CALLING ALL MEMBERS
Inland Power is my cooperative!
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Save the date for the 2021 Inland Power Annual Meeting
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nland Power’s annual meeting is a time for members to join together to learn about the current happenings in your cooperative as well as elect your board of trustees. Next year’s annual meeting will be held Thursday, March 4, 2021 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Northern Quest Casino. In the event the meeting is not able to be held in person due to health concerns, the meeting will be held virtually. As a member of Inland Power, you own the
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utility. That ownership comes with benefits including local control and accountability, meaning your choice of co-op leaders. Here at Inland Power, our elected board members are called “trustees.” The word “trustee” gets to the heart of the matter. Co-op members are entrusting board members to keep their co-op strong. The job is more than attending board meetings. Trustees must learn about complicated issues in the energy business and foresee challenges in providing affordable and reliable power. They forge a long-term plan for the sustainability of the cooperative. They hire the CEO. They reach out and listen to the members, speak up for the cooperative and stand up for members at every turn. Trustees are stewards of that purpose and should make every decision big or small with the members in mind. If this sounds like a position for you, Inland Power’s nominating committee is accepting applications for board positions in District 1, 3 and 5. Please send your request for the Candidate Packet outlining candidate qualifications, responsibilities and the application process to Jennifer Lutz at jenniferl@inlandpower.com or by phone at (509) 789-4273. Prospective candidates will be required to submit a candidate certificate of eligibility, complete an application and provide a photo by Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. The member-comprised nominating committee will meet in mid-December to review all applications received and make nominations based on those with the most appropriate qualifications. Additionally, co-op members may be nominated by petition along with the prerequisite applicant documents. Candidates will prepare a two-minute speech that will be delivered and videoed at the Inland Power headquarters. Dates for the video process will be determined once candidates have been finalized. Videos will be posted at inlandpower.com for the election and played during the annual meeting.
Election results will be announced at Inland Power’s annual meeting on Thursday, March 4, 2021. Each active membership is entitled to one vote for each district up for election. Look for election and voting details to mailed to you by early February. District 1: Includes all the area served by Inland Power north of the Spokane River and west of a line along Highway 395 from the Spokane River to the intersection of Highway 395 and Main Street in Deer Park and including the area running due north west of Main Street and south of 7th Avenue and west of Short Road running north from Deer Park.
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Rebuilding after the storm
YO U R
CO O P E R AT I V E 2021 annual meeting
District 3: Includes all the area served by Inland Power north of Highway 2 as it runs east-west through Lincoln and Spokane Counties and south of the Spokane River and Lake Roosevelt. District 5: Includes all the area served by Inland Power south of Highway 2 as it runs east-west through Lincoln and Spokane Counties, west of Highway 195 and north of a line proceeding west from Highway 195 along the Spokane-Whitman and LincolnAdams County lines to Schoonover Road, then south on Schoonover Road to Rehn Road and then west along Rehn Road to the Grant-Lincoln County line.
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SAFETY Holiday decor safety
ENERGY Power backups for medical devices
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t has been said that the year 2020 is a year where havoc is the new normal. This year’s Labor Day was certainly no exception. The day blew in with high winds, dry conditions and already burning wildfires. As the winds picked up, it fueled blazes throughout the state. New fires were also ignited, which used the high winds to fuel and spread at a rapid pace. What resulted were downed trees, power lines and poles, widespread outages and raging fires that torched homes and made conditions too dangerous for crews to immediately begin the restoration process. More than 15,000 Inland Power members were without power and the cooperative’s infrastructure was severely damaged, losing approximately 500 utility poles and miles of transmission and distribution line.
Crews worked with fire departments throughout Inland’s service territory and responded to emergency fire calls in the first 24 hours during and after the storm. As soon as conditions permitted, crews began the long and tumultuous task of patrolling line, assessing wind and fire damage and restoring power. To make matters worse, heavy smoke rolled in from fires burning in Oregon and California. Aside from working extremely long hours, crews had to battle smoke inhalation and low visibility. Crews worked to restore the largest outages first and then moved to outages impacting fewer members. The bulk of the damage was in Lincoln County where more than 400 poles were lost and more than 100 poles lost in Whitman County. The majority of Lincoln County’s 32 miles of transmission line
that feeds three of the substations in the area was also destroyed. Initial power restoration estimations for Lincoln County were very bleak, with predictions being estimated in weeks rather than hours or days. Area Service Representatives met with members in Lincoln County who were without power longer than a few days. Crews provided water trucks to those members whose wells were without power. Inland also purchased an 800KW generator to provide temporary relief to irrigators while crews raced to rebuild infrastructure. A very generous member also donated two 25KW generators for private residences. What was initially predicted as a multiple week-long outage in Lincoln County only lasted six days. Crews seemed to defy all odds as they worked tirelessly to rebuild Continued inside