Few candidates line up to run for MEA board

PALMER — If there’s one thing this year’s Matanuska Electric Association board election is missing it’s fresh faces.

This year’s election is for the cooperative’s district seats rather than the at-large seats on the board. The incumbents whose seats are up represent geographic areas.

The final slate of candidates came together this week, with the deadline to drop out of the race passing on Thursday evening. The candidates are:

In the Matanuska District — stretching from Chickaloon to Palmer — Larry DeVilbiss, who you might know better as the Mat-Su Borough mayor, is up for retention.

Having seen the field of contenders, DeVilbiss wrote in an email to the co-op that he had decided to bow out, saying candidate Marvin Yoder has his support.

Yoder is a familiar face and active in Republican politics. He worked for a spell under mayor Verne Rupright at the city of Wasilla.

He’s a former city manager of Galena.

Yoder’s challenger, Jamey Duhamel, is another familiar face who is active in Democratic politics and school issues.

The other two seats up for re-election represent the Susitna District — stretching to Talkeetna and encompassing Wasilla — and the Eagle River District. Neither has drawn more than one candidate, meaning incumbents Bob Doyle, Susitna, and David Glines, Eagle River, will likely skate through to victory.

All of this will be decided at MEA’s annual meeting April 23 at Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds, where doors will open at 5 p.m. and the meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

Ballots that can be returned by mail should be sent out by the end of this month and the co-op is working out the details of an online voting system. More information on that system will be released soon.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.