A beautiful, sunny Upper Peninsula day provided the perfect backdrop to Alger Delta’s 79th Annual Meeting held on Saturday, June 10, at the U.P. State Fairgrounds. More than 400 members attended the event which featured a picnic-style cookout, games and activities for the whole family and many prize drawings.
“This event gives us a chance to show our members how much we appreciate them,” said CEO Tom Harrell. “Being a member of a co-op comes with some responsibilities and we appreciate that, so it’s just a really good time to be with our members and celebrate how far we’ve come.”
Harrell opened the business portion of the meeting by giving an overview of 2016 operations as well as updates on continuing electrical development work at the Ojibwa Casino, Eagle and Aquila mine.
Board President David Anthony chaired the meeting during the discussion of new business. This included a proposal to increase the Energy Optimization rate as well as the potential termination of the program in 2021. The increase will result in a member who uses the system average of 600 kilowatt-hours paying $.84 more per month. The other rate-related issues proposed were adding LED lighting rates to the tariffs and creating an industrial rate class. After an opportunity for member comment and discussion, the board moved to adopt the proposals.
The board also seated its newest member, Kirk Bruno representing District 7. “I’m certainly looking forward to representing the Stonington-Rapid River district,” Bruno stated, “and I hope to do the best that I can to help the co-op continue to be successful.”
Harrell concluded his remarks by expressing optimism for the future, confidently stating, “In 2018 we are looking forward to growing and becoming stronger to serve our members more effectively and efficiently.”