Business Community
PenLight board elections are happening now. These are the candidates
Three incumbents and three challengers are vying for three seats on the Peninsula Light Co. board of directors. The top vote-getters will serve three-year terms overseeing PenLight.
Peninsula Light members elect three people each spring to the board of PenLight, a member-owned electrical cooperative serving Gig Harbor, Fox Island, the Key Peninsula, Herron Island and parts of Olalla.
This year, the election runs from March 30 to April 27. PenLight will announce winners during its online annual meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. May 4.
At least 10% of 35,000 rate paying members must cast ballots to constitute a quorum. The utility got almost exactly that number, 10.4%, last year.
High-profile election
PenLight board elections usually don’t get much attention. The election took a higher profile this year after the board ousted Paul Alvestad, a 26-year veteran of the board.
Members of the community have spoken up following his ouster, encouraging people to vote for Alvestad as a write-in candidate.
“PenLight has the chance to be more transparent about the potential raises to rates and they need to be open when you have the public in mind,” said Samarra McBearity of Gig Harbor, administrator of the Gig Harbor Community Talk social media group. “People are more willing to accept what’s happening if they understand.”
PenLight board President Debra Ross told Gig Harbor Now last month that Alvestad “is barred from running for a seat on the PenLight Board of Directors in future elections.”
PenLight allows voters to write in candidates in two slots. But the unanimous decision to oust Alvestad means he cannot be seated on the board of directors now or in the future, said Britni Wickens, PenLight director of communications and board administrator.
After the election, the board will also fill two vacant positions. Alvestad’s ouster, for allegedly breaching confidentiality after he discussed Peninsula Light Co.’s plans to rebuild its headquarters, created one. Separately, James Smalley resigned a seat.
Meet the candidates
PenLight is the second-largest member-owned electric cooperative in the Northwest and the sixth-oldest electrical cooperative in the country.
Gig Harbor Now attempted to reach all six hopefuls for additional information about their candidacies. Only one responded.
The following information on each board member was taken from the Peninsula Light Co.’s website, interviews and from the ballot.
Incumbent board members
Marc Jorgenson
Mark Jorgenson
Marc Jorgenson has been a member of the Peninsula Light board since 1996. A resident of Gig Harbor since 1965, Jorgenson is a graduate of Peninsula High School and Pacific Lutheran University. He recently retired from a certified public accounting firm, Jorgenson & Limoli. He has served on the Gig Harbor Rotary Foundation, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Boating Advisory Council and the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society. He is a member of the Gig Harbor Rotary Club, the Gig Harbor Yacht Club and the Tacoma Yacht Club. He enjoys sailing on Puget Sound, traveling and working on home projects, according to his profile.
Scott Junge
Scott Junge has been a board member since 2008. He and his wife own Rosedale Gardens, a plant nursery in Gig Harbor. Junge helped form the Peninsula Metropolitan Park District, serving for 12 years as a commissioner.
Scott Junge
He was a member of the Gig Harbor Rotary Club & Foundation, former Rotarian of the Year, a member of the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce board and the Harbor History Museum task force. He has lived in Gig Harbor since 1986.
Roger Spadoni
Roger Spadoni has been a board member since 1987. He is a lifelong resident of Gig Harbor and graduated from Peninsula High School, Olympic College and Washington State University.
Spadoni operates Spadoni Golfscapes and Lawns, a synthetic turf putting green and lawn installation company. Until his departure in 2006, was president and CEO of Spadoni Brothers Inc., a general contracting firm founded by his father and uncles in 1946, according to biographical information on the Peninsula Light Co. website.
Roger Spadoni
Challengers
Keith Black
Keith Black is a former deputy at the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s office. He did not return phone calls or emails to Gig Harbor Now, nor did the electric cooperative agree to contact the candidate on behalf of Gig Harbor Now.
Information provided by the candidate on the ballot says Black has board experience with the Tacoma Pierce County and Washington state bar associations and as past chair of the Bellarmine Preparatory School. Black’s biographical information also states that he spent 10 years as a deputy hearing examiner for Pierce County, presiding over land use and environmental cases.
Joe Tellez
Joe Tellez
Joe Tellez is a senior director at TRC, a global professional services firm focused on energy transition. Previously, he worked for an automation software company and was chief technology officer at Tacoma Power.
Tellez ran for a PenLight board position in 2024 and finished fourth with 1,627 votes.
“I can’t comment on the matters at PenLight,” Tellez said. “I believe that it was formed on a set of principals and those are reflected in the cadence of the governance. I consider the board should be collaborative.”
He has lived in Gig Harbor for a decade.
Debbie Wittmers
Debbie Wittmers is a certified public accountant and owner of D. Wittmers CPA PLLC in Gig harbor.
Wittmers initially agreed to talk about her candidacy, then changed her mind and declined an interview.
According to her ballot bio, she has 30 years of accounting experience and specializes in family wealth services, taxation and retirement planning. Before opening her own CPA firm, she worked with RSM in Tacoma as a family wealth advisor. Wittmers is involved with the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor, the Tacoma Estate Planning Council and the South Sound Planned Giving Council.