Three electric cooperatives west of the Missouri River are putting together a management alliance that is causing ripples in one of the cooperatives.

Some members of Slope Electric Cooperative, a co-op with relatively few people and a huge electrical load in the oil fields, have questions they feel aren't being answered about why they're now sharing managers instead of having one of their own.

Slope, along with Mor-Gran-Sou out of Flasher and Oliver-Mercer out of Hazen, have agreed in principle to an alliance, but their lawyers are still hashing out the legal details.

The alliance plan is for the three co-ops to share two managers for the next five years to hopefully save some money and share experience. The agreement would have a back-out plan and a dissolution process if it doesn't work out.

The two managers are Don Franklund, of Mor-Gran-Sou, and Clayton Hoffman, of Oliver-Mercer.

The men have been co-managing Slope since Lynette Nieuwsma resigned to take a job in Minnesota a year ago. Franklund specializes in the engineering and operations side of the co-op's business, while Hoffman brings finance and business experience.

The alliance would formalize those management contracts and also cause an alliance board to be formed from among the co-op board members.

It's not a merger, which Franklund said causes heartache and disruption among co-op members.

Instead, the alliance shares management and may allow the three co-ops to share equipment and hire specialty staff for engineering, computer technology or human resources, which would be difficult for any one to afford on its own.

Slope, for having the fewest members - Slope County has less than 800 residents - has twice the electrical load of Mor-Gran-Sou and will double in load again in five years because of more oil development in southern Slope and Bowman counties.

Lewellyn Rustan, of New England, said he'd like the board to explain why not filling a manager vacancy and paying for part-time management is a good thing.

He said he doesn't think saving money - if it does - makes up for not having local management.

Rustan said it's hard for local people to get answers from their board members about things like how much the co-managers are being paid by Slope, or details of the proposed alliance agreement. He said the lack of answers is eroding trust.

Bowman County economic development director Cal Klewin said he thinks the Slope co-op should have a full-time manager because of its load growth and the need for co-op leadership in local development.

John Lee Njos, president of the Slope co-op board, said sharing managers saves the co-op some money, but not a large amount.

He said, rather than bring on someone new, the Slope board wanted the benefit of Franklund's and Hoffman's experience to solve the immediate challenge of getting enough power into the Slope oil fields to allow full development.

Franklund said they have patched together agreements among Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Western Area Power Administration and Montana-Dakota Utilities to get enough electricity to the oil fields in all but dire transmission emergencies. A permanent solution will come when Basin Electric Power Cooperative brings in a new transmission feed sometime by 2010.

Njos said Slope board members have talked for a couple of years about the potential for co-oping with other co-ops and Nieuwsma's resignation provided an opportunity.

"It's neighbors helping neighbors," he said.

Darell Herman, vice president of the Oliver-Mercer board, said the Coal Country co-op is getting the talents of two managers rather than one, this way.

He said, for now, Slope pays a management fee. Part of the fee is going to Franklund and Hoffman and part stays with the co-ops for their costs. That would change under the alliance, and the three co-ops would be paying for a management service from the two men.

Herman said the alliance is step forward because it will allow all three to better utilize employees and equipment.

In Slope service territory, Rustan and others have purchased newspaper ads encouraging Slope co-op members to call their board members with concerns.

Njos said that, when he explains what's happening, people are OK with the plan. He said a letter will go out to co-op members explaining what the alliance is all about, as a way to follow up two public meetings that were held several weeks ago.

He said it's taking longer to negotiate the alliance details than anticipated. The agreement won't be a done deal when Slope co-op holds its annual meeting June 7, or when Oliver-Mercer holds its annual meeting June 6. Mor-Gran-Sou's annual meeting is July 20.

Njos said the matter will come up at the annual meeting, and Rustan said he expects there will be a demand for some answers.

"I expect the annual meeting this year will be a heck of an interesting place to be,"Rustan said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)