. Sorry I can’t reveal more,” Griffith added in another email, before following up by saying, “This is the best I can do under the agreement.”

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