Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Members of Yampa Valley Electric Association will choose a new director for the rural cooperative at its annual meeting in Hayden on Saturday.

Pat McClelland and Paul Sachs of Steamboat Springs are matched in the only contested race this spring.

The final ballots will be cast at Hayden High School. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and a business meeting follows at 10 a.m. Many YVEA members have already voted by mail (deadline for mail-in or drop-off ballots is 5 p.m. Friday at the YVEA office on Tenth Street). But members are welcome and encouraged to vote in Hayden Saturday morning YVEA's Jim Chappell said.

Both candidates are expected to speak at the outset of the meeting. They are seeking three-year terms and will replace Mark Palmer, who resigned earlier this year to take a job in San Francisco.

Sachs and McClelland are seeking the District 7 seat with boundaries corresponding to the Steamboat city limits. YVEA spans most of Routt and Moffat counties, as well as small portions of southern Wyoming and extreme eastern Utah.

McClelland is a year away from retirement in his role as a vice president at Wells Fargo Bank in Steamboat.

His father had a 35-year career as a lineman for YVEA. Sachs, who has practiced law locally, is the project coordinator of the Yampa Valley Legacy Education Initiative. He also oversees special projects for the Orton Institute.

The election committee will begin counting the ballots during the business meeting and the results should be known between 11 and 11:30 a.m., Chappell said.

Members of YVEA are invited to stay for lunch, which is part of the observation of Hayden Appreciation Days on Saturday.

YVEA's charter allows just one member of a household, representing an account with YVEA, to vote in the election. The member is the person whose name is on the billing statement.

The nine directors on the governing board are elected for three-year staggered terms that result in three directors coming up for election each year.

Chappell said District 4 incumbent Tom Trevenen (Elk Springs area) and District 5 incumbent Sam Haslem (representing Hayden) are unopposed this spring. Haslem is the current chairman of the board and Irlan Neas is the vice chair. Convention indicates Neas is due to succeed Haslem this year, however that ascendancy isn't called for in the bylaws. For more information about the election, call YVEA at 879-1160.