June 4, 2019

June marks the first convening of our Contract Committee since the members approved an amendment to our bylaws at our April 2019 Annual Meeting. The bylaw amendment allows the board to consider alternative types of membership and contracts with the association. The board of directors has tasked the committee to evaluate and recommend alternative membership classes and contract options that will better meet our members’ – and potential future members’ – evolving needs for more flexibility.

Scott Wolfe, Tri-State Board Vice Chairman, will chair the committee, which is composed of a representative from every member system and across the roles of Tri-State board members, member system CEOs and member system board members. This structure ensures every member system has the opportunity to engage in the process and participate in developing recommendations that will best serve the membership.

The association’s contract is central to the way our members relate to one another within our association. The promises in the contract outline the responsibilities our members have to each other, and that Tri-State has to them. As a member-governed association, decisions to change the contract rest solely with our membership.

Our contract makes it possible for us, as an association, to bring electricity to members from Powell, Wyoming, down to Deming, New Mexico, from Cortez, Colorado, over to Grant, Nebraska, and the 200,000 square miles in between. It provides the security we and our lenders need to make long-term, capital-intensive investments in our transmission and generation infrastructure.

Our member systems will review the promises they have made to each other, and what they need from each other and from Tri-State going forward. I am confident that our members and board will, as they always have, make the decisions that will lead to an even brighter future for their systems and our association.