Challengers compete for seats on SRP board
You can vote in person through April 7 at utility’s headquarters
Several challengers are vying for seats on the board of Salt River Project, where they will set rates and policies for the public water and power utility.
Voting can be done in person on weekdays through April 7 at the utility headquarters at 1500 N. Mill Ave. in Tempe. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot has passed
SRP is creating a “drive thru” voting center for the small number of people who participate in the elections, to prevent them from having to enter the building during the coronavirus outbreak in Arizona.
Voters can request a ballot or learn if they are eligible to vote at srpnet.com/elections or by calling 602236-3048 or emailing election@srpnet.com.
Generally, people who own land in the SRP territory are allowed to vote, though there are some exceptions. Some of the board seats are acreage based, meaning votes are weighted based on how many acres voters own. And some districts are at-large, meaning each qualified voter gets one vote.
While the SRP elections are usually low-key affairs with a few thousand participants, they have seen substantially higher turnout in recent years as candidates pushing for more solar energy have won seats on the board in non acreage-based districts and encouraged supporters to vote in the elections.
This year not only brings more solar candidates, but also some people with political experience to the race. Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio, former Mesa Councilman Ryan Winkle, who was removed by his peers after a drunken-driving arrest, and former state Regent and state representative Greg Patterson, all are vying for different positions in SRP governance.
“Running for SRP is extremely difficult,” said John Minieri, a first-time candidate running for a board seat to represent parts of east Phoenix and Scottsdale. “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.”
Minieri said he’s worked on cogeneration, geothermal and solar projects for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, and he wants to promote renewable energy while finding an appropriate balance for the power system.
SRP was formed in 1903 to build the Roosevelt Dam, one of the first Federal Reclamation Act projects. Landowners in the area that is now metro Phoenix pledged about 200,000 acres as collateral for the government to build the $3 million dam.
That is the justification for using an acreage-based voting system today and the reason why many leaders at SRP have ties to agriculture.
Many are descendants of those founding families who pledged their land to build the dam and provide metro Phoenix with a reliable, year-round water supply.
SRP began delivering power from Roosevelt Dam in 1909.
District 1, northwest Valley: Incumbents Larry Rovey, a farmer, and Kevin Johnson, also a farmer, are running for the board seats on the water association and electric district, respectively. Normally the same person runs for the seat on both the power and water boards, but not always.
District 3, southwest Valley: Incumbent Mario Herrera, a former Tolleson mayor, is being challenged by Sean Patrick Feeney, a consultant with a technology advisory called Nerdery. Feeney is only running for a seat on the electric district, not the water association. Herrera has served in SRP governance since 1993 but only saw his first challenger four years ago, when he defeated a solar advocate.
District 5, south-central Valley: Incumbent Stephen Williams, a farmer whose father was the previous president of SRP, is facing a challenge from James Moulé, an engineer. Moulé is only seeking a seat on the electric district.
District 7, east Phoenix, Scottsdale: Incumbent Keith Woods, a public relations professional, is facing a challenge from John Minieri, director of real property and facilities for the Diocese of Phoenix.
SRP also has a 30-member council, all of whom are elected. Each of the 10 acreage-based districts has three council members.
The council sets policies for the board members. It’s common for people to first serve on the council before running for the board.
Most council elections see three candidates in each district so nobody is facing a challenger, but District 7 this year has DiCiccio, who first was elected to the Phoenix City Council in 1994, also in the race.
District 9, east Valley, Mesa: Incumbent Robert Arnett, a manager at Majestic Stone Imports, is facing a challenge from environmental activist Kathy MohrAlmeida, a psychotherapist.
Winkle is challenging the incumbent members of the council for a seat in this district.
District 11, at-large: This district is probably the most wide open because incumbent Paul Hirt is not running for re-election. Hirt is an Arizona State University professor of history and sustainability who was among the first solar advocates to break into the SRP governance with his election four years ago.
Running to replace him is another solar candidate, Anda McAfee of Tempe, who works as a director of corporate program management at ON Semiconductor.
Also running is Patterson, an attorney from Tempe who served as an Arizona lawmaker in the 1990s, and also as the director of the Residential Utility Consumer Office. He was appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents by Gov. Jan Brewer but resigned in 2017 after a dispute with a lawmaker.
Also running in that district is farmer Christopher Dobson of Chandler, who comes from a well-known local family. His great grandfather and great uncle were among the original SRP board members. His father served on the board, and Christopher began serving on the council in 2006 and temporarily filled a board seat after being appointed in 2015.
District 13, at-large: Incumbent Nick Brown was elected in 2016 when he teamed up with Hirt to promote rooftop solar at SRP. He is a consultant who worked at the Arkansas Department of Energy and moved to the Phoenix area in 2011 to help Arizona State University develop solar installations.
His challenger is Wendy Marshall, a financial adviser who served on the board until losing District 14 to software engineer and solar advocate Randy Miller in 2018.
Marshall was elected to the board in 2002, when she won the at-large seat previously held by her father, a citrus farmer. Marshall defeated a challenger in 2014 who spent $60,000 in personal funds on his effort while she spent just $1,400 on her campaign. Many SRP candidates spend no more than $500 on campaign expenses.
A map of the SRP districts is at srpnet.com/about/ map.aspx.
This is what you need to know about SRP and how to participate in the election:
Can I vote in person?
Yes, and starting Monday, it will be a drive-thru operation. SRP has been running an early voting center at the administration building at 1500 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. It’s open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., through April 6.
Then on April 7, voting will be at the same place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
People who have ballots that they haven’t mailed in can drop them off on election day at the voting center or the SRP West Valley Service Center at 221 N. 79th Ave., Tolleson, and the SRP Southside Water Service Center at 3160 S. Alma School Road, Mesa, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
What is SRP?
SRP is actually two organizations, a water-users association formed in 1903, and public power district formed in 1937. The two organizations have separate boards, although the same people generally represent the same regions for both the association and district.
It has about 1 million electricity customers and about 2 million people in its water service area in the greater Phoenix region, though SRP delivers water to cities who in turn deliver it to most customers.
Do I need to register with SRP to vote?
No. But to vote in the district election, voters must be registered Arizona voters living in the state. To vote in the water-users association election, voters must simply be 18 years of age.
Who runs SRP?
SRP is run by a board of directors elected by people who own property in the public utility’s territory. The directors, president and vice president set the broad policies and approve things like rates, while the CEO reports to them and handles the day-to-day operations of the utilities.
Who can vote in the election?
To be eligible to vote, people must own “qualified” land or be designated by the trustee of such land that is held in trust.
Why can’t some property owners vote?
Some land in the territory is not qualified to vote. Unqualified lands were not a part of the initial SRP deal where landowners put up their property as collateral for the Roosevelt Dam in 1903, although they may be served by the electric utility today.
About 321,000 customers in different parts of SRP territory are ineligible to vote. Those wishing to vote may request a ballot and SRP will confirm eligibility. In 2016, about 670 people who requested ballots were determined to be ineligible.
Is acreage-based voting legal?
The Supreme Court affirmed the voting system as recently as 1980.
What will I see on the ballot?
Voting is done with two ballots — one for the water association and one for the power district. One vote is given for each acre of qualified land a voter owns, down to fractions of an acre. SRP officials give each voter’s ballot the appropriate weight for the acreage they own based on county recorder’s records.
The water association has just 10 board members, plus the president and vice president.
The power district has 14 board members, the first 10 of whom are the same as the water association, plus four “at-large” members who represent the entire territory. The at-large members were added in the 1970s following criticism of the acreage-based voting.
At-large members are voted in on a one-vote-perperson basis, not acreage.
What about all the other names on the ballot? The 30-member council is elected as well, though only some of those races have challengers where more than three people are running in a given area.