Golden Valley Electric Association Issues

Will the RCA regulatory body ask utilities to implement conservation?

2010-11-27T21:50:00.000-09:00

Will the Regulatory Commission of Alaska ask Alaska utilities to implement conservation measures? Not if their staff report is implemented. You can read more about this regulatory issue on R-09-005.

The sad part about the recommendations is that the federal government offered some guidance and then offered it to the states to look at or come up with their own ideas. The Alaska Legislature, through an Energy Policy with SB 220 provided further incentive. Yet the RCA's staff recommendation is just to get trained up more. This docket has been out there for nearly 2 years, plenty of time for training.

I say it is time for the RCA to get off their duff and work for the long term benefit of the consumers they are charged to represent. I urge anyone who has the stamina to read the documents to at least comment to the RCA. Comments are due Dec. 9, 2010 by 4 pm.

Juneau electrical rate increase

2010-07-29T22:23:00.003-08:00

Due to some substantive cost overruns and a non-functional project for the next few years at least, the Lake Dorothy Hydro Project in Juneau is costing all ratepayers at least a 20% increase. You can read more of the submissions from the RCA website. It's actually rather amazing.

http://rca.alaska.gov/RCAWeb/Dockets/DocketDetails.aspx?id=cbac123f-90b2-4ede-8234-4899e455f0fd

GVEA Bylaw changes - the analysis begins

2010-06-09T08:56:00.002-08:00

Seventeen amendments to the bylaws of GVEA were passed by the membership after a count of over 5000 mail-in/drop-off ballots last night.

Two bylaw changes did show a marked difference with less support:

One change removed the bylaw section that limited the co-ops debt to $460 million. This now means that the policy the board developed and passed 3/29/10 that more than doubles this debt limit will be in effect and that the board can change at will. This policy (last page) and other policies modified with the bylaw changes can be found here.

The second bylaw change passed with less support was GVEA proposed Roundup Program, where your bill will be rounded up to the next even dollar amount and the funds collected (est. $15,000/mo.) to be given to charities of GVEA's choice. The controversial aspect to this program was that it is Opt-Out, meaning you are included automatically and must call GVEA at 452-1151 or send an email to them (info@gvea.com) to opt out of the program.

With the many delayed and un-received ballots due to sending them via the Ruralite, I don't think that GVEA will be using that method of delivery again. More likely is a push to develop an on-line voting method, now allowed by bylaw change.

I would also hope that this many changes and some so poorly worded in one vote don't happen again. It was generally poorly organized and not worthy of what we should expect from our co-op.

GVEA Ballot Count #8 - all bylaw amendments pass

2010-06-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the final vote on the bylaws. Analysis and commentary to follow after a night's sleep. WAY TOO many ballot issues, all those present agreed.

Received 5114 valid ballots, but 14 were spoiled, total counted 5100

Approve all - 3201
Disapprove all - 536

Approved individually
1. 1022
2. 898
3. 1110
4. 1124
5. 1144
6. 1058
7. 1096
8. 1102
9. 1001
10. 925
11. 1039
12. 1101
13. 1080
14. 414 (remove debt limit)
15. 1034
16. 976
17. 449 (round-up bill)

GVEA Ballot Count #7

2010-06-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Election judges are done with their tally. Multiple spreadsheets for tallying those who voted for individual bylaw changes are being tallied by Cory and Corinne.

In the meantime, the drawing for the free electricity was pulled out of the hopper by Hollis, one of the election judges, with his eyes closed. It was a fully loaded hopper with over 5000 envelopes inside. Obert Friberg (sp) was the winner. GVEA wasn't thinking they would call him tonight. I thought if I won, I'd want them to call up to 11 pm and it's only 10:40 pm now.

A handful (10) of questioned ballots were discussed, some with duplicate ballots, strange signature locations, some that were picked up at GVEA when their mail ballots didn't arrive and then later, the mail ballot did arrive. The general rule followed was that the first valid ballot to be received was the one counted.

Most elections judges are sticking around, talking, waiting to sign off on the final tally, being done with the aid of a tape based adding machine. There is a place for this now ancient technology.

GVEA Ballot Count #6 - incumbent Bergh wins District 5

2010-06-08T20:44:00.002-08:00

Preliminary count in District 5:

Ron Bergh - 606 (44%)
Hank Bartos - 441
Tim Beck - 331

200 ballots came in without signature on the outside envelope. They are opening those to see if any were signed inside, as the instructions allowed for. To date only one did, with a few more that had a check for payment of their bill (but no ballot).

Extra ballots checked - 5 had signatures inside.

Final count District 5

Ron Bergh - 608 - 44%
Hank Bartos - 441 - 32%
Tim Beck - 331 - 24%
Total ballots counted - 1380

Looks like some of the observer staff are leaving, though a recent lightning storm resulted in some spotty electrical outages in various areas of town.

GVEA ballot count #5

2010-06-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Final bit of counting of District 5. 213 ballots that were unsigned on the outside are being opened to see if signed on the inside. Of the 1365 pre-verified ballots, it looks like one person got about 500 votes. 40% is needed to avoid a runoff with 3 candidates on the ballot.

Candidates were:
Ron Bergh - incumbent
Tim Beck
Hank Bartos

Beck didn't get very many ballots, but he didn't campaign that anyone could tell.

On the bylaw ballot, 3 piles are being made - Yes on all, No on all, Yes only as approved on the other side.

From my perspective, it looks like the "Yes on all" have the majority, with 2-3 times the pile size compared to the others.

GVEA Ballot Count #4

2010-06-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

The bylaws group in the new board room just completed opening the outside envelopes.

GVEA Ballot Count #3 - District 6 winner - Sloan re-elected

2010-06-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

District 6 election has been certified by the election judges. Under 50 minutes

John Sloan - 322 votes
Tana Wood - 99 votes
Ballots with no signatures not counted - 32
Ballots with wrong signatures not counted - 8

On to District 5 with 3x as many ballots to count.

The main board room is still opening outside envelopes for the bylaws vote.

GVEA Ballot Count #2

2010-06-08T18:37:00.001-08:00

The staff have slit the outside envelopes and are giving them to the election judges, who then verify the name and signature on the outside and take the ballots out. These then go into a hopper for the next staff slitting of the envelopes. The old Board Room is getting District 6 ballots while the new Board Room is getting the bylaws ballots to open the outside envelopes.

BTW, the last bylaw vote on the G&T in 2008 had a 21% return.

GVEA ballot count #1

2010-06-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Just for fun and for those who can't be here, I've decided to report on the GVEA ballot counting for the bylaw changes and Districts 5 and 6 election. Just getting started now at 6 pm.

About 13 people here as election people, staff includes CEO Brian Newton, Diane Porter (presenting) and Corinne Braddish (Communiucations), VP Member Services, Dave Gardner, Attorney Cory Borgeson, board chair Bill Nordmark, board member Ward Merdes, some MAC members.

May 4 - district ballots went out
May 7 - bylaw ballots went out

Appropriate sig, no signature, questioned ballots, wrong signature, multiple ballots in a single envelope They were secured and counted daily during collection. Outside envelopes are to be saved and put in the hopper for the drawing for "Free Electricity for a Year" (up to $1760).

10% required for district elections
650 votes or 3% (1,011) required for bylaws

District 5 - ballots mailed out 6,435, returned 1,365 - 21% return
District 6 - ballots mailed out 1,604, returned 487 - 30% return
Bylaws - ballots mailed out 33,726, returned 5,114 - 15% return

Cory charges the election judges with their rights and responsibility to make decisions on validity. Noted that some ballots are already questioned, but election judges will decide on each. Ballots will be double counted, staff will open envelopes by machine.

Eva Creek and interest rate subsidy

2010-05-28T22:37:00.009-08:00

We've never been given much information about the purported subsidy of interest rates if GVEA funded the Eva Creek Wind Farm near Healy.

Here's some info about the federal funding source - the Clean Renewable Energy Bond Program

www.nreca.org/main/NRECA/PressRoom/Releases/20091030CREB.htm

www.nreca.coop/Documents/PublicPolicy/FFNewEnhcmntsCREBs.pdf

www.nreca.coop/PublicPolicy/ElectricIndustry/renewableenergy.htm

General Info on Eva Creek Wind Project
I don't know why GVEA doesn't post their Powerpoints on Eva Creek on their website, but some are available on UAF's Alaska Center for Energy and Power's informative website.

2008 presentation to the Rural Energy Conference
2010 presentation to the Rural Energy Conference

This link was supposedly a 2007 report on Eva Creek, but instead is a report on the GVEA's
Green Power Advisory Committee

Where are the ballots?

2010-05-28T21:55:00.001-08:00

I've been getting calls from GVEA members looking for their ballots for the bylaws election. Whether they got trashed with the Ruralite or something deferred them, it is of concern when those who want to vote don't get it. We don't have a stated process for a failed vote. It could get interesting. A couple of the bylaws allow for voting by internet. THAT also could get interesting.

I've also gotten calls from members asking to have the bylaw change sections explained, as they trust me to give them the straight scoop (by implication, and not GVEA). While gratifying to have their trust, my (apparently) long term goal is to have GVEA exhibit a substance of transparency and good decision-making to increase the trust. People seem real suspicious.

I'd also like to see a non-partisan party be the ones to receive the ballot. That might help members' confidence in the ballot handling. Not that I think funny business is going on, but just the potential/appearance.

Members should come down to GVEA 5:30-6:00 pm on June 8 for the start of the ballot processing and count. Interesting to see how it's done and they supply refreshments.

Well, the power is flickering on and off. I'll close here before I lose my text.

GVEA proposed bylaws amendments

2010-05-06T20:21:00.023-08:00

By now, GVEA members should have a ballot in hand to vote on 17 bylaw amendments. I urge everyone to read those amendments carefully before voting.

While some board and GVEA members asked to have for pro and con statements, GVEA only put forth the pro statements. The text text of the bylaw changes are located HERE in pdf< and a brief lead-up here.

One amendment changes meeting rules to Roberts Rules of Order. This is a long needed change which I support.

The most controversial change is in Article X, which seeks to remove the current $460 million cap on indebtedness. Prompted by a ruling from the federal agency that guarantees GVEA loans, the Rural Utilities Services has indicated they won’t approve further loans unless their original loan amount (face value) is under that $460 million. GVEA is at $465 million now, with outstanding debt at $365 million. The exact wording struck is However, the highest amount of indebtedness to which the Cooperative shall at any time be subject is $460,000,000.00. I recommend members vote NO on this change.

What this change would do is give the GVEA board a free hand in taking on debt. In fact, they already established a policy for a maximum indebtedness of between $600 million and $960 million, more than 1.5 times current debt.

As GVEA pursues new projects such as the Healy 2 Coal Plant or the Eva Creek Wind Project, each about $95 million, the debt, interest, and depreciation will raise your rates. As CEO Newton explained at the annual meeting, those costs will be a component not of the utility charge where usually reflected, but instead be buried within your fuel charge. New generation is being put into a Generation and Transmission (G&T) subsidiary Tri-Valley Electric Cooperative (Tri-VEC), even though members soundly defeated a proposal to move current G&T assets to a separate subsidiary in 2008. I’ll leave it to members to decide if this violates members’ intent.

GVEA has borrowed most of their outstanding loans in the last 10 years for a new oil fired 65 mw plant in North Pole, a second intertie line from Healy-Fairbanks, and the largest battery bank in the world.. They also just approved a $65 million loan for 2 years of various upgrades. It is good they only contributed in-kind effort and under $10 million of legal fees into the $312 million experimental coal plant in Healy. It was the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the State of Alaska that paid for it and the State of Alaska that is now suing GVEA for backing out of it.

While I appreciate recent GVEA efforts to provide more information to members, they have a long ways to go to fully earn my trust to support this bylaw amendment. When they use a subsidiary to purchase major assets on behalf of our membership, each of those subsidiaries needs to exhibit transparency. Alasconnect, GVEA communications subsidiary, is so undercover, their website is a shell, meetings are not announced, nor are GVEA members allowed to attend either monthly or annual meetings. Tri-VEC has no presence on the GVEA website. One might be able to find some information about both from board minutes and agendas, but those are paper scanned and are not indexed or searchable.

One of the findings of a recent member survey GVEA hired out was that GVEA needs to do a better job of fostering two-way communications with members. I’d say more, except the board meeting at which it was discussed went into executive session and all non-staff and board members were required to leave. Board Policy 1.2 value “Open and transparent communications with our members.” is not being honored. Another policy actively discourages board members from communicating to those they represent.

There are a couple of board members who advocate for improved communication with members, but it takes a majority of 4. I would recommend that GVEA members in districts now voting for board members call the candidates and ask for their commitment to better two-way communication. We elect board members from our districts and should be able to reasonably expect that they can communicate with us with their view as well as that of the board as a whole. Through technology, it can be done at little cost and will encourage GVEA members to be more involved in our co-op.

Until there is more transparency to members, I can’t support eliminating a cap on our cooperative’s debt. I would support increasing the $460 million some in order to pursue well supported renewable and demand reduction projects, but the board chose not to propose that to the members. We must discourage large debt load to keep our rates down.

More on Eva Creek Wind Project

2010-05-06T20:01:00.004-08:00

I have to update my understanding of Eva Creek. At the recent Rural Energy Conference and the GVEA annual meeting, we were informed that the Eva Creek wind project is only expected to be 30% efficient, thus getting only an average of 8 mw instead of the rated 24 mw. That's a big difference in payback and deserves another look. Particularly with federal and state grant opportunities, I think there needs to be a more considered look at it. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favor of renewable energy, but it needs to be done intelligently, just like I think we need to not invest in the 50 mw Healy 2 coal plant coincidentally for about the same $95 million. Wonder what the efficiency of this plant would be?

A recent thought about using coal as a fuel source made me think of fast food. You know it's unhealthy for you in the long term, but it's cheap and tastes good (metaphorically speaking). Even when we send coal away to east Asia, it comes back to us in the form of arctic haze and pollution.

Coal or Wind?

2009-12-04T22:21:00.004-09:00

I read with interest Brian Newton's letter advocating support for a $95 million, 30 year investment in buying and re-starting the experimental coal fired power plant in Healy at the same time suggesting it will keep your electric rates low and look toward the future.

Brian failed to mention this large investment which, if instead was invested in the proven wind resource at Eva Creek near Healy, could provide half as much electricity with NO fuel cost and NO carbon output. Thinking long term, it seems like a 0 fuel charge vs. a fuel charge likely to have substantive regulation and carbon based taxes is a better deal, but not to most of the GVEA board and management. The only way GVEA said they’d do Eva Creek is if they get a full grant. Should we wonder why they don't find a grant for the coal plant. Oh, darn, I forgot, both the state and feds already granted $300 million for it and still GVEA needs more.

GVEA has continued to raise rates to pay for loans for numerous capital projects in recent years' past, not just the fuel cost. Don't expect your rates to go down with another coal plant. We still have to pay off loans, including a new one for over $65 million for regular annual construction.

What about an energy efficient appliance replacement program? GVEA could provide a subsidy to ratepayers equal to the reduced consumption over a period of time. But WAIT, they don't WANT electricity usage to go down because they'll need to raise the service charge again instead of making oil the boogyman. Is there something wrong with this picture?

It seems hard for the entrenched to visualize a sustainable future. If GVEA can lobby so hard to get the membership to give up ownership of 3/4 of the utility's assets as they tried and failed a few years ago, I bet they could sell us on a 25 mw wind farm. Or give you a new refrigerator.

Healy Clean Coal Plant fracas developing

2009-08-05T15:36:00.002-08:00

Well, it looks like a fracas is developing around the Healy Clean Coal Plant. Here's a few links illustrating the issue:

• GVEA's official page on the HCCP
• AIDEA's page on the project
• SourceWatch page on HCCP (contains several newslinks and material on related coal-power projects)
• Brian Newton's Community Perspective piece in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, July 19, 2009
• Andrew Halcro posts on the deal
• Larry Mayo's Community Perspective piece in the News-Miner, Feb. 21, 2009
•"Alaska lawmakers get the lowdown on the future of the Healy Clean Coal Plant," Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, June 19, 2009
• miscellaneous stories and articles in the News-Miner, sorted by date
• "HEA, coal part ways," Peninsula Clarion, July 23, 2009
• Coal-is-dirty.com
• Solstice Light on clean coal
• Rep. Mike Kelly's history of the HCCP
• "Exploring Clean Coal Technology", Valve Magazine, part one and part two.
• "Coal: Alaska's Other Black Gold," by Brian Yanity, Insurgent49, part one and part two.

A search on the web will bring up more, of course.

Member comments at GVEA Annual meeting

2009-04-27T22:28:00.003-08:00

There were 17 people who spoke during member comments at the 2008 annual meeting of GVEA, some chafing under the newly imposed 2 minute limit. The draft minutes will be up for approval by the membership at the April 28, 2009 annual meeting with only a general summary of who spoke and that "the topics ranged from the status of HCCP to affordable and renewable energy and made requests for a better dialogue with the Board."

I find this to be a less than complete record of member comments. Those that spoke deserve the recognition of attribution for what they said and GVEA needs to be able to keep a functional record of this for reference and action. It is true that one can watch the member comments on a streaming video, but that's not exactly easily browsed or is searchable. In fact, when I went to watch them, there were several glitches including a missing section that I only was able to detect because I was at the meeting.

I informed GVEA Board Chairman Bill Nordmark, who in turn informed GVEA CEO/President Brian Newton that I had listened to the video recording and prepared a more complete written record of member comments from the 2008 Annual Meeting and that I was prepared to move to amend the draft minutes to include those. They can be found here.

Brian called me today to ask me not to introduce this amendment as he was concerned about the cost of reproducing this on glossy paper ($10,000) and because members wouldn't be able to view it. I had provided it to GVEA electronically so it could be displayed on the overhead along with all their other presentations. He indicated he would not do so.

I reiterated my desire to have GVEA be more transparent and also respectful of those who put themselves forth to speak. I indicated that, despite a suggestion that the board might be more complete in the minutes in future years, this proposed amendment was in order (in a parliamentary sense) and he agreed.

I have to say that, while I sympathize with the challenges of conducting a large meeting, I felt a bit affronted to be asked NOT to exercise one of the few rights that members have to make at an annual meeting or otherwise, besides voting for a board member or a bylaw change.

I will be making at least 500 copies for distribution at the meeting at my own cost. This will remain an issue in future years as long as any future minutes don't fully reflect what members had to say. Board minutes have also been deficient. Mr. Newton seemed to feel that minutes were the same thing as action memos. I referred him to the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly minutes/action memos for a model of both, are professionally done and delineate the difference.

Feed in tariff article

2009-03-19T14:18:00.003-08:00

GVEA Board member Tom DeLong wrote a Community Perspective article on a form of renewable energy incentives at newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/19/state-should-buy-renewable-power/?opinion. Careful to note that this is his article not representing the GVEA board.

GVEA and Tri-Valley

2009-03-17T22:34:00.002-08:00

GVEA formed a wholy owned subsidiary of GVEA called the Tri Valley Electric. This is to be the owner of the 50 mw experimental coal power plant in Healy that has sucked up nearly $400 million of state federal and even a little utility money.

GVEA, for the sum of $90 million in the form of loans from plant owner AIDEA and 5-6.5% interest over perhaps 2-3 decades. Homer Electric had stepped in as GVEA had been most recalcitrant at taking over the plant, so now Homer Electric is guaranteed to get power from it and is able to look over GVEA's shoulder in operating it, likely one reason GVEA created the subsidiary.

Of course, besides committing GVEA member-owners to a dirty fuel (aka clean coal) plant at a time when forward looking suggests a penalty for carbon emissions (Kyoto Protocol II), I'm also working to insure that we member-owners have the same rights as we do now with our property. Previous subsidiaries have come into being in such ways as to exclude the member-owners from meaningful participation. Alasconnect was the first, the G&T was the second. The former is in operation, the second GVEA was told 'no' by the members, a rare time when they overruled the management-board.

I've asked for the bylaws, but was told the lawyers are still working on them. The Articles of Incorporation can be found on the State Dept. of Commerce website.

GVEA Sale Press Release

What the Fairbanks Daily News Miner did with the press release.

If you want to look at more of what GVEA has before tjavascript:void(0)he Regulatory Commission of Alaska, all kinds of fascinating documents await your downloading pleasure HERE.

Rate Case filing and comments

2008-12-04T21:45:00.002-09:00

GVEA's rate request is now filed (click on Comments tab), with a number of comments filed as well, including my own. The RCA has issued the initial order, moving the process forward.

Getting info from GVEA

2008-08-24T22:10:00.004-08:00

As those members who come to board meetings know, GVEA prepares a single binder for members to look at when the meeting starts. This has sometimes nothing but the agenda and more often more info on items that are on the agenda. Members are not given copies or allowed to take anything from the binder. They have to request it on a form and wait for it to be approved/rejected. In order to save paper and make it more efficient to provide, I request the information electronically.

At the July board meeting I requested the following and got them in the mail a couple weeks later with a courtesy watermark on them. I've never seen this done with any requests. Perhaps the GVEA President wants to know where information I get is disseminated or checking up to see that board members don't give me anything - perish the thought that my board representative would share with me! Anyway, I'm baffled by this, but I am pleased to share what should be easily accessible by members.

Nominations Process Review
The recent Nominations Process review, after the messy nomination process of District 2 last spring. Note that, of the recommendations on page 4, the board did not approve term limits (item 7). Note also other recommendations which encourage more/better member communications. I'm not holding my breath. Three board members did apparently favor term limits: Tom Delong, John Sloan and Bill Digan (making one think he might not run again, as he's already server about 16 years. The other remaining members that did not support term limits on the board have been on that board in excess of 20 years, I believe.

GVEA Policy 1.2
Cooperative Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Goals
This seems like something that members ought to have ready access to and been solicited on input. Instead, it was not provided to members until the meeting and, considering member comments take place at the beginning of the meeting, little time to evaluate and comment.

GVEA Policy 5.4 Equity Development
This is what determines the basis for rates. It was discussed heavily during the attempted implementation of the Generation and Transmission Co-op. The higher your tier, the more you have to save and the less that comes back to the members in capital credits. There is an amount that generates better credit for borrowing, but it is a balance. I'd recommend learning about TIER (Times Income Earned Ratio) and talking to your board rep.

GVEA 2008 Annual Meeting minutes (draft)
These are the minutes the board approved to forward to the membership. Please note that the members who spoke were acknowledged by name only and general topics brought up without attribution. I'd think it would be respectful of members who did speak that they be given one sentence each saying what they spoke about and what their opinion was. If this is not revised, the membership can move to include this information. It would be a lot more helpful if the board asked this be done in advance. It really makes them look bad and really, for no good reason.

I also asked for a copy of the board retreat report. This gave a good picture of the workings of the board, valuable for anyone who might be willing to run and serve. I was told this was an internal document, thus would not be provided. I submit that, it was not considered executive restricted material and was available to members at the meeting, so it should be available to members by copy.

In this posting, I've discussed ways that GVEA makes it hard for members to get information from them. Interestingly enough, in the above strategic goals document, page 1 3. Values, it pledges 'open and transparent communications with our members'. You gotta love those little inconsistencies.

At least one can now see the agendas and minutes (1.5-2 mo. after the fact.) on line. It only took a 5 year effort to make that happen.

GVEA Rate Study

2008-08-24T21:04:00.004-08:00

The GVEA Board is close to deciding on recommended rates following a rate study. Insiders and outsiders like me have been recommending an inverted rate study that makes the first x00 of kwh at a lower rate and then increased in cost/kwh as the consumption goes up. Some of the board members who don't support this indicate that means they would have to increase the monthly service fee. I assert that the less we consume, the less it should cost. Those with a really high demand ought to be paying a higher rate for that electricity, as it requires burning the most expensive electricity. Whatever GVEA comes up with does go to the RCA, so we can have comments then. GVEA in the meantime only gives members a very elemental view and while asks for comments, doesn't give members any documentation for how they came up with those numbers. I asked for an electronic copy of this, but instead got a printed copy, which doesn't scan very well.

GVEA Districts 1,2 3 election results

2008-06-10T21:53:00.004-08:00

MAC volunteers counted GVEA Districts 1, 2, and 3 ballots for their board members this evening. All incumbents retained their seats. district 2, with the publicity over the nominating committee not selecting Tom DeLong, the incumbent and forcing him to run by petition, had nearly double the return of the other districts. District 3 was a relatively close race. The nominee selected to run against the incumbent had already dropped out of the race.

District 1
Mailed out 5156 , valid returned 604 for 12%
Dan Osborne 539 94%
Roy Roehl 30
invalid (including a number of ballots for Tom Delong, who was in District 2) 28

District 2
Mailed out 5973, valid returned 1361 for 23%
Tom DeLong 791 58%
Frank Abegg 504 37%
Lee Santoro 62 5%
invalid 4

District 3
Mailed out 6109, valid returned 778 13%
Rick Schikora 399 52%
Ken Rydberg 375 48%

The remarkable thing to me was that approximately an additional 10% of the ballots returned, not counted above, were ruled invalid because they didn't have the signature of the member on the front of the envelope inside.

According to the GVEA attorney, this is a common percentage, but this means that 10% of the membership that took the time to vote were effectively disenfranchised for lack of following procedure. This is only a procedure, not a bylaw requirement and such a high percentage means to me that this requirement breaks the process and GVEA should look at removing it.

IRV for board of directors elections?

2008-03-05T15:11:00.003-09:00

Using a ranked choice voting system to elect our board members (in district) might help avoid an issue of concern to the recent District 2 nominating committee, whereby apparently eight candidates for the seat were whittled down to two so that there would be no risk of one candidate not getting the required margin to win (for example, a three- or four-way tie) and then having to go for a whole new shiny expensive runoff election.

Having elections using IRV would make it a lot easier to give us a wide choice of candidates, but it would mean amending the bylaws. What do you think? Is this something we should do?

Might help avoid dodgy-appearing problems in the future as well as save money.

GVEA and Chugach Electric among top ten CO2 producers in the state

2008-01-20T10:46:00.000-09:00

From Kodiak Konfidential comes this interesting news about our biggest utilities: Chugach Electric is #4 on the list, and GVEA is #6:

4. Chugach Electric Association
1.07 million metric tons CO2
Electricity
...
6. Golden Valley Electric Association
0.69 million metric tons CO2
Electricity

That's a lot of CO2. All the more reason to get off the grid with renewable energy, or support net metering (as in House Bill 288), or the SNAP program.

Cost of Power Adjustment

2007-12-06T16:36:00.000-09:00

Speaking of the Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA), GVEA recently filed its latest quarterly report for COPA. It might take a while to download. They notice the increase in both oil and anticipated coal increases and having less cheap intertie power available. They see a $5.6mm deficit in collection. Expect our COPA to go up substantively.

They also filed their latest Simplified Rate Filing (SRF), which they can submit, as I recall, every 6 months. It comes with much less notice and filing requirements, but they can only increase rates a small amount with each SRF request. Their latest SRF tariff requestwas just approved.

Regulatory Commission of Alaska website upgrade

2007-12-03T20:10:00.001-09:00

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) has upgraded their website with a lot of fine features for finding out about utilities' issues before the RCA. I urge all those who can take 15-30 minutes to browse a subject or utility and see what goes on and how the process works. Power to the people and hats off to the RCA for making their regulatory of model of openness.

And if you think GVEA has issues

2007-12-03T19:32:00.000-09:00

Just to let folks know that, by contrast to Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) and Chugach Electric Association (CEA), GVEA is quite stable as far as board, membership, and executive administration relations.

MEA tried to ram a coal fired power plant down the members' and communities' throats, but finally appears to have reconsidered.

CEA has had a running back-and-forth battle between two camps on the board of directors. They recently appointed a new board member to fill a vacancy who I was told really has no idea what a cooperative is and put her on a committee to get the current CEO. This is politics at its base and it hurts the utility. The members get riled up by some factions claiming the IBEW union, who represent the employees, are taking over.

The Chugach board's latest move is a special board meeting called for this coming Wednesday to fire General Manager Bill Stewart. No reason given except they want to go in a different direction, with no hint of what that direction might be. Rebecca Logan (new appointed board member, Uwa Kalenka and Elizabeth Vazquez will comprise the committee to search of a new GM. I'm told that many good employees are bailing out. This sounds to me like a majority of the board is on a political purge. Ray Kreig, former board member, has been most active in engineering this takeover by avowed anti-union board members. I certainly admire activism and the espoused goal of more openness, but have seen no indications that the recent or future board actions empower the members.

When they aren't fighting internally, they sue each other. MEA doesn't generate any of its own power, relying on AML&P, Homer Electric, and Chugach for their generation.

Not to say, while all this acrimony goes on, they don't try to get together, with recent reports that Chugach is investigating merger with AEL&P and still working on a joint agency to deal with upcoming supply issues.

Now if they could only get Fire Island wind project off the table. Non-renewable resource costs aren't getting any cheaper, nor are climate change impacts going away without some serious mitigation.

GVEA transition

2007-12-03T19:23:00.000-09:00

GVEA will have a new CEO/president real soon - Brian Newton. Steve Haagenson has retired, Chief Finance Officer John Grubich is also moving on to other pastures outside Alaska. The new executive team will have their hands full, as the capital spending binge of the new tie line from Healy to Fairbanks, the biggest battery backup in the world "BESS", and two new oil fired generation units in North Pole have pretty much broke the bank. Our board approved all these expenditures and plan on having management to ask for more rate hikes. Expect these increases to be substantial. The assertion will likely include increased fuel costs, but as far as generation goes, we already pay for those increases through the 'cost of power adjustment" or COPA.

Maybe they are going to look at some internal cost cutting that has thus far been sacrosanct. We might even end up with a less glitzy and less costly annual meeting actually focused on real issues and less P.R. Feel free to contribute ideas and suggestions.

500+ conributors to the SNAP purchasers program

2007-11-17T22:20:00.000-09:00

The website says 350, but Tom DeLong tells me that there are now more than 500 SNAP purchasers (people who contribute extra money to pay alternative energy producers in the SNAP program). The site also says that "GVEA is well on its way" to meeting its goal of producing 10 percent of its peak load from alternative sources. However, it doesn't say what that peak load is (anticipated to be 230 MW) or what percentage is actually produced from alternative energy sources. Or at least, I can't find it. Does anyone know what this is, and how close or far GVEA is from meeting its goal?

It would be helpful, on this page, to have contact e-mails or links to the members of the Green Power Advisory Committee. I know several of these people, so I have that info, but others may not.

The new bills

2007-11-13T15:52:00.000-09:00

It's been a few months now since the new-format bills came out, so I've had time to get used to them. Guess what?

I still don't like them.

The little bar graph is nice and all, but I don't know exactly HOW much electricity I used each month in the last year. A close approximation, yes, and a nice visual quickie look-see, yes, but exact amounts? No. I have to go to my old bills and look 'em up.

Not so convenient.

Okay, done now.

Schedule set for GVEA distribution tariff request

2007-10-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

While the tariff filing is confidential, here's a look at the sense of what was filed back in August 2007. All the other documents relating to this case can be found on the RCA website under U-07-08

There is reference to a summer 2008 cost study, in which the balance/allocation of costs between commercial and residential could impact the rates.

Alaska Utility Plans in need of full environmental considerations

2007-06-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

It's nice to know that GVEA isn't the only utility with challenges.

Chugach Electric has had ongoing controversy surrounding a board that either is or isn't supportive of its union employees and their labor representative IBEW.

Matanuska Electric Association is now going out to members to ask about siting for a coal fired power plant, justified by a new state prison to be built. This was recently reported in the Anchorage Daily News. There are a number of members who believe a coal plant has environmental concerns that have not been taken into account. The CH2M Hill Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) commissioned by MEA is not available to the members, so they have no way to review it. I'm happy that GVEA hasn't been so secretive with their IRP and having it available to members for review can lead to a better report. Members don't charge for their input.

In a recent study commissioned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks to look at meeting future power needs, they also came out with a recommendation to build (another) coal fired power plant on campus. Having access to the report helped point out that the economic analysis didn't include any carbon cost analysis, no substantive consideration of alternatives and a near-total wash on further conservation/demand side reductions. You can download the Utility Development Plan at the bottom of the linked page in 3 different sections.

When GVEA performed an Integrated Resource Plan in order to justify the experimental coal plant in Healy in the 1990s, the study found that conservation would cost 1.5 - 2 cents/kwh vs. 3.5 -4.5 cents for a new plant. What the MEA IRP found is anyone's guess. The irony of UAF's plan to add a coal plant is that a coal plant is either on full time or it isn't. There is no load balancing one can do without hours or days for starting a plant. If one builds a 20 mw plant, the most efficient use of that plant is to use 20 mw, not less. This is actually a disincentive for conservation.

I also notice that Governor Palin just awarded Usibelli Coal an award for exporting large quantities of coal to Korea. Rewarding a company for exporting a product that creates pollution that alters our environment? This is the same governor who just created a sub-cabinet level group to find ways that the state can reduce its "contribution" toward climate change.

With all the recent ramp up in discussion over climate change and the added CO2 that coal puts out, it seems like the discussion and research being performed demonstrating all the hazards aren't being translated into action.

Perhaps others would like to add their info about GVEA's Green Power goals?

I ran into Dan Osborne the other day

2007-05-31T09:47:00.001-08:00

and he told me that yes, in fact, the margin required on the G&T was not the 1.25 minimum required by the Regulatory Commission, it was higher, as they had presented, because of GVEA's own requirements. He thinks the membership made an error in voting the G&T down; I disagree--there were other things about the proposal that I didn't like, aside from the margin weirdness. My question to him was, if there was a requirement within GVEA to keep the margin higher, then why didn't anybody tell me this when I asked them, or explain the seeming discrepancy by telling me where the requirement came from? He wasn't able to explain that, but then, we only discussed it briefly and in passing.

Anyway, we are going to get together and he'll tell me all about it then. I'm hoping he can explain this business here, too. Even though the whole thing was rejected by the membership, I think it's important to know what happened and why, because a lot of people I've talked to feel like the board was attempting to get one over on the membership. That's not a good thing.

GVEA Districts 5 & 6 Elections

2007-05-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

I'm inviting all GVEA Districts 5 & 6 candidates to be blog contributors themselves. To invite them, If they don't want or aren't able to do so, they are welcome to offer comments to this posting or any other.

My invitation to all current GVEA Board directors to become blog contributors remains.

News-Miner interviews of District 5 candidates

2007-05-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has interviews with the candidates, too, asking them about upcoming priorities. According to the article, the priorities break down like so:

•Bartos - taking greater advantage of alternatives to petrochemical power generation: alternative fuels, using state and federal programs that encourage alternative fuels
•Berg (the incumbent) - hiring a new manager, improving communications
•Pieczynski - maintaining infrastructure (looking at renewables on the way, even if not currently cost-effective), working on easements, adding more members to the grid (through greater transparency)

But read the full article.

Interviews complete

2007-05-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Jeanne Laurencelle interviewed all six candidates for the two open seats on the GVEA board of directors at the annual meeting, and the article will appear in the May Republic. The questions she asked (on the G&T issue and how it was handled; renewable energy; and domestic partner benefits) and the answers they supplied will supplement those found at the GVEA website.

GVEA Annual Meeting 2007 re-cap

2007-04-28T19:56:00.000-08:00

While still in the Carlson and folks still carting away piles of hard cookies, the last GVEA meeting was less contentious and a little less of a glitzy media presentation than in recent years past. The board members even said a few words as they introduced themselves. Board chairman Bill Nordmark made it through chairing the meeting with retiring CEO Steve Haagenson.

Members referred to the upcoming rate hike to be proposed at 4.5%, but it wasn't mentioned in the annual report or by GVEA folks. I had heard much higher than that. We'll see and it members will have a chance to weigh in through the RCA when the time comes.

Twelve SNAP producers were presented checks for about between $30-$1200 (as memory serves me). About $25,000 was contributed by members.

We heard nothing about Alasconnect finances.

My agenda item was to get board members talking to and hearing from their districts' constituents more than now (just about nil). In months and years past, I've suggested blogs, web forums, opt-in emails, district meetings as in years past, newsletters. The best methods to start are the ones that 1) don't cost much 2) more importantly, will allow transparent two-way communications. Surprisingly, Bill Nordmark and Ron Bergh expressed positive opinions, as did Tom Delong and Karen Cedzo. Apparently, they may now be hearing about such things at some of the many presentations, workshops, and conferences they attend. While I've heard promises before (usually when the board member is up for election), the 4 of them constitute a majority, so if they really want to, it can happen.

Others may have additional contributions to a recap of the meeting. Feel free to comment.

article forthcoming

2007-04-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

My intrepid reporter has interviewed each of the board candidates and will be preparing an article for the next issue of the paper. I, like a numbskull, completely forgot about the annual meeting, and didn't go. Sigh.

director interviews

2007-04-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

I may have found a person who will interview the GVEA candidates for the May issue (comes out May 15) of the Republic. If anyone has questions they'd like asked, information they think might be worth finding out on a candidate's stance, please comment here, and I'll check back.

director elections

2007-04-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Information taken from the GVEA website:
(here's the current board, for comparison.

Candidates for district 5

Candidates nominated by committee:
Ron Bergh, incumbent
David Pieczynski

Candidates nominated by petition:
Hank Bartos

Candidates for district 6

Candidates nominated by committee:
Karen Cedzo, incumbent
John Sloan

Candidates nominated by petition:
Brian Corty

It would be nice to have a little more information on these people other than their answers to GVEA's questions. The ballots will be mailed May 4, but it's not clear when they'll have to be sent back and when they'll be counted (other than the 6/07 rough date).

GVEA MAC member communications only One Way

2007-04-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Apparently, those GVEA board members who attend Membership Advisory Committee (MAC) meetings don't carry back the comments of the MAC members. At a recent MAC meeting, the MAC members were quite animated about the G&T vote (not in favor), but the board members present failed to mention this to the full board when they presented their report.

I again strongly urge the GVEA board to develop effective TWO WAY communications and offer this site as a forum, since there seems to be no official means.

GVEA President to resign

2007-04-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

GVEA announced that Steve Haagenson plans to resign as President and CEO of GVEA in November 2007.

Annual meeting coming up!

2007-04-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

The GVEA annual membership meeting is coming up on April 24, at the Carlson Center. Here's the agenda:

•6-7:30 p.m. - Registration
•7:30 p.m. - Welcome from the Chairman of the Board
•Pledge of Allegiance & Anthems
•Secretary’s Report of Quorum
•Approval of 2005 Minutes
•Report by Chairman and President & CEO
•Financial & Project Updates
•MAC Acknowledgements
•Announcement of Districts 5 & 6 election of directors by mail ballot and introduction of candidates
•Unfinished Business
•New Business – Announce Scholarship Awards
•Member Comments
•Prize Drawings
•Adjournment

Member comments ought to be interesting...

GVEA filing with RCA approved U-06-060

2007-01-04T13:55:00.001-09:00

Just reporting that the RCA approved GVEA's filing to expand their service area, mostly in the Delta area. The RCA link is here. Listing of all the filings in this document can be found here. Note that many of the RCA documents are in a scanned .tif format. You should open these files in Microsoft Office Image Viewer. The RCA is working on making these documents in a more accessible format. In the meantime, I've taken the main submission and converted it to Adobe Acrobat for your convenience. The document includes a lot of pro-forma info on GVEA that may be of historical interest.

GVEA filing with RCA approved U-06-060

2007-01-04T13:55:00.000-09:00

Just reporting that the RCA approved GVEA's filing to expand their service area, mostly in Delta area. The RCA link is here. Listing of all the filings in this document can be found here.

GVEA officer misspoke?

2006-12-30T12:10:00.000-09:00

In a filing notice I received from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Dec. 29, the RCA dismissed GVEA's G&T application without prejudice. This is appropriate and means that GVEA can re-submit it. The RCA had until Jan. 2, 2007 to approve, in accordance with expeditious regs they have to rule on items. I don't see where they had much of a choice in doing what they did.

This ruling noted that GVEA informed the RCA Dec. 12 by phone that the G&T vote failed with the membership, but that the RCA staff also subsequently received a phone call from an (unnamed) officer of GVEA asking that the RCA continue to keep the docket on U06-069 open, as GVEA may wish to transfer assets to the G&T with the value under the 15% amount that requires the membership vote.

This is in contrast to what CEO Steve Haagenson told me - that if the G&T vote went down, this would be the end of it.

The Fairbanks Daily News Miner filed a report on Dec. 30 with a little more information. (link fixed) I can imagine the consternation amongst GVEA officers and attorneys trying to put out the fire.

Anybody with GVEA want to weigh in? Please do comment.

A few more ideas

2006-12-20T19:42:00.000-09:00

I've been sick the last month, and am finally recovering, but I forgot all about the GVEA meeting.

I still have a remaining question regarding the G&T: How could the staff legitimately claim a $30 million savings based on a 1.75 margin when GVEA doesn't collect that margin? I haven't yet managed to talk to Dan Osborne, who may be able to explain this to me, but from where I'm sitting, this estimate was flatly fraudulent, especially since it appeared in advertisments/official information (the Ruralite & the website) AND on the ballot. Perhaps I'm wrong--I hope I'm just confused, because if I'm NOT wrong, then we have a serious problem within GVEA, and the deception should not be allowed to just go by the by. It may even be felonious.

Now, to a few suggestions: I have had a few ideas and heard a few from various people during all this brouhaha. Among them:

1. An indigent/emergency electric bill fund that members could voluntarily donate to and which could be used by other members in need of help on their bill. This could be started with unclaimed capital credits to get a base pool going.

2. I second Gary's suggestions below. District meetings and communications such as district rep blogs. I'm not sure a newsletter would be useful, unless it replaced Ruralite, which often seems to have nothing to do with GVEA.

3. Tom DeLong made an excellent suggestion regarding incentives for people who conserve energy: if a member/household uses under X amounts of kilowatts each month over a year, then they would qualify for a reduced electricity rate so long as they kept under that usage during the next year. The threshold amount of wattage would have to be determined after a bit of thought, but the idea is to keep down sudden peak loads among your average users and to encourage conservation. Thus, wasteful users would pay more.

Post G&T vote observations & recommendations

2006-12-19T10:06:00.000-09:00

I attended the GVEA meeting last night. I had prepared some observations and recommendations following the G&T vote and got partway through before Rick Schikora asked the chair about cutting me off at 3 minutes. I guess he didn't want to hear anything more that I could offer. Rick's efforts to stifle me may get me to run for the board, which will be an experience I don't think he would enjoy. Another demonstration of the GVEA board valuing their members. By contrast, they allowed a Chugach area individual to go on for 15 minutes the meeting before. I will note that the chair offered that he disagreed with me on some of those observations, but didn't say what or how. I'd be interested in hearing more from him. I'd hope we can respectfully disagree but keep an open mind.

For the record, here were those observations and recommendations.

December 18, 2006

GVEA Board of Directors

Here are some of my observations and recommendations following the membership vote on the GVEA G&T asset transfer proposal.

On the vote:

1. The GVEA President was quoted as saying that those not voting must have been happy with the proposal. However, of 20% voting, 60% were opposed. This is statistically a very reliable sampling of what the membership opinion was. This does NOT translate to 40% of those voting plus the 80% not voting as being in favor and only 60% of those voting opposed. Perhaps there is a tendency to spin the results to make one feel better, but we shouldn’t give into that tendency. Let’s be honest. The members said no because they didn’t think it was a good deal.

2. Those quoted in the News-Miner expressed their view that the proposal wasn’t sold well. I would both agree and disagree.

I would agree that GVEA didn’t present both sides to the membership in publicity. It was so one sided, I view it as intentionally deceptive or incredibly naive. I begged your public relations staff back in late July/early August to present both pros and cons. Rick Schikora indicated his desire that both and cons be presented at one of the bylaw markup meetings. The cons were only mentioned by GVEA staff in meetings I observed where members could ask questions. The difference between the media presentation in media (Ruralite, News-Miner, TV, radio) vs. public meetings with a give-take was striking. I think the membership caught on to that. Selling it well enough – does that mean trying even harder to show only the benefits? If so, I disagree.

I do think that there were those that adequately presented the cons and I am proud to be included in that group. I don’t think that bringing this back before the membership with more extended discussion is in GVEA’s best interest. I estimate, with the cost of media, legal costs, board and staff time (all compensated), GVEA spent about $100,000 on this campaign. I spent about $200 in uncompensated funds for gas to meetings and also for repairs to my camera when I dropped it on the concrete outside the Ops Bldg. taking a picture of the GVEA G&T meeting announcement. It thus cost GVEA $38 for every YES vote and me only a nickel for each NO vote. I would note though that it cost each residential member about a month’s worth of G&T savings just to have this vote.

There must have been some fatal flaws in the G&T, as the membership turned it down. If you say the members didn’t know what they were doing – that’s rather insulting. Accept the membership’s ruling and move on to other things. Don’t try end runs or beat it any further. The only thing that could justify such resurrection would be a way for GVEA members to remain owners of the assets that were to be transferred in the proposal and your attorney already told you THAT would be a fatal flaw.

On engaging the membership:

Now that GVEA has the members’ attention, I strongly urge the board to take separate and collective action to engage the membership. GVEA has a loyal group of members who believe in the co-op principles. GVEA’s presentation on the G&T proposal upset a lot of members. Members want to trust their board members, but it isn’t a given. GVEA may not have lost their total trust, but does need to demonstrate a willingness to engage in meaningful TWO-way communication with members.

1. District meetings – staff attendance isn’t really required. Board members are highly trained as board members and spend enough time on issues to be able to discuss GVEA issues with their members.

2. Quarterly newsletters to each district’s members – express your perspective on what you’ve been doing as a board member for the last quarter and what issues you’d like to both express and hear from your constituents about. This should be in your words, not that of staff. Board members could also have their own blog. You don’t even need GVEA to host it, but a link from your bio on the GVEA webpage would be helpful.

3. An on-line forum for members to ask questions – this is one that staff can readily support – the software is free and widespread. Board members could have their own areas in the forum if they desire. A staff or board member does need to monitor the forum in order to respond to concerns or point out where a board member needs to respond. Such a forum can also serve as an early warning for issues.

4. Scale back the dog and pony show – slick presentations of the annual meeting. The time prior to the meeting itself where board members can mix is good, but limited. Agreed most folks are there for the freebies, but while you have them there, take opportunity for some meaningful education from the various board members’ perspective. Let the board members participate instead of sitting off to the side silently.

5. A lot of folks who come to GVEA annual meetings are elderly and hard of hearing. A hockey rink is not a good place to be heard – the acoustics are terrible, no matter how many thousands of dollars are put into the P.A. Hering Auditorium might have been crowded, but at least we could hear. Hering holds 1100-1200 people. This might be something to ask the members’ preference in an on-line poll.

In conclusion, don’t mistake my critique as being hostile toward GVEA. To the contrary, I am very faithful to my co-op and do what I think members ought to do when they are concerned about a direction taken. I try to be constructive in my suggestions and be informed in my opinions. Yet when I come and talk to you under member comments, you all sit just like you do at the annual meeting – silent. The board representative in my district doesn’t keep me informed, even though he knows of my interest. And I’ve even voted for him, not that this should make a difference.

This is just to demonstrate there is no functional two way communication between the board and those they represent, except maybe one-on-one. There needs to be. It will make your job a bit more demanding, but also more fulfilling.

GVEA member vote results

2006-12-12T00:04:00.000-09:00

It seems like a long effort on my part, but it is time to re-evaluate and move forward.

Here are the vote results for the two ballot issues submitted to members:

* * * * * * * *

For transferring assets to the GVEA G&T
Yes 2653 41%
No 3878 59%

Vote fails. GVEA G&T assets remain with GVEA.

* * * * * * * *

For allowing all but board member and spouses to participate in GVEA alternative energy programs (e.g. SNAP)

Yes 4304 66.4%
No 2180 33.6%

Vote passes. All but board members and spouses may now participate.

* * * * * * * *

Check out the more detailed vote tally

6545 ballots

Membership Advisory Committee members spent 5 hours opening the double envelopes sorting and counting the ballots at least twice.

Final tallying made and cross-checked by Corinne Bradish, GVEA staff and external counsel John Burns.

Delta District 6 rep to be appointed Dec. 18, 2006

2006-12-10T23:09:00.000-09:00

Since it was already announced to GVEA staff, the board of GVEA, after interviewing the 3 candidates to replace Dwight Nissen on the GVEA board, at their regular board meeting Dec, 18, 2006, the GVEA board is planning to appoint and seat Karen Cedzo, formerly with University Relations at UAF and Cooperative Extension Service. You can read more about her here, another fine result from Google.

I hope, with Karen's experience in public relations, some of her energies on the board can go toward advocating successfully for two-way communication between members and board.

GVEA issues

2006-11-26T12:20:00.000-09:00

With the G&T issue hot for GVEA members in the latter half of 2006, I've been overwhelming my regular blog at comity.blogspot.com with GVEA stuff. I thought I'd try a separate blog and encourage GVEA members, board and MAC members, staff, and others with interest to provide comments about GVEA issues.