Annual Meeting

ANNUAL MEETING REFLECTED ON THEN AND NOW

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.

Tackmann spoke on the demand charge that was implemented earlier in 2026 for residential members at the cost of $0.25 per kW, which averages to about $3 to $4 per month. He mentioned how material costs continue to steadily rise, which may result in smaller increases of $1 to $2 over the next couple of years. “I can tell you though that looking at our financial forecasting and budget time, we only get what we feel we need to do to improve our electric service for you,” Tackmann added.

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.

Tackmann applauded the members who participate in Operation Round Up that set a new annual record of $105,600 donated back to communities in 2025. He concluded that Capital Credit allocation will take place in October with $1.2 million going back to members.

The floor was open for member questions and comments. Concerns about AI data centers coming to the area were addressed by Chris Tackmann. “If a data center wanted to come here, we unfortunately cannot stop them.” “However, we have established a policy that if a data center were to come in, whether it’s small or large, they have to pay for all the upgrades to whatever substation they go onto, so it is not subsidized by the rest of the member’s rates.” He also mentioned that the co-op’s generation and transmission provider, Dairyland Power Cooperative, (DPC) has also adopted that policy to help avoid any cost going down the line to distribution co-ops like OEC.

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.

Attorney John Behling presented the proposed bylaw amendments, which were approved and can be found by viewing the 2025 Annual Report on page 16b. 

Special guests in attendance were OEC’s attorney John Behling, Wisconsin State Representative Nancy Vandermeer, and Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association’s Director of Compliance Services Ben Bella.

Bill credits totaling $750 and various other prizes were drawn. Those winners can be found on the left column. 

At the reorganizational meeting, all officer positions remained unchanged except for the DPC director seat. They are as follows: board chairman, Richard Barrett; vice chairman, Gregory Eirschele; secretary, Jonathan Williams; treasurer, James Van Wychen; assistant secretary, Deana Protz; DPC director, Jon Williams; and alternate DPC director – Richard Barrett.

Refreshments and donuts were served prior to the meeting. Each member account received a 90th anniversary water tumbler, Swedish dishcloth, and everyone in attendance went home with a $15 Culver’s gift card and fresh frozen Culver’s custard.