WVEC Annual Meeting Addresses Future Plans
WVEC Annual Meeting
Addresses Future Plans
The 82nd annual membership meeting of the Whetstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WVEC) was conducted on Thursday, March 21, at the Wilmot High School gymnasium. Registration opened at 6, and the meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Bill Tostenson, president of the group’s board of directors.
Tostenson opened the meeting by announcing that 184 voting members had registered and were present, creating a quorum. Those present sang the National Anthem, led by Brooklyn Remund of Wilmot. Pastor DeVern Schwenn of Milbank provided the invocation.
Tostenson introduced the board of directors, officers, former directors, former employees and special guests. He noted that Darren Strasser has completed his tenure as a director, having reached a maximum of 15 years on the board. Strasser stepped down, in accordance with the cooperative governing bylaws stipulating a term limit of five consecutive terms.
Mike Jaspers, business development director for East River Electric Power Cooperative, gave a presentation on behalf of East River. He provided a brief summary of East River’s role in providing electricity to Whetstone Valley Electric. Jaspers commended Strasser for his previous work as a member of the East River Electric board of directors, noting Strasser’s exceptional abilities, particularly highlighting his strong aptitude for calculating numbers and comprehension of financial reports. Moreover, Jaspers praised Strasser’s objective approach in tackling challenging issues that arose during his tenure as director.
Before wrapping up his duties as secretary of the WVEC board, Strasser gave official notice of the meeting and presented the minutes of the 2023 annual meeting. Strasser also thanked the members for the opportunity to serve as director for 15 years, the other directors and East River Electric for their support during his time as director.
A motion to waive the reading of the notice of annual membership meeting and to approve the minutes of the 81st annual meeting was approved. The financial statement and treasurer’s report were also approved.
Tostenson noted that capital credits in the amount of $8,228,948 have been returned to members and that $495,805 has been approved for the 2024 general retirement to be credited to members in May.
Tostenson reported the election results, including that districts with open seats were districts three, four and six. Only one candidate for each of the districts was submitted. They were Wayne Jarman, Tom Berens and Scott Niedert, respectively. With no other members nominated for these districts, the candidates were declared elected by general consent of the membership.
Dave Page, WVEC general manager, presented the management report and introduced the employees.
Page provided a brief history of the establishment of the three-tier cooperative structure of Whetstone Valley, East River and Basin Electric cooperatives. He underscored the collective strength achieved through working together to achieve objectives that would be unattainable individually.
Jon Christensen, WVEC operation manager, provided the 2023 operations report and discussed future work plan projects. In the 2023 operations review, Christensen discussed the cooperative’s meter replacement initiative and reported on underground cable installations, replacement of aging infrastructure and other statistics.
Highlights were installation of 28 miles of underground cable, 41 new services and upgrades to 34 existing services. In addition, the cooperative replaced 10 reject poles and completed 1276 underground cable locates.
Christensen reviewed various projects outlined in the 2024 work plan aimed at enhancing system reliability. These initiatives call for the replacement of aging infrastructure and the increase of capacity to accommodate load growth and facilitate system load balancing. He concluded by discussing vehicle accidents impacting the electric distribution system and the importance of safety for community members and employees.
Page continued his report by discussing electric rates. He noted a surge in costs associated with construction materials, equipment and labor over the past three years, along with an increase in wholesale power expenses. Page emphasized that wholesale power costs, comprising 55 percent of total operating expenses, constitute the single largest portion. He reported that a rate adjustment of 10 percent was implemented on February 1. Page noted the increase equates to an average increment of 1.4 percent per year since the last rate adjustment in January of 2017.
Page presented milestone service awards to Marie Loutsch for 10 years of service and Chad Pollock for 15 years of service.
Aubrey Fraasch will receive the Whetstone Valley/Basin Electric $1,000 scholarship. Brooklyn Remund won the drawing for $100 for which 14 to 18 year olds who were present at the meeting were eligible. Another drawing was conducted for children younger than 13. The winner of the $500 cash drawing was Wallace Hamman of Milbank.
Outgoing director Darren Strasser and former director Dale Jensen, who had also served 15 years, were honored with the presentation of commemorative certificates as a token of recognition for their contributions.
