— by Chom Greacen, Eric Youngren and Sandy Bishop —
We recommend voting for Randy J. Cornelius and Winnie Adams (incumbent).
(You can find out more about the full slate of candidates and their bio’s by following this link:https://www.opalco.com/news_article/opalco-board-candidates-announced/).
OPALCO is going through rapid changes and many issues have risen to the forefront. Having hosted the recent OPALCO Candidates Forums and followed OPALCO closely for years, we believe that Randy and Winnie are best suited to help mitigate the negative impacts of these monumental shifts in our coop. The three primary issues to watch are:
1) The board’s approval of a rapid and unprecedented rate increase. If the board does not change direction we will see a residential base rate of $79/month by 2019.
2) Transparency of decision making and
3) Keeping our electric coop strong and vital as OPALCO gets into the new business of broadband.
In March the following statement appeared on the OPALCO website: “Despite real hardships across the membership, this rate structure is the right thing to do for our Co-op”. We strongly disagree with this statement and want the board to consider a rate structure that does not unfairly burden those on fixed incomes, those who use the least electricity and those who are low-income.
We support affordable fiber internet service access in the San Juan County. If they have impacts on electricity rates, broadband-related investments must be done with full disclosure of information and participation in key important decisions by members-owners. We have been disappointed in the board’s track record in these areas lately.
Randy: Until his retirement a few months ago, Randy served as the General Manager for OPALCO. He is well versed in the financial position of OPALCO, the physical infrastructure of our electrical coop and he has a genuine passion for the members and the overall well being of our coop.
Winnie: Is currently an OPALCO board member. Her primary contribution is on conservation, renewables, and member relations. Winnie stated at a recent candidate forum, “we will have to re-examine the base rate issues”.
Please also consider voting YES to the member-initiated bylaw amendment to improve the transparency and accountability of unscheduled or exclusive board meetings.
We encourage you to vote in this very important election.
For more information on current issues please see: https://theorcasonian.com/what-lies-behind-opalcos-rate-increases
And https://theorcasonian.com/guest-column-opalcos-price-increases-shocking
You can also read about the outcome of the recent Candidates Forum here:
https://theorcasonian.com/opalco-forum-hearing-unpleasant-truths-making-necessary-changes
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Eric, Based on the recent actions by Opalco, which were recommended by Randy as the general manager You should sell your truck and by a new one. It is not by accident that organizations always have new stuff that we are forced to pay for while we are more prudent as individuals. When Doug Bechtel left we had 39 full time employees. Under Randy’s watch we have double. We also traded in our Plymouth for a Cadillac. This is all in the name of “deferred maintance”. Don’t be fooled. Randy spent us into serious debt and got the board to drink the Kool Aid.