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Doug Bechtel
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Well, as you are reading this OPALCOGRAM, our annual meeting is this Saturday. You would think that after 17 years annual meetings would become old hat. I went to my first annual meeting as a manager in March of 1978 after I had been on the job for about two weeks. For some reason annual meetings continue to be a time where I spend a lot of time worrying about the annual meeting -- will we get a quorum? -- will everything go smoothly? -- will the boat we have hired to carry people from Friday Harbor to Orcas be on time? -- is the ferry on time? Most of these items are either beyond my control or taken care of by other OPALCO employees.
The biggest thing that I worry about is whether or not we have a quorum. Our bylaws require 100 members present to have a quorum. A husband and wife usually just count as one member. In the past we have talked about decreasing the quorum requirement so that it is easy to reach but so far we have resisted the opportunity to take the easy way out. The high quorum count requires us to go to some effort to ensure that we have a quorum, so we revert to bribery: a nice lunch plus door prizes from OPALCO and our suppliers. You also get an annual impassioned plea from me to get you to attend the annual meeting.
I know that you have all studied the annual report we mailed to you in great detail (at least 700 of you have who have returned your ballots) and you know that the ferry schedule is as follows:
BOARDING TIMES
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*Orcas
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Shaw
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*Lopez
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10:30 a.m.
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10:00 a.m.
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10:55 a.m.
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| Return: |
1:20 p.m.
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1:10 p.m.
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12:50 p.m.
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San Juan
Depart: Leave from Port of Friday Harbor dock aboard a chartered boat 9:30 a.m.
Walk off at Orcas 10:15 a.m.
Walk on Washington State Ferry at Orcas 10:30 a.m.
Walk off at Orcas 1:20 p.m.
Return: Leave from Orcas ferry landing aboard chartered boat to Friday Harbor 1:30 p.m.
*Registration on the landing prior to boarding.
Meeting from 10:55 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.
If you haven't cast your ballot yet, there is still time. You can bring it to the annual meeting; you can pick up a ballot at the annual meeting; or if you absolutely refuse to attend, you can drop it off at the registration desk on annual meeting day or at the OPALCO office in Eastsound or Friday Harbor by noon the 28th and we will get them counted. Anyway, I hope you show up at our annual meeting and I hope everything goes smoothly.
Prizes to be awarded at our annual meeting this year include four tickets to Mariner baseball, a portable compact disk player and two tickets to the musical "Miss Saigon" in Seattle, including dinner and hotel. To win you have to attend our annual meeting, so we will see you there.
Doug Bechtel
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