MEA considers controversial bylaw changes

The MEA board of directors last fall appointed a new Bylaws Committee comprised of members who are not on the board. The committee immediately began an effort to update the cooperative's bylaws -- the internal rules that govern the electric company. Led by member Mary Jo Parks, the committee presented its suggestions to the board at a special meeting Monday. Among them was a new three-term limit -- which would total nine years -- for board members and a requirement that new board members be seated immediately after the annual meeting instead of the current process of waiting several months.

One of the more controversial bylaw revisions aims to roll back changes pushed by former MEA board member Barbara "Tamie" Miller. Miller proposed a requirement that board members submit to drug testing before being seated. MEA members voted to adopt this bylaw by a 2-1 margin in 2003.

Former MEA board member Mike Janecek has said he believes that change and others were aimed at ousting him and other anti-management members from the board. Janecek, now a member of the Bylaws Committee, was ousted from the board in 2001 for alleged campaign disclosure violations but later regained his seat when a judge ruled in his favor. MEA appealed the case but lost in the state Supreme Court. The cooperative in 2005 paid Janecek $40,000 in attorney fees as part of a settlement in the case.

Parks said Bylaws Committee members looked online at other cooperative bylaws to see if other board members were subject to drug testing. They found no examples, she said.

The committee also proposed cutting two other member-run committees. One change would eliminate the Member Advisory Committee, a group that in recent years has had just one task: coming up with questions for board candidates. Bruce Scott, an MEA employee and former Advisory Committee liaison, said the group has been in place at least since 1984 and has in the past researched energy alternatives for the cooperative, among other board-directed tasks.

The Bylaws Committee also suggested cutting the MEA Elections Committee, a group that oversees co-op elections. The committee, which Scott said has been in place since 1941, is charged with keeping MEA member ballots secure from the time they are received until they are counted. MEA spokeswoman Lorali Carter said it's not clear how election ballots would be handled in the absence of that committee.

MEA board members on Monday unanimously accepted the Bylaws Committee recommendations but were stopped from adding their own changes. Due to deadlines for printing ballots, changes cannot be made at a March 9 meeting either, MEA board president Lois Lester said. Each change will be voted on individually in the MEA election this spring, Lester said.

An effort by board members Larry DeVilbiss, David Glines and Peter Burchell Monday to reconsider the Bylaw Committee report and make changes failed in a tied vote.

Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call 352-6709.