The Lake Region electric Association 82nd Annual Membership Meeting was held in Britton on June 8th. The meeting was held at the Britton Event Center. There were 157 active members registered, along with 65 guests. We hosted a total of 222 people! Some special guests were among the attendees, including one former employee and several past board members.
This year, the board of directors decided to give attending members meal vouchers to local restaurants, rather than serve a hot meal. The meal voucher program is something that was done for a couple of years due to the COVID 19 pandemic and it was a great success. While it is nice to get together to share a meal and visit, caterers in rural areas can be challenging to coordinate, numbers can be difficult to estimate, and waste can be a problem. The meal voucher program promotes many of our local restaurants and gives members of Lake Region a few more options. Members had to be present at the meeting to get a voucher. Those in attendance snacked on delicious popcorn from the Strand Theater, chips, and cookies. They also were treated to an ice cream bar on their way out, which on a hot June day was a huge hit!
LREA Board Secretary, Tom Steiner, declared that there were enough registered members, verifying 157, in attendance to constitute a quorum. The meeting was then officially called to order by President Pearson. Kate Wismer of Britton awed the crowd with a beautiful acapella performance of our National Anthem. Dr. Terrill Sorenson, pastor of Britton Lutheran Parish, began the invocation by asking if anyone in attendance remembered what it was like before the REA came to their farm. Several people raised their hands, then he recognized what a blessing it is that we now have power provided by Lake Region and how much easier life is. He then shared
a prayer, blessing the meeting and all in attendance.
Lindsey Kimber, Executive Director of Glacial Lakes Area Development (GLAD) welcomed the members. GLAD is a community based non-profit economic development resource serving Marshall County South Dakota. The organization’s purpose is to lead and coordinate economic and community development that will help local businesses prosper and enhance the quality of life for residents. Kimber is appreciative of the support from Lake Region to the communities of Marshall, Day, and Roberts counties as well as GLAD. Kimber then invited attendees to several upcoming area events.
Lake Region Electric’s Board President, Kermit Pearson welcomed all of the guests in attendance. He recognized several special guests including Chris Studer of East River Electric, and Tom Jones. Jones is a current LREA member, former board member, and our current USDA lender RUS.
Secretary Steiner then provided proof of mailing of the June 2023 Cooperative Connections magazine, which contained the official meeting notice as well as the minutes of the 2022 Annual Meeting. A copy of proof of mailing is on file at the Lake Region office. Additional copies of the June issue were distributed in the guest bags that were handed out at registration. There were no changes or additions to the minutes as printed. There was a motion and a second to dispense of the reading of those minutes; motion passed.
President Pearson again stepped up to the podium to give the President’s Report. Pearson stated that Eide Bailley performed Lake Region’s audit, and no deficiencies were noted. Pearson then reviewed last year’s finances and explained that Lake Region was
able to return over $832,000.00 in Capital Credit patronage in 2023. He explained the ten-year total patronage, as well as a breakdown
of patronage from East River and Basin over the past 5 years.
Pearson expressed the importance of reliability when he addressed the crowd gathered at the meeting. East River Electric has been making huge investments in our territory over the past few years in order to improve and maintain reliability for our members. They have done this by upgrading and adding infrastructure as well as advancing technology. Since 2013 East River has invested over $32 million in LREA territory and plans to invest another $8 million over the next three years! These investments by East River will help Lake Region continue to provide our members with the increasing demand for reliable electricity.
Pearson then went on to talk about Basin Electric, which is one of the largest generation facilities in the nation. Lake Region members saw a credit on their March bill that they received in April that reflected a credit pass through from Basin due to excess energy sales in the market and greater than normal performance by basin’s subsidiary Dakota Gasification. Pearson continued the theme of reliability when talking about Basin Electric and their all-of-the-above generation strategy. We are entering a time when we are demanding more electricity but restricting the way we generate that power to the point where some areas of the country are experiencing blackouts. Basin currently has a max generation capacity of more than two and a half times what they did in the year 2000. Pearson showed several slides to explain how Basin generates the power that we rely on. He shared that Basin created a Sustainability Report expressing that “We will focus on the
affordability and reliability that our members expect. We will not set a goal that is outside of what technology can currently accomplish and our members can afford.” He urged everyone to contact their representatives to express how the current direction of legislation and regulations are going to make having reliable power nearly unattainable and unaffordable for our members.
Pearson expressed a heartfelt thank you to his fellow directors, the staff and employees of Lake Region Electric for their dedication
and work to keep your cooperative running smoothly.
Two Director Seats were up for election. Attorney Dan Smeins explained the Bylaws for the election process. He called for nominations from the floor. There were no nominations from the floor and motions were made and approved to re-elect incumbent Mark Wismer for District 2 and Tom Steiner for District 4.
Tim McIntyre took the stage to deliver the Manager’s Report. He thanked everyone for coming, with a special thanks to the City of Britton for welcoming Lake Region Electric’s annual meeting to their community. McIntyre proudly introduced his parents who came, by special invitation, all the way from Hettinger! He expressed gratitude to the members and reiterated Lake Region’s commitment to community. McIntyre recognized LREA employees for their hard work to put together the annual meeting and their dedication all year long, in all sorts of weather and circumstance. McIntyre focused on the value of cooperative membership, how members benefit through patronage, bill credits, and on keeping power affordable. He mentioned that we are in a good place financially and have been able to maintain without a rate
increase for quite some time, however the potential is there due to uncontrollable increases.
McIntyre explained to members that we have made a commitment to safety, and we are continually working to make sure our employees have everything they need to work in a safe environment. He also reminded members about the REC program, and ways to stay in-touch with what is going on at Lake Region by visiting our Facebook, website and using SmartHub.
Scholarship awards were presented to Matthew Mork of Pierpont and Ashton Mills of Britton.
Wrapping up the evening was a prize drawing with an assortment of prizes being given away, including one lucky winner of $500 cash!