Sass and Weber Honored for Decades of Service at WVEC Annual Meeting

Whetstone Valley Electric Cooperative held its 84th annual membership meeting on Thursday, March 26, at the Wilmot High School. The meeting was attended by 294 people that included 225 registered members. WVEC General Manager Dave Page introduced the employees – all who recieved a round of applause from the crowd.  

Page presented a milestone service award to Gene Sass in honor of his 40 years with the cooperative. Page also congratulated  Mark Weber on his recent retirement after 37 years with WVEC. 

Eric Pederson received an award for 25 years of service. Ryan Dunnihoo was also recognized for 10 years of service. 

President Joel Adler introduced the board of directors, officers, and general counsel. He welcomed former employees and directors. Adler commended  Bill Tostenson from District 5 for his years of dedicated service on the WVEC Board. Tostenson has stepped down due to term limits.

Three uncontested candidates were elected by unanimous consent:
Dave Behrns, District 1
Matt Cameron, District 2
Paul Tostenson, District 5

Page announced the 2026 Whetstone Valley / Basin Electric $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to Olivia Foell, a senior at Milbank High School.

Drawing Winners:
$500       Earl Robinson
$100       Bryton Blauert (youth ages 14-18)
$50         Colter Finnesand (youth ages 13 and under)

Adler reported capital credits in the amount of $9,266,804 have been returned to members and $449,138 has been approved for the 2026 general retirement that is to be credited to members. The returned cash or credit is the member’s equity share in the coop this year.

Page addressed regional growth in energy demand alongside slower local growth, and the resulting impacts on electric rates. He noted member survey results consistently identified reliability as the top priority and provided an overview of the costs associated with maintaining electric generation and infrastructure.

Page also addressed concerns raised by some members regarding the potential impact of data centers and transmission development on local electric rates.

WVEC Operations Manager Jon Christensen provided the 2025 operations report and described future work plan projects. As part of the 2025 operations review, Christensen presented statistical data detailing the volume of services performed by the cooperative, along with a summary of outages for the year.

Christensen also recapped  projects outlined in the construction work plan aimed at improved load capacity and enhancing system reliability. The initiatives call for the replacement of aging infrastructure and the increase of capacity to accommodate load growth and facilitate system load balancing.

The meeting began with the National Anthem led by Marie Ammann. Pastor Peter Reynen of Wilmot offered the invocation.

Submitted Photos: Middle- Dave Page and Olivia Foell.
Bottom-(l to r) Earl Robinson, Colter Finnesand and Bryton Blauert.