Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Freeborn-Mower is not Alliant Energy — it is a cooperative, which means you can express your concerns about how Freeborn-Mower is run. After all, you own this cooperative. Recently, Freeborn-Mower has experienced the loss of large electric loads such as Shopko, Herberger’s, Streater, Bauer Built and smaller loads like Godfather’s, etc. The population of Freeborn County is declining. I suspect the same is true for Mower County.

This is not a great time to spend any more than is absolutely necessary.

A recent cooperative letter said that directors have no additional benefits or perks. Directors attend national meetings in very attractive places, such as Las Vegas, Disneyland in California, also New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Regional meetings have also been held in places such as Rapid City, South Dakota. Directors, historically, considered those trips as an additional benefit or added perk.

Ask your director if he knows how much a cooperative of similar size and characteristics has invested in their headquarter facilities and equipment, or how much their total payroll costs compared to Freeborn-Mower. I suspect our cooperative is over-built and over-staffed. We used to inform our members how our rates compared to other cooperatives.

We have never had a female director. I know we have some very capable women who are members. I have been asked to consider running for the board. However, I would like to see more females run for director positions.

You will not notice any difference after the building is completed. Your lights won’t be any brighter. But, when the cooperative makes large capital expenditures, it reduces the amount of money you have available to meet your needs. Higher electric rates for young families who might have work because of the pandemic is a problem.

Ron Steckman

former president/CEO

Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services