Business Community
Alvestad, Ross, Markovich re-elected to PenLight Board
Peninsula Light members have re-elected three board members, who will each serve a three-year term.
Incumbents Paul Alvestad, Debra Ross, and Nick Markovich were elected to the board, PenLight announced at its annual meeting on Monday, May 6.
Members returned 4,227 of the 32,461 ballots (13.02%) PenLight mailed. The election requires a 10% quorum, said Britni Wickens, PenLight’s public relations manager and board administrator.
Votes totals for each candidate were:
- L. Paul Alvestad 2,977
- Debra Ross 2,757
- Nick Markovich 2,447
- Joe Tellez 1,627
- Patrick McMonigle 1,325
- Winston Hanson 525
PenLight also announced board officers for the 2024-2025 term. Scott Junge will be president, Ross vice president, Marc Jorgenson treasurer and Jim Smalley secretary.
From left, L. Paul Alvestad, Nick Markovich and Debra Ross
Peninsula Light’s roots stretch back to 1924, when Tacoma Power was completing Lake Cushman Dam and needed to get power from Hoodsport to Tacoma. The line went through the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula areas, and the community tapped into that line and set up a utility company, said Jonathan White, senior project manager. By Christmas 1926, Peninsula Light Company had power to farms and homes that wanted to be members.
PenLight still uses the co-op model formed in 1925. It is the sixth-oldest electrical co-op in the country.
PenLight began 10 years before President Franklin Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Administration program, which provided no-interest loans to finance distribution of electricity to rural areas.
PenLight is the second-largest member-owned electric cooperative in the Northwest. It also provides service to more than 3,200 water consumers.