Dakota Electric Association’s member-owners attended the cooperative’s annual meeting, held in St. Michael’s social hall in Farmington on April 12. Four incumbent directors and one new director were elected and both bylaw amendments passed. Jerry Pittman, district 1, Clay Van De Bogart, district 2, Ken Danner, district 3, and Judy Kimmes, district 4, were all re-elected to three-year terms. An open seat in district 1 (one-year term), due to the retirement of long-time board member Carl Potter, was filled by the election of David Jones.
Greg Miller, president and CEO of Dakota Electric Association, took a look back into history as he compared the work of early cooperative employees and board members to the cooperative’s current efforts to provide the membership with reliable electricity.
“Today’s reliance on electricity makes us keenly focused on reliability,” Miller said. He went on to say that because of Dakota Electric’s outstanding reliability, the national association used “Dakota Electric as a case study from which other cooperatives could learn about reliability.”
Miller also discussed the growth of the system over the years, technology used to improve services and the cooperative’s goal to provide “safe and reliable electricity, great service, and all at the lowest possible cost.”
The membership heard from Larry Schmid, vice president and CFO at Great River Energy, Dakota Electric’s wholesale power supplier. Schmid discussed Great River Energy’s performance measures and the company’s challenges to keep cost increases to a minimum.
Board chair Jim Sheldon thanked the board and employees for their hard work serving Dakota Electric’s members and introduced a short video detailing the cooperative’s history. The audience also received a treasurer’s report and an update on Dakota Electric’s subsidiary business, Energy Alternatives.
As a cooperative owned by those it serves, Dakota Electric holds director elections and an annual meeting each year.
Celebrating 75 years of service in 2012, Dakota Electric Association provides electricity to more than 100,000 members throughout Dakota County and portions of Goodhue, Rice and Scott counties. Dakota Electric, a Touchstone Energy Partner, serves its member/owners with integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community.
