Voting Begins April 19 in CEA Board Election
Voting for Chugach Electric Association’s (CEA) 2023 board election will begin on Wednesday April 19 and run through CEA’s Annual Meeting on May 19. Nine candidates are running for three seats on the CEA Board of Directors. Members are also being asked to approve a change to CEA’s Bylaws that would create a voluntary bill round-up charitable program. CEA members can vote electronically, by mail, or at the CEA Annual Meeting. More information, including candidate profiles and statements, is available on the CEA Election Page.
AETP has sent questionnaires to all board candidates and will publish their answers as they are received.
Nine candidates are competing for three seats on the CEA Board—in addition to the two seats scheduled to be up for election this year, members will also elect someone to fill out the remainder of Director Erin Whitney’s term (Whitney resigned in January). All CEA Board seats are At-Large, representing the entire membership. The candidates are: Brad Authier, Bettina Chastain, Susanne Fleek-Green, Harold Hollis, Shaina Kilcoyne, Steve Konkel, Jim Nordlund, Scott Von Gemmingen, and James Wileman. Chastain and Hollis are incumbent members of the Board. A tenth candidate, Harry Crawford, had qualified for the ballot as a petition candidate, but withdrew from the election in late March.
The top two vote-getters will serve four-year terms on the CEA Board. The third-place finisher will serve the remaining two years of Whitney’s term. Bernie Smith, the interim board-appointed replacement for Whitney, is not running.
CEA members are also being asked to approve a change to the cooperative’s Bylaws. The proposed change would create a utility bill round-up program. Under the program, participating members’ utility bills would automatically be rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the extra payment going into a charitable foundation. For example, if a member participating in the program had a monthly bill of $62.45, the bill would automatically be rounded up to $63.00, with the additional 55 cents going to the foundation. The foundation will distribute the money to local non-profits within the Chugach Service Area. The program would be an “opt-out program”—all members would automatically be enrolled in the program unless they choose to opt out by notifying CEA. According to CEA, the average customer’s donations under the program would be about six dollars a year.
The details of how the program will be administered have not yet been announced. The Chugach Board declined to advance to the ballot a proposed bylaw change that offered a variation on the round-up program. This version of the program would have stipulated that 50 percent of the money from the round-up fund would go specifically to clean-energy related non-profits.
CEA members have three options for voting: electronically, by paper ballot, or at the CEA Annual Meeting. Electronic voting will start on April 19 and run through 3 p.m. on May 19. Members with a valid email address on file with CEA will receive a voting link on April 19. Members without a valid email address on file will have a postcard with voting credentials sent to them in late April.
CEA members wishing to vote by paper ballot need to contact the utility and request one be mailed to them. Requests can be made by phone (907-563-7366) or by emailing service@chugachelectric.com. Paper ballots can be returned by mail (ballots must be received by the end of business on May 18) or placed in a drop box in the member service lobby at CEA’s headquarters by noon on May 18.
Members can also vote at the CEA Annual Meeting on May 19—voting will begin at 5 p.m. If a member inadvertently votes more than once using different methods, the first ballot received will be the one counted. The CEA Annual Meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on May 19 and will be held at ChangePoint Alaska (6689 Changepoint Dr.) The meeting will be preceded by a member appreciation event with displays, food, and bucket truck rides from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
