PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Drake Rice, Director of Member Services, 405/340-5047
Allen, Lamb, Nicholson, Ramey Unanimously Re-Elected To OMPA Board of Directors
Walter Allen, Charles Lamb (Chair), Homer Nicholson and John Ramey were unanimously re-elected to serve another full three-year terms on the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority’s (OMPA) Board of Directors during OMPA’s 2012 Annual Electors’ Meeting. The electors’ meeting was held at the Roland H. Dawson OMPA Headquarters Building in Edmond on September 13th. 
The theme this year was Powering Forward and relates to ongoing generation projects, including AEP’s Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) baseload power plant, the John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant, in Hempstead County, Arkansas and the Canadian Hills Wind Farm near El Reno, Oklahoma.
Allen has served on the OMPA Board since January 10, 2002. He served as the City Manager in Lexington for 18 years before retiring on December 30, 2011 and continues to serve as the city’s elector. In 2000, Allen received the APPA Larry Hobart Seven hats Award that recognizes manager who perform a variety of duties in communities of 2,500 or fewer meters.
Lamb, Edmond Mayor, has served as a board member since August 12, 1993. He has served as the board chair since October 11, 2001 and is the longest tenured elected official to serve as the chair. Before being appointed Edmond Mayor in 2011, he served on the Edmond Council for 15 years. Lamb is the first elected official to receive the MESO Ray Duffy Personal Service Award for outstanding service to Public Power in 2003 and was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame for City and Town Officials in 2006. He also serves on the APPA Policy Makers Committee.
Nicholson, Ponca City Mayor, has served on the OMPA Board since December 11, 2008. He has served as the city’s mayor since March 2007. For 38 years, he was employed with ConocoPhillips in Ponca City, 27 years in the geophysics department and the last 11 years in facilities management. He started Nicholson Auction and Real Estate in 1993 after attending auctioneer schools at Gordon Cooper Vo-Tech in Shawnee and Worldwide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa.
Ramey, Okeene Town Administrator, was elected to serve the remainder of a term of a board member who resigned in July 2011 and continues to serve on the board. He has been serving as Okeene’s Town Administrator since May 14, 2007. Ramey received APPA’s Larry Hobart Seven Hats Award on June 19, 2012 during the association’s national conference. This award recognizes managers who perform a variety of duties in communities of 2,500 or fewer meters.
In addition, Elizabeth Gray, who replaced Dan Scott, Altus Power Electric Superintendent, as the elector from Altus, was unanimously elected to serve the remainder of Scott’s term on the board which will expire in September 2013. Gray, Altus City Administrator, was appointed an interim director on the board on June 14, 2012. She has been serving as Altus City Administrator since January 1, 2012. Prior to being hired by Altus, she served as the Assistant Borough Manager for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Alaska for two years and Acting Manager for one year. Gray is a Certified Municipal Official. She is also a member of the International City-County Management Association (CMA), the American Society for Public Administration and the Society of Human Resource Management.
During the meeting, Shane Woolbright, MESO Executive Director, was recognized with a plaque for his 30 years of service to MESO and Public Power in Oklahoma. He will be retiring at the end of this year. MESO was formed in 1971 and hired full-time staff in 1978. Woolbright is the third director of the organization following Mike McDowell and Chuck Smith.
OMPA is a state governmental agency created by the legislature to serve cities and towns that own and operate their electrical distribution systems and is governed by the members. The Authority presently serves 39 municipally-owned electric systems in Oklahoma.
What Is MESO? Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma (MESO) is an association of municipally-owned electric utilities that provide electric service to over 400,000 residents. Currently, 63 cities offer retail electric utility services in Oklahoma. MESO was established in 1971 when representatives from several cities met in Stillwater to establish the organization for the purposes of information sharing and mutual support.
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