MEA holds board vote

PALMER -- Incumbents overwhelmingly took the vote in the Matanuska Electric Association's 2003 annual election Saturday.

Palmer resident Bill Folsom was selected to return for his tenth year of service on the MEA board with an unofficial tally of 6,062 votes, according to results released at the annual meeting at Raven Hall. Lois Lester will return for a second term on the board after garnishing 5,671 votes. Throughout the election, Folsom had campaigned on a platform of strong support of the cooperative's administration, asking members to cast their vote in his favor if they wish to keep things running as they are. After the votes were tallied, Folsom said he believes that was the message voters sent by reelecting the two incumbents on the ticket.

"I think the voters were voting for incumbents, thinking the incumbents were supportive of the administration," Folsom said.

Folsom said he had no plans to change tactics as he heads into his fourth term on the board. The past president and current board vice president said he'd prefer the board intrude as little as possible into the daily management of the co-op.

"I have full faith in the administration," Folsom said. "In fact, I think the board could go dark for the rest of the year and Mr. Carmony and his staff would take over and keep things running just as they are."

Lester faced two other Eagle River candidates in her race for one of the two at-large seats. When asked if she was concerned, Lester said she believes she has demonstrated a record of commitment to carrying out the wishes of MEA members, and that her win was a stamp of approval from those members.

"I think the voters were saying they know I'm honest and I'm working for them," Lester said. "I didn't have doubts at all that I would win."

When Lester made a last request for votes during the audience participation portion of the meeting, she said she often felt throughout the election that she was a candidate alone in her commitment to the members; alone in one corner of a boxing ring, with the other three candidates and members of MEA management throwing jabs from the other corner.

"I'm trying to get the members to really see what's going on," Lester later said.

Trailing Lester by more than 1,600 votes, Eagle River resident Lee Jordan didn't get a seat on the board, but had a victory of a different sort. Amendments to the bylaws regarding campaign disclosure and conflicts of interest he helped put together as chairman of MEA's Bylaws Committee passed by a 78-percent majority.

The bylaw amendments stipulate that, beginning with the next election cycle, new board members will be seated no earlier than July 4, and must file 11 campaign disclosure reports, with additional reports filed declaring contributions of more than $250 received within nine days of the election. The amendments also state that directors "shall disclose to the board the substance of any communication materially related to the business or financial affairs of the Association that occurs between the director and any person representing the interests of … any union representing a group of Association employees … any entity engaged in selling power to the Association or … any business with whom the Association has an existing or prospective contractual relationship that requires Board approval."

The bylaw amendments were put forward on the ballot through a member petition initiated by previous board member Barbara "Tamie" Miller. Miller said previously she began the petition to put the bylaw amendments on the ballot after the board failed to take action on them.

Miller petitioned for another proposition to be put forward to MEA members -- whether or not to institute mandatory drug testing for board members. That proposition also passed, by a nearly 65 percent margin of the roughly 9,000 votes cast. The amendment states board members will be ineligible to be seated if they fail to provide "a hair sample to be tested for illicit drugs or, having provided such a sample, tests positive for illicit drugs."

The election was scheduled to be certified at the board's April 7 meeting, where new board members are generally seated.