Time for MEA to generate new relationships

Matanuska Electric Association member-owners want change and backed up that desire by unplugging Lee Jordan from the cooperative’s board of directors.

By re-electing board member Peter Burchell and choosing Palmer businesswoman Janet Kincaid to unseat Jordan, MEA member-owners have made a statement, one we hope puts management on notice that the new makeup of the board will wrest back control of the asylum from the inmates.

Of course, any changes that may be in the works for how MEA does business and interacts with the public is still in the distance; a measure that would have seated new board members within 15 days of Saturday’s annual meeting was voted down. This means Kincaid will have to wait until July to take her seat at the table.

MEA has long cultivated a contentious and at times combative relationship with the community it serves and others in the business community. This has bred a culture of distrust where many will question MEA, its initiatives and management recommendations. Sometimes this distrust has been warranted, other times not. As a public entity, MEA should hold to maintaining the most transparent business practices possible.

In December, Burchell made a motion that MEA monthly board meetings, held at 4 p.m. on a Monday, be changed to a later time in the evening when more member-owners are able to attend and participate. He’s made this motion before and, as before, it was voted down. The main reason argued by those opposing what seems a sensible move was that it would create too long of a working day for MEA staff who have to attend and/or participate in meetings.

A phone call last month by a representative of this newspaper for MEA General Manager Wayne Carmony was met with a terse rebuff that Carmony “doesn’t take any outside calls.”

A board unwilling to meet when most can attend and a manger who seems to want nothing to do with the public he represents are two simple examples of why so many MEA member-owners harbor distrust for the cooperative.

Perhaps some of the distrust is unfair, and flames from small embers of discontent by groups that can only criticize MEA. We don’t want to fan those flames. We want what we believe most other member-owners of MEA want a board that listens, is responsive and acts in the best interest of the people it serves. Always.

We are encouraged by Burchell’s re-election and Kincaid’s addition to the board and hope they will help bring about positive change and begin rebuilding the public’s trust in its electric company.