75th Annual Meeting of the Members
Saturday, April 2, 2022
Each year in March or April, LEC holds the Annual Meeting of the Members. This event is an opportunity for the members to learn more about their cooperative and participate in electing fellow members for the board. They also transact any other business to come before the membership.
As a member of LEC, you have the right to get involved with your cooperative. The main vehicle for doing this is electing the Board of Trustees. These 10 fellow members meet once a month to review cooperative policies, financials and evaluate the direction of the cooperative. Trustees are elected each year by Lincoln Electric members by mail-in ballot. Ballots will be mailed to all Lincoln Electric members with their official Notice of Meeting at the beginning of March. Completed mail-in ballots must be completed and submitted as noted on the ballots.
Trustee seats currently filled by District 6 (Upper) Trustees Becky Evins and Troy Truman and District 7 (Lower) Trustee Tina Taurman will be up for election at the 2022 Annual Meeting. Members wishing to become a trustee nominee must submit a completed trustee petition to Lincoln Electric by December 29, 2021. A trustee nomination petition packet for the seats expiring in 2022 will become available in October 2021.
At the meeting, LEC's General Manager also gives an update on cooperative happenings and our auditor gives a financial presentation for the previous calendar year. There is a light breakfast served. Each attending membership receives a door prize and is entered to win other great prizes.
The 75th Annual Meeting of the Members will be held on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Lincoln County High School at 312 9th Street East, Eureka. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. with the business meeting beginning at 9:00 a.m.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2022 Annual Meeting!!
*Some restrictions apply.
74th Annual Meeting of the Members
Drive-In Meeting Success
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Lincoln Electric’s 74th Annual Meeting of the Members was held drive-in style on Saturday, April 10, 2021. Even with poor weather, we had 199 memberships register for the event at Lincoln County High School.
Attending members registered at drive-thru registration areas, then parked to listen to the meeting via 99.9 FM. At only 40 minutes, it was quite possibly the shortest Annual Meeting in Lincoln Electric’s history.
Our auditor, Brandon Blair of Decoria, Maichel, and Teague, gave a brief financial update based on Lincoln Electric’s 2020 audit. He reported that your cooperative is in great financial standing.
Members heard a legislative update on issues concerning electric cooperatives from Charles Robison of the Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association.
Lincoln Electric’s General Manager, Telly Stanger, also addressed the membership. After acknowledging the employees, he updated the members on rate changes, power supply, and recent happenings at the cooperative.
Mark Hash of O’Brien, Hash, & Biby, Lincoln Electric’s legal counsel and meeting Parliamentarian, announced the results of the 2021 Trustee election. For the first time ever, trustee voting occurred via mail-in ballots as per the By-Laws changes that were approved by the membership at the 2020 Annual Meeting.
There were three trustee seats from District 6 - Upper expiring in 2021. The incumbents were Michael Garner, Joel Graves, and Ethel White. Nominations were made by member petition, which were due to Lincoln Electric before December 30, 2020. Nomination petitions were submitted for all three incumbents.
Mail-in ballots were mailed to active members with the Notice of Meeting. Completed ballots from at least a quorum of two percent (2%) of the total membership were required to re-elect the incumbents. This meant we needed to receive at least 97 ballots.
Hash reported that he had attended the ballot counting, which was conducted by a six-person committee of members who volunteered for the task. A total of 272 ballots were returned prior to the deadline.
Michael Garner received 238 votes, Joel Graves received 248, and Ethel White received 235. All were re-elected by the membership via mail-in ballot.
There was no old business, nor any questions submitted for discussion during new business, so the meeting moved to prize drawings for Luck of the Draw Scholarships (see winners here) and the Grand Prize of Free Electricity for a Year*, which was won by Lucky 7's Restaurant, Lounge, and Casino.
*Free electricity for a year awarded at up to $150 per month for 12 months.
| File | Description | File size |
|---|---|---|
 2020 Notice of Annual Meeting | April 10, 2021 | 4184 kB |
| 2021 Trustee Packet | Petition & Information | 685 kB |
| 2019 Notice of Annual Meeting & Proposed By-Laws Changes | Sept 12, 2020 | 1585 kB |
| 2018 Notice of Annual Meeting & Proposed By-Laws Changes | March 30, 2019 | 1754 kB |
| 2017 Notice of Annual Meeting | March 24, 2018 | 267 kB |
| 2016 Notice of Annual Meeting | March 25, 2017 | 139 kB |
| Proposed By-Laws Revisions | March 25, 2017 | 176 kB |
| 2015 Annual Report and Notice of Meeting | March 19, 2016 | 1009 kB |
| 2014 Annual Report and Notice of Meeting | March 28, 2015 | 1517 kB |
| 2013 Annual Report and Notice of Meeting | March 22, 2014 | 1602 kB |
