Clearwater-Polk Electric

“All members of the governing body, with the exception of the president, have the same voting rights. The president only votes in the case of a tie.”

“The cooperative is member owned. There is only one class of members.”

“Each member of the cooperative has one vote in the election of board members.”

“Each member of the cooperative is allowed one vote on changes and amendments to the bylaws.”

“There were no committees with authority to act on behalf of the governing body.”

“The form 990 was reviewed by the general manager and the office manager prior to presenting to the board of directors at a board meeting prior to filing with the irs.”

“Board members are asked to disclose any potential conflicts prior to taking office, and they also complete conflict of interest disclosure statements if they run for re-election when their terms are up. This process occurs every 3 years. Board members and officers are covered by the policy. It is the responsibility of the board to review compliance with the conflict of interest policy and to consult with any board member or the general manager as a situation may require. It is the general manager's responsibility to provide assistance to the board to assure compliance with the policy and it is the responsibility of legal counsel to counsel and/or advise individual board members and/or the board regarding the policy. Full disclosure must be made to the board of any facts that may indicate a conflict of interest. Board members disqualify themselves from decisions that pose a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest. They may request an opinion of the cooperative's legal counsel before such action is taken.”

“The independent board members each complete an annual review of the general manager using a rating system. The board members meet to discuss their evaluations. The general manager submits a salary schedule for the office manager to the board for their review and approval. The board gathers comparability data from similarly sized cooperatives in the region when deliberating the salary for both the general manager and office manager. The benefits are reviewed and approved based on the union contract per the employee policy book. The decision is documented in the board minutes. This process was last undertaken in 2021 prior to hiring deanna lefebvre as the general manager.”

“The bylaws, financial statements, and conflict of interest policy are available upon request. Year end financial statements are presented to the membership at the cooperative's annual meeting. A request form for documents is available to obtain the information.”

“Included in column f, estimated amount of other compensation, is the estimated annual increase in the actuarial value of the defined benefit plan. These amounts are estimates in the increase of the value of the plan and are not current year expenses of the cooperative. The estimated increases are: deanna lefebvre: $125,202 todd waggoner: $46,251 angela schneider: $7,496 matthew rendahl: $8,254 mike girtz: $21,457 travis huot: $8,076 josh hendricks: $6,740 travis trefz: $5,672 ian willborg: $4,206 the current year expense for this defined benefit plan is the amounts contributed. The contributions are: deanna lefebvre: $39,749 todd waggoner: $25,611 angela schneider: $24,461 matthew rendahl $20,049 mike girtz: $19,929 travis huot: $19,929 josh hendricks: $19,652 travis trefz: $19,352 ian willborg: $19,352”

“As required by form 990 instructions, form 990, part ix, line 4 (benefits paid to or for members) includes patronage dividends paid. This amount is an expense for purposes of form 990, but is not recognized as an expense under g.a.a.p. Reporting requirements, which are used for book income. The result is a book to tax difference which is disclosed on part xi. In reference to part ix, line 4, the cooperative has interpreted "patronage dividends paid" as capital credits allocated to members under the preexisting obligations pursuant to the bylaws of the cooperative.”

“The labor, pension, and payroll taxes reported on lines 5-10 are already included in distribution expense, administrative & general expense and customer expense. Therefore, these amounts are being subtracted out as an other deduction included on line 24e in the amount of $(2,017,525). This amount is netted with a rounding adjustment of $1 to equal the total of $(2,017,524) shown on line 24e.”

“Change in membership -2,290. Gain on retired capital credits 62,922. Retirement of capital credits -276,721. Patronage capital credits allocated 198,233.”