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YVEA board seat up for grabs

Pat McClelland, Paul Sachs square off for position

Tom Ross

— Pat McClelland and Paul Sachs of Steamboat Springs will face off in the only contested race for Board of Directors of Yampa Valley Electric Association this spring.

Mail-in ballots should go out to members of the rural electrical cooperative later this week, YVEA’s Jim Chappell said.

McClelland and Sachs 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.



The nine directors on the governing board are elected for three-year staggered terms that result in three directors coming up for election every year. Chappell said District 4 incumbent Tom Trevenen (Elk Springs area) and District 5 incumbent Sam Haslem (representing Hayden) are unopposed this spring.

McClelland and Sachs are seeking to fill a spot left vacant earlier this year when Mark Palmer resigned to take a new job in San Francisco.



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.

There are two ways to vote, Chappell said. People may return the mail-in ballot to the YVEA office no later than 5 p.m. June 15. Or, they are welcome to vote at the YVEA annual meeting June 16 at Hayden High School. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and a business meeting follows at 10 a.m. Following the meeting, lunch will be served as part of Hayden Appreciation Day festivities.

Sachs, who has a law degree and has practiced law locally, is the project coordinator of the Yampa Valley Legacy Education Initiative. The project is designed to increase students’ sense of place and community. He also oversees special projects for the Orton Institute, the education arm of the Orton Family Foundation.

McClelland said this week he is looking forward to retiring from his role as vice president at Wells Fargo Bank in a year. He would like to continue the service to the community through YVEA begun by his father, Lloyd, right after World War II. Lloyd McClelland began his 35-year career with YVEA as a lineman and retired as a line supervisor in 1981.

Pat McClelland went to work with then Routt County National Bank as a loan officer in 1972. He has worked at the bank, through numerous name changes, ever since.

For more information about the election, call YVEA at 879-1160.


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