Meet Your New Commissioners
Local control is a hallmark of a publicly owned utility. The citizens of Eugene elect five commissioners to staggered four-year terms on the EWEB Board. Commissioners dedicate their service as volunteers without pay and are responsible for the overall governance of the utility. They set policies, approve the strategic plan and annual goals, and authorize financial matters such as the annual budget and electric and water prices.
At the January 2021 public meeting, three EWEB board members took the oath of office, including two newly elected commissioners.
John Barofsky was elected to represent Wards 2 and 3 and Matt McRae to Wards 1 and 8. The two seats on the Board were relinquished this year by former commissioners Dick Helgeson and Steve Mital who decided not to run for re-election after serving for eight years and seven years respectively. Sonya Carlson retained her seat for a second term representing Wards 6 and 7.
John Barofsky is a long-time Eugene resident and co-owns a local business, Beppe & Gianni's Trattoria. His dedication to supporting our community is evident by the expansive list of boards and committees he currently serves including the Fairmont Neighborhood Association (FNA), the City of Eugene Planning Commission, Travel Lane County, and the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Associate Executive Committee, Eugene Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee and City of Eugene Street Bond Review Panel. Using his experience Commissioner Barofsky aims to keep rates low, protect our watershed, and further develop a clean, carbon-free power portfolio.
Matt McRae is the Long-Term Disaster Recovery Manager for Lane County. He has studied natural hazards that impact Eugene, including floods, winter storms, and earthquakes. He understands the risks and the solutions and will promote investments that make our community more resilient to extreme events. He also has an extensive background in climate change and energy matters including his service as the Climate Policy Strategist for Our Children's Trust and working as the Climate and Energy Analyst and Natural Hazards Specialist for the City of Eugene. Commissioner McRae will advocate for reliable and affordable renewable energy and clean drinking water and wants to see EWEB play a role in reducing our community's carbon footprint.
Rounding out the Board, Vice President John Brown has served as representative of Wards 4 and 5 since 2007, and Mindy Schlossberg, elected in 2019 to represent all customer-owners in the at-large position, is serving as president of the Board in 2021.
Commissioners hold regularly scheduled public meetings on the first Tuesday of each month. We welcome and encourage our customer-owners to attend.
Learn more about your commissioners and view a map of Eugene's political wards.
