September 2016 – Nominations Open for AVEC Board:

Posted: September 22, 2016

The bylaw amendments adopted by the membership last year have changed the way board members are elected. Instead of being elected by delegates at the annual meeting in Anchorage, they are now elected by you, the members, via a mail-in ballot. To implement that process, the AVEC Board will soon appoint a nominating committee of seven individuals who served as delegates at the 2016 annual meeting.

The nominating committee will meet via telephone during the next several weeks and develop a list of candidates for the two board seats that will be vacated in 2017. Those seats are held by Robert Beans of Mountain Village and Charlie Curtis of Kiana.

The nominating committee is seeking nominations for candidates. According to the bylaws, “No member shall be eligible to become or remain a Director … who is not a bona fide member of the Cooperative or in good standing, or who is in any way employed by or financially interested in a competing enterprise or a business selling electric energy or supplies to the Cooperative. When a membership is held jointly, either one, but not both, may be elected as Director, provided, however, that neither shall be eligible to become or remain a Director … unless BOTH shall meet the qualifications hereinabove set forth.”

If you are interested in running for the board of directors or wish to nominate another individual, please send a letter of nomination addressed to the nominating committee and include name, address, account number or telephone number of the potential candidate and a brief statement describing why the individual is running for the position. The nomination may be sent by mail to our address in Anchorage or by email to amurphy@avec.org.

The nominating committee is charged with the duty “to nominate candidates from the widest possible geographical distribution” and will prepare a slate of candidates for the board vacancies. Directors are elected at large, so the two candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected to the board unless both candidates come from the same community. Since the bylaws also dictate there shall not be more than one director from the same community, the candidate with the most votes from that community would be elected, and the candidate with the highest votes from another community would be elected to the second seat.

We expect the nominating committee to complete its task later this year, and ballots will be mailed to all members of record in early February 2017. Ballots must be returned by late March. The results will be announced at the annual meeting April 5, 2017.