A recent opinion column on nonprofit board governance is timely and important (Herald, Jan. 25). As the column notes, many nonprofit boards hold significant authority, and when transparency is limited, accountability depends largely on trust. When that trust erodes, members have few ways to understand what is happening.
That issue is playing out locally at LPEA, our member-owned nonprofit electric coop. Despite repeated good-faith requests under the cooperative’s own Policy 108, the LPEA board has declined to provide basic line-item financial information showing how member funds are spent, such as legal costs, consulting, travel, advertising or training, etc. Instead, members are provided only high-level financial summaries grouped into broad categories.
LPEA is organized under Colorado law as a nonprofit cooperative. State law requires nonprofits to keep appropriate accounting records and allows members to inspect those records for a proper purpose. Wanting to understand how our own dollars are spent is a reasonable and legitimate request for any member-owner.
By comparison, our La Plata County posts detailed line-item budgets and expenditures online, showing that meaningful transparency is both practical and routine for public-facing organizations.
Regardless of whether the underlying numbers raise concern, the lack of detailed disclosure from LPEA undermines trust and highlights the governance challenges discussed in the Herald’s column. In a monopoly, member-owned utility, transparency should be the norm. Openness is a responsibility, not a favor.
Kelly Hegarty
Durango
