OPALCO Annual Meeting Elects Lett, Whitfield and Silverstein

— by Margie Doyle —

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OPALCO members voted Brian Silverstein of Lopez to its governing board at the annual meeting aboard the ferry on  April 30, 2016. Members also returned  incumbents Jerry Whitfield and Jim Lett to the board. Gabriel Jacobs, who lost his bid to serve on the board, thanked those “who voted for me and especially, those who didn’t vote for me.” Doug Pearson, who finalized the vote tally, reported that 2,397 ballots had been cast.

The sole bylaw amendment passed by 400 votes: “At the end of the existing Article III – Directors, Section 1, General Powers, the following paragraph shall be inserted:

As soon as practicable and at least once every ten years thereafter, the Board of Directors shall reapportion the number of directors seats attributable to each of the Districts listed in Article III – Directors, Section 2, Qualifications and Tenure, so as to align the representation of Cooperative members as closely as possible with the actual number of energy members within each District. Furthermore, from time to time the Board of Directors shall update the boundaries of the above-referenced Districts so as to facilitate the goal of proportionate representation of the members in each of the Districts on the Board of Directors.”

The meeting was packed with members, certainly more than the 100-member quorum required.

After remarks by Board of Directors Chair Jim Lett, director Vince Daucuinas and General Manager Foster Hildreth, and announcement of the balloting, Suzanne Olson moderated a 25-minute question and answer session, extended by a delay in leaving the Anacortes landing.

Vince Dauciunas spoke of the development of the smart grid as the “evolution and transformation of the electrical system that the U.S is undergoing. It means modern measurement, communication and computation technologies to improve the functioning of the electrical grid.”

He cited the federal power agencies like Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and TVA, inducstrial utilities like Puget Power, rural electric cooperatives like OPALCO and over public or municipal utility districts generating 3.8 trillion kilowatt hours per year to 150 million customers , as Dauciunas says, that’s 3,8 followed by 15 zeroes )

Aside from degradation of electric generation systems over the last 50 years, electric grids need to modernize in order to reach the following goals:

• get more out of grid infrastructure;
• integrate renewable resources like solar and wind;
• give users new ways to control use, providing ‘real time’ information on the cost of power.

Dauciunas concluded his remarks, saying that modernization of the smart grid is “an incremental evolution that will take a number of years to implement and each utility’s going to determine its own modernization products.”

Foster Hildreth then followed up, reporting that OPALCO’s grid is “modern, adaptable and efficient,” and proceeded to give a brief “State of OPALCO” report, which may be viewed at the OPALCO website, at  https://www.opalco.com/annualreport/

Hildreth described Rock Island as “our startup internet company” that now has 1,000 subscribers, a “gamechanger for the cooperative enabling the entire community to connect.” There will 31 poles up by the end of the year, “covering the majority of our service area, effectively solving the internet crisis in our community by year end.

“Right now we’re providing constant internet coverage. If you look at what we’ve done with Rock Island, we should be really proud as a cooperative. This rivals [what we accomplished] when we first started to electrify the community in 1937.

“It’s been a challenging year with bumps along the way,” Hildreth said, and apologized to those who’ve experienced problems. He promised to continue to improve service to members. “While it feels like we’ve been drinking from the proverbial fire house, we’re dedicated to getting back to people.”

Hildreth admitted that it’s also been “an emotional year,” and said, “Our team has hearts of gold, extremely talented, and they’ve been working their tails off for all of us. So — well done!”

Question and answer period

Michael Baker said he’d read the annual report and asked “How long are we going to put up with losing $2,000,000 a year?”

Hildreth said that with the acquisition of Rock Island in Feb. 2015, “we knew we’d run in the red,” but that by the end of this year, Rock Island will refinance the loan it received from Rock Island.. He mentioned several times that members are paying $3 per month for 24 months for that loan.

The number of subscribers is accelerating with the installation of  T-Mobile poles at a rate of about six Rock Island Customer per day. Hildreth said, adding that their business plan will break even in 2018.

Michael Riordan said: “I move that an independent members committee be formed and empowered to examine allegations of mismanagement and misallocation of funds by the OPALCO leadership and that said committee report back to the members on its findings by the end of this calendar year.”

After the motion was seconded, OPALCO attorney studied the bylaws and eventually determined that such a motion was “a question of due process and notification” and that such a motion must be presented for the annual meeting agenda 10 days before the meeting.

Gay Wilmerding of San Juan Island asked if the Rock Island subsidiary of OPALCO wasn’t a conflict of interest. In disclaiming that the two organizations presented a conflict of interest, Hidlreth said that there are differences in how the governance of each organization is set up.

He said that many of the finance questions would be clarified at the May board meeting when the board reviews the audit report prepared by OPALCO financial staff.

Members from Cattle Point on San Juan Island, Deer Harbor on Orcas Island and Lopez thanked OPALCO subsidiary Rock Island for expanding internet broadband in their neighborhoods. Lopezians also questioned the sitings of the poles and further details about the operations of cellular transmission and providers. One asked that OPACO provide an overview similar to Daucuinas’ presentation about modernization of electric grids.

Foster said, before connecting with T-mobile, Rock Island had plans for 120 poles, now 38,covering 95percent of the service area,  of which 17 are up.We did a lot of homework about where to put the poles,they need to be in locations to optimize the signals. He asked for a show of hands for how many had seen the 17 poles that are now up, and upon seeing a small show of hands, remarked, “It’s kind of like finding Waldo if you ask me. We’ve done a pretty good job of considering the environment.”

Joint use infrastructure with a cooperative agreement to use one structure for fire departments, schools and OPALCO’s utilities, also to be used by T-mobile, Verizon and other cell phone providers.

Hildreth guaranteed that the Rock Island staff would get answers to all the questions.

Sheila Gaquin thanked OPALCO for making her home energy efficient. “And I’m thrilled with broadband” and customer service from Rock Island, in contrast to service from Century Link.

Foster said, “We all own Rock Island and have a vested interest in making it a success. When it becomes available for you, please support it.”

Ron Zee asked how many rural electric cooperatives are on multiple islands in the United States. Hildreth said  that he doesn’t know of any, and added, “serving 20 islands in our community is pretty daunting.”

Harvey Aldort, a public critic of OPALCO, after complaining of its “secrecy,”  gave his whole-hearted support to the Rock Island broadband venture: “Broadband will pay off,” he said.

In responding the questions about coop voting for important decisions, Hildreth said he’d reviewed the number of times the membership had been polled; and found that the only time that happened was when the location of the coop offices — on Orcas or San Juan Island — was being decided. Further, he said that the  board is elected to make decisions on behalf of the membership.

Rhea Miller of Lopez Island acknowledged past service by OPACO board members from Lopez and commented that the membership didn’t understand the by-law change just approved. She questioned its authorship and Hildreth replied that it had been written by Lopezian Rob Thesman

Ed Sutton asked what measures were considered in light of the recent power outages of the past two months. Hildreth said the coop is working on re-routing so that there are redundant circuits.

When questioned about the potential dangers of exposure to electromagnetic frequencies, Hildreth said that OPALCO followed all required health and safety standards required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Finally, Hildreth said that he expects the board to be fully involved in discussions about the costs of service and the coop’s rate structure.