MEA board seats filled

April 3, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Peter Burchell garnered the majority of votes to win one of two three-year-term seats on the Matanuska Electric Association board of directors, where he will be joined by the next-highest vote-getter, incumbent and board president Lee Jordan.

Jordan was running about 250 votes behind Burchell after preliminary election results were revealed during MEA's annual meeting Saturday at Colony High School.

The total number of ballots cast was 8,846. According to preliminary results, Burchell received 4,611 votes; Jordan received 4,355; John D. Alexander received 3,077; John D. Glass received 3,038 votes, and Tom Staudenmaier received 1,199 votes. There were also 20 write-ins and one questioned ballot.

The results are considered unofficial and the MEA Elections Committee will meet tomorrow to double-check the count and get the board's blessing.

Prior to the announcement of election results, Burchell won $100 worth of electricity in a drawing.

While holding the winning ticket may have been a stroke of luck, nabbing one of the two vacant board seats by such a large margin indicates Burchell is well-liked and trusted by community members.

"He has such a strong sense of public interest. Helping the community is one of his convictions," Burchell's daughter, Heidi Valantas, said.

"What is it we're going to get committed to? We need to get the goal in mind. Then, let's get involved and do the best we can do. I'm big into teamwork," said Burchell, whose work experience in education has given him opportunities to mediate disputes between very diverse groups of people to achieve a common community goal. Burchell says he believes the end result is more important than the politics.

Burchell's educational background includes starting three successful alternative schools from bare-bones funding and minimal support.

The Wasilla resident's namesake school, Burchell High School, sports an open-air observatory on its roof. Burchell will fill a board seat vacated by Wasilla resident K. Scott Daugharty.

Jordan was not available to be interviewed immediately following the reading since he was sitting on the board and its meeting was not yet finished.

"When an incumbent gets that strong of a number, it's a vote of confidence," said Tuckerman Babcock, MEA manager of government and strategic affairs, of Jordan's election to the board.

Babcock said voter turnout was not as good as last year when U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the guest speaker. He indicated that the Wasilla High School boys basketball team playing in Anchorage may have pulled away some potential MEA co-op voters. There was also the 2005 Mat-Su Home Show and other events going on over the weekend.

Jordan was appointed to a seat on the board in 2003, to complete the term of Jim Hermon, who died during his time on the board. Jordan has resided in the Chugiak/Eagle River area since 1962. He and his wife, Barbara, launched the Chugiak-Eagle River (Alaska) Star newspaper.

Both Jordan and Burchell addressed the need for other sources of electrical power when MEA's all-power-purchase contract with Chugach Electric ends in nine years.

"MEA is acutely aware that by 2014, we need to be prepared with another source or sources of power," said Jordan, adding that the decision would be based on thorough studies of availability, economic feasibility and environmental effects.

"MEA will keep your lights on, and your bills low," he said.

"We need to look to the future to provide economical electrical services," said Burchell, who in past debates stated MEA should start setting aside the money now for another energy source.

Guest speaker Steve Denton, Usibelli Coal Mine Inc.'s vice president of business development, gave a quick presentation on clean-coal technology.

Denton said there is about a 71/2-year schedule for going from permit process to construction. The construction would cost $421 million. He said his company usually figures a debt at 6 percent interest, but he thought MEA might be able to get a better debt interest by putting

up equity.