Preserving the Local Nature of GVP Governance

by Tom Walch, Chief Executive Officer

GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. - (Feb. 8, 2024) Ever since my arrival here on Colorado’s Western Slope 12 years ago, I have marveled at the resilient, independent spirit of the folks who call Mesa County home. Something about the way people here have always had to carve out a living — whether in our rugged canyons, in the sparse desert, or in our isolated high country — ingrains in them that they can’t rely on outside help to survive. Local institutions such as Colorado Mesa University, HopeWest, and Grand Junction Economic Partnership thrive, in large part because of their independent, can-do approach to getting things done. Smaller businesses like Powderhorn Mountain Resort, Talbott Farms, VanWinkle Ranch, and countless others follow the same path. We instinctively bristle at the thought of having policymakers and outside interests on the Front Range telling us what we can and can’t do.

I like to think that Grand Valley Power is included among the independent, resilient businesses that make Mesa County the great place that it is. After all, our cooperative was built by independent farmers and ranchers in the Lower Valley who couldn’t get electricity from traditional sources; they found a way to do it themselves. The local, independent, and autonomous nature of our governance, with our policy-making directors elected by the member-owners of the cooperative, would seem to ensure that this won’t change. But I’m here to tell you that if complacency creeps in — if our members take some of the good things about our business model for granted — there will be change.

What am I talking about? There is a movement afoot on Colorado’s Western Slope, where outside interests are trying to take over the governance of rural electric cooperatives. Last year a Denver magazine published an article detailing how “environmental activists” executed a plan a few years ago to “lead a coup” to take over the board of one of GVP’s neighboring cooperatives. The website of a Boulder-based advocacy group boasts of successes helping to elect new directors to the boards of four different Western Slope rural electric cooperatives over the past two years. And right here in Grand Junction, a local advocacy group actively campaigned for at least one GVP director candidate, canvassing neighborhoods and sending out mailers, ostensibly without the knowledge of the candidate himself.

These outside interests are certainly welcome to support and endorse candidates they favor in campaigns to run for the Grand Valley Power Board of Directors. At the same time, our cooperative leadership believes that greater transparency about the source of support for director candidates will help to preserve the critical local nature of our governance. With this in mind, the GVP board recently approved amendments to its policy regarding director elections. These changes include more frequent (weekly) reporting of director election campaign contributions and expenditures, and requirements to disclose contacts with advocacy groups that support or endorse the candidate. The updated policy — Policy Bulletin No. 50 -Voting and Elections — can be viewed on the GVP website at gvp.org/ director-election.

While we hope that the revised policy will increase transparency, the best way for GVP members to preserve the local nature of our organization’s governance is to participate in our director elections by casting an informed vote. One of the advocacy groups attempting to influence cooperative elections accurately points out that most members do not participate in director elections. They point out that success only requires reaching out to a small fraction of the cooperative’s membership. At GVP, typically only about 10-15% of ballots are returned. Over the past few years, at least three elections have been decided by a dozen votes or less.

With participation like this, and voting margins as thin as they are, every GVP vote for director is significant. If independent, hometown governance of our cooperative is important to you, please remember to vote in our director elections this summer.