Why I’m running for the Beartooth Electric board

The Beartooth Electric Cooperative annual meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24, at Roberts High School.
Trustees will be elected for three districts. You may vote by mail or in person, by bringing the ballot you receive in the mail to the meeting.
I was elected Beartooth District Five Trustee six years ago. If you elect me again, I will continue to work for careful due diligence, fiscal accountability, transparency and member involvement.
The co-op is in good financial condition with favorably priced contracts for wholesale power fixed for seven years. An agreement with Wyoming-based Lower Valley Energy that provides management and operations services for Beartooth ends early in 2018.
The agreement requires Beartooth to decide whether to recommend merging with LVE by April 2017.
The board is examining the potential financial and other impacts of a merger whereby Beartooth would be absorbed into LVE and comparing those results to forecasts for our future as an independent cooperative.
In Montana a co-op merger may occur only following a board recommendation that is approved by two- thirds of the members who vote on the measure. Beartooth has members in Wyoming where the law requires approval of a recommended merger by a majority of all members.
The Beartooth board has not completed its analysis and no merger vote is scheduled for the upcoming annual meeting. There will be opportunity at the meeting for members to comment and ask questions on all co-op matters.
I will be scheduling informal meetings in the community to talk with people, but in the meantime, please contact me to talk about your thoughts on Beartooth plans and issues.

Arleen Boyd
Fishtail