Nominating petitions are available for Great Lakes Energy members who would like to seek election to the cooperative’s board of directors. 

Four board positions, all for three years, will need to be filled. The terms of directors Paul Byl of Shelby, Mark Carson of Boyne City, Dale Farrier of Kalkaska and Robert Kran of Free Soil expire this year. 

Members will receive their mail-in ballots in the July/August 2012 issue of Michigan Country Lines. Winners will be announced Aug. 22 at the GLE annual business meeting. 

To get their names on the ballot, qualifying member-owners of the electric cooperative who maintain a primary residence within its service area must file a nominating petition with the co-op secretary. 

Petitions must be signed by at least 50 active GLE members. Cosigners of a joint membership count as one signature. For the signature to be valid, complete information about the member must be provided. The cooperative will verify the member information. Incomplete petitions will not be counted. All petitions must be signed no more than 90 days prior to submission to the cooperative.

Petition circulators are advised, but not required, to collect well over 50 signatures because some may not be valid.   

Signed petitions returned by mail or in person must be received in the co-op’s Boyne City office no earlier than Thursday, May 24, 2012, and no later than Friday, June 8, 2012. 

Petitions can be mailed to: Secretary of the Cooperative, Great Lakes Energy, P.O. Box 70,  Boyne City, MI 49712. They also can be dropped off at the Boyne City office during normal business hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Petition forms are available by contacting 888-485-2537, ext. 1331.