Flathead Electric proposes bylaw changes

Flathead Electric Cooperative has mailed ballots to its members to vote on a pair of bylaw amendments and three candidates for uncontested seats on the board of trustees.

Members have until April 8 to vote.

One bylaw change states that a business that declares bankruptcy or ceases to exist would not be able to retire its capital credits at an expedited rate.

Flathead Electric General Manager Mark Johnson said this new bylaw is meant to protect the financial strength of the cooperative, but simply defines what existing bylaws already implied.

“You can imagine a big business has accrued a lot of capital credits. If they bankrupt or cease to exist and we had to pay those out like a human member, we would probably have to borrow the money to pay it out,” Johnson said.

If a business were to be purchased by another company, its capital credits would not transfer to the new company, Johnson said.

“They would stay with the original entity,” Johnson said.

The second amendment to the bylaws extends the amount of time trustee candidates have to submit their nomination materials. The ballot measure would extend the time frame from five to 12 days before the annual board member meeting.

Flathead Electric spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom Price said the measure is meant to give Flathead Electric staff and members more time with the ballot process.

“This is to help our staff,” Ostrom Price said. “[Having only five days] makes it very challenging to prepare ballots in a timely fashion. Assuming the bylaw passes, we’ll have an extra week to get those out and that will benefit the staff and the members.”

Both bylaw changes are combined into a single ballot item, meaning either both amendments will pass or neither will. Ostrom Price said this is a regular method used by the board, which hardly suggests changes in the bylaws, she said.

The other three boxes on the ballot are votes for three candidates for the cooperative’s board of trustees.

Incumbents Doug Grob in District 4 and Bruce Measure in District 7 are unopposed. Measure has served as president of the board since 2013.

Stacy Schnebel is an unopposed trustee candidate for District 1, which covers the U.S. 2 area from Columbia Falls to Essex. Current District 1 Board Member Chris Byrd is not seeking another term.

Flathead Electric Cooperative members have until 5 p.m. on April 8 to vote on the bylaw changes and trustee candidates. Each ballot comes with a stamped envelope to be sent to Junkermier Clark Campanella Stevens (JCCS as it appears on the envelope) for Flathead Electric to maintain integrity in the voting process.

Online: www.FlatheadElectric.com.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.