Incumbent Peter Burchell and newcomer Janet Kincaid were elected to Matanuska Electric Association's Board of Directors on Saturday, March 1. MEA's Board of Directors will meet Monday, March 3 to certify the election results.
MEA members were voting to elect two at-large directors from the co-op's entire service area to three-year terms.
Tom Baird received 2,389 votes, Peter Burchell received 4,344 votes, Lee Jordan received 2,705 votes, Janet Kincaid received 3,813 votes, and Tom Staudenmaier received 1,088 votes.
The proposed bylaw change was defeated by more than a 2 to 1 margin. 65 percent of MEA’s membership agreed with the MEA Bylaws Committee recommendation and voted against the proposed amendment which would have changed the date for seating of directors. 2,519 votes were cast in favor of the bylaw change, and 4,740 were cast in opposition.
There were also four management advisory votes on the ballot. In each of the advisory questions, about 80 percent of the members who voted, agreed with the General Manager’s position on the issues.
MEA members support local generation; believe that renewable energy programs should pay their own way; favor a traditional generation and transmission cooperative for the Railbelt, and believe that the Regulatory Commission of Alaska should oversee the regulation of state energy assets.
About 17 percent of MEA’s members voted in this year’s election. 42,699 ballots were mailed and 7,437 valid ballots were cast.