Annual meeting July 13: Corridor announces directors, officers

(Graphic courtesy ITC Holdings Corp.) ITC company officials in February released a conceptual map of the Green Power Express, a network of transmission lines designed to capture wind energy.

Steven Pick of Spencer Municipal Utilities was named to his first term as a Clay County representative on the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation Board of Directors.

The Corridor also named Okoboji banker Curt Johnson to a second three-year term as chairman on June 17. Bill Bumgarner, the new president and CEO at Spencer Hospital will continue as the Corridor board's Vice Chairman. He most recently represented Emmet County and was Avera Holy Family Hospital's President and CEO in Estherville.

Dick Drahota, a banker from Storm Lake, will serve another three-year term as Treasurer.

Board members were selected based on ballots that were distributed to the investors of Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation. The ballots were then ratified by the board.

"We have a 12-member board of directors and there are three directors from each of the four counties that are elected by members of the organization," said Corridor President and CEO Kathy Evert. "If you're a member-investor in the Corridor, you're eligible to be a board member and you're eligible to vote for those board seats."

The board members serve three-year terms and are responsible for setting the policy, direction and annual budget for the organization, according to Evert.

The elections lay the groundwork for the annual meeting of the 2009-10 board of directors July 13. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. and includes a brief awards ceremony at King's Pointe Resort in Storm Lake.

A presentation of the organization's plans for the 2010 fiscal year is on the agenda. The featured speaker will be Keith Eyler from ITC Midwest.

The Michigan-based company is developing the Green Power Express, a proposed high-voltage electrical transmission project to connect wind energy production in the upper Midwest to major population centers.

A segment of the network of wind energy transmission lines could cut through the Corridor counties of Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson and Emmet.

"We're going to learn more about it at the annual meeting, which is why we've invited ITC Midwest to be there," Evert said. "It's certainly a project that is attempting to fill a need that a lot of us have been hearing and reading about over the last few years as we've worked to attract wind energy and other renewable energy facilities to this area."

The $10 billion to $12 billion project will traverse portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana as well as Iowa. It will ultimately include approximately 3,000 miles of extra high-voltage, or 765kV, transmission.

Site location in northwest Iowa is important because nearby transmission lines could attract wind farms and wind component manufacturers to the area.

"This is obviously many years out yet, but certainly the process of constructing transmission lines requires construction crews, the purchasing of materials and a purchasing of easements from landowners," Tom Petersen, the communications director for ITC Midwest, said at the time the project was announced.

"So certainly there's a potential for economic benefit, but the greater piece, of course, is to encourage wind development in the areas where the line connects to, or is adjacent to. That's probably where the biggest economic benefit would be for the state and the region as a whole."

For more information about Iowa Lakes Corridor's Annual Meeting call (712) 264-3474. The meeting is business casual and open to the public. Reservations are required; the cost to attend is $10.

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The 2009-10 Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation Board of Directors are:

* Curt Johnson, Bank Midwest, Okoboji,

* Bill Bumgarner, Spencer Hospital, Spencer,

* Dick Drahota, Heritage Bank, Storm Lake,

* Terry Yarns, City of Spirit Lake,

* Fred Moore, Buena Vista University, Storm Lake,

* Lyle Hevern, Christensen Construction Co, Estherville,

* Pat Reno, RANCO Fertiservice, Inc., Sioux Rapids,

* Steve Grell, Community State Bank, Spencer,

* Brad Simington, Farmers State Bank, Milford,

* Larry Anderson, City of Estherville,

* Steven Pick, Spencer Municipal Utilities, Spencer.

One board seat in Emmet County is vacant due to Bumgarner's relocation to Spencer and joining Spencer Hospital; it is expected to be filled by mid-July.