A fourth Villager has announced a bid for a seat on the SECO Energy Board of Trustees.
A special election will be held May 13 to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of SECO trustee Richard Belles, a Village of Polo Ridge resident.
Gerald Anderson, of the Village of Belle Aire, is the latest person to indicate he’ll be running for the seat. He enjoyed a long career in business before being appointed director of operations for Bucks County, Pa., serving a population of 650,000 and covering 622 square miles. He was responsible for design, construction and opening of a $150 million state-of-the-art justice center complex located in Historic Doylestown, Pa. The Marine Corps veteran also served four six-year terms on the Board of Supervisors of Warrington, Pa.
Other Villagers vying for the SECO seat are:
• Barry Evans served on the SECO Board of Trustees for eight years before resigning after he moved out of District 3. He has since moved back into District 3 and is seeking to return to the board. Evans enjoyed a long career as a city manager in various parts of the country before retiring to The Villages.
Evans is also a columnist for Villages-News.com. His “Life in The Villages” column appears each weekend.
• Aileen Milton is best known for her role as the leader of The Villages Tea Party. She is also the founder of The Villages Conservative Media. She has previous experience as a certified property manager in both commercial and residential real estate. Milton also served as a volunteer in 1992 at the Republican National Convention.
If elected, she would be the only woman serving on the SECO Board of Trustees.
• Bryan Lifsey is the chairman of the Community Development District 2 Board of Supervisors. Lifsey has been a longtime fixture as the office manager at Seniors vs Crime in The Villages. He and his wife live in the Village of Alhambra. He ran against Belles in January, but lost that contest.
Polls will open at 4:30 p.m. May 13 at Savannah Center. Election results are expected by 6 p.m.
Households in District 3 get one vote each.
District 3 is one of nine districts with representation on the SECO Board.
District 3 encompasses a sizable chunk of The Villages, stretching from County Road 42 in Marion County down to Wildwood.
SECO has indicated that District 3 homeowners are being notified by letter about the election.
SECO Energy is the third largest cooperative in the state and the seventh largest in the nation. At the end of 2018, the not-for-profit cooperative was delivering power to 205,887 service locations.
