Spectrum

MEA bylaws require an annual meeting in April, and every year we set a date, and every year its different. In January, the MEA board voted unanimously, and without objection, to set April 1 as this years date.

It comes as a surprise to me that Rod Cottle is quoted by your reporter claiming something sinister was going on, because Mr. Cottle was there, he didnt say a word, and he voted in favor of scheduling the annual meeting for April 1!

Now he complains to the paper. And you print it?

Personally, I think it might encourage turnout to have the date on a Saturday and it adds a little fun to the meeting to have it on April Fools Day. Bruce Scott ran with that idea we will all enjoy a G-rated skit from the Spenard comedians at the Fly-By-Night-Club.

Also on Jan. 10, director Craig Campbell without any prior discussion brought forward two major bylaw issues. When I read Mr. Campbells proposals a great many questions and possible trade-offs came to mind.

MEA has a 50-year history of operating successfully without these proposed bylaws. As directors, when faced with major structural changes to MEA bylaws, we should proceed cautiously and deliberately.

With the exception of Mr. Campbell, all of us on the MEA board have taken advantage of the valuable training offered by NRECA. One thing my NRECA training has taught me: there is no harm in being a relatively new board member, as long as you resist the temptation to act in haste or make important policy changes that havent been fully thought out.

Take term limits, there should be a balance between the need for experience against the benefits of encouraging new blood on the board.

However, we already have turnover on the board: Craig Campbell, Tiny DePriest and I are in our first elected terms. Jim Hermon was just re-elected to his second, and Bill Folsom is just finishing his second. Tamie Miller is finishing her sixth term and Rod Cottle is finishing his third. That seems like a good mix of blood and experience.

I have to wonder over the last 20 years, what has been the average tenure of a board member? How many incumbents have been defeated? Members are not shy about defeating incumbents. IBEW-supported incumbents Doug Mills, Desi Mayo and Ole Larson have all recently lost races. How many directors in the last 20 years have even served more than three terms? For all I know there has just been one, Tamie Miller.

Members trust Tamie Miller to be independent, and value her institutional knowledge and experience. Despite being the target of two vigorous IBEW-sponsored recall campaigns and opposed by IBEW-recruited and supported opponents time and again, Tamie has faithfully put consumers first. And has been re-elected by large margins.

I think we all feel concrete benefits when years of service help deliver for MEA. Sens. Stevens and Murkowski and Rep. Young are good examples of seniority at work.

On districting, my personal opinion is that Eagle River and outlying areas in the Mat-Su should be fairly represented on the board. Some argue that at-large representation is best, but there may be examples of discrimination in the provision of service in one area or another. I dont know of any, but we could sure look into it. A little bit of research might gather enough facts for a consensus to emerge on this issue.

How many districts do we need? How many seats to properly represent the membership? Who would draw the district boundaries, and how often? Who would pay for redistricting?

Since our bylaws provide for a standing Bylaws [Committee] to make recommendations on these issues, lets not bypass the Bylaws Committee.

While these seem like important issues, how important are they to the members? The Frontiersman waited more than a month to even report on our Jan. 10 board meeting. Although only 300 signatures are required to place a bylaw by petition on the annual meeting ballot, and the deadline was Feb. 1, no one went out and gathered signatures to get these bylaws on the ballot.

There is a clich that says if it aint broke, dont fix it. Doctors have a variation: above all, do no harm. Im not sure anything is broken here. If there is, I want to fix it, but I dont want to harm our association while trying.

For all these reasons, I made the motion, seconded by Tiny DePriest, to table the bylaw amendments and then schedule a special meeting for Oct. 21 to vote on any bylaw amendments. And in case Rod Cottle also forgets what he did on that vote. Ill remind him the vote to set a special meeting for Oct. 21 also passed