COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Michigan South Central Power Agency Board of Directors voted 5-0 during a special meeting last Friday to end a probe by the Lansing law firm of Fraser Trebilcock into a personnel issue involving General Manager Paul Beckhusen.
The action came after a closed session which followed another closed session the week before when the law firm presented its findings.
Four of the five board members voted in favor of the investigation back in September. Beckhusen said at the time he was confident he would be fully exonerated.
The controversy surrounding Beckhusen goes back to the fall of 2016 when the Coldwater Board of Public Utilities bought the former Sauk Trail Trading Post building at 168 Division Street for $168,000 for the purpose of putting in office space for the Agency and the Coldwater BPU’s technology center.
Beckhusen was the CBPU Director at the time of the transaction. He became the MSCPA General Manager last year.
A short term agreement that allows the agency to lease the northern part of the building was approved by the CBPU board last month after it had been approved by the MSCPA board.
It calls for a rent payment of $6,500 a month to the B.P.U. that would be retroactive to last January first.
Some MSCPA board members have previously raised concerns about the rising cost of the building and what they felt was a lack of transparency.
Beckhusen still must undergo a performance evaluation by the agency board, which is scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of next month.
