December 2016 – Last Call for Board Nominations –
Posted: April 25, 2017The AVEC nominating committee, which consists of seven serving delegates, is seeking nominations for candidates to run for two board seats. 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 a 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 someone, please send a letter of nomination addressed to the nominating committee. Include the 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 has a duty “to nominate candidates from the widest possible geographical distribution” and will prepare a slate of eligible candidates to present to the membership. 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 that there shall not be more than one director from a 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.
Nominations must be received by Saturday, December 31, 2016.
February’s Ruralite magazine will include brief biographies of the individuals running for the open board seats. Ballots will be mailed to all eligible AVEC members in late February. Completed ballots must be received by the end of March 2017. Winning candidates will be announced at the annual meeting, Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
Oscarville Becomes AVEC’s Newest Community!
As of October 2016, Oscarville, a community of about 45 residents, has become AVEC’s 57th community. The community was buying wholesale power from AVEC. Before becoming retail members of AVEC, they were not receiving power cost equalization. As a result of becoming AVEC customers, electric rates to the end users will drop by as much as 50 percent. Welcome, Oscarville!
Yakutat Files Application to Become an AVEC Community
In October 2016, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska received an application to transfer the electric utility serving Yakutat, a community of 613, to AVEC. The commission has up to six months to decide upon whether the transfer is in the public interest, so we hope to welcome them to membership in early 2017.
On behalf of the board of directors and the entire staff at AVEC, I wish you a warm and happy winter season and all of the blessings of friends and family for Christmas and the New Year!
