5.2 ERMUSR 06-12-2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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WE'RE A HEALTHY, GROWING ORGANIZATION In 2017, the Elk River Municipal. Utilities Commission expanded A letter from the commission chair. from three members to five. Thanks to an electric service territory transfer agreement As state law only allowed for three commissioners, with Connexus Energy, ERMU's service territory is in a special legislation from the Minnesota House and period of tremendous growth. Because of this agreement, Senate was required to expand the commission. ERMU has expanded its customer base to every business Legislation was passed on May 12,2016,to be and resident within Elk River's city limits. effective in 2017 The three commission members felt that the large expansion in customer base warranted more citizen representation on the ERMU Commission. The move to a five-member board is working well after a ■ seamless transition.The two new commissioners, Mary • . f Stewart and Matt Westgaard, have added leadership capabilities and experience to the board. ERMU's change to five commissioners has been a positive one on every front, The newly expanded ERMU Commission(from left to right)- John Dietz,Chair,and Commissioners Daryl Thompson, and we look forward to continuing to serve our customers. Mary Stewart,Matt Westgaard,AL Nadeau -John Dietz, Commission Chair A letter from the general manager. Municipal utilities are a type of consumer-owned utility. Specific to ERMU,the citizens of Elk River approved the authorization to purchase the utility through bonds by vote on a public referendum.Many communities in Minnesota and across the nation tell a similar story. With a consumer-owned utility,the user of the commodity is also the shareholder.There are no investors,who likely live elsewhere,collecting an extraction of profits paid out as dividends. Rather,the consumer-owner receives all of the value through safe, reliable, cost-effective, quality long-term services. It is not surprising,then,that the common reason among the nation's 2,000-plus public power utilities for wanting to own their utility is to maintain local control and local accountability. To maintain a high level of organizational health,we require highly-trained,dedicated employees,a visionary leadership team,and governance focused on results and accountability.This past year,the ERMU Commission completed a monumental task of redeveloping our organization's by-laws and governance policies.As the world and customer expectations evolve,so must ERMU continue to evolve to meet the needs of our consumer-owners. The outcome of the governance redevelopment was a results and accountability oriented governance model.At the core of this model are the operating values that should be evident from any task or initiative and in the heart of any policy,all of which points toward our mission and vision. It is not a coincidence that the ERMU Commission worked to complete this project concurrently with the efforts to expand the commission members from three to five.This was absolutely intentional.The ERMU Commission recognized that with ERMU's incredible growth,this was the time to grow the commission membership in numbers and provide an updated governance framework from which to serve our community. I'm proud to share with you the ERMU Mission,Vision,Values,and Fundamentals. - Troy Adams, P.E., General Manager 71