I have two questions for OPALCO. The first is for board member Bob Myhr.

When he was on the San Juan County Council (2005-2010) and, at the same time, on the OPALCO board, why didn’t he excuse himself when the cellphone task force was making its recommendation to the county board?

He clearly (in my humble opinion) was against advancing cellphone reach throughout the county.

I submit that his “No” vote on wireless technology improvements was a conflict of interest given his being an OPALCO board member. Even in 2007 it was widely known cellphones would do far more than just make telephone calls.

Was Bob really concerned about undocumented health and unsightly cell tower (by the way: each OPALCO electric pole is in essence a tower) concerns or was he privy for what was to come down the road from his OPALCO board position?

For the record, I am all in on OPALCO’s expanding internet access throughout the county. I just wish Bob Myhr had been more transparent.

The second question has to do with OPALCO’s electricity rates. My wife and I live in the town of Friday Harbor. Our monthly water/sewer bill has a “base” rate charge.

Within this base rate is an allowance of gallons of water. Using any or all of that allowance and your

base rate remains the same. Exceed the allowance and you pay per gallon.

Why can’t this same scenario be used by OPALCO? Within its base rate it would be very appreciated for those of us living fulltime in San Juan County if we got x-number of kilowatts of electricity within the base rate.

Obviously the infrastructure requires everyone to contribute (pay) for the convenience of having a light turn on when needed.  It would be a useful conversation to adjust the base rate charge to provide some measure of service.

Bill Wertz

Friday Harbor