North Star Electric Cooperative Incorporated

“The cooperative has 5,554 voting members. Each member has one vote.”

“The cooperative is divided into 7 districts. Each district is represented by one board member. Members can only vote for board members within their district.”

“Changes to the cooperative's bylaws must be approved by the cooperative's members. The directors are limited by the bylaws as to decisions relating to the sale of the cooperative, mergers and other significant transactions.”

“The cooperative did not have any committees with the authority to act on behalf of the board of directors.”

“The finance manager and general manager reviewed the form 990 proir to presenting the form 990 to the board of directors. The board of directors reviewed and approved the form 990 at the may 2022 board meeting.”

“The cooperative expects directors or employees who have conflicts of interest to disclose them immediately as they occur. Due care is taken to avoid unethical behavior and ensure honesty and accountability. The responsibilty for review and determination of board conflicts rests with the board president. The responsibility for the review and determination of employee conflicts rests with the general manager. All members are required to abstain from voting on any conflict of interest situation that may arise.”

“Nreca data is gathered by the board of directors. The general manager salary will be within the average range of the data - not highest and not lowest. The board approves the general manager salary. Minutes are kept of the board meeting deliberations. The general manager reviews the performance evaluation of the finance manager. This process was last performed in 2021.”

“Documents are provided upon request.”

“The cooperative's bylaws are distributed to all new members. Financial statements are shared with the members at the annual meeting. Monthly board meeting minutes summaries are reported in the cooperative's newsletter each month.”

“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 is $41,149 for marty mollberg, $49,900 for robyn sonstegard, $14,198 for joshua compton, $44,905 for timothy pelach, $53,485 for todd thydean, $13,289 for preston kennedy, and $38,997 for glen marcotte. This amount is an estimate in the increase of the value of the plan and is not current year expenses of the cooperative. The current year expense for this defined benefit plan was $26,318, $22,962, $25,029, $17,458, $17,458, $16,513, and $16,983 respectively.”

“Audited financials: although the cooperative did not have an audit for the calendar year ended december 31, 2021, it did have its annual audit performed by an independent accountant for the period from august 1, 2020 to july 31, 2021. The audit period was chosen in order to reduce the cost of the audit, as it is not performed during peak season for the audit firm. The cooperative is scheduled to have an independent audit performed for the period august 1, 2021 though july 31, 2022.”

“Retirements of capital credits -473,845. Unclaimed and abandoned capital credits -12,859. Patronage dividends allocated 877,121. Memberships 300.”