A possible alliance between Slope Electric Cooperative of New England and two other electrical cooperatives has sparked controversy from customers and workers in the area co-op over news it will not have an in-house manager after the alliance.
Slope Electric's board of directors recently announced an alliance with the Mor-Gran-Sou and Oliver/Mercer cooperatives. They already have hired interim managers from both cooperatives.
Informational meetings were held in Bowman and New England to discuss the change. Slope Electric board President John Lee Njos said he felt a strong majority of the audience approved of an alliance.
Others who attended the meetings say otherwise.
"It seems a lot of people were frustrated their complaints haven't been addressed," said Lewellyn Rustan of New England. "A few (people) tried, and we were pretty much silenced."
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Njos said details of the agreement are still being worked out and could take until next year or later, as the other cooperatives must agree with the proposed alliance.
The current plan would have the two managers oversee all three cooperatives.
"One of the things is when you bring together these managers, there are just a lot of good things - they've had the experience, they understand the co-ops of North Dakota, we were able to get experience right off," Njos said.
Rustan disagrees.
"They're calling it a management alliance, but Slope Electric doesn't have a manager - we're just allowing them to hire other people from other cooperatives," he said.
Rustan wrote a letter that appeared in the editorial pages of several area newspapers. In the letter, he writes Slope not having its own in-house manager would hurt the cooperative, as it would not receive the full attention necessary to maintain the company's high standards.
Slope Electric has become prosperous over the past few years due to the oil fields in Bowman County. Rustan said not having a manager to properly handle large situations such as that would be too much of a risk.
"We've got an incredibly capable staff at Slope Electric that was part of what made Slope Electric as successful as it is, while working with our old manager," he said.
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But Slope board Vice President James A. Kerzman, who also a North Dakota state representative from Mott, said there would be no guarantee if they were to hire an in-house manager that they would live locally in New England.
He said the issue of possibly not giving enough focus to Slope's operations has been discussed throughout negotiations.
"I think they'd bend over backwards to address that problem, because we've really gained some managers who go around to share their time," Kerzman said. "We're well satisfied and I think that our bottom line shows it. They've really stepped up to the plate."
Kerzman said some of the advantages of an alliance include the improved ability to gather and share information among the cooperatives. They could also hire a full-time engineer among the three co-ops, something they individually are unable to do.
While Slope co-op member and New England native Mark Koller understands the overall benefits of an alliance, he said Slope would become a "silent partner" if left without an in-house manager fully focused on the needs of his own cooperative.
"When the going gets tough, the manager has to stand up and represent their own co-ops first," Koller said.
Koller, who also sent a letter that made area editorial pages, said he had been on board with the alliance until he went to Slope Electric's annual meeting on June 7.
He said several people during the meeting raised questions about the fellow cooperatives and did not receive direct answers.
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"That question was asked - the (other cooperatives') managers wouldn't answer that question. They really didn't stand up and talk about the alliance - have them sell themselves to me," Koller said. "I want to learn something about my new managers."
Kerzman said it is sometimes difficult to give answers to questions about new opportunities for a business.
"It's hard to give direct answers, how do you know how much (money, resources and time) you are going to save until you really work through it?" he said.
Njos and Kerzman said they did expect some negative feedback from the announcement, but feel the cooperative will move on.
"We're working to do what's best for the cooperation; we're a person at the back of the line just like they are," Njos said.
