Beltrami Electric Cooperative Inc

“Jared echternach and john lund have a business relationship due to serving together on the board of cooperative development, llc, a related taxable entity.”

“Beltrami electric cooperative, inc. Is composed of members. There is only one class of members of which each member is entitled to one vote.”

“Members elect the board of directors. There are nine different districts and each district has one board member seat. The members have voting rights in each of the nine districts.”

“Certain decisions, such as making changes in the bylaws and entering into a merger, would require the approval of members.”

“The policy committee and union negotiation committee make recommendations to the full board and only the full board can approve the recommendations. The committees do not have authority to act on behalf of the full board of directors and they do not keep minutes.”

“The ceo and director of finance & corporate services reviewed a draft of the form 990. The approved form 990 was presented at the september 2019 board meeting for final approval prior to it being filed.”

“There is a separate conflict of interest policy for the board of directors in addition to the general conflict of interest policy for all employees. They are reviewed annually by the board of directors. In regards to employees, each department is responsible to ensure compliance. If an employee willfully takes part in a conflict of interest transaction, disciplinary action will be taken. In regard to the board of directors, if a conflict of interest is identified, the board member no longer meets the qualifications to be a member of the board.”

“The board of directors conducts an annual appraisal of the ceo. Base compensation is established using comparable market data. Incentive compensation is based on specific measures and outcomes as determined by the board of directors and in support of the cooperative's strategic plan.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“Included in column (f), estimated amount of other compensation, is the estimated annual increase in the actuarial value of the defined benefit plan. The estimated increase for jared echternach is $60,546, $0 for sid sletten, $56,738 for daniel edens, $56,945 for sam mason, $29,546 for richard riewer, $46,725 for scott pemberton, $71,441 for arlene hogquist, and $27,165 for eric splichal. These amounts are estimates in the increase of the value of the plan and are not current year expenses of the cooperative. The current year expense for this defined benefit plan was $25,760, $8,439, $31,819, $31,819, $35,023, $20,424, $27,728, and $20,424, respectively.”

“Benefits paid to members - the cooperative has interpreted the instructions to part ix, line 4, to mean patronage capital allocated for the year, rather than patronage capital retired. This is consistent with the bylaws of the cooperative.”

“Allocated wages & benefit costs - the labor, pension, and payroll taxes reported on lines 5 - 10 are already included in distribution expense, administrative and general expense, and customer expense. Therefore, these amounts are being subtracted out as an other deduction on line 24e in the amount of $(6,828,238).”

“Retirement of capital credits -1,062,177. Increase in memberships 10,650. Earnings from taxable subsidiary -17,402. Book/tax difference from k-1s 253,669. Rounding adjustment -1. Allocated capital credits 336,896.”