Southern cooperative leadership up in the air – Billings Gazette (Montana)

Leadership of the bankrupt Southern Montana Electric Transmission & Generation Cooperative remains up in the air after Tuesday's surprise retirement of chief executive Tim Gregori. Following the announcement,...

Leadership of the bankrupt Southern Montana Electric Transmission & Generation Cooperative remains up in the air after Tuesday’s surprise retirement of chief executive Tim Gregori.

Following the announcement, Southern’s board president, Bill FitzGerald of Hysham, unilaterally appointed Alan See as interim manager. See is the general manager of the Tongue River Electric Cooperative in Ashland.

But that appointment is illegal, contends David Kelsey, a Southern board member from Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative in Huntley.

“Bill FitzGerald had no authority to make that appointment. He should have contacted the board members and had a special meeting, at the very least, a conference call, and he didn’t do any of that,” Kelsey said.

The Yellowstone Valley co-op and the City of Great Falls will ask Montana’s bankruptcy judge to reject See and turn over management of Southern to a court-appointed trustee, Kelsey said.

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