Co-op#039;s members pack into Riverside
Published 12:00 am Monday, April 7, 2003
There were 496 member-owners of Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services registered at Saturday night's annual meeting.
In a night dominated by numbers in the annual report, the total of member-owners may have been the most important.
Saturday's nights crowed at Riverside Arena in Austin was one of the largest ever in the 66-year history of the annual meeting.
The attraction: a baked pork loin dinner catered by HyVee of Austin, entertainment from the Donna Chapel Show, door prizes and good news from Ronald J. Steckman, president and CEO of the cooperative.
David Gilderhuis, president of the FMCS board of directors, was master of ceremonies. Gilderhuis called the meeting to order and introduced special guests.
Austin Mayor Bonnie Rietz, hostess for the annual meeting, welcomed the member-owners to the event. Austin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1216's color guard presented the flag and the Rev. Shari Mason, pastor of Little Cedar and Marshall Lutheran churches, gave the invocation and benediction.
Richard Carlson (District No. 2) and Tom Higgins (District No. 5)
were elected by mail ballot to district director positions.
Loren Grant, who died earlier this year, was honored posthumously by Gilderhuis for his contributions as a long-time director.
Chapel and her husband, Jesse James Cumo entertained at the 2001 annual meeting. The Plainview couple combined good humor, audience participation and their musical talents to entertain Saturday night's audience.
Chapel, the step-daughter of country music legend Tammy Wynette, debuted her new single "My Name Is Freedom" and announced she and her husband will be leaving soon to entertain U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq.
Gilderhuis introduced Steckman who announced up-front his annual report to the member-owners would include answer to questions raised by the cooperative's subscribers about the financial acuity being exercised.
However, Steckman's presentation was dominated by "good news."
FMCS has grown to be the second largest cooperative in the United States, according to Steckman.
The cooperative was able to complete a $1.4 million work plan.
Outages were a result of failures in the power supply and not the cooperative's own distribution system.
And, the cooperative delivered $125,000 in dividends to the member-owners at Christmas.
He is worried about the Exol ethanol plant's viability without a state subsidy. The ethanol plant at Glenville is FMCS's largest customer, according to Steckman.
He defended the $200,000 loan to the Albert Lea business development center and described the cooperative's efforts to upgrade technology as necessary and extolled the cooperative's many diversification efforts as a means to grow and secure a place in an uncertain economy.
"We can't afford to use the old technology to accomplish the things we want to do," Steckman said.
The future for Dairyland Power, the cooperatives electricity supplier, includes a
"bumpy road ahead," according to the president and CEO.
Dairyland faces environment issues as well as transmission and delivery challenges in the year ahead.
In response to specific questions raised about the cooperative's financial integrity, Steckman said an outside consultant recommends rates for FMCS and he has "only little influence." over them.
The cooperative's commercial/industrial customers are an important revenue source for the cooperative and Steckman said, "It's critical that we attract large loads in this area."
He said the cooperative's equity is the second largest among electric cooperatives in the U.S. and that FMCS returns more capital to its member-owners than other cooperatives its size.
As far as rate hike in 2003, Steckman said none was anticipated.
To critics, Steckman said, "If we're doing something wrong, we need to be confronted."
Finally, the president and CEO told the audience about a new initiative being launched this year to generate more awareness for the problems associated with Alzheimer's disease. It will be disseminated to member-owners in the County Lines newsletter.
Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at
lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com