By Michael Chiodo.
Hi Everyone!
I imagine that I met most of you during the historic campaign we just had to elect Barack Obama! There are only a few weeks left before all of our hard work starts paying dividends. It is already a great new year!
Another Election
As important as the presidential election will be for the future of our country, there is another, less well-known election that SHOULD take place in April for our representative in District 7 of the IREA Board of Directors. I won't lie to you; this election will not have any of the glamour and excitement of the election we just witnessed, but it's outcome could hold as much importance for us locally. See, we as a cooperative electrical utility are in danger of flying in the face of the new green energy economy that Obama will be attempting to create to reignite our economy and return America to a leadership role for the rest of the world.
Right now, the IREA Board of Directors is made up of six appointed representatives and one elected representative in a body that should be made up of all elected representatives. (If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, I would love to hear it!) The six appointed Directors are suppose to be expressing the interests of their constituents, the co-op member owners behind each electric meter connected to a house or business. Instead they rubber stamp the decisions of the general manager and make little attempt to improve the course of the utility or reflect the interests of all of us in policies implemented by IREA management.
What Can We Do? This is where all of you come in and how we can change the negative course of our electric co-op! I want to tap into all of the energy and experience that we as a group collected in our successful campaign for change and channel it into getting a board member ELECTED who will look out for our interests in the co-op. We need to get a second elected voice on the board who will question the backward thinking of IREA management and challenge policies that have already been shown to be taking us in the wrong direction regarding consumption of natural resources for energy production, transparency and governance of a cooperative, best business practices, etc.
We are organizing to elect new board members in three districts, including District 7 which covers most of Parker. Even if you do not live in District 7, you can still help us get a new board member elected. Better yet, this campaign is not politically charged. Democrats and Republicans alike can agree on many of the common sense issues that are facing our co-op, but have yet to be addressed by a status quo board. That means if you want to help us canvass, you will not be faced with people ideologically opposed to what you have to say. It is a safe conversation to have with your neighbor, coworker, cashier, whomever!
IREA Voices is a non-profit, non-partisan group; but I am tapping into us agents of change, because I know we have what it takes to get a board member elected who will represent all of us into the energy future.
Upcoming Events
PLEASE come join us at one of our upcoming organizational events to get this critical campaign up and running:
- IREA Voices holds a monthly meeting on the second Sunday of each month. The next meeting is this coming Sunday, January 11th, at 3 PM at the Bridge Center, 9233 Park Meadows Drive, Littleton CO 80124 (You can access the public area through Panera). Everyone is invited!
- IREA Voices is also on the agenda of the next meeting of the Parker Democrats. This meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 13th, at 7 PM at Sierra Middle School, 6651 E Pine Lane, Parker, CO 80138
I truly hope to see each and every one of you soon!
Thank you, Michael Chiodo
P.S. If you would like to be added to the IREA Voices email list, please send me a message stating so. Alternatively, if you do not want to receive any future emails from me, please notify me and I will remove your name from my list of Change Agents in the Parker area.
Contact Michael at mchiodo74@gmail.com
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I feel like I went to a dance with a girl that only knew 'NO'. No huggin, no kissin, no dancing, no nothin...and guess what? Now I find myself married to her and she's still repeating the same line...NO! NO! NO! How is it I find myself married to this woman?
ReplyDeleteIREA is an unregulated monopoly that has no interest in the wishes of the members. No renewables, no energy efficiency, no net metering, definitely no rebates and NO discussion! This is just craziness! The governor want us to take advantage of a 'New Energy Economy' but as IREA customers all we hear is NO!
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now. But seriously, if you get pissed off like me every time you read the propaganda in the bill stuffer that we pay for, Watts and Volts, help us to take OUR electric co-op back, eh? These guys are fuel fossils!