When I was 5 years old, my parents bought their first house. There was a field along the northside of the property. The property was on the outskirts of a growing community and my dad, rightly, anticipated that we might not always enjoy the privacy benefits afforded by that open field.

Our first year in the house, we planted pine trees along that 350-foot property line. Well, not trees, exactly. Seedlings, barely knee-high. That first summer, and the summer after that, I helped him haul water to every one of them.

We enjoyed watching those trees grow and thrive. We eventually sold that house, and by then the trees were as tall as me.

Today, they form a complete windbreak and privacy barrier between that property and the senior living center that eventually went up in the field next door. My dad planted trees he would never sit in the shade of. He just knew they needed to be there.

I think about that a lot in my role at Cherryland. Every investment we make, every decision our board approves, and every dollar we spend must serve our members today and protect the cooperative our kids will inherit.

Our region is growing. We all see and feel it. Our team here at Cherryland has spent a significant portion of the last few years planning and preparing for that growth.

Over the next several years, we have ambitious plans to meet this growth as we continue to move overhead lines underground, rebuild aging infrastructure, and modernize the grid with technology that makes your power more reliable and more resilient. Our members experience about one-third of the power outages of the statewide average. We intend to keep it that way.

We’re also investing $35 million into our headquarters. In July, we will break ground on a new 115,000-square- foot facility that is designed to serve our growing community well into the future. Our current building was constructed in 1972, when Cherryland served less than 10,000 members across about 1,300 miles of line. Today, we serve more than 40,000 homes and businesses and maintain almost 3,400 miles of line. We looked hard at renovating our current facility. The cost was comparable to new construction, but without the longevity. Starting fresh best serves our members.

The new facility will be sized to safely store the equipment needed to maintain your service. It will include a modern, cyber-secure, storm-hardened dispatch and control center capable of operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

These system and facility investments will be funded through a combination of borrowing and relying on the financial strength we’ve spent years deliberately building. Cherryland’s equity position is strong, our margins are healthy, and our borrowing costs are competitive. We built toward this moment on purpose.

I know one of your biggest questions is probably what this means for your rates. We’re finalizing a rate forecast right now, which indicates our future rate increases will remain in line with the broader inflationary environment even as we keep investing in our system on your behalf.

My dad planted those trees knowing they’d outlast him. That’s how we think about these investments—members benefit today, and the cooperative gets stronger with every year that follows. My dad understood that. So does your board of directors.

These are not decisions we make lightly. They are the result of years of planning and an unwavering commitment to keeping the lights on for our community, now and for future generations.