Shaping your cooperative’s future  

Where are we going? Where do we want to be? What do we want to be? How do we get there? Those are some of the broad questions asked recently at strategic planning sessions held by your cooperative’s board of directors, staff and employees. Periodically your cooperative undergoes a strategic planning process and is doing so at this time. Through this process we have developed a new vision, mission, core values and strategic initiatives I’d like to share with you.

Continued...

RoundUp® grants awarded

On Wednesday, Oct. 16 North Itasca Electric Trust Board held its fall grant meeting.

The Trust Board meets twice a year to distribute monies that come from members who round up their bills each month to the next dollar and contribute the cents toward a fund that supports local community initiatives. In this grant session, almost $11,200 in RoundUp dollars were made available to area projects.

After a lot of discussion and difficult decisions, the Trust Board awarded grants to 56 applicants for a total of $11,252.35. Projects sponsored ranged from robotics materials for a school program in Northome to an emergency generator at the Marcell Family Center, and grants ranged from $64 to $350. A full list of awards is on the continuing page.

Continued...

Energy efficient dome home construction  

Daniel and Cheryl Gentry are building a dome home in Max Township. While the home is still under construction, it has been equipped with an 18 kW electric boiler, placed on North Itasca Electric’s Dual Fuel program.

The components from which this home was constructed allows for many great energy efficient opportunities over that of a standard home’s construction. While standard wall construction of homes requires an R-value of 19, the exterior walls extending from the dome are 16” thick, allowing for an energy value of R-49. The dome’s construction allows for an energy value of R-50.

Much of a home’s heat loss occurs around rim joists and foundation walls. Construction of the Gentry’s foundation is unique in that it is constructed using a FPSF (Frost Protection Shallow Foundation) system. A foundation wall constructed of pressure treated wood with 4” inches of rigid foam insulation penetrating 24” below grade and 24” horizontal reducing heat loss from the foundation perimeter.

Continued...

Roxanne’s Sales Talk 

There is a growing telephone scam affecting utility customers across the country. The scam involves telephone callers claiming to be from a utility company and then employing a variety of techniques to defraud customers.

Some threaten customers with disconnecting electric service to their home or business if they don’t make a payment immediately. The scam artist instructs them to send money via prepaid card or online payment service, such as PayPal or GreenDot, before their power is shut off. The scammer’s caller-ID is falsified so it appears to originate from the utility company, a practice known as “spoofing.”

Continued...

Hunters' Suppers 

Friday, November 8

• Jesse Lake Lutheran Church
  Location: Highway 4, 2 miles west of Talmoon
  Time: 4-7 p.m.
  Cost: Adults, $13; children 6-12, $6
  Menu: Lutefisk, Swedish meat balls and lefse
  Also: Raffle for quilt, shotgun and Cabela sled, 2 $50 cash
  
  
• Northwoods Saddle Club
  Location: Effie Community Center
  Time: 4-7 p.m.
  Cost: Suggested donation $8
  Menu: Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, dinner roll, beverage
  Also: baked goods sale, raffle prizes given away throughout the evening
  
  
• Mustang Volleyball
  Location: Kootasca Senior Center in Northome
  Time: 4:30 p.m. until it's gone
  Cost: Free will donation
  Menu: aMeat balls, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, desserts, bars
  
  

Continued...

November 2013 Calendar of Events 

1-3	All the King's Women, an EdgeWild Players comedy at the Edge Center, Bigfork. 7 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m.
1-3	Fall play Wizard of Oz at Blackduck School, Friday dinner theater, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday 7 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. For tickets, info call 835-5210
3	Daylight Savings Time ends; set clocks back one hour.
4	No school, Bigfork, Deer River schools.
Continued...