No choices in the LCEC trustee election
To the editor:
Only the incumbent board members will be on the ballot in the LCEC trustee election which starts March 6. The 198,000 members of the cooperative will have NO CHOICES.
Why bother with an election at all? How can this happen?
Only the incumbents applied for two of the seats to be selected in this election; District 1, Marco Island and District 3, Sanibel/Captiva/Pine Island. No choice for the members will be provided nor allowed in the election for these two seats.
Three members did, however, apply to compete with the incumbent for the Cape Coral District 2, Seat 2 position, but the 10- member Nominations Committee (who is selected by the Board of Trustees) rejected all three applicants while supporting only the Board incumbent who helped place them on the nominating committee in the first place. One of the applicants for this seat, Oliver Clarke, is clearly qualified for this board. Mr. Clarke is a mechanical engineer with over 35 years’ experience specialized in the energy management and experience managing utilities operations at an enormous industrial site.
The average tenure on the board is 15 years, with one member at 31 years. With tenure like this, fresh ideas are less likely to be presented.
How can we, as members, be assured that we will be given a reasonable choice in the selection of who will represent our interests on the LCEC Board of Trustees? There is a way. The LCEC Bylaws provide for nomination by petition. If you would like to have choice, at least for the Cape Coral seat, go the to the electronic petition at www.nwcape.com to nominate Mr. Clarke.
All LCEC customers/members in North Fort Myers, Marco Island, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Pine Island, Everglades City, Immokalee, Ave Maria, parts of Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral are eligible to nominate Mr. Clarke by electronic petition.
Send a message to the LCEC Board that you expect valid elections by signing this petition at www.nwcape.com
Nate Bliss
Cape Coral