July 29, 2026 Board Meeting Summary

July 29, 2026 Board of Directors meeting summary

Wildfire Impacts – The board heard updates from staff regarding regional wildfires in the area, particularly the Aspen Acres and Willow fires. CEO Jon Beyer reported that San Isabel Electric Association was heavily impacted by the Aspen Acres fire and had about 2,800 members without power at its peak but managed to maintain its system backbone with support from multiple contractors.

The Willow Fire came within a mile and a half of SDCEA’s electrical system but did not impact SDCEA’s service in the area.

A July 7 Xcel Energy transmission outage caused by heavy smoke tripped a 115 KV transmission line near Leadville, which caused an early morning outage throughout the north end of SDCEA’s service territory. CEO Jon Beyer noted that this year’s response to the transmission outage was improved compared to a similar incident a year earlier due to Xcel having employees in the valley who could operate the switches to restore power.

Beyer said he intends to bring SDCEA’s wildfire mitigation plan to the board for discussion in September.

The board also addressed wildfire management efforts, with appreciation expressed for staff’s diligence in protecting facilities and grid reliability.

CEO Update – Beyer has been CEO of the cooperative for one year. He highlighted accomplishments including new rate implementation, transparency initiatives, budget modifications that saved half a million dollars, and improved employee culture.

Buena Vista mitigation project –The board discussed progress on the Buena Vista vegetation mitigation project. Broken down into four quadrants, the town’s trees in or near SDCEA three-phase lines have been inventoried and mapped. Results of that mapping will be given to the town administrator and the Buena Vista tree board in August.

Mt Princeton Hot Springs Solar Project – The board discussed a  311-kW solar project at Mount Hot Springs Resort, which will be spread across five sites with an estimated annual production of 490 megawatt hours. The board, after an executive session on the terms of the agreement, voted to approve a contract with the Mt Princeton project, similarly to the existing Trout Creek Solar arrangement, for a 20-year Purchase Power Agreement. The Mt Princeton project is much smaller in scale to Trout Creek Solar’s 2-megawatt facility.

Buena Vista Battery Project – The  Buena Vista Power Depot project is on hold due to Tri-State’s 25 percent reduction in funding for this program.

Financial Report – CFO Sarah Crites reported that revenue was 7 percent lower than budget through June, but operating margins remained at budget due to lower power costs and controlled expenses. $1 million in additional cash is expected to be received from grants SDCEA was awarded from the Colorado Forest Service for vegetation management and from the USDA for energy efficient upgrades to the headquarters during the HVAC repair.

Performance Review- The board reviewed a second-quarter strategic plan scorecard update, highlighting zero injuries, incidents, or near misses in safety performance. New fire safety measures were implemented, including fire blankets for trucks in grassy areas during Stage 3 fire conditions. The cooperative connected 53 services in Q2, up 20 from Q1, and continues to see growth in new developments and subdivisions. Discussion focused on challenges with outage metrics due to extreme weather conditions affecting normal system operations, making it difficult to set meaningful goals for reliability measures.

Cooperative Performance and Strategic Planning – The board reviewed SDCEA’s performance metrics comparing the organization to  cooperatives across the nation.  Key financial ratios were analyzed, allowing the board to review and compare SDCEA to different peer groups such as co-ops of similar meter count, co-ops located in Colorado, and co-ops nationwide.  The board discussed plans for an upcoming strategic planning session scheduled for September. Board members debated the focus and structure of the retreat, with some expressing concerns about spending too much time on tactical items rather than strategic priorities. They acknowledged that the organization has made significant progress in year one with a new CEO. The current environment differs from previous strategic planning efforts and allows for more strategic thinking rather than tactical responses to immediate challenges.

The board proposed to refine current goals by replacing specific actions with broader strategic priorities including safety, financial stewardship, resiliency, member experience, and personnel development.

The board discussed whether to hire a facilitator for strategic planning, deciding against it after considering concerns about maintaining control over the process and potential costs. They agreed to proceed with an off-site meeting at the Steamplant annex in Salida, scheduled for 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sept. 22-23.

Coffee with the Co-op – Coffee with the co-op, open to SDCEA members, will be held September 9th in the SDCEA community room in Buena Vista.

Next board meetings: The next board meeting will be August 26 at SDCEA in Buena Vista, 29780 US 24 N.  There will be no regular board meeting in September – a Sept 22-23 board education and strategic planning session will be held at the Salida Steamplant instead.

Agendas are posted 10 days in advance on SDCEA’s website: Board Meeting Agendas & Minutes – Board Meeting Agendas & Minutes – Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, Inc.