MEA board votes to retain 2 embattled members

Board member David Glines, who made the motions, said they were based on bylaw changes that utility members passed at the association's annual meeting Saturday.

One of those measures tightened conflict-of-interest rules for serving on the board. The measure declared it a conflict if a board member's family -- including siblings and children -- did more than $10,000 annually in work in a business "directly or indirectly" linked to MEA. The measure could prohibit board member Janet Kincaid from serving on the board because her son, David Kincaid, installs electrical lines for developers.

Glines made a motion to declare Kincaid's board seat vacant and advertise for new applicants, but the measure failed with Glines and board member Larry DeVilbiss in support.

Glines also made another motion to declare board president Lois Lester "unable to serve" because of a new bylaw limiting board members to at most three three-year terms. Lester, reelected Saturday, will begin serving her fourth term this year. Glines' motion also failed with only DeVilbiss in support.

After voting the measures down, the board directed its attorney to evaluate the bylaw changes and offer an opinion on whether they should be considered effective immediately and how they pertain to seated board members. The attorney will also be looking at another bylaw change that could affect when Lester and Jones are sworn in. That bylaw change required elected board members to be seated at the next regular meeting after the election is certified. Previously, board members had been seated after July 4.

The board also confirmed the results of the cooperative election Monday. The final results didn't change any election outcomes.

Lester still won the most votes in the five-way race for two board seats with 3,377 votes. Catharine "Kit" Jones, also an incumbent, received 3,366 votes. Of the remaining candidates, Marvin Yoder received 2,847 votes, Crystal Nygard 2,800 votes, and Tom Staudenmaier 499 votes.

The annual meeting brought a few other changes. During the meeting, three members proposed and had motions adopted asking for more information from the association.

Staudenmaier made a motion to "open the cooperative's books" from 1982 to the present. Members in the audience of roughly 500 raised green cards in favor of his suggestion.

Staudenmaier said he believes members should know more about how money is spent at the cooperative, specifically how many MEA board members have gone on trips paid for by the cooperative.

Another MEA member, Joey Brockhouse, made a motion requiring the utility to hold a question-and-answer session with candidates four weeks before annual election ballots are mailed out.

Also, Kristofer Larson, an MEA member and a Wasilla City Councilman, asked the board to make clear campaign rules regarding where campaign signs could legally go. Larson said the practice of putting campaign signs in public easements and on power poles should be prohibited. His motion also passed by a majority vote of audience members.

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