MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, July 16, 2026
6:30 P.M.
Present: Liz Alessio, County of Napa and Four Napa Cities/Town (American Canyon, Calistoga, St. Helena, and Yountville) Stephanie Andre, City of Larkspur
Dion Bailey, City of Hercules
Mark Belotz, Town of Danville
Kari Birdseye, City of Benicia
Monica Brown, County of Solano, left at 10:35 p.m.
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
Arlene Kobata, City of Pittsburg
Kevin Jacobs, City of Novato
Eduardo Martinez, City of Richmond
John McCormick, City of Lafayette
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole, left at 10:33 p.m.
Laura Nakamura, City of Concord
Jack Ryan, Alternate, Town of Tiburon
Mary Sackett, County of Marin
Manveer Sandhu, City of Fairfield, left at 10:14 p.m.
Shanelle Scales-Preston, County of Contra Costa, Chair
Amanda Szakats, City of Pleasant Hill
Sridhar Verose, City of San Ramon
Chantel Walker, Town of San Anselmo
Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere, arrived at 6:36 p.m.
Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
Absent: Eli Beckman, Town of Corte Madera
Jill Hoffman, City of Sausalito
C. William Kircher, Jr., Town of Ross
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Beth Painter, City of Napa
Charles Palmares, City of Vallejo
Max Perrey, City of Mill Valley
Patricia Ponce, City of San Pablo
Graham Thiel, Town of Moraga
Carolyn Wysinger, City of El Cerrito
Staff
& Others: Jared Blanton, VP of Public Affairs
Jesica Brooks, Lead Board Clerk and Executive Assistant Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15 Alcides Hernandez, Director of Rates
Vicken Kasarjian, Acting CEO and Chief Operating Officer Shaheen Khan, VP of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion Jonnie Kipyator, Power Analytics Principal Manager
Tanya Lomas, Board Clerk
Nathaniel Malcolm, Senior Commercial Counsel
Ashley Muth, Internal Operations Associate
Catalina Murphy, General Counsel
James Parker, Pacific Energy Advisors
Justine Parmelee, VP of Internal Operations
Mike Rodriguez-Vargas, Internal Operations Assistant
Sabrinna Soldavini, VP of Policy
Enyonam Senyo-Mensah, Manager of Internal Operations
Jamie Tuckey, Chief Customer Officer
1. Roll Call
(Video 0:00:00)
Chair Scales-Preston called the regular meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. with quorum established by roll call.
2. Board Announcements (Discussion)
(Video 0:02:12)
There were comments from Directors Coler, Alessio, Sackett, Bailey, and Chair Scales-Preston.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
(Video 0:13:00)
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
(Video 0:14:14)
Vicken Kasarjian, Acting CEO and Chief Operating Officer, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
5. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
(Video 0:22:27)
C.1 Approval of 6.15.26 Meeting Minutes
C.2 Approval of 6.18.26 Meeting Minutes
C.3 Addition of Board Members to Committees
C.4 MCE Application to the California Energy Commission’s GFO-25-608 – Electric Hub, Outreach, Messaging, and Equipment
Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15 C.5 Proposed Exception to Operating Reserve Fund Policy Cap and Transfer Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
6. Integrated Resource Plan (Discussion/Action)
(Video 0:27:00)
Sabrinna Soldavini, VP of Policy, Jonnie Kipyator, Power Analytics Principal Manager, and James Parker, Pacific Energy Advisors, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there was a comment from member of the public, Alicia Minyen.
Action: It was M/S/C (Murphy/Zorn) to
1. Approve MCE’s 2026 IRP and Preferred Conforming Portfolio (PCP); and
2. Direct Staff to finalize and file MCE’s 2026 IRP in substantially the same form and substance as approved, including any supporting pleadings and motions on August 10, 2026, and submit any supplemental materials as may be required.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Thiel, and Wysinger).
7. Proposed Creation of Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee (Discussion/Action) (Video 1:42:52)
Chair Scales-Preston, Vice Chair Darling, and Director Coler introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were comments from members of the public, Alicia Minyen, Kingston Cole, Robert Miller, and Ron Arlas.
Action: It was M/S/C (Darling/Alessio) to Approve Consent Calendar items C.1-C.5. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Thiel, and Wysinger).
Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15 Action 1: It was M/S/D (Zorn/Murphy) to Defer the Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee to the September Board Meeting.
Motion did not carry. 9-Yays 19-Nos. (Nos: Alessio, Andre, Bailey, Belotz, Birdseye, Coler, Darling, Jacobs, McCormick, Ryan, Sackett, Scales-Preston, Szakats, Walker, and Wilkinson. Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Thiel, and Wysinger).
Action 2: It was M/S/D (Szakats/Bailey) to
1. Approve the Executive Committee’s recommendation of the creation of an Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee, consisting of Directors Scales-Preston, Darling, Coler, Painter, Birdseye, Sackett, and McCormick to lead the search for the new MCE CEO, provided that the Committee bring key touch points (including the selection of a recruitment firm) to the Executive Committee or the Board (based on timing of meetings), and that the final CEO candidates be brought to the full Board for interviews and for the selection of the new CEO.
2. Authorize the Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee to request that MCE staff provide the staffing and external resources the Committee deems necessary, including retaining an external Executive Search Recruitment firm.
Motion did not carry. 6-Yays 22-Nos. (Nos: Alessio, Andre, Belotz, Brown, Coler, Jacobs, McCormick, Martinez, Meadows, Murphy, Nakamura, Ryan, Sackett, Sandhu, Verose, Walker, Wilkinson and Zorn. Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Thiel, and Wysinger).
Action 3: It was M/S/C (McCormick/Wilkinson) to
1. Approve the Executive Committee’s recommendation of the creation of an Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee, consisting of Directors Scales-Preston, Andre, Coler, Painter, Birdseye, Sackett, and McCormick to lead the search for the new MCE CEO, provided that the Committee bring key touch points (including the selection of a recruitment firm) to the Executive Committee or the Board (based on timing of meetings), and that the final CEO candidates be brought to the full Board for interviews and for the selection of the new CEO.
2. Authorize the Ad Hoc CEO Search Committee to request that MCE staff provide the staffing and external resources the Committee Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15 deems necessary, including retaining an external Executive Search Recruitment firm.
Motion carried by roll call vote. 22-Yays 6-Nos. (Nos: Alessio and Zorn.
Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Thiel, and Wysinger).
8. Receive Public Comment on the Civil Grand Jury Report (Discussion) (Video 3:35:41)
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were comments from members of the public, Robert Miller and Jody Timms.
Action: No action required.
9. Proposed Creation of Ad Hoc Civil Grand Jury Response Committee (Discussion/Action)
(Video 3:47:43)
Chair Scales-Preston, Vice Chair Darling, and Director Coler introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there was a comment from member of the public, Alicia Minyen.
Action: It was M/S/C (Alessio/Meadows) to Approve the creation of an Ad Hoc Grand Jury Response Committee, consisting of Directors Belotz, Darling, Perrey, Szakats, Walker, and Wilkinson, to lead and oversee preparation of a draft response to the June 16, 2026 Civil Grand Jury report. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Beckman, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Sandhu, Thiel, and Wysinger).
10. Proposed General Counsel Reporting Structure (Discussion/Action) (Video 4:04:06)
Catalina Murphy, General Counsel, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Nakamura/Walker) to Approve proposed Resolution 2026-06 Delegating Authority Setting Compensation, Tenure, Appointment and Conditions of Employment to the Executive Committee and the CEO. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Beckman, Brown, Hoffman, Kircher Jr., Llorens Gulati, Murphy, Painter, Palmares, Perrey, Ponce, Sandhu, Thiel and Wysinger).
Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15
11. Board & Staff Matters (Discussion)
The item was deferred.
12. Adjournment
(Video 4:09:20)
Chair Scales-Preston adjourned the meeting at 10:40 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on August 20, 2026.
___________________________________________
Shanelle Scales-Preston, Chair
Attest:
___________________________________________
Justine Parmelee, Secretary
Docusign Envelope ID: 0C09EAE5-1DA9-87D0-83C5-B9629AF31A15