La Plata County Electric CEO Mike Dreyspring called it a “very important election” of four members to the La Plata Electric Association board of directors. The highly charged election season ended Saturday afternoon at the LPEA annual meeting in Pagosa Springs.
The winners: Bob Formwalt, Kohler McInnis, Britt Bassett and Karen Barger.
Formwalt, former real estate banker and Archuleta County Commissioner, will represent District 1, Archuleta County, which has nearly 8,000 LPEA customers. Formwalt was the incumbent candidate, winning with 1,143 votes over his challenger Nicholas Kazarinoff (435).
Formwalt’s focus is to see through the development of the 115-kV transmission line from Bayfield to Pagosa Springs and to secure a voice for Pagosa Verde and geothermal interests on the board.
McInnis, a new candidate, was elected to represent District 2, south and west La Plata County and its 8,300 members. McInnis received 1,083 votes to beat Gregg Dubit (769).
McInnis, founder of Kohler’s Printing & Copying, said electricity should be affordable, and LPEA should be transparent while promoting responsible conservation and renewable energy.
“I think it’s kind of encouraging looking out there right now,” he said in a phone interview with the Herald. “The price of some of the alternative energy is coming way down.”
District 3, the city of Durango with 7,600 members, will be represented by incumbent Bassett, who received 1,144 votes to Jim Wotkyns’ 775. Bassett, a certified energy auditor, said his top priorities are to continually strengthen LPEA’s financial position.
“We need to continue to provide a good service and try to look to the future,” he said Saturday after the election.
An active partner in CalCom Solar, a solar power business in California, Bassett also led the effort for LPEA’s community solar-garden program.
Northern and eastern La Plata County, District 4, with 7,900 members, will be represented by Barger, a new candidate who won in the closest election with 936 votes to incumbent Heather Erb’s 914.
Barger, who owns Season’s Rotisserie & Grill, said she has a unique perspective that will bring sustainability, health and economic prosperity to LPEA.
“I certainly believe in the process of me being able to bring economic prosperity,” she said after the meeting.
“LPEA is a business, and I am concerned with the direction that the organization is heading with policies that require members to subsidize programs at a time when all our dollars are precious.”
Across the board, a most critical issue, Bassett said, was continuing to work with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, working to gain more independence. Currently, LPEA is limited to only generate 5 percent local power. Bassett said many of the LPEA members are interested in more locally distributed energy.
“That’s an issue that was discussed at length in (Saturday’s) annual meeting,” he said. “And I would say favorably received. We really have no independence.”
bmathis@durangoherald.com
