Mystrom said ML&P General Manager Tom Stahr apparently took it upon himself to sign the MOU and didn't clear it with him. Stahr lost his job a few months ago. Mystrom canceled the MOU last month, declaring the municipality supports open, competitive bidding.

==========

Anchorage Daily News - September 14, 1997
Voice of the Times (Editorial)
ML&P oversight

DURING THE spring mayoral election campaign, the public interest group Chugach Consumers challenged incumbent Mayor Rick Mystrom to declare his position regarding a special labor agreement, which it said the city's Municipal Light and Power electrical utility had signed with the IBEW

The mayor's response was: Huh? He, like most in the community, had no idea what Chugach Consumers was talking about, and the matter was a non-issue during the brief campaign. But afterward, when Mystrom was briefed on the details, things heated up.

It turned out that Chugach Consumers had reason to be concerned. Without fanfare in December, ML&P had promised in a Memorandum of Understanding to endorse a guarantee that members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 157 would do the work on two major power line construction projects - one linking Healy and Fairbanks, the other Anchorage and Soldotna.

As one of seven utilities participating in the intertie projects, ML&P's decision was critical. It meant that Chugach Electric Association and the Matanuska Electric Association - two utilities that advocate competitive bidding for the jobs - would lack the votes necessary to prevail.

Chugach Consumers said the difference between competitively bidding the projects and the prearrangement with IBEW amounted to an extra $15 million in costs, or more. The higher costs would be paid by the ratepayers of all the utilities.

Mystrom said ML&P General Manager Tom Stahr apparently took it upon himself to sign the MOU and didn't clear it with him. Stahr lost his job a few months ago. Mystrom canceled the MOU last month, declaring the municipality supports open, competitive bidding. He said this is not a union vs. non-union matter, and in all likelihood the two jobs still will be done by local IBEW members. The difference is that the contracts will be bid competitively.

From all indications this issue has been resolved, thanks to the persistence of an advocacy group and eventual action by the mayor. But the tug of war over who makes these decisions for the city's utility goes on. There is now a proposal before the Assembly to make ML&P independent of the mayor's office - like the Anchorage Telephone Utility. Mystrom doesn't need a briefing to know he doesn't like this nutty idea.

He's well aware of ATUs legacy - as an independent authority - rates increased more than 50 percent, salaries for managers increased substantially, IBEW got a six-year, contract and the value of the utility plummeted by half.

The mayor strongly opposes putting ML&P in a similar position. We trust enough Assembly members have the same view and will reject the proposal.