HEA’s 2023 Election Underway
Voting began March 31 in Homer Electric Association’s (HEA) 2023 board elections and will run through the cooperative’s Annual Meeting on May 4. Members will elect one director for each of HEA’s three election districts. Members are also being asked to approve three sets of changes to the cooperative’s Bylaws. Ballot packets including ballots, information on voting, candidate resumes, a 2022 financial balance sheet, and information on the proposed bylaws changes have been mailed to HEA members. Information on candidates, bylaw changes, and the election can also be found on the Elections Page on HEA’s website.
There are two candidates running for each of the three board seats up for election. Voters in District One (which encompasses Nikiski, Kenai, and parts of Soldotna) will choose between incumbent Jim Duffield and challenger Robert Ernst. District Two (parts of Soldotna, Sterling, parts of Kasilof) voters will select between incumbent C. O. Rudstrom and challenger Dan Green. Voters in District Three (parts of Kasilof, Homer, Anchor Point, Ninilchik) will choose between incumbent Jim Levine and challenger Michael Jones. Maps of the three districts are on the HEA Election page. AETP has sent questionnaires to each of the candidates and will publish their responses as they are received.
Members are also being asked to approve three sets of proposed changes to HEA’s Bylaws. Each set of changes is being presented as a separate ballot question. The first set of changes (color-coded blue in voting materials) are intended to update or simplify language in parts of the Bylaws.
The second set of proposed changes (color-coded red) concern elections and member meetings. The biggest proposed change is to discontinue in-person voting at member meetings (such as voting for board members at the HEA Annual Meeting). Under the proposed revisions, all votes (submitted electronically or by mail) would have to be received the day before a meeting. Board elections would be certified before the start of the Annual Meeting, allowing new board members to be sworn in as part of the meeting. In recent years very few people have taken advantage of in-person voting at HEA’s Annual Meeting—in 2022 only 22 votes were cast in person at the Annual Meeting (out of a total of 4260 votes in the election).
Another proposed change would extend the period during which HEA must hold its Annual Meeting. Under the current Bylaws the meeting must occur between May 1 and May 7—the proposed change would allow it to be held anytime during the second quarter (April 1 to June 30). Changes would also allow members attending meetings on-line to be counted as part of a quorum, and recognize the validity of completely virtual member meetings (if they were necessary).
The final set of proposed bylaw changes (color-coded green) concern the qualifications for directors and the process for removing a director. One change clarifies that members who participate in HEA’s Net-Metering program (which allows individuals with home solar arrays to sell excess power back to the cooperative) are eligible to serve on the Board. The current language bars anyone who sells energy to the cooperative from serving. Other changes clarify the Board’s authority to decide if certain acts qualify as grounds for removing a director. A final change requires 180 days to pass between attempts to initiate the recall of a director through the petition process.
Members can vote in three ways: by mail, electronically, or in person at the Annual Meeting. The deadline for mail and electronic ballots to be received is Wednesday May 3 at 5 p.m. The HEA Annual Meeting will be held at Soldotna High School on Thursday May 4 at 6 p.m.
