Back to Blog

OPALCO Board Election Opens March 11th: Meet the Candidates

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 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.

You may also like...

Quick Fact: OPALCO General Manager / CEO Compensation

Executive compensation in the electric utility industry does not scale with community size — it scales with system risk, complexity, and fiduciary responsibility. Investor-owned utilities compensate CEOs at the highest … Read more
cost comparison graph

Quick Fact: OPALCO vs. a Typical Mainland Electric Utility

Retail Rates: Even though OPALCO’s Retail Rates are either equivalent to or less than US and WA averages, OPALCO manages our complex grid successfully and is able to keep our … Read more
online survey

Survey Results Are In!

OPALCO has been engaging the co-op membership in the realities facing the energy world. Things are changing due to climate impacts, carbon reduction legislation, and the transition to renewable energy. … Read more