Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — At the Yampa Valley Electric Association's annual meeting Friday, two newcomers and one incumbent were elected to the board of directors.

Franklin "Pud" Stetson, James Simos and Pat Barber were voted onto the board for Districts 2, 3 and 6, respectively.

YVEA, which provides electricity for Routt and Moffat counties and parts of Wyoming and Utah, has nine board members. Each member represents a certain region.

Every year, three of the nine seats are up for election.

This year was the first in which each of these three seats was contested.

Stetson, an accountant and rancher, beat out Stuart Nadler and Harold Stover to win the seat that Larry Whiteman had held for more than 20 years. Whiteman could not run this year as he is moving to Grand Junction.

Simos, who owns Cashway Distributors in Craig, won over Dr. Leo Schneider. Schneider, an incumbent, had held the seat for 38 years.

Barber, an incumbent, kept his seat on the board by beating former YVEA board member Bill Haight. Barber retired seven years ago from his job with YVEA after a 39-year career with the association.

"I think the board of directors appreciates all the years of service that Dr. Leo Schneider and Larry Whiteman gave to YVEA," said Jim Chappell, YVEA's manager of consumer accounts. "I think their presence will be missed, but new opportunities will present themselves by the new board members."

Also at the meeting, two changes to bylaws came up for a vote. The change that passed now lets the association hold an annual meeting with only 10 members instead of 50. A second in-depth change to the bylaws was defeated.