Homer Electric Association held their annual meeting last week which drew over 250 people.
Joe Gallagher outlined the results from the cooperative’s Director election for three open seats…
Gallagher: “Incumbent Dan Chay in District 1, which is basically the Kenai and Nikiski area was re-elected. In District 2, which again encompasses Soldotna, Sterling, and a little bit of Kasilof, incumbent Ed Oberts was elected. And down in District 3, which is south of Soldotna down towards Homer, incumbent Bill Fry was elected by the membership.”
Fry’s seat was the only opening with multiple candidates, and he garnered 496 more votes than his competition Stephen J. Pollack III.
This year’s ballots also held six propositions for voters to decide on. The first two dealt with changing language regarding marriage in HEA’s bylaws and Articles of Incorporation in order to mirror recent federal changes allowing same-sex marriage.
Gallagher says Proposition 1, adjusting language in the by laws, passed but Proposition 2, adjusting essentially the same language in the Articles of Incorporation, failed even though the majority voted yes.
Gallagher: “There is a state statute that requires any change to an Article of Incorporation to garner 66.6 percent of the vote, a two-thirds majority. This did not happen with Proposition 2, it gained about 62 percent of the yes vote, falling short of the 66 percent required.”
He says based on legal advice to HEA, the language set forward in Proposition 1 supersedes the failed majority of Proposition 2, meaning all legally married couples are allowed to hold a joint membership.
Propositions 3 through 6 were mainly housekeeping measures.