Elections Underway at Railbelt Cooperatives
April 5, 2024
By Brian Kassof
Election season is underway at the Railbelt electric cooperatives. Voting for seats on the board of directors opened on March 29 at Homer Electric Association (HEA) and on April 4 at Matanuska Electric Association (MEA). Voting in Chugach Electric Association’s (CEA) election starts on April 17 and at Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) on May 3. In addition to electing directors, members of CEA and GVEA will also be voting on proposed changes to the cooperatives’ bylaws. This article provides a brief overview of elections and how to vote for HEA, MEA, and CEA—GVEA, whose ballot include some significant bylaw changes, will be covered in a separate article.
This year’s elections take place as the Railbelt cooperatives face a number of important decisions. They must decide how to deal with projected shortfalls of Cook Inlet natural gas, which HEA, CEA, and MEA rely upon for the bulk of their power generation. Options include transitioning to more renewable power and/or building an import facility to bring in liquified natural gas (LNG). The cooperatives also face possible changes to the Railbelt transmission system. The utilities, together with the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), have received a $206.5 million federal grant to upgrade parts of the transmission system that requires a matching local contribution. While the state may provide some or all of these funds, it is possible that ratepayers will be asked to cover some of the match. There are also bills before the Legislature that would make significant changes to how the Railbelt electric transmission system operates.
AETP has circulated questionnaires to the candidates at all four cooperatives and will post their responses on its Election page as they are received.
HEA:
Voting for HEA’s board election started on March 29 and will run through May 2. Members will elect one director in each of HEA’s three districts. Directors serve three-year terms. Members can vote in three ways. They can return the mail-in ballots they were sent—these must be received by May 1 to be counted. Members also have until May 1 to vote through HEA’s on-line voting portal (access to the portal is at https://www.directvote.net/HEA --you will need the information included in an election-related email from HEA or the mailed voting packet to log in). Or you can vote in person at HEA’s Annual Meeting at Homer High School on May 2 (registration from 4:30-6:30 p.m., meeting begins at 6 p.m.). HEA does not have any bylaw changes on its ballot this year.
In District One (which encompasses Nikiski, Kenai, and parts of Soldotna), incumbent Director Mike Chenault is running unopposed. HEA members in District Two (parts of Soldotna, Sterling, parts of Kasilof) will choose between incumbent Robert K. Wall and challenger Crystal Schwartz Mckenney. District Three (parts of Kasilof, Homer, Anchor Point, Ninilchik) candidates are incumbent Louis “Louie” Flora and Michael Jones. Maps of HEA districts can be found on their election page.
On March 18, KDLL, KBBI, and the Peninsula Clarion sponsored a candidate forum, a recording of which can be found here.
More information on HEA’s election and candidates can be found on its election page and in the letter sent by members by Board President Dan Furlong.
MEA:
MEA members in the Susitna East and Susitna West Districts will elect directors for four-year terms (only members living in a district can vote for that seat). On-line voting through member’s SmartHub accounts started on April 4 and paper ballots were mailed to members in those districts as well. Paper ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on April 29; electronic voting will end at the same time. Members can also vote in person at MEA’s Annual Meeting, which will be held at 3 p.m. on April 30 in the Glenn Massey Theater on the University of Alaska’s Mat-Su Campus in Palmer. There are no bylaw changes on the MEA ballot this year.
The candidates in the Susitna West District are incumbent Bill Kendig, Darren Kessler, and Henrik Wessel. Incumbent Maxwell Sumner and challenger Daniel Baldwin are running the Susitna East District. Candidate bios, statements, and short videos can be found on the MEA election page, along with a mapping tool that allows members to determine in which district they live.
MEA held a candidate forum via Zoom on April 5 at 2 p.m.—a recording of the forum is available here. Radio station KTNA is also conducting interviews with candidates as part of its local news coverage.
CEA:
Chugach members will elect two directors for four-year terms. They are also being asked to vote on two sets of proposed bylaw changes. Voting will open on April 17 and run through CEA’s Annual Meeting on May 17. CEA directors represent the membership at large, so all members are eligible to vote.
Members can vote three ways—electronically, by mail, or in person at the Annual Meeting. All members should receive an email with instructions on electronic voting on April 17—electronic voting will run through 3 p.m. on May 17. Those wishing to vote by mail need to contact the election administrator at 866-909-3549 to request a paper ballot; only those requesting paper ballots will receive them. Mail-in ballots must be received by the election administrator by noon on May 16. (Please note—the election administrator this year is located in Minnesota, so anyone mailing a ballot needs to leave sufficient time for their vote to arrive before May 16). Members can also vote at the CEA Annual Meeting on May 17 (in-person voting will be at electronic stations—there will be no paper ballots at the meeting). CEA’s Annual Meeting will be held on May 17 at ChangePoint Alaska.
Complete information on the CEA election can be found at the CEA election page and in its election brochure.
There are four candidates for the two seats on the board. They are current board Chair Sam Cason, incumbent director Mark Wiggin, Todd Lindley, and Dan Rogers. All four candidates were advanced by CEA’s Nominating Committee.
CEA members are also being asked to approve two sets of bylaw changes. The first set concerns director compensation. The changes would reduce the number of meetings for which directors can be compensated. Like directors at all Railbelt cooperatives, CEA directors receive compensation, tied to meeting attendance, for the time and effort they put into serving other members. Current bylaws allow directors to be compensated for two regular meetings a month, 12 special board meetings a year, and a total of 70 meetings overall (this latter total includes meetings of the board’s Governance, Operations, and Audit & Finance Committees).
The proposed bylaw changes would reduce the number of meetings for which board members can be compensated to one regular meeting per month (except the month of the Annual Meeting, when two meetings could be counted), six special board meetings during the year, and no more than 55 total meetings (totals for the board chair would continue to be slightly higher).
In October 2023 CEA’s Board voted to increase the fee paid to directors for each meeting they attend. The board said the change was intended to bring director compensation in line with industry averages for cooperatives of CEA’s size, as reflected in surveys from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The increases will come in a number of steps between 2023 and 2027.
The second set of proposed bylaws changes are a number of grammatical changes and minor edits throughout the bylaws—these include removing gender specific terminology, changing “insure” to “ensure”, and writing out numerals. None of these changes would alter the substance of the bylaws.
The CEA Board is recommending that members approve both sets of bylaw changes.
This year CEA is not holding a candidate forum as it has in recent years. The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce will hold a forum for CEA candidates on Monday April 15 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Dena’ina Center as part of its “Make It Monday” series (the event will also be available via Zoom. Attendees are asked to register in advance. An admission fee is required for in-person or virtual attendance. (Ed. note—as of April 17, a free recording of the forum is available via YouTube).
