GLE Board Member Dale Farrier stands outside his family’s sugar shack, where he plans to spend more time following his upcoming retirement from the Antrim County Road Commission.
The Change Is Constant Some of the changes Dale has seen since he joined the board include the cooperative’s name and size, its employees and board members, technology advancements, and the addition of the Truestream fiber internet service. He said he’s excited about expanding GLE’s Truestream service as quickly as possible, but noted the effort is no small task.
A Driving Force For The Community
“We know many members are eager to get Truestream, but it’s a complex process. It takes a lot of time and resources,” he said. “We need to be smart about how we do it so we don’t burden our members with undue expenses.” He said one thing that hasn’t changed in his time on the board is GLE’s commitment to its members and its primary goal of providing safe, reliable electricity.
or more than three decades, Dale Farrier has been helping maintain some of the community’s most critical services. He has been the office manager for the Antrim County Road Commission for nearly 39 years. For 33 of those years, he has also served as the District 5 representative on the Great Lakes Energy (GLE) Board of Directors. District 5 includes Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Manistee, Missaukee, and Wexford counties.
There is one more big change on the horizon for Dale: He plans to retire from the road commission in January. In addition to seeking another threeyear term on GLE’s board later this year, Dale plans to keep busy with projects around the house, church activities, hunting, and spending time with family. When early spring rolls around, he’s looking forward to spending more time in the family sugar shack, making maple syrup. But long-held habits are hard to break. So, in the winter, he plans to still be up early enough to have snow cleared from his driveway by 6 a.m.
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training course the National Rural Electric Cooperative offers for board members. He’s served as the board’s chairman and secretary, and served many years on the board of directors for Wolverine Power Cooperative, GLE’s sole electric supplier. He’s also learned a great respect for lineworkers and plow truck drivers. “Those are two jobs I’d never want to do,” he said.
Not only do both of Dale’s roles involve critical infrastructure, but often weather has an impact on both. Dale said it’s very common for GLE lineworkers and road commission crews to work together during storm responses. Sometimes downed lines must be addressed before roads can be cleared, and sometimes it’s the other way around. When he joined the GLE board, Dale knew a little something about working with a board thanks to his job with the road commission, but he knew much less about electric cooperatives, he said. However, over the years, Dale has taken every
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