TROY — Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative members elected one new director and returned two incumbents to the cooperative board of directors during the utility’s 2018 Annual Meeting held Tuesday, July 24, at the Troy Fairgrounds.
Jerome Sasala of Austin was elected to a three-year term representing District 1 on the co-op board. Sasala, who recently retired as Austin Area School District superintendent, defeated J. Thomas Wandel of Keating Township in a two-way race for the open board seat.
Tri-County members re-elected incumbent directors James Davis of Elkland and Alston Teeter of Milan to represent Districts 4 and 7, respectively. Both ran unopposed in their re-election bids.
More than 800 cooperative members registered for the annual meeting, which took place at Alparon Park in Troy in conjunction with the Troy Fair.
Meeting attendees heard election results, as well as business reports from cooperative President and Chief Executive Officer Craig Eccher and board Chairman Matthew Whiting of Lawrenceville.
Both Eccher and Whiting spoke on the cooperative’s ongoing effort to bring high-speed fiber-optic internet service to the cooperative’s service territory.
“We continually search for initiatives consistent with the foundational cooperative principles,” said Whiting, noting Tri-County’s focus on delivering high-speed internet service to co-op members is aimed at improving the quality of life for those in rural northern Pennsylvania.
In addition, he explained, a broadband network could serve as a catalyst for economic development within the region and could create opportunities for telemedicine, distance learning and teleconferencing.
“High-speed internet allows small business to interact with customers and suppliers very easily and very quickly,” he added.
Eccher said the cooperative is in the process of seeking federal and state funding to kickstart the cooperative’s proposed broadband deployment. Tri-County is participating in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction, the Federal Communications Commission program designed to expand access to broadband services in rural areas by providing funding to companies to subsidize the cost of building new network infrastructure.
With headquarters in Mansfield, Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative has served the residents of northcentral Pennsylvania since 1937. Today the cooperative provides electricity to over 16,600 members in Potter, McKean, Cameron, Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming and Clinton counties.
