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Tongue RiverElectric

Co-op., Inc.Power Outage — Call

Daytime 1-800-860-8235or local 784-2341After hours/weekendsAshland/Lame Deer/

Colstrip areasMiles Dennis ....................477-6768Paul Stollenwerk ..............784-2887Gary Bartlett ....................784-2728Heath Medicinebull ..........477-3946Michael Brooks ................720-0055Tary Hanson......................740-2359If no answer, call Broadus #’s or Terry #’s

Broadus areasBucky Billing....................436-2493Lyle Rogge........................436-2591Tim Stradinger ..................436-2997Merlin Brown....................853-2835Jeff Ryan ..........................436-2480

If no answer call Ashland #’s

Miles City/Terry areasBrent Helm........................853-0040Clint Reil...........................951-2552Duane Lassle ....................951-2630Vernon May ......................635-4726Ron Vilhauer ....................853-4663

If no answer call Ashland #’s

TONGUE RIVER ELECTRICCOOPERATIVE, INC.P.O. Box 138 • Ashland, MT 59003-0138

Office: 406-784-2341Fax Number: 406-784-2668

TRECO

Est.1946

Ihope all who attended theannual meeting enjoyeddinner and the gift bags.We had 87 members registerout of 2,641 membersserved. The total number ofattendees was 170. Tongue River Electric

Cooperative members warmly welcomed MontanaCongressman Greg Gianforteto their 68th annual meetingin Broadus on July 22, alongwith Michael Hoy fromMcCone ElectricCooperative, Gary Wiensfrom Montana ElectricCooperatives’ Association(MECA) and Jason Brodderand Rose Lei with HeberlyAssociates.Congressman Gianforte,

who was invited to the meet-ing by a co-op board mem-ber, visited with membersduring the dinner precedingthe annual meeting, and thenspoke briefly prior to thestart of the meeting. He toldmembers that his first voteas a member of Congresswas in support of H.R. 1863.Passage of this legislation isone of electric co-ops’ toppriorities this year. The bill,which passed the House onJune 22, is aimed at ensuringhazard trees and other vegetation located in or nearutility right of ways can becleared to prevent fires. During the annual meet-

ing, members heard good

news that the co-op will notneed to raise rates this year,marking the sixth straightyear without a rate increase,said General Manager TaryHanson. He added that theco-op’s financial health isstrong. The co-op’s equityhad dipped as low as 9 per-cent in recent years, but isnow steadily climbing. Thegoal is 30-percent equity byyear’s end, he said. The long-term goal is 40 percent, headded. Thanks to the co-op’ssolid finances, membersreceived what amounted to a20-percent credit on theirpower bills last November,reported Brian Torgerson, theco-op’s office manager. Mr. Hanson also

announced the board willdecide soon whether toapprove construction of a50-kilowatt solar demonstra-tion project through a pro-gram with Basin Electric

Power Cooperative. Basinwill buy the output at 5 centsper kilowatt-hour, reselling itto the co-op at no cost. Reporting on the co-op’s

power supply situation,board member Jim Collinstold members the co-op hadbegun receiving power onJan. 1 through the newlyformed generation and trans-mission cooperative,Members First. Mr. Collins,who is Tongue RiverElectric’s representative onthe Members First board,said Members First recentlysigned a 65-year power-supply contract with BasinElectric. In trustee elections, re-

elected unopposed wereTodd Tibbetts, Bob Janssenand Michael Speelman.MECA provided a legislativeupdate at the meeting. Alsoduring the meeting, themembership approved abylaw amendment officiallyincorporating the co-op’slongstanding practice of pro-viding a Northern Cheyennetribal member a non-votingseat on the board. TheNorthern Cheyenne tribalgovernment may recommend

TRECO OfficeClosures ScheduleMonday, Sept. 4, 2017Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017Friday, Nov. 24, 2017Monday, Dec. 25, 2017

By Gina Vineyard, Staff Accountant

Gina Vineyard

Continued on page 5

TRECO’s 68th Annual Meeting

Rep. Greg Gianforte

someone from the tribe forthe seat, but the board is notobligated to follow its recommendation. A $500 grand prize was

open to every member of thecooperative, but they must bein attendance to be eligible towin. Three names weredrawn: Cory Hert, VictorCosta Jr. and James Peppers,whom were not in atten-dance. We are so sorry. Wethen drew for the $250 prize.The winner was Grant Olson.Congratulations, Grant.We honored one of our

employees and four boardmembers for their years ofservice. They were:• Jeff Ryan from Broadus

for 5 years of service,• Diana McLean, our

Northern CheyenneRepresentative, for 30 yearsof service,• DeeDee Isaacs, District 5

Board of Trustee, for 10years of service,• Richard Hamilton,

District 4 Board of Trustee,for 5 Years of Service,• Craig Randall, District 7

Board of Trustee, for 5 yearsof service.

Congratulations to you allfor your dedication and serv-ice to our cooperative. Congratulations to our

scholarship winners: JustinCape from Colstrip, TaylorDennis from Ashland, DallenBartlett from Black HillsState, Montana Sage Collinsof Broadus and LindseyRiley from Broadus. We alsogot the opportunity to handout a lineman scholarshipthis year to Traven Olsonfrom Miles City. Good luckto all of you in your futureendeavors.

5

TONGUE RIVER ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.

www.tongueriverelectric.com

Tongue RiverElectric Cooperative

SEPTEMBER 2017

Things toRemember• Friend us on Facebookunder Tongue River.

• Visit our website atwww.tongueriverelectric.com.

• Sign up for budgetbilling or ACH — autopayments from youraccount.

• Past-due bills are dueby the end of the day onthe 10th of each month.

• We are offering prepayoptions. If you are inter-ested, please contact theoffice.

• We have a new toll-freenumber for credit-cardpayments over thephone, 1-844-210-8262.You will need youraccount number and/orhave your phone num-ber on file in our office.

• Take control of yourelectric account withSmartHub. You can payyour bills; set up andcancel recurring pay-ments; set up notifica-tions; obtain duplicatesof your bills and viewyour daily, weekly,monthly and yearlyusage, all at your fin-gertips. Visit our web-site at www.tongueriver-electric.com or down-load the app from yourapp store on Android oriPhone devices.

Facts fromTRECO• TRECO built four newservices: two in theAshland Area, one inthe Broadus Area andone in the Miles City-Terry area.• September 4th is LaborDay, and we will beclosed.• September 22nd is thefirst day of autumn,maybe the 100-degree weather is behind us.

Annual MeetingContinued from page 4

Heath MedicineBull andKate Irish are the last two atthe registration table, withthe crowd behind.

Shelby Jordan from Lame Deer came and gave a talk abouther youth tour trip to Washington, D.C., this summer.