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Show Garkane Board Votes 5-2 To Close Richfield Office TORREY Garkane Power Association's board of directors has voted 5 to 2 to close the company's com-pany's Richfield office by 2001. The board approved General Manager Carl Albrecht's Richfield Rich-field Closure Plan which had first been presented to them in March . and was again presented in April, when they requested an additional 30 days to review it before voting at their regular May 26 board meeting held in Torrey. . The board also elected officers. Dave Skougaard, Duck Creek Village, was elected president; presi-dent; Terry Griffiths, Orderville, was re-elected vice president; and Nolan Button, Kanab, was reelected re-elected secretary. George Blackburn, Fremont will continue to serve as Garkane' Gar-kane' s trustee with Deseret Generation Gen-eration and transmission Cooperative, Coopera-tive, while Marjie Spencer, Escalante Esca-lante will serve on the Utah Rural Electric Association Board of Directors. Di-rectors. Voting for Albrecht's plan which calls for construction of three new offices, in Hatch, Loa and Kanab, were Dirctors George Blackburn, Fremont; Michael Blackburn, Loa; La Don Torger-son, Torger-son, Koosharem; Nolan Button, Kanab; and Spencer. Opposing the plan were Directors Bill Nelson, Cannonville and Griffiths. Skougaard, abstained. Nelson and Griffiths were . contacted by the Garfield County News about their reasons for voting against Albrecht's plan to close the office. Both said they wanted to make it clear to consumers in their respective districts that they are not opposed to closing the Richfield office, simply to Albrecht's plan and time frame for doing so. I votea against the plan, said Nelson, "because it was too long a time frame. I feel we should be able to complete the Richfield closure in a much shorter period of time." Albrecht said on Tuesday that he felt the plan "gives employees time to analyze their situations." The plan provides closure of the Richfield office by June 2001. A new headquarters facility will be ' constructed in Hatch. Additional facilities will also be constructed at the cooperative's existing area offices in Loa and Kariab. The plan calls for present Richfield office employees to be relocated to Hatch and Loa. Griifiths said he "approved of the concept of the closure but not the plan." "There are lots of loose ends to tie up," he said. A board fiscal conservative, Griffiths said he felt both the Loa and Kanab offices are adequate. "As consumers, we don't need to impress each other with appearances. We need neat, clean, functional, well-maintained offices, not necessarily new ones. But," he added, "we do need a new office in Hatch." "I knew the vote to move the office would pass," he said. "By voting against it I wanted to say that I have some objections to the plan." Some of Griffiths objections appear to be centered not only on the time frame but also on the costs of construction of proposed new offices which he says he understands will be about the same in each of the three areas. He said he sees this as an unnecessary expense to consumers. consu-mers. He said he couldn't accept Albrecht's plan in full. A request by the Committee to Move Garkane to Hatch also asks that Garkane research redisricting redisrict-ing to more equitably provide representation for consumers on the board. A form is provided in the company's latest newsletter for anyone interested in serving on the redistricting committee to make application. In the meantime, Albrecht, Nelson, Button, Griffiths, Garkane Engineer Mike Avant and Chief Financial Officer Stan Chappell will travel to an undisclosed location to meet June 4 with representatives of one or more electrical cooperatives to discuss possible mergers. |