3 DEC board positions are up for election this year. Votes are counted, and results announced April 4 at the co-op’s annual meeting in the Community Conference Hall at Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Incumbents Suzi Armstrong, District 3, and Bill Jackson, District 5, are running unopposed. Newcomer Darrin Dailey is running unopposed for the District 4 position.
Suzi Armstrong
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Suzi Armstrong District 3 Incumbent
- District 3 can generally be described as the part of Melrose north of Doerner Road, Elgarose, Melqua, Cleveland Rapids, Lower Garden Valley, Umpqua, Hubbard Creek, Kellogg, and Tyee.
After a six-year term of learning about the process of Douglas Electric Cooperative as a board member, Suzi Armstrong is eager to continue in that role.
She has completed the highest national education level for electric cooperative members by taking National Rural Electric Cooperative Association online classes and attending conferences.
“I ask for your support and vote in 2026, so that I may continue to be your dedicated voice on the DEC board,” says Suzi, who is the co-op’s treasurer. “My area of expertise is financial matters.”
Suzi says a highlight for her has been the co-op’s aggressive position on fire mitigation.
“Our management of rights of way, including the cooperation of our members, has made the prevention work well worth the effort,” she says. “Our members allow us to cut a little wider in our rightsof- way work.”
Suzi describes the current co-op board as well-balanced. Each director has specific areas of expertise that provide the members with a knowledgeable board, she says.
Suzi is a mortgage officer with Legacy Oaks Mortgage of Roseburg. She also contributes to the community through her service as administrative assistant for the Kellogg Rural Fire District and treasurer for the Douglas County Chapter of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association and the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, and she serves on the Southwest Regional Advisory Council Access and Habitat board.
Suzi supports Umpqua Community Center and the FFA programs in Elkton and Oakland. She is a 35-year member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Fleet Reserve Association, providing support for those in the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard.
Suzi owns and co-manages 200 acres of small woodlands with her grandson, Trevor Armstrong.
Bill Jackson
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Bill Jackson District 5 Incumbent
- District 5 can generally be described as Yoncalla, Hayhurst, Rice Hill, Scotts Valley, and Elkhead.
Bill Jackson has spent six years on the Douglas Electric Cooperative board. He says he has learned a lot and is willing to continue to learn so he can make the best decisions for the co-op’s membership.
“The top highlight for me has been doing what is best for the co-op members and the cooperative,” he says. “That’s why I’m there, for their interest and my interest, too, because I’m a co-op member. You have to consider all members when making decisions.”
Bill is the board’s vice president. “I feel I have more to offer,” Bill says. “I have better ideas now about where the co-op needs to go, what we need to do. Hopefully, as a board, myself included, we’ll keep moving forward and come up with more ways to improve the co-op.”
Bill says another highlight has been the expansion of Douglas Fast Net, an internet service DEC established in 2001.
Bill says the cooperative is providing its members with “the cheapest rates of anybody around.” With that said, he acknowledges that with costs going up, it’s been difficult for the co-op to keep rates down, “but we’re trying our best,” he says.
Bill was raised in the Yoncalla area and worked most of his life in Douglas County. Since graduating in 1971 from Yoncalla High School, he has worked for Douglas Forest Protective Association, held positions at a lumber mill, volunteered as an EMT for North Douglas Emergency Services, and was a heavy equipment operator in logging and construction.
Bill credits the DEC board members with working well together, saying each of them provides input for the betterment of the cooperative.
Darrin Dailey
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Darrin Dailey District 4
- District 4 can generally be described as Lower and Upper Smith River, west of Drain to the tunnel on Highway 38 (Drain not included), Anlauf, and Curtin.
Longtime board member Bob Poage decided to retire from his board position. Darrin Dailey, a science teacher at North Douglas High School in Drain, was the sole DEC member to submit his name for the District 4 position.
“I have a strong belief in the mission of the cooperative,” Darrin says. “I believe being on the board is an important task, important enough to put forth my skills to help it make the right decisions.”
Darrin has had plenty of experience with being a co-op member, having lived in the service areas of West Oregon, Columbia Power, and Coos-Curry electric cooperatives before returning to Douglas County in 2022.
Darrin graduated in 1988 from Yoncalla High School. He attended Umpqua Community College before transferring to Oregon State University, where he earned a chemical engineering degree. He spent 9 years as a formulation chemist.
He decided he needed something different and opted for teaching. In the spring of 2004, Darrin was a substitute teacher at the Yoncalla and Drain schools and was then hired full-time by the Oakland School District that fall. He earned his teaching certificate by taking online classes.
He taught science and math for 7 years at Oakland, six years at Monument, and 5 years at Brookings-Harbor before accepting a science teaching position in 2022 at North Douglas. He’s also the school’s track and field coach.
“I’m not going to know a whole lot going in, but I think I’m a quick study,” Darrin says. “The job is to serve the members first and foremost.”
Besides receiving power from DEC at his family’s home, Darrin’s first direct connection to Douglas Electric was in 1987 when he was selected to represent the co-op at the Youth Energy Seminar in Truckee, California.
“We learned about co-ops and power, and engaged in some mock legislation,” he says. “And we were in a Ruralite article.”
He is now stepping up to accept an even bigger role for the cooperative.