OPALCO board election opens March 11: Meet the candidates

||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT CO-OPERATIVE |||

As a member-owned cooperative, OPALCO members elect the Board of Directors who are responsible for setting policies and rates, essentially guiding the course for our electric utility. The 2022 nominations process is complete and the slate of candidates is:

• District 1 (one open position): Mark Madsen – incumbent, Steven Carleton, Jessa Madosky
• District 3 (one open position): Brian Silverstein – incumbent
• District 4 (one open position): Jerry Whitfield – incumbent

Ballots and voting materials will be sent to all co-op members on March 11 via regular mail and e-mail (if there is an email address on file). OPALCO is required to get a quorum of at least 10% of the membership and will be encouraging voter participation by sending paper ballots to every member this year. Our third-party election vendor, Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS), has measures in place to make sure each voter gets only one vote. All members vote for one open position in each district (three districts with open positions in this election) regardless of where they live.

Candidate information is available now on OPALCO’s elections hub, and a virtual candidate forum is scheduled for March 15 at 5 p.m. via Zoom. Register for the candidate forum online.

The election closes on April 27 @ 10 a.m. Ballots must be submitted online or by mail to SBS; no ballots can be accepted at OPALCO offices. Election results will be announced at the virtual Annual Meeting via Zoom on Saturday, April 30 (9-11 a.m.) and then posted online and published in local papers.

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.