A longtime local and two incumbents were elected to the Empire Electric Association board during Thursday’s election.
Results were tallied Thursday evening at a packed annual meeting. Six candidates vied for three open seats.
District 2 was a close race. Candidate Robert Barry edged out Carolyn Dunmire by 63 votes winning by margin of 51% to 49%. Barry attracted 1,115 votes compared with Dunmire’s 1,052 votes. Barry will serve a two-year term.
In District 5, incumbent Kent Lindsay was re-elected to the board, receiving 1,261 votes over challenger Eric Lindgren, who had 873 votes. Lindsay’s victory was a 59% percent to 41% margin.
In District 6, incumbent David Sitton was also re-elected. Sitton had 1,244 votes compare with challenger Greg Barker’s 875 votes. Sitton won by a margin of 59% to 41% . Lindsay and Sitton will both serve four-year terms.
Also, 10 bylaw changes were approved by the cooperative membership in the election. Ballots were mailed out to 12,805 cooperative members.
“I’m excited to serve on the board, and will be learning as much as I can,” Barry said. “I bring a professional background and perspective to the board.”
Barry was raised on a farm at Eastland, a rural farming community southeast of Monticello, Utah.
He went to Southern Utah State College at Cedar City, Utah, before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He served in Vietnam with an engineering and mapping company and is a lifetime member of the Troy Young VFW Post No. 5181 in Dove Creek.
In 1986, he was elected to the San Juan Soil Conservation Board and served as chairman for 30 years. Barry has served on the County FSA Board for nine years, the Governor’s Utah Conservation Commission for 20 years and the Ag Advisory Board for six years. He was elected into leadership roles as vice president and president of the Utah Association of Conservation Districts and for the past eight years has represented Utah on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Conservation Districts.
He is currently the chairman of the Southwest Region, which includes Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah.
Lindsay was born and raised in Cortez. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School, he attended Colorado State University and majored in electrical engineering. He married Sharon King, and they bought the El Grande Café from her parents in 1980 and have been in business since then. He served two terms as a Montezuma County Commissioner, and was a volunteer firefighter for 19 years, including three years as chief.
As board member, he said his primary concerns are rates and the pressure outside influences have on those rates.
“Wherever we can find sources to help keep rates down and return capital credit to our members, I am always willing to explore those possibilities,” he said.
“I am not pro coal, gas, solar or hydro, I am pro cheap,” he said.
Sitton was elected to the EEA board in 1996. He has a degree in computer science.
His professional background includes working for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and with Empire Electric overseeing data processing and information technology. He was elected to the EEA board in 1996.
Sitton worked for Nielsons/Skanska Construction for 23 years, holding various positions including in information technology, finance and cost control, and vice president of administration.
In 2016, Sitton purchased Aspen Wall Wood in Dolores. In 2017, he purchased Dewayne Findley Logging and the Western Excelsior assets in Mancos and rebuilt the excelsior plant.
