Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

LPEA board of directors fills leadership roles

La Plata Electric Association board members Wednesday eliminated the open political maneuvering seen last year in filling board leadership posts by adopting secret nominations and secret balloting.

Board legal counsel Barry Spear gathered nominating slips in a baseball cap, read names of nominees, distributed new slips for voting, then announced the winners. No vote tallies were announced.

Board president Michael Rendon earned a second term; Tom Compton was elected vice chairman; Jeff Berman was chosen as secretary; and newly elected board member Karen Barger took the treasurer post.

Last year, all four positions were filled by members of the “green” persuasion, board members who support alternative energy sources and conservation.

The election this year – one member is elected each year from each of LPEA’s four districts – changed the 7-5 majority held by the greens to an apparent 6-6 board composition. Barger upset green-hued Heather Erb, and Kohler McInnis defeated Gregg Dubit, who holds strong green credentials, for an open seat.

In filling board posts last year, a motion by Tom Compton to retain the existing leadership failed and the board went to open nominations. Rendon, a solid green, who was nominated for secretary, withdrew and then announced that he had been approached about running for chairman. He won on the following vote.

This year, the top four board positions, the so-called executive committee, were split. Rendon and Jeff Berman are balanced by longtime traditionalist Compton and Barger.

The board also elected by secret nominations and voting seats to four other boards:

Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the LPEA wholesale energy supplier, won by Joe Wheeling.

Colorado Rural Electric Association composed of 44 cooperatives served by Tri-State, won by Berman.

Western United, the purchasing agent for the Tri-State cooperatives, won by Bob Formwalt.

And two members to the LPEA Round Up board, which distributes money accrued when LPEA customers round up their electric bills to the next dollar, won by McInnis and Jack Turner.

daler@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments