Electric Cooperative Transparency Scorecard: Board Meetings, 2025 Update

Jun 12

Published June 12, 2025

By Brian Kassof

Almost all Alaskans living on the Railbelt—over 70% of the state’s population—receive their power from one of four electric cooperatives: Chugach Electric Association (CEA), Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), Homer Electric Association (HEA), and Matanuska Electric Association (MEA). (The City of Seward is served by a municipal electric utility, which purchases wholesale power from CEA). These cooperatives are governed by boards elected by members to represent their interests.

The Railbelt is the area running north from the Kenai Peninsula through Fairbanks.

These boards hold monthly business meetings that are open to the public. These meetings provide a critical opportunity for owner-members to engage with the board, to learn about key issues facing their cooperative, about policies and plans that will impact their electric bill, and about the cooperative’s financial health. They are also an opportunity for members to voice their opinions on these topics.

Democratic member control is one of the seven principles that define modern consumer cooperatives (known as the “Rochdale Principles”). But real member control does not just mean electing a governing board. It requires members to be active participants in the cooperative, paying attention to important decisions and making their voices heard on issues that shape the cooperative’s present and future.

Helping members understand how they can be more involved in shaping their cooperative’s future is one of AETP’s core missions. In 2023, we published a Transparency Scorecard looking at how accessible monthly board meetings are to cooperative owner-members. Two years later, we wanted to follow up on the original scorecard, and see what has changed. A second, new part of the Scorecard, focusing on the availability of different types of information on cooperative websites, is being prepared, and is slated to be released in the fall of 2025.

In general, scores have gone up since 2023. HEA saw its score rise from 12.5 to 17.75. CEA’s score also went up, from 17 to 19. MEA’s increased slightly, from 16.5 to 17. The only score that remained unchanged was that of GVEA, which remains the highest scoring cooperative at 22.5.

Contents:

Overview
A Note on Formats
Key Issues
Transparency Scorecard
Reports for Individual Cooperatives
Tables on the Use of Executive Session for 2024

Overview:

Because of the open meetings section of the Alaskan Electric and Telephone Cooperative Act (AS 10.25.175) , the floor for cooperative board meeting transparency is considerably higher in Alaska than in many other states. Scorecards from other regions, such as the one covering seven Southeastern states, another looking at four states in the Upper Midwest, and one looking at cooperatives in Minnesota, indicate that in some places, it is difficult to find even basic information about the time and place of cooperative board meetings. Unlike many rural electric cooperatives in other states, which focus on either generation and transmission, or distribution, the Railbelt cooperatives perform all three functions—generation, transmission, and distribution.

AS 10.25.175(a) clearly states that meetings of cooperative boards must be open to members (with the exception of portions held in executive session—see below). AS 10.25.175(d) requires that electric and telephone cooperatives include language in their bylaws about providing public notice of board meetings. All of the Railbelt cooperatives adhere to these requirements—board meetings are open to members (and, in practice, the general public) and information on their time and location is readily available. They all encourage members to attend board meetings, and all provide options to attend remotely (electronically and by telephone). Although virtual attendance to meetings was first introduced in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, all four cooperatives have continued providing online access even after in-person attendance resumed. They generally provide relevant documents, such as meeting agendas, at least 3 days in advance.

Although the Railbelt cooperatives meet these basic transparency requirements, there are still things that could be done to make these meetings more accessible to members and to build member engagement. This scorecard looks at three areas—the accessibility of information about board meetings (including meeting materials), how easy it is to attend meetings remotely (online or by phone), and the rules governing the use of executive session—to evaluate board transparency.

This scorecard looks at board meetings. These are distinct from cooperatives’ member meetings, such as the Annual Meetings the Railbelt cooperatives hold each spring. At members’ meetings, there must be a quorum of members present and any vote take is by the membership. Board meetings are opportunities for the boards to conduct business—members may attend, but can only speak during the member comment period and do not participate in votes.

A Note on Desktop and Mobile Formats

The instructions in this article on how to access information and join meetings are based on using a computer web-browser such as Firefox, Google, or Safari. In most cases, these instructions also apply for mobile web browsers, with one key exception—the main pulldown menus found at the top of the cooperatives’ homepages on computer browsers do not automatically display on the mobile versions. They can be accessed through the “hamburger icon” found in the upper righthand corner of the mobile display. Links to join board meetings for GVEA and MEA can only be reached through the hamburger icon; for CEA and HEA, they can be reached through the icon, or through a second link on the home page that can be found by scrolling down (see the individual essays below).

Key Issues:

The relative accessibility and transparency of board meetings of each individual cooperative are discussed below in separate essays. There are a few issues, however, that play a key role in meeting transparency and accessibility, and which deserve extra attention. These are meeting start times, the availability of meeting materials, and the use of executive session.

Meeting Start Time:

All four utility boards hold their meetings on weekdays—HEA’s are the second Tuesday of the month at 12 p.m., CEA’s the fourth Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m., MEA’s the second Monday of the month at 4 p.m., and GVEA’s the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. There are exceptions to these schedules, largely due to holidays.

The Scorecard considers whether these meetings begin before or after 5 p.m. This is because many people still work a standard schedule and are unable to attend meetings that start before 5 p.m., either in person or virtually. Any start time will exclude some people, but one during regular working hours excludes the largest number. This is probably the reason why other local elected bodies in Railbelt communities, such as school boards and local assemblies, start their public meetings at 5:00 p.m. or later. This may be why GVEA, which has the third largest membership of the Railbelt cooperatives, has had on average more members at its board meetings than any other Railbelt cooperative over the past three years.

Other boards have discussed changing their meeting start time (HEA’s Board considered it in January 2024), but none have done so. One reason cited in favor of earlier meeting times is that a later start places an extra burden on staff members who have to attend board meetings after working their regular shift. Concerns about people losing focus if meetings run too late into the evening may be another reason. A desire to keep meetings from running too late may be why GVEA holds executive session before the open session that begins at 6:30 p.m.

Availability of Agendas and Meeting Materials:

The range of materials available to members in advance of meetings can have a significant impact on their ability to follow board discussions and deliberations, especially those attending meetings virtually. All four cooperatives make their agendas available at least 72 hours before board meetings. This is important because it lets members see if a board is discussing an issue of particular interest to them. Three cooperatives—CEA, GVEA, and HEA—also make additional materials available before meetings.

CEA and GVEA both make extensive meeting packets available to members ahead of board meetings. These include drafts of resolutions, board policies being reviewed, some staff reports, and slides used in presentations. Such materials make it much easier for members to follow discussions and to understand board decisions. The inclusion of presentation slides is particularly helpful—these are projected onto screens in the meeting room, but they are not legible to remote attendees, unless presenters use screen-sharing with the online meeting.

HEA began adding materials to its agendas in 2024. These include draft resolutions and board policies, but not presentation slides or most staff reports. HEA agendas have also begun to include the monthly Manager’s Report—this was previously not shared with members until after the meeting, when it is posted on the HEA website. MEA does not currently provide any materials along with its agendas—it also has a monthly CEO’s Report that is shared in the meeting folder, but only after the meeting has ended.

Executive Session--Transparency in Policy Setting:

The extensive use of executive session during board meetings continues to be one of the biggest impediments to board transparency and member engagement at the Railbelt cooperatives. The practice of spending lengthy sections of board meetings in closed session robs members of opportunities to hear pivotal discussions and to understand how meaningful decisions are made, contributing to member disengagement from the life of the cooperative. In 2024, GVEA’s Board spent 54.7% of its regular meetings in executive session, MEA’s Board 52.1%, CEA’s Board 45.6%, and HEA’s Board 27.1%. (see charts below for details).

The basic requirements for the use of executive session by cooperative boards in Alaska are laid out in AS 10.25.175. Boards have to vote to enter executive session and designate who else (aside from board members) can remain for part or all of the discussion. Executive session can be called to allow boards to discuss four types of sensitive information: Information whose dissemination could harm the cooperative’s financial position, information that could harm its legal position, subjects that could defame someone’s character, or personnel matters. Boards must cite which of these justifications are being invoked. No minutes or public records are kept of discussions held in executive session. Lastly, no votes can be taken during executive session—boards have to return to open session to vote on matters discussed in executive session. The Railbelt cooperatives follow these rules.

A heavy reliance on executive session can create a sense of disengagement with a cooperative’s work for even the most dedicated members. One potential problem is if a board moves an entire discussion into executive session when only a small portion of the material is privileged. This deprives members of an opportunity to hear the complexities of an issue, the different approaches being considered, and the positions taken by board members. It is impossible for non-board members to know to what degree this happens—boards have to self-police their use of executive session.

Undoubtedly there are subjects for which privileged information is so integral to a discussion that no part can be held in public. But in many cases, decisions about how much of a discussion to hold in executive session are subjective, shaped by habit and board culture. If there is not a subjective element, it is unlikely that the CEA Board, after being criticized by members over its use of executive session, could have gone from spending 65% of its meetings in closed session in 2022, to 31.1% in 2023. When non-privileged parts of a discussion are shifted to executive session, the resulting lack of transparency prevents members from a full understanding of issues and reduces the value of attending board meetings—if most substantive discussions are occurring entirely behind closed doors, why bother showing up?

The extensive use of executive session can also obscure the level of board involvement in setting policies or deciding to pursue initiatives or projects. This creates uncertainty over how much authority a board has ceded to senior staff and how engaged the board is in proactively deciding the cooperative’s future direction.

In theory, decision-making power lies in the hands of the elected cooperative board. In practice, considerable authority needs to be ceded to the CEO/General Manager and their senior staff, who are responsible for operations and everyday decision-making, and who are expected to provide professional knowledge and insight to help with strategic planning. Board policies usually establish what powers are delegated to the CEO and staff. But these delineations are, by necessity, loosely drawn. Much of the board/staff relationship depends on the cooperative’s internal culture and the composition of the board. A balance must be struck, where a board does not try to overmanage operations, but where it remains fully engaged in major policy decisions.

In recent years, because of the reliance on executive session, there have been a number of occasions when cooperative members could not know if their boards had been involved in developing significant policies, or at what point they were asked to approve staff initiatives. This has especially been an issue concerning Railbelt-wide infrastructure projects and responses to legislation.

As discussed in a previous AETP article, in 2022 senior staff from the four Railbelt cooperatives developed a multibillion-dollar plan to upgrade the Railbelt transmission system and prepared applications for federal grants to fund the project. This appears to have been done with minimal consultation of their boards. The boards had been told about the project, but, in at least some cases, appear not to have been given much detail until it was necessary for them to approve the submission of grant applications.

Something similar appears to have happened in May 2025, when the CEOs of the four Railbelt cooperatives (along with the manager of Seward’s municipal utility), sent a letter to the state House Finance Committee voicing their full support for restarting the licensing process for the proposed Susitna-Watana dam. This controversial mega-project, whose price tag was last estimated to be about $6 billion ($7 billion if the required transmission buildout is included), has been discussed for decades. The process of applying for a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the project started in 2011, but was halted in 2016.

The letter, dated May 2, speaks about the project as a potential source of low-cost energy and as a way to address forecast shortfalls of Cook Inlet natural gas. Speaking on behalf of the utilities, it urges elected officials to appropriate the funds needed to restart the licensing process. According to Nat Herz’s Northern Journal newsletter, the completion of the licensing process is likely to cost at least $100 million. However, the Alaska Energy Authority’s (AEA) Executive Director Curtis Thayer told Herz that the current request would only be for a few million dollars, to determine what needs to be done to complete the licensing process. (AEA is a public corporation tasked with reducing the cost of power in Alaska).

When news of this letter came out, no one knew if utility boards had been consulted about it in executive session or if the CEOs were acting on their own accord. As news of the letter spread the following week, some cooperative members wondered about board involvement. It remains unclear how much boards knew about the letter. The Chair of the CEA Board, Mark Wiggin, told Herz that he knew about the letter in advance. But several other Railbelt board members, speaking anonymously, told Herz they did not know about the letter beforehand. At the CEA Board meeting on May 28, after several members asked about the letter during member comments, two board members, Suzanne Fleek-Green and Dan Rogers, stated that they had not heard about it until after it was made public. Due to a crowded agenda, the Board deferred discussion of the letter and the dam project to the next meeting of its Operations Committee, scheduled for June 18.

The request itself does not entail any financial commitment by the cooperatives. But a decision to build the dam would have immense consequences for the Railbelt cooperatives. Even a resumption of the licensing process would require a substantial appropriation by the Legislature. Moving forward with licensing may or may not be a good idea, but some have questioned the decision of at least some cooperative CEOs to take this action without consulting their full boards. The situation was not urgent—the request came too late in the legislative session to be included in this year’s budget.

In recent years, there has been a general lack of clarity about what role, if any, the cooperative boards played in shaping utility positions on legislative questions, although this has begun to change at CEA and GVEA. Utilities are frequently asked to weigh in on various energy-related bills, and senior staff often testify before legislative committees. For a number of years, it was unclear if their testimony reflected positions developed by staff together with the board, or by staff alone. The CEO or General Manager often briefed their board on some legislative developments during the public portion of board meetings, but without in-depth policy discussions. Meeting minutes would sometimes note that a “Legislative Briefing” or something similar took place in executive session, but that did not provide any insight into the board’s role.

While there was no clear indication of board involvement in developing responses to key legislation in the early 2020s, there was evidence that senior staff sometimes took the lead in this area. In 2022, the CEOs of the Railbelt cooperatives appeared to have coordinated their response to HB 301, which called for the introduction of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the Railbelt (see this AETP piece for details—RPS require utilities to derive a certain percentage of the energy they sell from renewable power). During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on a different bill in May 2024, Keriann Baker, Chief Strategy Officer at HEA, was asked about the HEA Board’s level of involvement in setting legislative policy. In her reply, Baker indicated that staff saw this as an “operational issue” on which they reported to the board.

Since the start of 2024, however, the CEA and GVEA boards have taken steps to create greater transparency around their role in discussions of legislative issues. In January 2024, the CEA Board discussed the utility’s legislative priorities in open session, and also debated and passed a resolution supporting an RPS for the Railbelt. The resolution did not endorse the specific RPS bill that was then before the Legislature (HB 121/SB 101), and it conditioned its support of such legislation on the inclusion of certain provisions. But it was the first direct statement by a Railbelt cooperative board on RPS legislation, or any bill before the Legislature, in the past four years. Since January 2024, CEA’s Board has continued to hear staff reports on legislative issues and to discuss its priorities in open session, both during board meetings and meetings of its Operations Committee.

In 2024, GVEA’s Board also began to address legislative matters in open session. This began with a board statement on HB 121/SB 101 in January 2024. This statement expressed support for the adoption of an RPS for the Railbelt, but also listed a number of concerns with some parts of the bill. In 2024, the GVEA Board continued to receive its legislative updates from the utility’s paid lobbyist in executive session. In 2025, the Board again discussed taking a position on a Railbelt RPS, although it voted against doing so at its April 2025 meeting. In January 2025, the Board discussed its legislative priorities for the year, initially in executive session, but again in open session. Starting in February 2025, the lobbyist’s monthly updates were moved from executive session to open session.

At HEA and MEA, the General Manager/CEO often provides updates on current legislation to their board in open session and answers board questions. These are usually fairly brief, but occasionally go into more detail. In April 2025, MEA CEO Tony Izzo spent over 10 minutes emphatically explaining to the cooperative’s board why he believed a newly introduced RPS bill (HB 153/SB 149) was unrealistic and would have grave negative consequences if passed. This followed three MEA members urging the Board to pass a resolution supporting the bill during the member comment period (and one speaking against it). Izzo, an outspoken critic of a Railbelt RPS, qualified his position as the “staff’s perspective,” but leaned into his and other staff’s professional experience while making his case against the bill. The subject was considered again in executive session, with no resulting action.

Readmitting Members After Executive Session:

Another way that executive session can contribute to member disengagement is the fact that, when a board enters executive session, all members have to leave the meeting. This means they either have to wait outside the room until executive session ends (if attending in person), or have to disconnect from the meeting. This means that even members who want to attend meetings will miss whatever takes place after executive session ends, unless they go in person and wait. This used to be a significant problem for members attending Railbelt cooperative board meetings, but the cooperatives have taken a number of steps to minimize what members miss as a result. As noted above, GVEA’s Board holds its executive sessions before the open portion of its meeting, so it does not have this problem (some pluses and minuses of this arrangement are discussed in the GVEA essay below).

In the past, boards often held executive sessions in the middle of meetings. But by 2023, the boards at CEA, HEA, and MEA all moved executive session to the end of their agendas. For the most part, this means that members required to leave only miss the small portion of the meeting that occurs after executive session. This may include votes on issues discussed in executive session, but when boards anticipate such votes, they are noted on the agenda.

CEA and MEA take a number of other steps to mitigate the problem of virtual attendees having to leave for executive session. Both have moved directors’ comments, which used to be the final agenda item, ahead of executive session, so members can hear them. Both cooperatives also offer audio recordings of their meetings, usually posted within a week, so members can listen to anything that happens after executive session (although this takes extra initiative on the members’ part). CEA staff now offer to notify members attending virtually when executive session ends, so they can rejoin the meeting.

There are other electric-related bodies in Alaska that use virtual waiting rooms or put phone attendees on hold during executive session, then automatically readmit them when the board returns to open session. This includes the Railbelt Reliability Council (RRC), which uses a virtual waiting room, and the newly formed Railbelt Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), which puts phone attendees on hold when its Governance Committee goes into executive session.

Recently, there has been one partial exception to the practice of putting executive session at the end of the agenda—on a number of occasions in the past 18 months, HEA’s Board has either held executive session early in a meeting, or held two executive sessions with substantial open session in between them. This creates real impediments to members wishing to attend the entire open portion of a meeting (see the HEA essay below for details).

2025

Board Meeting Transparency Scorecard

The Scorecard

Reports for Individual Cooperatives

Chugach Electric Association:

CEA: 19 of 26 points. The CEA Board’s page can be found here.

CEA’s score has improved since 2023, from 17 to 19. This is mainly due to extensive changes to its website since the last Transparency Scorecard, which include a much more prominent link to the form necessary to join meetings. There are also direct links to upcoming meeting agendas on the CEA homepage. CEA does a particularly good job of providing agendas and extensive meeting packets well in advance of each meeting. Meeting start time continues to be a challenge for some members to attend. Although the Board spent a lower percentage of its meetings in executive session than it had in 2022, these still took up a fairly significant portion of meetings.

CEA’s Bylaws explicitly acknowledge the right of members to attend board meetings (Article V, Section 5). CEA also makes the meetings of its three standing board committees (Audit & Finance, Governance, and Operations) open to members. Accessibility to committee meetings, including the availability of materials, is identical to regular board meetings. Non-members also may attend meetings.

CEA’s Bylaws require that meeting agendas be made available at least three days in advance (Article V, Section 5). In practice, agendas and meeting materials are usually available more than three days ahead of meetings. The one small drawback to the redesign of the CEA website is that it is now slightly harder to find information on the dates of forthcoming meetings. Future meetings only show up on the website when their agendas are posted. A full list of future meetings can be found, but only on the board calendar that is included in meeting packets. There are also direct links to agendas for recent or upcoming meetings on the CEA home page—while these are handy, they could actually be a little confusing for someone trying to join a meeting, if they do not know to find the link on the Board of Directors page.

The process for joining meetings remotely remains straightforward. Members still need to fill out a form, which is reached through a button labeled “Meeting Participation Form” on the Board of Directors page. This button is much more prominent than it was on the previous version of the website, and also says “Join a Meeting.” Those wishing to attend a meeting virtually need to fill out a registration form. The form requires registrants to indicate what type of meeting (board, committee) they want to attend and the meeting date. Those wanting to attend remotely are asked to submit the form before 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting. After the form is submitted, you receive an email with a link and information on how to join the meeting. There is contact information at the bottom of the form if people have questions.

There are not easily found instructions for joining a meeting by phone (audio only). In order to get the necessary information, you need to fill out the Meeting Participation Form—instructions for joining by phone are included in the email that people are sent after registering. But there is no indication on the website that those wishing to join by phone need to go through this process.

Non-members are also allowed to attend board meetings, although the registration form is not entirely clear on this point. “Member Service Address” is one of the required fields. I have been able to register for multiple CEA board meetings after putting “n/a” in that field. The registration form also includes a separate area for non-members to provide feedback to the board.

CEA board meetings start at 4 p.m., which makes it challenging for many working members to attend. According to meeting minutes, member attendance at meetings has increased a little since 2022, from an average of 4 to 6-7 members per meeting, but this is still a relatively small number, given that CEA has over 92,000 members. The actual number may be slightly higher—some people who provided comments at meetings do not appear in the minutes as attendees. CEA board meetings are often lengthy, lasting an average of 4 hours and 20 minutes in 2024. Members wishing to address the Board are asked to sign up in advance (those attending in person can do so as they sign in); however, in 2024, the Chair usually asked if there are any other members who wish to make a comment before ending this part of the agenda.

The CEA Board has reduced the amount of time it spends in executive session since 2022, when that figure was extremely high (65%). In 2023, this dropped considerably, down to 31.1%; in 2024, it was 45.6%. CEA does not have any automatic mechanism to readmit members attending meetings online after executive session, but it does take steps to mitigate the impact of this. Starting in January 2025, the Board moved director comments from the end of the agenda to ahead of executive session. Staff is now offering to contact attendees by text when executive session ends, so they can rejoin the meeting. For those who do not want to rejoin, audio recordings of the open session portions of meetings are posted shortly afterwards, making it possible for members to hear what, if anything, occurred after open session. Any resolutions that the Board anticipates passing after executive session are included in meeting packet. CEA also has a resolution archive, where approved resolutions are posted.

In addition to the required legal justifications for entering executive session, CEA regularly provides information on the specific topics to be discussed in both agendas and minutes.

Golden Valley Electric Association:

GVEA: 22.5 of 26 points. The GVEA Board’s page can be found here.

GVEA is again the highest scoring cooperative, maintaining a score of 22.5. GVEA’s score is largely due to the time its open session begins (6:30 p.m.) and the fact it holds executive session at the start of its meetings, not the end. It is also easy for members to join meetings virtually. The biggest transparency issue continues to be the amount of time the GVEA Board spends in executive session, which has remained consistently high.

GVEA’s Bylaws do not directly address member attendance at board meetings, but that right is included in its board policies (Policy 2.4). Non-members are also able to attend meetings. Historically, meetings of GVEA’s board committees have not been open to members. However, at the May 2025 board meeting, Chair Tom DeLong indicated that, in response to member concerns about board transparency, they would be opening some meetings of the Finance, Audit, and Rate Committee (FAR) to members—however, it is currently not clear how or when these opportunities will be advertised or how members will join.

The process for joining GVEA meetings remains straightforward—there is a link and detailed instructions under the Meetings and Minutes section of the Board of Directors page. These include instructions on how to join by telephone. Information on meeting times and locations is also available on the Meeting/Minutes page.

Those wishing to speak during the member comment period of meetings are required to sign up in advance, with a 6:35 p.m. deadline (5 minutes after the start of the open session—this has been moved up from the previous deadline of 6:45 p.m.). GVEA’s board policies allow only members to speak during the comment period of meetings; however, on one recent occasion, someone who identified themselves as a non-member receiving service from GVEA was allowed to make a comment. The Chair does not ask if anyone who has not signed up wishes to speak.

Agendas and meeting packets are posted well in advance—the GVEA website says that they try to post the agenda 10 days before a meeting. Additional meeting materials are added to the agenda at least several days before a meeting—these can be extensive and include presentation slides, draft resolutions, and some staff reports.

GVEA is the only Railbelt cooperative that begins the open portion of its board meetings outside of regular work hours. This is likely a major reason why it has higher levels of member attendance at these meetings—an average of 10-11 members attended GVEA board meetings in 2024, more than any other Railbelt cooperative.

One reason that GVEA’s Board can start the public part of its meetings later is because it holds executive session first, not at the end of the meeting. This arrangement has its positives and negatives. It eliminates the problem of readmitting members to a meeting after executive session. It allows GVEA’s Board to hold its open session after working hours, but not have meetings that last until late in the night (in 2024, the average GVEA board meeting lasted about 4 hours and 30 minutes). GVEA’s Board sometimes holds a second, brief executive session at the end of meetings, citing a need to discuss personnel matters (this has happened five times since April 2024)—on these occasions, director comments were made before the second executive session and the meetings ended immediately after the Board exited the second session without any action taken.

There are, however, a couple of drawbacks to this approach. As noted in the 2023 Scorecard, it requires scheduling a start time for executive session that leaves enough time to get through relevant material. As a rule, the GVEA Board usually schedules the start of executive session for 4:30 p.m. or earlier—this means that they are guaranteed to spend close to two hours (or more) in executive session at almost every meeting, potentially making long executive sessions a habit. This is likely one reason why GVEA was the Railbelt cooperative whose board spent the highest percentage of meeting time in executive session in 2024 (54.7%), with an average of two hours and thirty minutes per meeting. This is up from 47.6% in 2022 and 49.2% in 2023.

This format also means that the Board discusses some issues twice, first in private, then again in public. Non-board members cannot know what impact, if any, this has on the quality of the discussions held in open session. But at the March 2025 meeting, two GVEA members commented that it felt as if decisions were being made in executive session, and that the subsequent discussion of issues in open session was “performative.” GVEA’s Board has acknowledged some members’ frustration over a perceived lack of transparency and has taken some steps to mitigate it in the past 18 months. These include hearing reports about legislative developments from GVEA’s lobbyist and discussing whether to take a position on pending legislation, such as a bill that would create a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the Railbelt, during open session. And, as noted above, the Board has indicated it will make some meetings of its FAR Committee open to members.

GVEA consistently notes the specific topics discussed in executive session (in addition to the legally required justifications) in meeting agendas and notes.

Homer Electric Association:

HEA: 17.75 of 26 points. The HEA Board’s page can be found here.

HEA saw the greatest change in its score from the 2023 Transparency Scorecard, rising from 12.5 to 17.75 points. HEA’s score improved in a number of areas, including information about upcoming meetings and the availability of agendas and meeting materials. HEA’s Board continues to spend a smaller portion of their meetings in executive session than other Railbelt utilities, and was the only board to have multiple meetings without executive session in 2024.

There are still some transparency issues. Agendas do not always appear by the time promised, and contain limited material. The process for joining meetings is easier than it was in 2023, but can still be a little confusing. And although HEA’s Board spends less time in executive session than other boards, the timing of some of its recent executive sessions has posed significant challenges for members trying to attend full open sessions.

HEA’s Bylaws mention the right of members to attend board meetings, but only in the context of meetings conducted by conference call or electronic means (Article V, Section 6). HEA’s board policies explicitly acknowledge the right of members to be present for board meetings (Policy 206). Attendance by non-members also is allowed. Members interested in addressing the Board during the member comment portion of meetings are not required to sign up in advance. Meetings of the board’s Renewable Energy and Future Strategies Committees (which are held immediately before regular board meetings) are also open to members.

At the time of the last scorecard, information about the dates of upcoming board meetings was available on the HEA website, but not their location. This is important, since HEA’s Board sometimes meets in different locations (to make it easier for members in different parts of its service area to attend in person). The specific time and location of the next three HEA board meetings can now be found under the Current Events section of its homepage.

The process for joining HEA meetings remotely remains straightforward, but only if members know where to look. There are still two pathways to joining a meeting. One is through the Current Events section of the homepage, which includes a meeting listing. Clicking on this will take you to a webpage with a direct link to the meeting and instructions on how to join. Agendas are also posted here. The second method is to go to the HEA Board of Directors page and to click on the Meeting Information section. Once there, you must click on the meeting agenda—a hyperlink to join the meeting appears at the top of the agenda.

While both pathways will bring members to meetings, neither is entirely intuitive. The Current Events link is the easiest way to join a meeting, but can only be found if you scroll down the homepage and click on the link. The meeting link used not to be posted here until a day or two before a meeting, but now appears once the event is posted, along with instructions on how to join. There are no instructions for joining a meeting included on the Meeting Information section on the Board page, meaning that only those who know to click on the agenda for a web link can join meetings through this page. Information on how to join a meeting by telephone, which was absent for a period of time, is now included with the meeting information under the Current Events link.

For several years, HEA members complained about the unavailability of agendas until a day or two before board meetings. There were multiple requests to HEA to make the agendas available further in advance, so members could know if issues of interest to them would be discussed. At the January 2024 HEA board meeting, HEA’s Executive Office Manager, Jenniffer Rosin, promised members that meeting agendas would be posted to the website by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the next board meeting (which occurs on a Tuesday). Initially, there was some inconsistency in when the agendas were posted and if they appeared in both locations (the Current Events listing and the Meeting Information page), but in recent months they have consistently appeared in both. There is usually a note posted to the Current Events listing promising when the agenda will be available, usually at noon or 1 p.m. on Friday. These deadlines are still sometimes missed, although the agendas are generally posted by Friday evening.

Members had also requested that meeting materials be included with the agenda. In 2024, agendas began to include drafts of resolutions slated for a vote, the minutes to the previous month’s meeting, and board policies to be reviewed. The monthly Manager’s Report also appeared in some meeting packets, although inconsistently—it has been included in the last three packets (April-June 2025). Previously members had to wait for these reports to be posted to the HEA website, where they appear a few days after board meetings. The packets do not include presentation slides or staff reports.

HEA’s meeting time—12 p.m.—is a potential impediment to members who wish to attend. On a few occasions, the Board has raised the subject of changing meeting times in response to members’ requests, but has taken no action. Relatively few members attend meetings—in 2024, there were an average of 3-4 members in attendance. In 2024, HEA board meetings lasted an average of 3 hours and 25 minutes.

The HEA Board’s recent record regarding executive session is mixed. On the one hand, it continues to spend a smaller percentage of its overall meeting time in executive session than any other Railbelt cooperative—in 2024, the figure was 27.1%, well below the other Railbelt cooperatives. This was slightly higher than HEA’s figure for 2023 (19.5%), but lower than 2022 (38%). One reason for this lower percentage is the fact that HEA’s Board does not always go into executive session during its meetings—this happened five times in both 2023 and 2024. This is unique among the Railbelt cooperatives. HEA generally includes some information on the topics discussed in executive session beyond the basic required legal categories (legal, financial), though such descriptions are occasionally omitted (for example, the minutes for November and December 2024, and the agenda for May 2025).

The timing of when the HEA Board holds executive session has become an issue, however. In the past, HEA’s Board used to hold its executive session in the middle of meetings, but it discontinued this practice in mid-2021, at least partly in response to member requests. However, over the past 15 months, this practice has returned on an irregular basis. In some instances, it is because the Board holds two separate executive sessions during a meeting, one earlier and one at the end. This has happened on four occasions since March 2024—in three of these, the Board spent at least an hour in open session between the executive sessions (March 2024, February 2025, March 2025). In December 2024 and April 2025, the Board only went into executive session once, but did so early in the meeting, with an extensive open session after.

This approach to executive session creates significant obstacles to members wishing to attend meetings. Members attending in person are forced to wait outside the meeting room for an unknowable period of time if they wish to return after executive session. Members attending virtually are forced to leave the meeting when the Board enters executive session, with no established mechanism for them to return when the Board exits executive session. On at least one occasion last year, a member asked staff to notify them when the Board exited executive session, so they could rejoin the meeting online, a request that was accommodated. But this is not a stated policy or service, and would only be available to someone who knew to ask. Because of this practice, members cannot find out what occurs after the first executive session of a meeting until the minutes are published, and even then, they cannot know the details of any discussions.

Regardless of the timing of executive session, if one is held, members are unable to hear the content of HEA directors’ comments, which occur at the end of the meeting. HEA does not include the content of these comments in meeting minutes. CEA and MEA have moved these ahead of executive session to allow members to hear them before leaving.

Matanuska Electric Association:

MEA: 17 of 26 points. The MEA Board’s page can be found here.

MEA’s score of 17 points is slightly higher than in 2023—this is due to a change in how one question was scored. In most respects, access to MEA meetings remains the same as it was in 2023. Its strengths include a straightforward, easy process for joining meetings. MEA is also one of two Railbelt cooperatives that make audio recordings of meetings available (the other being CEA). The biggest impediments to transparency continue to be meeting start time, the percentage of time spent in executive session, and the unavailability of meeting materials.

MEA’s Bylaws explicitly state that members can attend board meetings (Article V, Section 6a). The process for joining a meeting online is fairly straightforward—meeting information is near the top of the Board of Directors page and the registration link to join virtually right below. MEA does have a two-step process to join a meeting—clicking the registration button will take you to a form. Once the form is filled out, you will receive an email with the meeting link.

Finding instructions on how to join a meeting by phone remains challenging. To get the phone number and code required to join a meeting, you need to fill out the Zoom registration form. The confirmation email will include the needed information. But this is not mentioned on the website or the form, so someone wanting to join via phone would likely have to contact MEA for instructions.

The registration form asks if you are a member and if you wish to address the board. There is an option to indicate you are not a member—non-members can attend meetings, although they are not supposed to speak during member comments. Members are asked to indicate if they wish to speak during member comments. However, the Chair regularly asks if there is anyone else in person or online who wishes to speak after those who have signed up are finished.

MEA provides agendas at least three days before board meetings. The MEA agendas do not include any additional meeting materials, such as previous minutes, draft resolutions, or reports—they are now the only Railbelt cooperative not to provide any additional material. A CEO’s report providing some basic information is uploaded into the meeting archive, but not until after the meeting (this can take anywhere from a few days to nearly a month).

MEA meetings begin at 4 p.m., potentially impairing the ability of working members to attend. Total member attendance at meetings is not known—unlike the other Railbelt cooperatives, MEA’s minutes do not list all members in attendance, only those who make comments. In 2024, that number was very low—there were only 8 member comments offered during board meetings throughout the entire year.

MEA board meetings are by far the shortest of any Railbelt utility, averaging just over 2 hours (127 minutes) in 2024. There is generally less reporting made in open session than at other cooperatives. The Board also spent a substantial portion of these meetings in executive session, which took up 52.1% of overall meeting time in 2024. This is similar to 2022, when the figure was 47.6%, and 2023, when it was 56%. As a result, in 2024, MEA’s Board averaged only one hour in open session per meeting.

MEA’s Board consistently provides descriptions (albeit terse ones) of the topics to be discussed in executive session on agendas and in minutes. There is no mechanism to readmit virtual attendees after executive session. This is mitigated by the fact that MEA does provide audio recordings of its meetings, usually within a few days. In 2024, the Board held three votes relating to topics discussed in executive session after returning to open session (as discussed above, this is a necessary step—in Alaska, cooperative boards cannot vote on resolutions in executive session). In each case, the vote was anticipated on the meeting agenda, and no other business was conducted after the executive session. MEA has also moved its directors’ comments ahead of executive session, so members can hear them before exiting.

Comparative Use of Executive Session during Regular Board Meetings at Railbelt Cooperatives, 2022-2024