Jun. 25--The Matanuska Electric Association is hiring the former head of the state's largest power company to head the Palmer-based utility while it searches for a permanent general manager. At a special meeting Wednesday, the board voted 5-2 to hire Joe Griffith, former head of Chugach Electric Association in Anchorage, as the interim general manager.

Griffith was one of three applicants interviewed for the job. MEA spokeswoman Lorali Carter said he met Thursday afternoon with board members to discuss contract terms. She said Griffith could be at work in a matter of days or weeks. The board has not yet started the search for a long-term general manager, Carter said.

The top job at MEA came open last week when the board of directors voted to terminate Wayne Carmony, the general manager for 14 years. In April the board began negotiations with Carmony in an effort to agree on a severance package, but the negotiations broke down when Carmony refused to agree to the board's terms, which included an order preventing him from commenting on how the cooperative is run.

After Carmony was terminated "with cause" last week and ordered to leave the building, assistant general manager Don Zoerb was tapped as acting general manager.

Griffith was a top-level Chugach employee from 1989 to 2005 and was its chief executive the final three years of that. He was let go when a new board wanting a new direction took control of the utility. Carmony lost his job at MEA under similar circumstances -- a new board took power last year.

Chugach supplies power for the roughly 53,000 MEA customers between Eagle River and Mile 117 Parks Highway under a long-term power agreement set to expire in 2014. MEA and Chugach Electric have had a rocky relationship that includes takeover attempts by both utilities.

After his departure, Griffith was spokesman for Chugach Reliability, a group that was critical of the new board's direction. He also ran a consulting firm, Evan J. Griffith Enterprises and worked for the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority.

Board members Lois Lester, Janet Kincaid, Katie Hurley, Kit Jones and Peter Burchell voted in favor of hiring Griffith. Board members Larry DeVilbiss and David Glines opposed the motion.

Find Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her in Wasilla at 1-907-352-6709.

-----

To see more of the Anchorage Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.adn.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.