Landmark Services Cooperative hosts 84th annual meeting

Cottage Grove — Landmark Services Cooperative hosted its 84th annual meeting of its members on Jan. 12, at their headquarters in Cottage Grove.

 The meeting was called to order by Board Chairman John Blaska. Brian Gjermo, refined fuels delivery associate of Landmark Services Cooperative, sang a stunning patriotic medley. Blaska welcomed guests and introduced the board of directors prior to giving his chairman’s report.
 
Reflecting on 2016, Chairman Blaska discussed the board’s initiative to update the mission statement with a subtle change. This modification calls upon Landmark to create value for members through their Landmark experience.
 
Chairman Blaska also discussed the importance of ongoing investments in the cooperative. During the 2016 fiscal year, Landmark invested nearly $7 million in plants, property and equipment including improvements to the Cottage Grove grain location, unloading capacity at the Genoa City location and the acquisition of K&S Kustom Services Inc.
 
In closing the chairman’s report, Chairman Blaska stressed the cooperative system’s commitment to share earnings with its owners/members. Figures were shared regarding the cash returned to members over the past five years.
 
President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Carlson Jr. then gave his report and presented leadership staff introductions. During his report, Carlson stressed how success is driven by evolution versus revolution. In 1934, Landmark started with one location with sales of $55,390 and today has 24 locations with $383 million in sales.
 
2016 Nominating Committee Chair Mike Hinz took the podium, thanking his committee members for their hard work to identify qualified candidates to compete for the expired term of the chairman. In addition to Hinz, nominating committee members included: Brad Murray, Randy Link, John Holloway, Jim Bolton and Chuck Stanhope.
 
Hinz then announced the results of the board of director elections. John Blaska of Marshall was re-elected to serve a three-year term in the at-large position. He had run unopposed.
 
The meeting concluded with a thank you video to its members featuring President and CEO Robert Carslon Jr. and Landmark employees.
 
Landmark Services Cooperative is a member-owned cooperative business dedicated to providing both rural and urban customers the highest quality products and services. For more than 80 years, Landmark has been providing agronomy, energy and retail services, animal nutrition, grain, retail and transportation products and services to its more than 11,000 members in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Employing more than 525 people in rural areas and reaching sales in excess of $383 million in 2016, Landmark provides the benefits of volume buying and access to state-of-the-art technology to its members while maintaining a hands-on, customer service oriented approach in each of the communities we serve. For more information, visit landmark.coop, call 800-236-3276 or follow @LandmarkCoop on Twitter.