By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Bryan Bertacchi, the director of Sitka’s electric utility, announced today that he’s resigning effective Sept. 18.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the community as the Electric Utility Director of our community owned utility,” Bertacchi wrote in a letter to the administrator. “It was a great four years of hard work.”
The resignation will create the fourth vacancy in major city positions; others include administrator, human resources director, and planning director. Efforts are underway to fill those positions.
Interim city administrator Dave Miller said he’s sorry to see Bertacchi go. Bertacchi is married to city assessor Wendy Lawrence, who Miller said will continue to work here at least a few months more.
“I hate to see Bryan go, he’s done a lot of great things for the community and the electric department,” Miller said. “It was a great opportunity for him, and I hate to see people turn down opportunities.”
Bertacchi said he’s leaving to take a position as general manager of a “highly successful, and financially stable, electric cooperative.”
“The board of this electric cooperative is highly professional, experienced and dedicated to their customers, and they clearly recognized the value of our team efforts here in Sitka,” Bertacchi wrote. “In this new role, I will be implementing many of the changes that we have developed together here in Sitka. I am pleased to be returning to a role where I will be managing all the elements which make an electric utility successful including: finance, accounting, customer service, IT, HR, engineering, and operations. I look forward to another new challenge where I can help make a community-owned utility successful.”
He said he has worked with a “wonderful team: experienced, dedicated and professional.”
“Over the last four years we have made the department far better, and we have accomplished many great things,” he said in the letter.
His team at the electric department has increased annual long-term revenue by over $250,000 per year through our five cell tower projects and the interruptible boiler program, he said. The department has significantly increased reliability, and the number of unplanned outages has been significantly reduced, he added.
“We focused on preparing for extensive retirements, where the department will lose over 100 plus years of critical experience,” he said. “We did this by implementing a Work Management System, which will help with training new employees on the preventative maintenance required and on the history of our equipment. We cleaned up the extensive and complicated system drawings, creating clean as-built drawings which replacement employees will be able to read and use to solve real problems. We cleaned up much of our documentation, scanning and filing our important records into a central system which everyone can access.”
He said the team developed a detailed 10-year year capital plan, “reviewed it with the Assembly, received approval, and moved aggressively forward.”
“This capital plan provided a focus for the staff and gave us a defined path to achieve the long term goals of the Electric Department for the community,” he said. “Additionally, we have been pro-active working on new revenue opportunities which will take detailed planning and concise effort such as the SEARHC hospital expansion and four additional USCG boilers. And most of all we maintained the electric department as a great place to work every day. It was always a pleasure and an honor to come to work with each of you.”
Mayor Gary Paxton said Bertacchi is leaving the department in good shape, with a well-organized plan for preventive maintenance, but expressed concern about the growing number of top-level vacancies at city hall.
“We need in the next month to be patient, wise and proficient, in getting these positions filled,” he said. “The Assembly needs to be patient and supportive as we move forward.”
Bertacchi said he and his wife wanted to thank the community for the opportunity to serve. Lawrence, who is a certified appraiser, said she plans to transition into a private appraising and consulting business in Alaska in October or November.
“We have both worked diligently to provide professional management for the community,” he said. “We wish you all the best!”
