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In a surprise move, progressive La Plata Electric Association board member Jack Turner resigned last week, but offered little explanation as to why.

Turner wrote in a letter to board President Britt Bassett that his resignation is effective at the discretion of the board.

“I realize this is coming as a surprise and a need to digest,” Turner wrote. “Therefore, I am open to discussion with you as to the effective date.”

LPEA spokeswoman Hillary Knox said Turner announced his resignation at the July 15 Board of Directors meeting. She did not have more information about why Turner resigned.

Bassett, who did not return calls seeking comment Monday, said in an emailed statement he has appreciated Turner’s perspectives and contributions to LPEA, but he did not comment about the details surrounding the resignation.

“Jack will be missed on the board, and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors,” Bassett wrote.

Turner represented District 4, which includes northern and eastern parts of La Plata County. He has served on the board for about seven years, and most recently, won re-election in 2019, beating challenger Sarah Ferrell by a 1,277 to 969 vote.

LPEA’s Turner is not the Jack Turner who is running as an independent candidate for La Plata County commissioner in the upcoming November election.

Turner did not return a call seeking comment about his resignation. Knox declined to provide Turner’s resignation letter, saying it would be up to him whether the letter can be made public.

The letter, however, was provided to The Durango Herald anonymously. But, it does not provide a clear reason for why Turner resigned.

In the more than 1,200-word letter, Turner touches on many subjects – his past history working with Native American tribes, his family’s political history in Durango and the need to breakaway from a dependency on foreign energy.

The only hint as to why he chose to resign one year into his three-year term is about halfway into the letter as he talks about his family’s strong values toward social justice.

Turner explains one of his sons lives in Minneapolis, where police killed George Floyd in late May. After protests erupted in the city, his son called to let Turner know he was OK and asked for support.

“And in parenting him through this, it occurred to me this is where my work is and always has been, attending to disparities and injustices both racial, social, economic and environmental,” he wrote. “And so, I am returning to this work.”

Turner does not explain further his future plans or reasons for resigning.

Turner was seen as one of the more progressive members of the LPEA board, which in recent years, has been divided over issues surrounding renewable energy and cutting its ties with power provider Tri-State Generation and Transmission.

He was also the subject of controversy in spring 2019 after being reviewed three times about whether he was still living in Durango and eligible to run in the upcoming LPEA election. He was deemed eligible each time.

In his letter, Turner lauded accomplishments during his tenure, including developing the long-range strategic plan and carbon-footprint goal, as well as the hiring of new CEO Jessica Matlock.

Turner praises the city of Boulder and its treatment of homeless people. He said city officials there have been able to realize utility business models are responsible for social and economic disparities.

“They knew by keeping their dollars local, they could adaptively and equitably distribute that wealth and support those in need and their most vulnerable,” Turner wrote.

Turner then talks about the displacement of Hispanic and Native American populations in Durango. He says LPEA must adopt the city of Boulder’s outlook to address some of these issues.

Turner then talks about how his family’s businesses folded when he was 13 years old during the Middle East oil embargo. He uses this example as a lesson to the board to set up policies that will reduce dependency on foreign oil.

Lastly, Turner advises the LPEA board to reform its code of conduct and ethics. He says three locally elected officials have received death threats in the past few years, and his own family had a negative experience during his re-election campaign.

“For that to become an option and norm of behavior in our community is deplorable and needs to be confronted,” he wrote.

According to LPEA policy, the board will now determine whether to fill the vacancy before the next annual meeting in 2021.

If the board choses that route, a notice of a vacancy will be advertised in a public legal notice. Then, the board reviews all applications and selects three candidates to interview and elect one by majority vote.

The chosen candidate would then serve the remainder of Turner’s term.

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