Applications for VEA District 6 director due

Applicants who wish to apply for election to the Valley Electric Association Board of Directors representing District 6, the area north of Highway 372 in Pahrump, have until Nov. 22.

The director is one of six members on the board. They serve three-year terms and are paid $1,000 per month.

The board of directors appoints members of a nominating committee to screen applicants running for election to be sure members are in good standing and bona fide residents or consumers in the district they wish to represent. Candidates may not be employed or have a financial interest in a competing enterprise or business selling electric energy or supplies to VEA.

People who are not selected by the nominating committee to run in the election may still get on the ballot by submitting a petition with the signatures of at least 15 VEA members at least 75 days before the annual meeting scheduled for April 26, 2014.

Dave Dawson is the current District 6 director. He is a retired aerospace worker, who worked for Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne. Dawson was re-elected in April 2011, defeating Bill Renshaw 557 votes to 218, a vote total that amounted to only 1.25 percent of the 6,197 members of the cooperative who lived in that district at the time. During an October 2011 interview with the Pahrump Valley Times as part of a series on Valley Electric, Dawson said the $1,000 monthly stipend amounted to minimum wage when all the hours spent working as a VEA director were added together.

Anyone interested in being considered for nomination is asked to submit a letter of interest and a statement of qualifications at the VEA office at 800 E. Highway 372 or fax it to 727-6320 attention Dax Whittle. Anyone who wants more information may call Susan Fisher, VEA executive vice-president of government relations and marketing, at 727-2133 or e-mail her at susanf@vea.coop.