Vernon Dalton, President

Vernon Dalton serves as president of the Wells Rural Electric Board of Directors. He was one of the principals involved in starting the co-op that brings central station power to Wells and the surrounding areas.

Vernon says, "Bob Wright, Jim Ballard and I were neighbors in Clover Valley. We all used small generators but they couldnâ--t serve our growing need for electricity. We brought together a group of people to help us bring an REA loan to finance line building for the power project. After we were up and running, the rest of the communities asked to come on board."

Vernon has served on the WREC Board since its inception in 1960. For many of those 45 years, Vernon has served as president of the board. Vernon represents members in the communities of Wells, Carlin, Wendover, Clover Valley, Starr Valley, Metropolis, Oâ--Neil, Contact, and Jiggs-Lee.

Vernon is a Certified Credentialed Director through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). This organization educates directors, allowing them to serve their co-ops more effectively. Vernon also served for 23 years on the NRECA Board, representing Nevada. NRECA is the political and lobbying voice for coops at the national levels.

"Our board is eager to learn to be qualified to serve as directors. The board members continue learning as long as they serve. We also send our employees for training in order to better serve our members," Vernon said.

Vernon also serves on the board of the Consumer Federation of America. This Washington D.C. board looks out for consumer interests in every venue.

Vernon is a lifelong member of the Wells-Clover Valley communities. He married Joanne Bradish in 1952 and took over the management of the Bradish-Dalton Ranch in 1954. Vernon and Joanne are the parents of one son, Brad, who with his wife Dani, have two sons, Jay and Cameron. All three generations are involved with the Dalton Ranches.

Vernon and his family have expanded the original Bradish Ranch to include two alfalfa farms and more grazing land, resulting in a quadruple herd size.

Looking back at WREC's years of service, Vernon says he is proud that the co-op load has grown from half a megawatt of energy to a peak of over 100 MWs.

Our challenge as a Board is to maintain adequate electrical service at stable rates for our communities. Plans for the future include using more renewable energy to supplement Bonneville Power's hydroelectric source.

"The WREC Board is conservative, but we are not afraid to spend some dollars to create a better organization," the WREC Board president said.

As an example of expanding WREC's service to our members, Vernon cited the success of the wireless Internet access. "But this access is limited to areas within five miles of the radio antennae," Vernon said. "Soon we will be offering Wild Blue's satellite technology to bring wireless broadband access to the rural communities. This is an exciting project that will allow businesses in rural areas to expand using high speed Internet access. As more and more commerce moves to the Internet and more information becomes available, there will be a need for rural people to access the Internet at the same speed available to urban centers," he said.

Vernon has made many friends in his years on the board. Former director Bill Gibbs says, "I served on the WREC board with Vernon for nine years. He has given a lot to the company. WREC has operated very efficiently."