October 2026 CEO Column

As an organization, strategic planning is an exercise that allows us to think about where we want to go in the year ahead, align our priorities, and ensure the resources needed to achieve our goals are identified and in place. Last month, our board of directors, senior leaders, and staff gathered for a two-day strategic planning session. With help from Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) representatives and insights gained from member feedback, we looked at ways to grow our organization and improve our level of service.

Vegetation Management (VM) efforts in particular will be an area of focus for 2027. While we were able to increase our 2026 VM budget to $3M and progress has been made, results from the summer outage recap show that additional resources will likely be required to help reduce tree-related interruptions. Important details about VM and our approach to future maintenance cycles can be found in the article by Arborist Abe Nebgen — I encourage you to take a look.

As we begin the process of creating the action plans that will help us move forward with strategic planning goals, I want to thank our members for their engagement and willingness to let their voices be heard. Your input will play an integral role in the decisions we make as we move toward accomplishing our objectives.

With that in mind, please keep an eye out for our annual Member Satisfaction Survey. A link to complete the survey should arrive by email or text no later than mid-October. This important survey provides our members with the opportunity to share their concerns, suggest possible improvements, and weigh in on our performance over the past year. I look forward to your participation.

Until then, please do not hesitate to reach out if there’s anything you would like to discuss.

Cooperatively yours,

Joel Janorschke, CEO