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UDWI Opens Online, Mail Voting For Board Members For First Time

The Utilities District of Western Indiana is making it easier for ratepayers to vote for new board members.

Previously the only way members could vote was to attend the annual meeting and vote in person.

But in the last couple of years, there's a lot more interest in the co-op and the board charged with overseeing it. The FBI is investigating UDWI and former CEO Brian Sparks was fired amid claims of money mismanagement.

The board hired Doug Childs as the new CEO in October. He says the utility's goal is to encourage the maximum number of people to vote

Mail ballots were sent to all ratepayers this week. Online voting started Monday and 179 people voted in the first 24 hours.

"Within the first week maybe we'll have more votes than we did last year and that's online only," Childs says. "I mean we are so excited about that."

Last year 1,044 members attended the annual meeting to cast their ballots. That was more than double the usual number. UDWI serves about 20,000 customers.

The utility offered all kinds of incentives at the annual meeting so people would turn out to cast enough votes to make the election valid. UDWI needs at least 2 percent of members, or 305 people, to reach a quorum.

Childs says his goal is to spend as little money as possible at the annual meeting.

"It's our members' money so we're going to spend it accordingly," he says. "Certainly happy to have people come and vote, but there's not going to be a fancy meal or bands or all that other garbage that happened at annual meetings in the past. This is all about our member's business."

Three board member district seats are up for election. In District 5 incumbent Roger Shake faces Mike Williams. Dax Collins is challenging incumbent Bill Watkins in District 7.

Jack Norris was the District 8 representative but he resigned in December. Voters will chose a new member: Jeff Doris, Sophie Haywood, Steve Lindsey, or J. Scott Sargent.

UDWI hired an outside company to oversee the voting process and counting all the ballots.

Online voting ends at 5 p.m. on April 12. That is also the last day mailed ballots will be counted. People can still vote in person at the annual meeting on April 14. The ballot company will tally all the votes and announce the winners.

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