For our members

Annual Meeting

The 77th Annual Meeting of the members will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at the Lincoln County High School in Eureka, Montana. This event is an opportunity for our members to learn more about their cooperative. They also transact any business to come before the membership.

At the meeting, results of the trustee election are announced. Members are also given an update on cooperative happenings and financials. Registered memberships receive $20 in Eureka Chamber of Commerce bucks and the opportunity to win amazing prizes. 

Opportunity to Win Prizes

Your attendance at the Annual Meeting is a great exercise of Cooperative Principle #2 – Democratic Member Control. To celebrate our attending members, Lincoln Electric gives all registered memberships $20 in Chamber of Commerce Bucks. In addition, registration enters you for drawings of local gift certificates, merchandise, and even into the grand prize drawing of FREE Electricity for a Year!*

*Free electricity for a year is based on the 2023 average residential bill and awarded as a bill credit of up to $145 per month for 12 months.

Trustee Election

As a member of Lincoln Electric, you have the right to get involved in your cooperative. One of the main ways to get involved is electing fellow members to your Board of Trustees. These nine members meet once a month to review cooperative policies, financials, and evaluate the direction of the cooperative.

Trustees are elected each year by Lincoln Electric members by mail-in ballot. Ballots are mailed to all Lincoln Electric members with their official Notice of Meeting mid-March. Your mail-in ballot must be completed and submitted as noted on the ballot.

Trustee nomination petitions are available October through December. You can learn more about your Board of Trustees here.

76th Annual Meeting

2023 Meeting Recap

Lincoln Electric Cooperative’s 76th Annual Meeting of the Members was held at Lincoln County High School on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Two percent of the membership, or 103 members, were needed to achieve a quorum. We have 264 memberships registered at the event. The meeting began at 9:00 a.m. and was adjourned at 10:27 a.m.

Our auditor, Brandon Tregellas of Decoria, Blair and Teague, P.S., gave a brief financial update based on Lincoln Electric’s 2022 audit. He reported that cooperative is in great financial standing.

 Your Lincoln Electric board approved the retirement of capital credits for the 43rd consecutive year. In 2023, nearly half a million dollars will be retired to members and former members. Overall, we’ve returned almost $14 million to our members in the form of capital credits, landing Lincoln Electric near the top cooperatives in the country for capital credit retirements.

Mark Hash of O’Brien, Hash, & Biby, Lincoln Electric’s legal counsel and meeting parliamentarian, presented the results of the 2023 trustee election. There were three trustee seats up for election in 2023.

There were two nominations received for District 6 – Upper from incumbents Rick Peterson and Marianne Roose. There was one nomination received from incumbent Myra Appel in District 7 – Lower. Mail-in ballots were mailed to all members early in March, and were due back to Lincoln Electric by March 27, 2023. The returned ballots were counted by a volunteer committee of four Lincoln Electric members. A voting quorum of 103 was required to elect trustees. We received 326 valid mail-in ballots.

The results for District 6 were 285 votes for Rick Peterson and 265 votes for Marianne Roose. The District 7 result was 281 votes for Myra Appel. All incumbents were re-elected via mail-in ballot.

The grand prize of free electricity for a year was won by Chapel of Praise. The prize will be awarded as a bill credit of up to $145 per month for 12 months. The grand prize amount is based on the average residential bill from the previous year.

Mail-in ballot drawings

Congratulations to the winners of the mail-in ballot drawings! Thank you for voting.

  • $250 – Kristin and Martin Battle
  • $150 – Patrick and Angela Price
  • $100 – Esther Brandt