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Farewell to District 1 director Bob Hess at the Annual Meeting
On April 24, 1936, Oakdale Electric Cooperative (OEC) was organized and incorporated by the signing of the Articles of Incorporation. Ninety years and one day later, 106 registered members and 147 total attendees were present at the 89th Annual Meeting, held on Saturday, April 25, at Tomah Recreation Park.
General Manager & CEO Chris Tackmann spoke on how far the cooperative has come from the very beginning. Back in the 1937 timeframe, there were 221 members, 132.01 miles of line, 51.5 average kWh consumed per member, $0.02 per kWh, and $62,503.48 in construction costs. Fast forward to today, those numbers are 14,983 members, 2,866 miles of line, 972 average kWh consumed per member, $0.11 per kWh, and $12,320,275 in construction costs.
Plans for 2026 include rebuilding approximately seven miles of line and converting about three miles of overhead line to underground in the Mauston, Plymouth, and New Lisbon areas. He explained, “The reason for the transition from overhead to underground is mainly to decrease outage situations from storms and trees.” Along with the Oakdale area, there will be a tie line between Oakdale and Clifton substations to assist during outage situations.
A dedication to longstanding District 1 Director Bob Hess was held to honor his commitment to the co-op. Bob joined the board on April 13, 2002, and wore many hats including Secretary, Vice Chairman, and Board Chairman. For eleven years, Bob served as Dairyland Director, providing steady leadership and collaboration. Bob reflected with, “I will say it has been an interesting journey seeing the changes within the industry over the past 24 years and I’m grateful to have been part of it along with my 11 years on the board at Dairyland Power Cooperative.”
Cooperative members exercised their equal voting rights in the contested director election. In District 1, Beau Krostag was elected against opposing candidate Bradley Geist. Incumbent Robin Craker for District 7 was re-elected against opposing candidate Darren Fortney.
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