Silver Bow Kiwanis Kiwanis Club Meeting, Dec 9, '14

12:00-1:00 Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Today we were joined by Rich from the Sunrise club, Matt and Reno from the Circle K, and Devin, Jared, Lacey, Nate, Mackenzie, and Kate from the Central High Key Club.

Rich let us know that Sunrise has their coupon books available again. The books are $20 and these funds go to support their sponsorship of the Kiwanis B.U.G. program to encourage elementary students to improve or maintain their grades. In general, if you use two coupons from the coupon book, you will cover the cost of the book itself. If you want a book and didn't get a chance, let Keith know and we'll get you connected.

Devin from the Key Club let us know that they are again selling their butter braided bread. He passed around an order sheet, but today was the last day to order. Devin will be back with Mr. Stonehocker on December 23 to deliver bread from those in the club who ordered.

Matt let us know that the Circle K has raised over $730 in ticket sales for their Holiday Care Raffle. They are on track to help 35 kids and 17 families this year.

Keith let us know that tonight is the Circle K holiday party. This includes a pot luck dinner, a white elephant gift exchange, and the drawing for the prizes for the Holiday Care Raffle. The party is at 6pm in the Pintler Room in the SUB. This will be the final Circle K meeting of the semester. Builder's Club is having their holiday bake sale Wednesday and Thursday at 11 in the Butte Central Middle School lunch room. Debby will be selling baked goods provided by the Builder's Club members through the school's lunch hours. Proceeds are split between the several Catholic parishes here in Butte to provide for those in need. Debby could use some help working the table and with setup and teardown if anyone can be there to help the Builder's Club.

Keith also let us know about the special Christmas Lunch scheduled for December 23 at Perkins. We will have apricot glazed salmon, green beans, seasoned rice, and a slice of pie. Please RSVP with Keith and let him know if you are bringing a guest and whether you will have the salmon or will choose one of our alternates - we need to get a count to Perkins.

The meeting was then turned over to Paul Babb of NorthWestern Energy. Paul is a Butte native and graduated from Butte High and Montana Tech. He's worked for several businesses here in Butte, most recently serving an 8 year term as Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive. Paul currently is a public relations manager for NorthWestern Energy.

NorthWestern recently completed the acquisition of 11 hydroelectric dams in the state from PPL Montana. These dams were previously owned by Montana Power. Through the process the Public Services Commission held several public listening sessions and invited public comment. One concern Paul had with these listening sessions is that while the voices and concerns of those who spoke about the acquisition were heard, noted, and discussed further by the PSC, there was always some question as to the real concerns and particularly the position of those who came to a session and did not speak. He has suggested that the PSC ask for a show of hands pro and con on issues, or at least ask for a vote of some kind so the PSC is more comfortable that they understand the public opinion.

In addition to the recent dam acquisition, NorthWestern Energy is working on a large infrastructure upgrade project. They are in the process currently of upgrading their natural gas delivery infrastructure to make this safer for consumers, the public, and their staff. They are also starting a project to upgrade their electrical delivery infrastructure. They have plans in place to begin a project to upgrade their transmission infrastructure once the delivery project is completed, and then they will address updates to their substations.

The building in Uptown Butte is moving along nicely and is scheduled to open in December of 2015.

NorthWestern has a program to give 1% of their profits back to the community through non-profits. This is not funding taken from consumer bills, but is from shareholder value. With the acquisition of the 11 dams from PPL, they will be reviewing, revamping, and incorporating PPL's giving program during 2015 to continue the good work PPL was doing. One way that service organizations and charities can take advantage of this program is to have at least two NorthWestern employees work on a project or fundraiser with you. With a minimum of 2 employees involved, the non-profit can apply to receive an additional $100 per participating employee donated from the company!

Presentation

Paul Babb, Building Progress

Menu

Steak and Mashed Potato

Attendees

31

Event Updated

9:09 Wednesday, December 10, 2014