Submitted by OPALCO.

As a member-owned cooperative, OPALCO members elect the Board of Directors who are responsible for setting policies and rates, essentially setting the 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 11th 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: https://www.opalco.com/election-hub/ and a virtual candidate forum is scheduled for March 15th at 5:00pm via Zoom. Register for the candidate forum online: https://www.opalco.com/event/board-candidate-forum/.

The election closes on April 27th @ 10:00am PT. 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 30th (9-11a) 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. Follow OPALCO @OrcasPower on Facebook and Twitter.