Eight candidates provide detailed perspectives on cooperative future
||| FROM CHOM GREACEN |||
To help members differentiate among an unusually large field of candidates in the upcoming Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) board election, a group of concerned members has released the results of a candidate questionnaire. Of the nine candidates vying for two positions on the board, eight have provided detailed responses to the community’s inquiries regarding the cooperative’s future.
The participating members expressed their sincere gratitude to the candidates: “We are deeply thankful to the candidates for their willingness to run for the board and for taking the time to share their thoughtful perspectives with the membership. Their participation is a vital contribution to our cooperative’s democratic process,” said Chris Greacen.
The released results are organized by district to help members easily identify and compare the candidates for two different seats. The questionnaire covered critical topics including electricity rate affordability, local renewable energy generation, energy security, and board accountability.
Here is a set of sample excerpts from one of the seven questions in the questionnaire: “As a board member, how would you make yourself accountable to the members?” Different board candidates have slightly different emphasis.
District 1: San Juan, et al.
Adrian Kilpatrick: “OPALCO needs more friendly faces interacting directly with the community”
Laura Derevensky: “In person contact with neighbors of the projects should be required”
Rich Goodhart: “I use my “work” email account and give pretty quick replies to comments”
District 2: Orcas, et al.
Conor Anderson: “Communicating intent and reasoning, not just plans and results”
Chuks Onwuneme: “clear communication…being accessible…visible follow-through”
Richard Fant: “One minor change would be for open meetings (not locked behind zoom access)”
Michael Readey: “the OPALCO Board represents the members, not OPALCO management”
Laura Stern: “I would endeavor to apply the highest standards of corporate governance”
The full, verbatim responses from all participating candidates can be viewed at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/
The initiative is led by an independent, non-partisan group of OPALCO members dedicated to fostering transparency and informed participation in the cooperative’s democratic process. The group comprises: Ani Henry (San Juan), Bruce Howe-Gregory (San Juan), Claire Waterman (Lopez), Chris & Chom Greacen (Lopez), Ed Suij (Orcas), Eric Youngren (Orcas), Gretchen Allison (San Juan), Jeff Dyer (Lopez), Jennifer Swanson (Shaw), Lisa Lawrence (San Juan), Michael Riordan (Orcas), Ron Zee (San Juan), and Sandy Bishop (Lopez).
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