Barbara Lawlor, Peak to Peak. Each year at this time, United Power members vote for its new or incumbent board members and this year’s race is heading into the April 13 deadline for ballots. There are two candidates running for the Mountain District seats: Lynn Hirshman and Rick Newman, both of Gilpin County.

United Power is a not-for-profit electric cooperative which is owned by the customer members who receive power from the company. The cooperative is run by a member-elected board of directors who oversee the operations, the rate changes, and the staff’s and employees’ plans for the future of the company.

A rural company, UP provides electric service to homes and businesses in Colorado’s northern front range, from the mountains of Coal Creek and Golden Gate Canyon to the farmlands of Brighton, Hudson, and Keenesburg. At the end of 2012 the company reached 70,000 meters and served more than 200,000 customers.

In 1928, 26 original founders named the cooperative Union Rural Electric, for the united effort of dozens of farmers from Adams, Boulder, Gilpin, Jefferson, and Weld counties. Power was brought to the area in 1940. In 1952, URE joined other electric utilities to form Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the partnership is in place today. In 1990, the cooperative became United Power Inc. with 157 employees by 2012.

Last year was the company’s 75th anniversary.

This year, three of the 11 board seats are open: two in the East District, one in the South, two in the West, and two in the Mountain District.

 Rick Newman is the incumbent board member, having served for nine years, and is the UP representative on the Tri-State Board and chairman of the Tri-State External Affairs Committee.

Newman earned a BA cum Laude from Regis University in Economics and Government. He is the CEO and president of thorn Products Company.

A long-time Gilpin County resident, Newman has served or is serving on the Gilpin County Historic Preservation Commission, Family Preservation Commission, and the Health and Human Services Citizens Advisory Board. He has served as vice president on UP’s Round Up Foundation Board for 10 years.

Instrumental in establishing community-driven improvements, Newman has held a variety of positions within the community including seats on Gilpin County’s Planning Commission, Library Board, Little Kingdom Forests, and the Peak to Peak Healthy Communities Forum.

Newman says he has tried to represent the members of United Power to the best of his ability as a director. “I hope to continue to do so and believe that the past several years have shown my commitment and leadership ability. But it’s not really about me. It’s about United Power’s members.”

He says he lives in Gilpin County and he and his family rely on UP for consistent electricity service. “We expect it to be there when we need it. We expect it to be affordable and we expect United Power to act responsibly for our environment and our planet. That’s why I serve on the board of directors.”

Lynn Hirshman ran for the board seat last year and says she hopes to win the election and bring her views of sustainability to the cooperative.

“I want to change how we look at sustainable energy. We have a desperate need to move away from electricity fueled by coal fired plants and we have abundant renewal energy opportunities.”

In 2007, Hirshman became actively involved in the solar industry, when she became executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. She had been looking for work on Craig’s List and saw that the non-profit corporation was looking for her talents. Although she had no knowledge of the industry at the time, she knew how to run a non-profit.

She was hired, promising to be a quick learner. Which she was: she became caught up in the business and the appeal of solar energy, and after a year, she was seen as a fixture in the field. She became a climate change activist and is still active in campaigns opposing global warming.

Last year, when UP put out the idea of charging extra for those who had solar power because it was a financial burden on the system, she became determined to fight for a better renewable energy platform.

She says that right now, the wind farms on the plains are beneficial to the farmers, who are being paid a good amount to use their land. Hirshman plans to join the Colorado Farmer’s Union to forward their program of getting wind and solar energy better utilized in the United Power area.

A writer and editor for the Mountain-Ear newspaper, she earned her Bachelors degree in English and Creative Writing from Roosevelt University in Chicago and her Masters in Psychology from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan.

Hirshman had been the director of the Gilpin County Department of Health and Human Services and is a member of the Peak to Peak Rotary Club. She says she wants to move United Power forward in a 21st Century energy plan.

“After the dramatic weather events of the last years, we have to be aware of how important it is to address that particular issue sooner rather than later. United Power needs to be charging into the future with a sensible, achievable renewable energy plan. I can help get us there.”