Nominations by petition due February 17
||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT COOPERATIVE |||
The volunteer member Elections & Governance Committee (EGC) has completed their nominations process
and selected a slate of candidates for the 2023 OPALCO Board of Directors election. There are two open
positions one in District 1 (San Juan et al) and one in District 2 (Orcas, et al). The following were nominated by
a vote of the committee:
- District 1 (one open position): Vince Dauciunas
- District 2 (one position open): Rick Christmas and Chuks Onwuneme
There is still time for members to declare their candidacy for the board election. Nominations by petition are
due on February 17, 2023 at 12:00 PT (noon). Co-op members from Districts 1 or 2 may submit their candidacy
by 1) collecting no fewer than 20 names and signatures of bonafide OPALCO members who live in their district
on a petition; and 2) completing the nominations forms at https://www.opalco.com/candidate-application/.
The final slate of candidates will be posted on OPALCO’s website on March 4.
Get more information on OPALCO’s nominations process online: www.opalco.com/why-run. ALL OPALCO
members vote in every election regardless of their home district. You can read more about the candidates on
the OPALCO election hub: www.opalco.com/election-hub/.
A virtual Candidate forum is scheduled March 9th via Zoom. Ballots and voting materials will be sent to
members on March 10th, the day the election opens, and also will be posted online at www.opalco.com.
OPALCO is required to have 10% of the membership participate in the election each year and will be
encouraging more participation by sending paper ballots to every member – in addition to email ballots for
those who have requested them. Our third-party election vendor will make sure to count each memberships’
vote only once (members only vote once regardless of how many meters they have). Ballots are due online or
by mail no later than 10:00 am PT on April 26th. Election results will be announced on Saturday, April 29th at
OPALCO’s Annual Meeting (which will be virtual this year).
The current members of the Elections & Governance Committee (EGC) are Doug Marshall, Rick Fant, Rob
Thesman, Ray Glaze, Bill Appel, Doug Rowan and Bill Severson. There are open positions on the EGC. For more
information on the EGC, or to apply to join the volunteer committee, email communications@opalco.com.
Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, serving more
than 11,400 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 97% greenhouse-
gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937.
