The North Western Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees is a group of seven member-owners who are elected by their fellow member-owners to serve three-year terms. Their duty is setting policies and making decisions for the continuation of the cooperative and as an elected representative that are accountable to the membership.
At the annual meeting held in March of April (with preference given to April), the member-owners are invited to vote for candidates from two or sometimes three districts. At the 2023 annual meeting, candidates from the following three districts will be on the ballot:
- District 4 comprised of Brady, Center, Jefferson and Pulaski townships in Williams County.
- District 5 comprised of Farmer and Mark townships in Defiance County and Crane Township in Paulding County.
- District 6 comprised of Springfield Township in Williams County, Adams and Tiffin townships in Defiance County and Ridgeville Township in Henry County.
All the member-owners in these districts will receive a letter inserted in their billing statement due on December 10, 2022 to alert them that the election process has begun. A copy of that letter is available below:
Petition Process Letter to Member-Owners
The incumbents in each of these districts are eligible has chosen to remain a candidate and will automatically be placed on the ballot. The incumbents are Chris Oberlin, for District 4; Ryan Wehri, for District 5; and Jordan Ruffer, for District 6. To learn more about these incumbents, visit the Meet Your Trustees page.
The Petition Process
The process for those member-owners who are not currently serving on the Board to become a candidate for the North Western Electric Cooperative, Inc. Board of Trustees is described in ARTICLE IV, Section 4 of the Code of Regulations. It requires eligible member-owners who were interested in being placed on the 2023 Official Ballot to submit the official petition forms to the NWEC office by Friday, January 13, 2023.
The official Petition Packet can be viewed and downloaded below. All petitions received by the deadline date will be verified and only those meeting the qualifications will be placed on the ballot for the 2023 election.
If there are no qualifying petitions received for a particular district then the incumbent shall be considered elected by affirmation and no election shall be deemed necessary for that district.
Please consider this opportunity to become part of your cooperative's governing body, if you are an eligible candidate and can commit the time and energy.
If you have any questions regarding the election process, please contact our office.