With the future of Austin’s northeast power plant still in question, two more employees on Tuesday joined the growing group of workers to leave the facility since December.

There have been between four and six resignations or retirements in that time period, Austin Utilities General Manager Jerry McCarthy said at a board meeting. That list now includes David Grant, a 20-year operations supervisor whose retirement letter was accepted by the board Tuesday, and Cindy Fisher, a six-year plant operator who resigned.

McCarthy said some staff are “uneasy” because the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency — which has a contract to provide power to Austin and purchase power from local plants — announced in August that they would no longer buy power from the coal-fired plant located near Todd Park starting Sept. 1, 2010.

Because Austin Utilities has to buy power from SMMPA, the utilities company would not be able to use the plant for local power generation after the contract expires.

However, the plant can be used independently of that agreement if, for example, Austin Utilities sells the output to a third party.

To that end, the utilities company in November commissioned a $120,000 study from engineering consultant Burns and McDonnell to explore the plant’s future, including an analysis of whether switching fuel sources at the facility would be viable.

Results of the study are expected back later this month, McCarthy said, and the board will begin to act on the findings at its March meeting.

Depending on the results of the study and what the board decides to do, the plant, which hasn’t been running for more than a year, could be back to producing power and looking to expand on its current staff of 23 employees.

However, the plant might not get up and running again, in which case many of the current employees will be “absorbed,” McCarthy said, either through attrition or job shifts. Already, Austin Utilities has been leaving many of the vacated positions unfilled, and as many as five more retirements could come in the next several months.

Board to work independently in general manager search

The Austin Utilities Board of Commissioners is also dealing with another personnel matter — McCarthy’s pending year-end retirement.

On Tuesday, the board decided they would not hire a consulting firm to seek out candidates. Instead, the utilities company will begin to post advertisements — both in local papers and national trade magazines — immediately.

“We feel like we’ll attempt this on our own,” commissioner Jeanne Sheehan said.

Sheehan and other board members cited cost as the main concern with using a professional “headhunter” — such a service could have cost roughly $50,000.

The board is looking to start interviewing candidates by the spring, then have a new hire in place two to three months before McCarthy departs, so the new general manager can do some “job shadowing.”

Whatever transpires, the board does expect to move quickly.

“We don’t have a lot of time, folks,” commissioner Paul Johnson said Tuesday.