MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — Central Electric Cooperative will send off longtime general manager Ken Schlimgen with a rousing retirement celebration on Friday, June 26.

Schlimgen’s time with the coop began as a member services advisor at Intercounty Electric in 1985. He was in charge of maintaining a brand-new load management system and teaching customers how to be efficient with their energy use.

Schlimgen soon became the face of Intercounty Electric as manager of member services. He was a fixture at events like Dakotafest, performing safety demonstrations. Schlimgen organized bus tours to coal plants at Basin Electric near Beulah, North Dakota. He took students and employees to Washington, D.C. to help teach them leadership.

Intercounty Electric and Tri-County Electric merged in 2000 to create Central Electric Cooperative. The combined effort made Schlimgen an even more important part of the area’s power generation industry.

Schlimgen will stay busy in retirement. In June, he won a seat on the Mitchell City Council in Ward 3. He has had a hand in the Mitchell Area Development Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee, the local United Way chapter, and Mitchell Technical College. That experience has helped him stay current on the challenges facing the city and the best course forward to meet them.

The retirement open house will start at the Central Electric Betts Road Office from 2:00-4:00 p.m. It then moves to the Highland Conference Center in Mitchell from 4:30-7:00 p.m. The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Schlimgen officially steps down on July 1st, which has been declared “Ken Schlimgen Day in South Dakota” by Governor Rhoden.