Upcoming MEA election critical to Valley’s future

A critical election is coming up for Matanuska Electric Association. Two directors are to be elected and bylaw amendments are to be considered. Members of Alaska’s oldest, and second-largest, electric cooperative should pay close attention to the issues.

Last year members elected a person who joined three others to form a majority coalition whose theme was “change” and who promised “transparency” in the way the utility operates. Unfortunately, what they have brought is havoc, secret meetings, waste, violations of the bylaws, loss of integrity and serious questions about MEA’s ability to meet future power needs.

The four members who took control of the board are inexperienced in managing a business with annual revenues that are well over $100 million. Yet they must now determine how the utility will meet its power supply needs in just five short years when our contract with Chugach Electric comes to an end. Their qualifications are a retired chemistry professor, a retired educator, a retired state administrative employee, a part-time flight instructor and the operator of a small hotel and restaurant.

New MEA board President Lois Lester is inept. When a vacancy occurred during the year, she voted to appoint Catharine “Kit” Jones over retired attorney Bill Tull in violation of the board’s own standing rules. She ignores requirements of the bylaws by holding meetings that are closed to the public, then tries to excuse that illegal act by saying they were not official board meetings and no MEA business was discussed. And that is despite the fact that she claimed board meeting fees of $283.33 for attending each of those closed meetings.

Director fees are but a drop in the bucket compared to what this group has cost MEA members. Because they do not trust MEA’s senior counsel, they hired a private attorney to counsel the board. His first four bills came to a total of $26,859.49. That will increase substantially by virtue of his defense of a lawsuit filed by three MEA members whose petition to place a bylaw amendment on the April 25 ballot was rejected by the board on a 5-2 vote. The board in a special meeting held March 25 and 26 reversed its earlier decision and voted to accept the petition after the attorney said his previous recommendation was based on incomplete information. He admitted that the MEA senior counsel had been correct in telling the petitioners their proposed bylaw amendment would be on the ballot.

The meeting notice and ballots had already gone to the printer and the board had to recall them to revise the copy. The total cost of that fiasco has not yet been determined.

Supported by her cohorts, Lester runs the board with an iron fist, haranguing the two directors who question the validity of her actions. She directs the attorney to perform legal work without the board first approving a task order and receiving an estimate as required by the contract the board approved. Lester has conducted telephonic polls of some board members asking for affirmation of her orders to the attorney; such polls are a violation of state law as well as MEA bylaws.

The board’s actions are not in the best interest of MEA members and are only supported by some special interests. They should not be allowed to wreck our utility — one which, until now, has had the lowest rates of any Railbelt cooperative because of an excellent management team.

I ask that members look at all the candidates and choose the two who have the business experience and the credentials to lead MEA along a path that will serve all of us well into the future. Plans for meeting our power needs and protection of the Valley through local generation are critical.

We urge members to visit www.friendsofmea.com to learn more about issues facing the cooperative.

Bill Folsom is past president of the Matanuska Electric Association board of directors.