Faces, Places & Voices Of Poudre Valley REA – Ron Harper

Participating in the democratic process is the single best way to make your voice heard and shape the policies that affect our community and country.

When our collective voices come together, we have the power to express the perspective of our electric cooperative as a whole.

As your local, not-for-profit electric co-op, we’re committed to looking out for the best interests of our members when it comes to governmental policies that could impact us or our ability to deliver on our mission of providing you the safe, reliable, affordable energy you depend on.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE INVOLVED

We sat down with one of our members who has been actively engaged with our legislative grassroots efforts. As a member of our Cooperative Voices group, we wanted to ask Ron why he felt it was so important to be engaged in the democratic process.

“If you’re going to sit back and let those not of like mind drive the ship, then you’ll end up getting what they want,” Ron said.

By using your voice, you can educate our elected representatives and their staff about the impacts a piece of legislation could have on their constituents. As Ron puts it, you must “make certain that individual who is going to put the check mark down understands all sides of the coin.”

“It’s not to push them in a direction,” Ron said, “but to educate.” And that education must happen early and often if we are to build the rapport necessary to influence decisions that impact our communities.

That’s even more important when you have expertise or passion for a particular topic. “The more you can do to help educate those individuals (representatives) knowing that they don’t have the depth and breadth you do, the better off you will be in the long term,” said Ron.

By hearing all sides of an issue, that elected official can better make an educated decision that is right for the majority. There is power in numbers if everyone is on the same page, explained Ron. “Here comes the numbers of people, and all of a sudden, they (the legislators) start listening.”

We can help be the majority when our voices come together in unison.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

At your cooperative, we actively engage our elected officials at the state and federal levels to ensure our members continue to have a safe, reliable, affordable supply of energy now and into the future.

When we see a particular bill coming down the pike that could impact us, we call upon our Cooperative Voices group to stand up and speak out. We provide you the tools and information you need to easily contact your elected officials and impact policy.

To learn how you can get involved by enrolling in Cooperative Voices, go online to www.pvrea.coop/cooperative-voices/.