Before recounting the festivities of the last two weeks, a correction to my original piece is in order:
I stated the following in my first piece: “Director Chastain has a business relationship with Bodyphlo, a business located at 570 E Benson Blvd. This is also within the ML&P Service Area.” This business is located in Chugach Service Area.
On to what took place over the course of the last two weeks.
Received a tip that there was a second Chugach Board member who no longer lives in the Chugach Service area. This is Stanaslava “Sisi” Cooper. She moved out of area in 2016 and now lives on Forest Park Lane not far from Ms. Chastain.
Both Board members are registered to vote with the State of Alaska at their residences on Forest Park Lane.
The Chugach Bylaws require a two-part test to be a Board member. The first part is that the Board member must first be a member of the Association. This part is easy, as anyone who receives a Chugach bill is a member. The second part is not so easy, as it requires residence in the Association Service Area. Here is a Bylaws excerpt with the relevant language.
Article IV Directors
Section 3. Qualifications
7) Maintains i) his or her membership and ii) bona fide residency in the area served by the association throughout his or term in office
(e) “Bona fide resident is hereby defined to mean: 1) a person whose primary residence is in the area served by the Association, and who actually lives at this primary residence with the intention to remain there permanently or indefinitely and 2) a non-natural entity who chooses as their authorized representative a person who is a “bona fide resident” as defined in 1).
“Primary residence” shall mean the residence that is the chief or main residence of the person and where the person actually lives for the most substantial portion of the year. “Intention” shall mean the unequivocal intention of the person as evidenced by that person’s acts and words and by the circumstances.
The failure of a director to meet the qualifications for service shall not affect the validity of any action taken at any meeting of the board of directors.
In response to my e-mail to the Chugach Board and management, I received an e-mail from Board President Chastain on 5/03 at 3:31 PM. It stated the following:
“That is not correct. Chugach records indicate Director Chastain has been a member since 1997.” In spite of this information provided, your public blog site continues to misrepresent facts regarding my membership in Chugach Electric Association. My membership is active at a residential property I own within the Chugach Electric service area. I would again ask you to retract this misrepresentation.”
“Additionally I would like to correct you in regards to Director Cooper’s membership in Chugach Electric Association. I can confirm that Director Cooper is a Chugach Electric Association member, as are all current Directors on the Board. Director Cooper’s membership is active at a residential property within the Chugach Electric Association service area. Director Cooper has been a member since 2009.”
Note the precise language used in both paragraphs:
“…. Membership is active at a residential property I own within the Chugach Electric Association service area.”
“… membership is active at a residential property within the Chugach Electric Association service area.”
This claim is fundamentally disingenuous, the functional equivalent of shouting “Squirrel!” to a dog and hoping it will chase it.
My complaint is not about Association membership. Rather it is the second part of the test, that neither woman actually lives in the service area any more. While they may or may not own a residence, it is not their primary residence as defined in the Bylaws.
The clock continues to tick on resolution of my complaints to the Board. We will see what they decide to do. At this point, I am not hopeful, given the shiny object offered up by Ms. Chastain to chase above.
All this ought to give everyone in the Anchorage Bowl pause as the Association and management negotiates a billion-dollar merger. If they cannot see fit to follow their own very simple rules, rules both Board members knew and swore to uphold before they moved out of the service area, how can we trust them to negotiate a merger in the best interests of all Chugach members?
If they are serious about taking care of the people they claim to represent, I expect a couple immediate resignations. The longer this goes, the more it appears both Board members are simply taking care of themselves at the expense of the Bylaws they are sworn to uphold.
The clock continues to tick.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
