Fall River Electric Board Election Returns Two Incumbents, Adds McLean
Fall River Electric board election results: members kept incumbents Travis Markegard and Georg Behrens and picked Paul McLean for the Island Park seat.
Voting for the Fall River Electric board of directors returned two incumbents and added one new member at the cooperative's annual business meeting in Driggs on Saturday, June 13. More than 6,600 owner-members cast ballots online, by mail, and in person at the utility's 88th annual energy expo, held at Teton High School. Five candidates ran for three seats. Directors serve three-year terms, and this year's ballot covered three of the cooperative's districts.
In District 2, which covers west Victor, incumbent Travis Markegard won a new three-year term with 1,680 votes to David Woolley's 576. In District 3, east Victor, incumbent Georg Behrens ran unopposed and was re-elected with 2,134 votes.
The contested race was in District 8, the northern portion of Island Park, where Paul McLean won his first term on the board and was the only newcomer among the three winners. He beat Lynette Tingey by 189 votes, 1,206 to 1,017.
Members also amended Article XI of the cooperative's bylaws by a vote of 2,199 to 113. More than 95 percent of those who weighed in backed the change, which expands and modifies the methods the co-op uses to dispose of its property.
At the business meeting in the Teton High School auditorium, the cooperative announced more than thirty scholarship awards and heard reports from board President Brent "Husk" Crowther and CEO and General Manager Bryan Case. The co-op also handed out dozens of prizes during the event. Carmen Anderson of Victor won the grand prize, a $1,000 energy credit.
As a member-owned, nonprofit cooperative, Fall River is governed by the directors its owner-members elect. The utility serves more than 16,000 owner-members, and its service territory spans parts of eastern Idaho, including the Victor area, as well as sections of Montana and Wyoming.