Chugach Electric members elect directors

Alan Christopherson, Uwe Kalenka and Elizabeth "Liz" Vazquez were elected to 3-year terms on the Chugach Electric Association board of directors. Election results were announced at the cooperative utility's annual meeting Thursday evening, April 28. About 15.5 percent of the 62,380 Chugach members of record voted in the election.

Christopherson is a civil engineer and senior vice president with PND. He has been a Chugach member for 14 years.

Kalenka is a self-employed property manager. He has been a Chugach member for more than 34 years.

Vazquez is an attorney with the State of Alaska. She has been a Chugach member for 16 years.

H.A. "Red" Boucher, Patricia B. "Pat" Jasper, Samuel W. Cason and Mark L. Smith were also candidates.

In other voting, Chugach members rejected three bylaw amendments affecting electronic recordings of board meetings, adding compensation for standing and ad hoc committee members and eliminating its Member Advisory Council.

A total of 214 Chugach members registered for the annual meeting at the Egan Civic & Convention Center.

Immediately after the annual meeting, the board met to elect new officers to serve for the next year. Jeff Lipscomb was elected chairman of the board, Alan Christopherson was elected vice-chair, Dave Cottrell was elected secretary and Elizabeth Vazquez was elected treasurer.

Chugach is the largest electric utility in Alaska, providing power for Alaskans throughout the Railbelt through retail, wholesale and economy energy sales.