Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Executive Director of the American Samoa Power Authority Wallon Young was served a letter of termination last Friday, March 6, 2026.

This was confirmed by Vice Chairman of the ASPA Board of Directors Tala Marcellus Uiagalelei to KHJ News who said that the Board voted to end Young’s contract and is allowing him to resign effective, Monday, Mar. 9th.

Uiagalelei served the letter of termination to Young following a meeting of the Board on Friday. It’s understood that one member of the Board, Tamaalemalo Tasi Mauga did not sign the resolution to terminate Young’s employment. The other three members of the board voted in support of the termination: Ted Le’iato, Douglas Buhr, and Jansen Poyer who attended via Zoom.

Samoa News should point out that Ted Le’iato was not confirmed by the Senate after his confirmation hearing last week.

The ASPA board has basically been re-constituted with 4 new members by the governor. They are Talaimalo Marcellus Uiagalelei; Tamaalemalo Tasi Mauga, who replaces Leilua Stevenson; Douglas Buhr, who replaces Fonoti Perelini; and Folasa Galeai, who replaces Afalava Eliki Afalava.

Talaimalo, Tamaalemalo, and Buhr were confirmed last year October; Galeai remains unconfirmed; while Le’iato will need to be re-appointed by the governor to go through the Fono confirmation process once again.

In the meantime, the Board has appointed Board member Buhr to serve as acting CEO of ASPA.

Buhr is President and Principal Engineer of Douglas Engineering Pacific Inc., based in Hawaii. According to his resume, he is experienced in designing energy-efficient lighting and power systems for a variety of applications, particularly skilled in retrofit renovation and remodel designs. He has project experience in American Samoa dating back to 1988.

ASPA management employees were notified by email late Friday that Buhr had replaced Young as CEO, and a meeting is scheduled for this week with management concerning the change.

Young has been CEO of ASPA since 2018, and apparently he has one year left in his current contract as CEO.

Young’s forced resignation comes on the heels of Leiato’s testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing that ASPA is facing several issues with its workforce that are causing conflicts with ASPA board and management, as well as other pressing concerns such as the absence of monthly financial and operational reports, delays in management responses to Board requests, and even a case of fraud involving an off-island engineer.

Leiato told Senators during the hearing that the Board feels compelled to act decisively to resolve the many challenges affecting ASPA’s workforce, and stressed that the Board is conducting an ongoing review and investigation into all issues and conditions affecting ASPA. He said that these matters demand immediate attention to safeguard ASPA’s integrity and ensure transparency and accountability to both employees and the public.

(Source: KHJ News & Samoa News archives)