Meet Your 2020 Candidates for Board of Trustees

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Join us at the 2020 Annual Meeting on Aug. 26, 2020 in Caldwell, KS, or at a simulcast location in your district. Wheatland Electric members can vote for any of the following candidates in any district. 

District 1 - Kathleen (Katie) Eisenhour

Eisenhour was elected to the Wheatland Electric board of trustees in 2014. She moved to Scott City in 1971 and has lived there ever since. In 1979, the Wheatland Electric board of trustees selected Eisenhour to attend the Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She returned the following year to serve as a camp counselor.

Her background in cooperatives began in the mid-1980s with 16 years at Scott Cooperative Assn. Eisenhour has also traded commodities, substitute taught, served as grain bookkeeper, credit manager, sales manager and chamber executive director. Since 2009, she has served as Scott County’s economic development director.

As a Wheatland trustee, Eisenhour has earned distinction as a Credentialed Cooperative Di-rector, attained her Board Leadership Certificate and recently attained the Director Gold Certificate, the National Rural Electric Cooperative’s highest level of trustee education. Her community development background and prior knowledge of co-ops have proven helpful around the board table. Eisenhour also serves as an alternate on Kansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. board.

She lost her husband, Brett, to pancreatic cancer in early 2019. Her two sons, Blake and Brice, are each married giving her seven delightful grandchildren. Eisenhour enjoys brisk walks, singing in performance groups for church, camping and fishing. But, time spent with grandchildren and family, playing cards and enjoying dinners cooked together tops everything!

District 2 - Brady Harbin 

Harbin is married to his wife, Renee, and has three children ages 23, 17 and 14. He is currently the banking center president of Western State Bank in Leoti. Before joining Western State Bank in 2016, he had a car dealership he started from an old gas station in 2004 and success-fully ran for 12 years. Harbin is a 1995 graduate of Wichita County High School and has lived in Leoti most of his life. He is active in the community and gives his time by serving on many boards, including the Wichita County Hospital, as well as volunteering as a fireman or running a ride at the lo-cal fair.

Harbin can also be seen coaching, officiating, score-keeping or even running the chain gang at youth and high school sporting events. He enjoys spending time with family hunting, fishing, camping, playing cards and enjoying dinners cooked together.

District 2 - Josh Young

Young is a lifelong resident of western Kansas. After graduating from Greeley County High School in 1996, he attended Fort Hays State University before moving back to Tribune where he worked in his family’s feed yard/farming operation. He then moved to Garden City to pursue a career in agriculture and commercial finance in 2005. Young moved to Leoti in 2009 to continue his career in banking and is currently a senior vice president with Security State Bank. Along with his passion for agricultural finance, he and his wife, Courtney, a native of Garden City, own and operate JCY Inc., a storage unit facility in Leoti.

Young has served as a member of the Wichita County Hospital Board, Wichita County Park and Recreation Board, Wichita County Economic Development and is currently serving his first term as a member of the Wichita County USD 467 Board of Education. He has served as a volunteer coach for Wichita County Rec. football and basketball for eight years and is a member of Christ Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The Young’s have three sons. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, coaching, spending time with friends and family, while also attending his children’s sporting events.

District 4 - Stacey Addison-Howland 

Howland was elected in 2016 in District 4 (Syracuse). She earned her bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University and is a National Rural Electric Cooperative Certified Cooperative Director. She has also completed six of the 10 courses needed to earn her Board Leadership Certification. She has taught high school business classes and worked as a loan review officer and part of the internal audit team for 13 years at the First National Bank of Hutchinson. In 2005, she moved to Syracuse to take over as the owner and agent of the Midwest Regional Agency featuring Farmers Union Insurance.

Howland brings with her experience from sitting on numerous community boards and internal bank committees. Most recently she was on the Tamarisk Golf Course board and the Hamilton County K-State Community Development PDC and executive board. She currently serves as the secretary of the Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce board. She and her husband, Mike, have two daughters. In their free time, they enjoy attending con-certs, golfing, camping and trail/mountain biking.

District 5 - John Kleysteuber

In 2016, Kleysteuber was elected as a Wheatland trustee. Growing up in Garden City, Kleysteuber attended Garden City High School, Garden City Community College, and eventually received his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Kansas State University.

After college, he moved back to Garden City where he joined his family’s irrigated farming and cattle operation. He and his wife, Marisa, enjoy watching their boys, Cooper and Colin, participate in activities. When the family wants to escape for some weekend fun, they like to go water skiing, snowboarding or taking the UTV to the mountains.