Way to go, MEA board

Matanuska Electric Association Board of Directors is finally shouldering the fiduciary responsibilities we all expect from our elected representatives.

We put these folks on MEA’s board to represent our interests as members of our electrical cooperative. For years we put up with the board cowering before the wrath of a management that felt empowered to bully the board into submission to its will. And while they were going along to get along, MEA’s directors had little regard for the inadequacy of their fiduciary oversight of those they were supposedly managing.

We now have a board of directors willing to stand up to management and to fight for the best interest of our members. And it has been a fight, as management has done everything it can to cast dispersions upon individual board members. Never before have I witnessed a management so disrespectful of our elected representatives to whom management is supposed to answer.

I worked with at least 35 boards and commissions over the course of my career, and MEA’s management wins the prize of biggest bully on the block. Over the months to come, we need to be vigilant to make sure that the board sticks to its guns. The last few months have been tough, as egos got bruised and some actions were hasty.

Moving forward, we need to make certain that the board dots all the Is and crosses all the Ts as its lays out its plans for fulfilling its fiduciary duty to our co-op’s members. Things will settle down as MEA’s management refocuses it talents and energy on planning for our future energy needs in MEA’s service area. That will be a big improvement over a management that has devoted an incredible amount of time, energy and our money to picking fights with our board, our Borough and its fellow Railbelt providers of electricity.

Way to go, MEA Board.

Sid McCausland

Palmer