Website at www.clearwater-polk.com

CURRENTA C T I V I T I E S

Phone 218-694-6241 or toll free (888) 694-3833 MAY 2016

–– OFFICE HOURS: 7:00 AM-4:30 PM, MONDAY-FRIDAY ––

Guest speaker was Robert “Mac” McLennan, President and CEO of Minnkota Power Company from Grand Forks speaking to the members of Clearwater-Polk Electric at their annual meeting on April 7.

Management and m e m b e r s o f Clearwater-Polk

Electric met for their 69th annual meeting on Thursday, April 7.

T h e C l e a r w a t e r County Nursing Service held a health fair prior to coffee and cookies being served. The meet-ing started at 10:30 at the Timbers Event Cen-ter in Bagley.

Stacy Pittman sang the national anthem and Pastor Randy McGuire gave the invocation.

Brian Stavenger, CPA with Eide Bailly, gave the financial report.

Guest speaker was Robert “Mac” McLennan, President and CEO of Minn-

kota Power Company from Grand Forks.Door prizes were drawn following

the meal and members were treated to

Manager and directors of Clearwater-Polk Electric met at Timbers Event Center on Thursday, April 7. From left to right: Gary Mathis, Robert Johnson, Harlan Highberg, Vernon Hamnes, LeRoy Riewer, Greg Spaulding, Keith DeMaris and General Manager Bruce Bjerke.

––– DOOR PRIZE WINNERS ON THE BACK PAGE –––

Harvey Miller called bingo for the many who attended the 69th annual meeting of Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative.

a meatball dinner served by the Timber Events Center staff.

Clearwater-Polk eleCtriC Newsletter, 2016 Page 2

The Clearwater-Polk Electric Trust Fund committee will

soon be holding a grant-funding meeting. Request for funds will be accepted until May 20, 2016. Application blanks can be picked up at our office, on our website clearwater-polk.com or from one of the commit-tee members, Glenn Rettmann, Larry Blasing or Mary Tronerud.

Donations from the Trust will gener-ally be made to organizations which benefit the service area community of Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative. Non-profit Organizations which have been granted IRS Code 501© (3) status and serve a large number of people will be given priority.

Donations from the Trust will generally not be made for:A. Lobbying, political, and religious or-

ganizations;B. Veteran, fraternal, and labor orga-

nizations;C. Fund-raising dinners, raffles and other

events;D. Individuals;E. National fund drives;F. Advertising; andG. Economic development projects.

The following factors will be consid-

ered in the evaluation of all funding requests.

A. Potential benefit to area residents and the entire community;

B. Level of community support for the program or project or organization

“Your small changecan make a BIG difference.”

requesting the funds;C. Fiscal and administrative capability

of the organization to deliver a quality service or program; and

D. Results that are predictable can be evaluated.

APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR OPERATION ROUND UP FUNDS

All donations to organizations will be published in area newspapers and the Current Activities Newsletter.

All applications will be kept on hand for one year.

Clearwater-Polk eleCtriC Newsletter, 2016 Page 3

Leroy Riewer, President ................................................BagleyVernon Hamnes, Vice President ..................................GonvickRobert Johnson, Secretary ............................................BagleyHarlan Highberg, Treasurer ...........................................BagleyGary Mathis .................................................................GonvickGreg Spaulding ..............................................................BagleyKeith DeMaris ...............................................................Shevlin

Bruce Bjerke ........................................ General Manager

OFFICERS & DIRECTORS

SCHEDULED BOARD MEETING Held at the Clearwater-Polk Electric board room at 8:00 a.m.

on the last Wednesday of each month.

MINNKOTA POWER PLANT TOUR

Make plans today to travel with your friends and neighbors through scenic

North Dakota for the two-day power plant tour offered by Clearwater-Polk Electric. The tour is scheduled for June 29th and 30th, 2016.

The first day of the trip will include a stop at Minnkota Power Cooperative's head-quarters in Grand Forks. From there, a tour of the Garrison Dam Hydro Plant in Riverdale. The evening will be spent at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Mandan, which will include a banquet sponsored by Minnkota Power.

The second day includes a tour of the Milton R. Young generation station near Center, ND.

Weather permitting, a tour through the BNI coal mine operation is scheduled, also. You are guaranteed to have a better un-derstanding of the process involved with generating the electricity that serves you.

The cost to participate is $80 per person for double occupancy and $100 for single occupancy. This includes transportation, meals and lodging. The tour is open to all Clearwater-Polk Electric members and/or spouses. Accommodations are limited, so reserve your spot now by returning the form to the left.

Any questions please call Clearwater-Polk at

218-694-6241 or 888-694-3833

Names of Participants Address

___________________________________ ___________________________________

___________________________________ ___________________________________

___________________________________ ___________________________________

___________________________________ ___________________________________

Telephone Number ___________________ Account Number ______________________

Number Attending _______________________________________

MAIL TO: Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative, PO Box 0, Bagley, MN 56621– YOU WILL BE MAILED A LETTER OF CONFIRMATION WITH MORE TOUR INFORMATION. –

Power Plant Tour Registration Form

Tour Dates:June 29th and 30th,

2016

If you experience an emergency or power outage, please call ... 1-877-881-7673

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016

– OUR OFFICE IS –

Clearwater-Polk eleCtriC Newsletter, 2016 Page 4

SWAP SHOP

RULES: Ads for Clearwater-Polk Electric members only.Ads received after the 15th of each month will be held over for the following month. Ads may be run consecutively for two months. Limit your ads to two items. No commercial ads, please.

FOR SALE: Matching 8x12 living room rug & 5x7 rug, very nice shape, $125.00 for both. 218-776-3177 or 218-368-7717.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 1993 Pontiac Formula; 2012 Chrysler Town & Country, 9,000 miles; 16 ft Glastron boat, inboard, outboard. 218-556-5166.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: Miscellaneous vinyl siding and moulding. 218-431-0442.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––WANTED TO BUY: Any old cultivators on steel or rubber tires, do not have to be in working condition. 218-686-8002.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 2 - 38 ft Wilrich field cultivators. 701-261-2557.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: Lot & mobile home on Lake Alice, call for details. 763-458-8555.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––WANTED: Farm eggs (no GMO feeds), canoe. 218-766-8176.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: Maturity pen, complete, free standing, 10’x12’, $2,000.00 OBO. 218-776-3177 or 218-368-7717.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: Cattle panels, 50”Hx16’L, new, also many gates & other cattle necessities. 218-776-3177 or 218-368-7717.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––WANTED: Older style pressure cookers for our church kitchen. 218-556-2968.

FOR SALE: Two 14’ 5”x 8’ sliding pole barn doors, good condition, $250.00 for the pair, top slide rail not included. 218-694-2591.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––WANTED: Mixed hardwood & aspen stumpage. 218-556-1840.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 8 oak pressed back solid oak chairs, excellent condition, $640.00. 218-266-3333.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 4000 pieces of piano sheet music. 218-657-2853.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: New Holland Hayliner 276 square baler, asking $1,200.00 OBO; also white wicker storage chest, like new, $30.00. 218-280-2849 leave message or text.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 2 new hydraulic double acting cylinders, $50.00 each. 218-435-6724.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: 1984 Pop-out Jayco trailer, sleeps two, very good condition, $700.00. 218-785-2270.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––FOR SALE: Allis Chalmers AC45, new tires, restored, full 3 pt. $4,500.00. 218-776-3177 or 218-368-7717.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––WANTED: Older Honda motorcycle, 50-70 CC, running condition or not; also Willys Jeep. 218-766-8176.

Farmer’s Casserole

Place potatoes in an 8 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle with the cheese, ham and onions. Whisk the eggs, milk, pepper and salt; pour over all. Cover

3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

¾ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup cubed fully cooked ham¼ cup chopped green onions4 eggs1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk¼ teaspoon pepper1/8 teaspoon salt

If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share with

Clearwater-Polk Electric members, please send to:

CLEARWATER-POLK ELECTRIC COOP.P.O. BOX 0

BAGLEY, MN 56621

and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until knife in-serted near the center comes out clean. Yield: 6 servings.

CURRENT ELECTRICAL INSPECTOR

Whenever a homeowner or an electrical contractor installs wiring or performs other electrical work, Minne-sota law requires an electrical inspector to perform a proper inspection of the work. (Winfred A. Stinar, Jr.) A rough-in inspection must be made before any wiring is covered. A final inspection is also required. For more information, visit dli.mn.gov go to the Electrical home page.

Tri-State Electrical Service, Inc

Davis Smid, Electrical Inspector for Clearwater & Beltrami

Counties

Phone: 507-227-2772Office Hours 7:00-8:30 AM M-F

E-mail address: mntristate@gmail.com

SIGN UP FOR AUTO-PAY AND

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN

$25.00EACH MONTH WE DRAW TWO MEMBER’S NAMES THAT HAVE CHOSEN TO PAY BY AUTO-PAY.

THEY WILL RECEIVE A $25.00 CREDIT

TOWARDS THEIR ELECTRIC BILL.

MAY WINNERS: Jerry SatherJoy Parker

Clearwater-Polk eleCtriC Newsletter, 2016 Page 5

Manager’s Message

Bruce Bjerke

CLEARWATER-POLKCELEBRATES 69 YEARSI would like to thank the members

who attended our 69th Annual Meeting of Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative, held on Thursday, April 7th at Timber’s Event Center in Bagley. The weather wasn’t great, but all of us at Clearwater-Polk really enjoyed visiting with you and listening to your energy needs and concerns.

The meeting began with registration and the members having the opportu-nity to receive health screenings from the Clearwater County Nursing Service; then enjoying bingo with guest caller, Harvey Miller.

Board President Leroy Riewer wel-comed the membership and called the meeting to order at 10:30. He called on Pastor Randy McGuire to give the invo-cation, followed by a beautiful rendition of the Nation Anthem by Stacy Pittman. I welcomed some special guests: prior Clearwater-Polk directors and directors from neighboring cooperatives. The veterans in attendance were also rec-ognized and thanked for their service.

Attorney Joel Larson, from Minnkota Power, introduced the current board members. He then explained the nomi-nation process, the voting procedure and announced the candidates who ran unopposed for director positions. Congratulations to Vernon Hamnes from District 1, Robert Johnson from District 2 and Greg Spaulding from District 3, who were elected to represent the members of their districts.

CPA Brian Stavenger, from the audit-ing firm Eide Bailley, gave the financial report which shows that although there have been things working against Clearwater-Polk, the utility is still in a strong financial position.

I joined President Riewer for the president and manager’s report on the

operations of the cooperative in 2015. The amount of power we purchased from Minnkota was down about 11%. The weather played a role in driving down energy usage; however, members are also becoming more conscientious about taking advantage of incentives being offered to purchase more energy efficient appliances and lighting, and reducing the amount of power they consume. If you are in the market to purchase new electric heating equip-ment, electric water heaters, appliances or lighting, check out our web site or give our member service department a call to see what incentives are available.

Safety and reliability are always very important to us. Trees are consistently the number one cause of outages on our system. Mother Nature did her part taking down trees with the storm on August 12th, affecting nearly half of our members. We thank those affected by the storm for your patience and coop-eration during this outage. It’s a stressful time for those without power and the employees who are working very hard and long hours to get the power back on. The extended outage increased our average outage time per member from 1.4 hours in 2014 to 7.4 hours in 2015. But, your electricity was still available 99.9% of the time.

Rate increases are never an easy thing to communicate to our members. Minnkota announced a 3.3% increase in the cost of our purchase power start-ing in April. After much discussion, the board approved passing this increase on through the facility charge. The increase will be $2 per month on the light meter and a 25 cent increase to the off-peak meter. The new charge will be $32 on the light meter and $3 on the heat meter. There will also be a small increase in the purchased power adjustment. We are in the process of having a cost of service study completed to ensure that our rates are appropriately and fairly determined based on how each member creates costs.

This year’s special guest speaker was, Mac McLennan, CEO of Minnkota Power, who gave a very informative pre-sentation explaining some of Minnkota’s challenges looking into the future. He updated the members on practices and procedures Minnkota has in place

to guard against cyber and other types of security threats, the Clean Power Plan, how the energy market affects the cost of doing business, wind energy contracts, and power plants mainte-nance. CEO McLennan also touched on the reason behind the need for Minnkota to implement the 3.3% rate increase in 2016.

Just before the meeting was ad-journed, I called on another special guest, Lars Peederson, from sout a Gully (Jim Paulson) who did a great job entertaining the members. Door prizes were drawn for many items that included gift certificates from our local Co-op Connections participating busi-nesses. Members were then treated to a wonderful lunch prepared by Timber’s Event Center.

MAY IS NATIONAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY MONTH

There is a children’s book titled Safety 1st, Safety Always. As you can imagine, it encompasses many of the traditional safety lessons parents should teach their children. We drill youngsters about safety from an early age because we know how important it is to protect ourselves and those we care about. In the spirit of May being National Electrical Safety Month, let’s take a look at how electric cooperatives have been stepping up to the plate when it comes to safety at the co-op.

Up until 2007, there was an alarming national trend among electric co-ops, which was the fact that the number of “lost time” accidents was increasing. Lost time is defined as anything resulting in an employee missing time at work; these accidents could range from a sprained ankle to the ultimate tragedy of a fatality.

This is why Federated Rural Electric In-surance Exchange, which insures Clear-water-Polk, initiated a campaign called a “Culture of Safety.” It was designed to create a much greater awareness about safety issues at all electric co-ops.

Through the use of strategy labs across the country, Federated brought together co-op CEOs and general managers, operations supervisors, safety directors and linemen to better under-

––– CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE –––

Clearwater-Polk eleCtriC Newsletter, 2016 Page 6

DURING OFFICE HOURS 7:00 am-4:30 pm, Mon.-Fri.

CALL 694-6241 or 1-888-694-3833

** AFTER HOURS CALL

Cell # 1-877-881-7673** For after hour outages,

please contact the above cell #.

TR CO AU LB LL SE

To reward our faithful read-ers, one member’s name will be drawn at random each month and placed somewhere in the news-letter. If you should find your

name, let us know before the 15th and win $25 off your next bill.

YOU COULD WIN$25

One free, easy call gets your utility lines marked AND helps protect you from injury and expense. Safe digging is no ac-cident: always call 811 before you dig.

Visit www.call811.comfor more information

LIST OF DOOR PRIZE WINNERS FOR 2016 ANNUAL MEETING

PRIZE WINNER Trip for 2 - Minnkota Power Plant Harlan Strandlien $25 Gift Card - Bagley Merc Hdw. Wayne JohnsonWesco Distributing $25 Gift Card - Scheels Don AmundsonBorder States Supply Cap Larry DjernesResco George Foreman Grill Steve HughesIrby Co. Gift Card - Scheels Oscar Skogen CPE - $100 Energy Certificate June ZiegelmannBorder States Supply Hooded Sweatshirt Russel LembkeWesco Distributing $25 Gift Card - Scheels Harvey Miller $25 Gift Card - Galen’s SuperMarket Beverly WalbergDakota Supply Group $25 Gift Card - L & M Fleet Supply John Arneson $25 Gift Card - Mark’s Hardware Marilyn Melby $25 Energy Certificate Duane KaulWesco Distributing $25 Gift Card - Scheels George LarsonBorder States Supply Cap Stanley AskDakota SupplyGroup $25 Gift Card - Menards Nona Hanson $25 Gift Card - Kubiak’s Foods Karla NetlandWesco Distributing $25 Gift Card - Scheels Eileen Rue CPE - $25 Energy Certificate Liz OllestadBorder States Supply Stocking Hat Alton Walker $100 Energy Certificate Dennis SundbomBorder States Supply Cap Lauren HughesIrby Co. Gift Card - Scheels Betty Sundbom Trip for 2 - Minnkota Power Plant Steve Norman

...CP CELEBRATES...continued from page 5

stand how each group viewed safety. In doing so, differences in perceptions regarding safety within cooperatives were identified, allowing for much needed conversations and evaluations of how to raise awareness and improve local safety cultures. The “Speak Up, Listen Up Program” is designed to empower anyone who sees a potentially unsafe situation to speak up and encourages everyone to listen up to their concerns. The results have been dra-matic, with more than a 30 percent decline in the number of accidents over the past nine years.

As a member, you too have a role. If you see any potential dangerous situations or

practices, you should report them as soon as possible to Clearwater-Polk.

The implementation and success of the Culture of Safety program demonstrates a very important point. If we are intentional about our actions, we can indeed change the culture in our organizations. The same is true for our families, our teams and any groups we may belong to.

We also know that living our cooperative principles and values is equally important. We have the best business model because it puts you, the member-owner, at the cen-ter of our efforts.

Clearwater-Polk looks forward to being your safe electricity provider and energy advisor long into the future.

MOTHER’S DAYMay is also a time to honor and cel-

ebrate moms. A time we can thank them

for the critical role they play in our lives. In our childhood, she stood ahead of us to set an example. As we grew up and be-come teenagers, she was always behind us to lend support whenever we needed it. Once we became an adult, she started to walk beside us so we could be friends forever. A mother is always there for her child. Thank you to all the moms!

MEMORIAL DAY AND OUR TROOPSAs Memorial Day approaches, I would

like to thank our troops for serving our country and those who won’t be able to spend this special day with families. Please remember and honor the many brave Americans who have fought for the free-dom we have today and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Freedom isn’t free! May God continue to bless America, the troops and their families.

–Bruce