— from Gabriel Jacobs —
In the minutes of the OPALCO Board meeting of May 19, 2016 there is a sentence about an audit, “Darlington recommended that the detailed document remain confidential to management and the board due the risk of exposing vulnerabilities of the organization.” This refers to an audit which was summarized but which summary gave no information about what the problems are. Keeping private personnel matters and business negotiations makes sense but refusing to reveal problems to the membership makes a mockery of being a coop. How can the membership make intelligent decisions if the problems are concealed from them? What moral right can justify hiding problems from the coop membership? OPALCO threatened a lawsuit against a Board member and others to prevent them from revealing problems. Do we want a coop that goes into non electric businesses without consulting the membership? Do we want a coop Board that runs OPALCO like its own fiefdom?
Rock Island sent out a note to its subscribers urging them to vote for the incumbents. They refused to give the opponents the same mailing list in order to rebut that point of view. Rock Island is a wholly owned subsidiary of OPALCO which in theory is a coop the members own. Thus OPALCO management and/or Board chose to favor the incumbents in an organization that is supposed to be a cooperative.
Rock Island has already expended almost all of its two year grant from OPALCO and it still needs more money. The recent repeated rate increases are a guide to who has to pay for this unchecked reckless spending.
Isn’t it time to replace this secretive spendthrift Board?
(Gabriel Jacobs, from Shaw Island, ran for a position on the OPALCO board this spring)
I have served the community during the 40+ years that we have lived on Orcas as a member of several elected boards that are subject to the WA State Open Public Meetings Act. This State Law guarantees transparency and openness of all aspects of any board governed by the RCWs. There is no argument nor justification for the OPALCO Board operating on behalf of the Co-Op’s members to be any less transparent. I strongly favor an amendment to the Bylaws of OPALCO that states:
“The Board of Directors and the management of OPALCO shall willingly comply with all provisions and requirements of the WA State Open Public Meetings Act, RCW …… in the conduct of its business, actions and decisions on behalf of the membership.” There is absolutely no downside of such a requirement and commitment to the members.
Is OPALCO”S Board under the State’s jurisdiction even though it is a COOP?
Spirit Eagle
Excellent suggestion Ed…
Open Public Meetings Act as well as the Public Records Act. (RCW 42.56)
These two laws protect the rights of the public to access of information AND are good, transparent procedures for the organization.
OPALCO could instantly gain credibility with skeptics by adopting these policies.
To answer Spirit Eagle; I am reasonably certain that OPALCO as a Co-op does NOT have to comply with the State Law on Open Public Meetings nor the Public Records Act.
If I am in error, then OPALCO can offer a correction, and cite appropriate law.
Theresa Haynie for OPALCO here: Ed Sutton is correct on the open meetings law not applying. However, all OPALCO Board meetings are open to the membership, up to the point that the Board convenes an Executive session. That Executive session might be for personnel issues and other sensitive matters, and even senior staff are excluded. The Board will announce generally the area under discussion but not the confidential details.
At the most recent OPALCO Board meeting, there were a total of three members present who addressed the Board and then departed before the substantive portion of the meeting occurred. Adopting the Open Meetings Act is unlikely to suddenly improve member attendance at Board meetings. All are welcome already.
Would the board also willingly comply with the Public Records Act?
I was one of the three members present at the June Board meeting, as noted by Theresa Haynie, along with Fred Klein and another man whom I did not recognize. I began my brief statement by reading from the “Seven Cooperative Principles” on the inside flap of the 2016 OPALCO Annual Report:
“Cooperatives are voluntary organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions.”
In concert with that policy statement, I proposed that the Board establish a Members Review Panel of distinguished members with financial and management expertise to address the serious management questions being raised by such members as Mr. Jacobs and another outspoken Shaw resident, plus many others from Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island. This proposal is similar to a motion I made at the 2016 Annual Meeting, which was however ruled out of order by the OPALCO attorney present.
This was a serious idea that deserves serious consideration. This Members Review Panel could be given access to OPALCO records and documents — for example, personnel records — that should not normally be placed in public view, and report back to the full membership with its findings. It could thus address mismanagement charges being made — for example, that OPALCO electricity members’ funds are being used to cover costs that should normally be allocated to Rock Island. That way this Panel could bring much-needed transparency to OPALCO/Rock Island and perhaps help resolve what seems to be unending criticism of the broadband venture.
After Fred spoke, seconding the idea, the third man suggested this would be a good opportunity for the Board to engage in dialog with members present. But the Board ignored his suggestion and this opportunity, and launched into the regular agenda with approval of the minutes. I thereupon left and the others soon followed. I, for one, figured I had better things to do with my time and could always read the minutes later on.
One can only conclude that the Board is not really interested in having OPALCO members “actively participate in setting policies and making decisions.” Our only role is like that of corporate shareholders, to vote on members of the Board at the annual meetings. In fact, OPALCO is not really acting like the Cooperative it claims to be but more like an impersonal corporation. That is a sad, sorry state of affairs.
Theresa is essentially correct in that attendance at regular meetings of boards and commissions tend to be minimal. Board meetings of the Eastsound Sewer and Water District rarely draws a guest.
HOWEVER, if there is a litany of concerns being expressed in the media, then there would seem to be a need to bundle those thoughts and determine if there is a common thread that would cause the Board to establish an independent committee of qualified members as suggested by Michael Riordan to craft a discussion topic that could be added to the Board’s agenda.
My underlying concern is that “where there is smoke, there is usually fire”.
And fires don’t often put themselves out.
So where to begin? I would ask Forrest Hildreath to invite 5, 6 or so writers to meet and discuss the issues about which they have been writing. A composite discussion by concerned members in a relaxed environment might help for a better understanding by all parties, and a strategy for moving forward to better solutions.
A quick, further thought. If there is distress within the membership about such topics, the individual board members should reach out to their constituents and ask, “WHAT’S UP !!!!”.
Theresa Haynie (OPALCO):
Foster has always been generous with his time to discuss OPALCO matters with you. He is open to a meeting to talk about any of the topics raised in this string of commentary.
Unrelated to this latest thread, OPALCO Board Directors Winnie Adams and Mark Madsen, and Board president Vince Dauciunas, are holding an early evening coffee and tea talk on San Juan Island on July 12th at the Friday Harbor Grange. There is no July OPALCO Board meeting, but the board’s work doesn’t stop. They expect to answer a broad range of questions, following on the successful series of Tea Talks that Director Adams held leading up to the Annual Meeting. You are, as always, invited to attend that, too.
The Board committed to a full review of election neutrality and the election process. We are moving quickly to create a volunteer work group. You can read more about that in the next OPALCO bill insert, or view it at https://ow.ly/6eZP301OmPP and apply to become part of that volunteer committee.