Broadband and solar updates at Arrowhead Annual Meeting

A highlight of the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative annual meeting is the presentation of donations to community nonprofits through the co-op’s Operation Round Up program. Accepting checks for the organizations they work or volunteer with were (L-R) Jetty St. John, Gwen Carman, Caroline Fritz, Jodi Yuhasey, Sharon Bloomquist, Jeanne Anderson and Sara McManus. McManus had the honor of presenting the grants.

A quorum of members once again turned out for the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, Inc. annual meeting at Cook County High School on Saturday, June 6. The meeting started with pancakes and coffee for members in the school cafeteria and finished in the Arrowhead Center for the Arts auditorium with questions and answers.

The meeting was called to order by Arrowhead Board Chair Mike Littfin who introduced staff and board members, including out-going Board Member Howard Abrahamson. Littfin thanked Abrahamson for his years of service to the cooperative.

Election tellers— Eleanor Waha, Judy Brisky, Barb Gervais and Marsha Hanson—were excused to go count ballots. When they returned there were no surprises. The incumbent board members Sharon Bloomquist and Mike Littfin and new candidate Stanley Tull were unopposed on the co-op ballot. All were elected to the board.

Arrowhead staffers took turns at the microphone giving updates on the various activities under way at the co-op. Once again the installation of broadband throughout the county was a focal point of the meeting. The audience was told that just a few weeks ago, Arrowhead signed up its 1,000th customer in the True North fiber-to-home network.

Above: Current and new board members expressed appreciation to outgoing board member Howard Abrahamson. (L-R) Keck Melby, newlyelected board member Stan Tull, Sharon Bloomquist, Mike Littfin, Thomas Spence, former board member Howard Abrahamson, Les Edinger. Left: Members enjoyed trying to generate electricity through bike power.

Acting General Manager Jenny Kartes shared the good news that for the third year in a row, there would be no increase in electrical rates, in either the fixed monthly charge or the amount charged per kilowatt.

Operations Manager John Twiest gave an interesting report on the change for some Grand Portage customers. For years, a few members near the U.S.- Canadian border received their electricity from Arrowhead via Ontario Hydro One. Unfortunately receiving electrical service from across the border meant a slower response time and frequent outages.

Twiest said by working in conjunction with the build-out of the broadband project, Arrowhead was at long last able to install power lines all the way to the border at a significantly reduced cost. “We’re proud to say these members now receive the same reliable service as our other members. There may still be outages, but now we can do something about it,” he said.

 

Cooperative employees also shared the news that the ground had been broken next to the Lutsen headquarters for a joint solar energy project with Great River Energy (GRE). Kartes said GRE is working with 20 cooperatives to build onsite solar projects, to see how solar energy works in different regions, topography, weather and so on. “We saw this as a great opportunity to see some cost sharing,” said Kartes.

The co-op is also working to build its own “Community Solar Garden,” said Kartes.

The audience had the chance to ask questions then and Arrowhead staff fielded more questions on broadband, on its metering program, on the proposed solar systems, on electrical rates and trends and more.

Some door prizes, donated by generous community businesses and vendors that work with Arrowhead Electric, were distributed and the meeting wrapped up for another year.

Operation Round Up benefits community

Operation Round Up is made possible by the voluntary contributions of cooperative members, Marketing and Account Supervisor Sara McManus explains. “By adding those few extra pennies on to your electric bill you have funded amazing projects like these over the years. It is an inspiring example of the tremendous benefit gained from a small efforts shared by a large group. Thank you!”

Receiving Operation Round Up grants this year were: