Addressing roughly two dozen members, former members and former employees of the Big Horn Co-op in Powell last week, the organization’s new CEO attempted to convince them to continue supporting the co-op through its rough patch in the hope of a better future.

CEO Jim Gauker, who’s three weeks into the job, visited the Park County Fairgrounds on Jan. 30 as part of a town hall tour of all the communities with co-op facilities — from Greybull to Riverton.

Gauker brought along a large group of employees and board members to both answer questions and show the strength of an organization that reported a $6 million loss in revenue last year. The financial situation led to the decision to shut down most of co-op’s convenience stores to focus on energy and agronomy services. The Powell store was among those closed at the end of December, though the adjoining tire shop and fuel pumps remain open.

When one man asked how the co-op could turn the financials around after losing a third of its business, Gauker’s answer displayed the gravity of the situation. 

“If we didn't lose one third we were going to lose 100%,” he said, adding later “We all hated it, but we needed to do it to save the co-op.”

Roughly $4 million of the $6 million deficit last year was due to the convenience stores, Gauker said. The one remaining store in Riverton does triple the volume of sales of any of the others, he said. 

Gauker also presented a vision of a more positive future for the company. 

In the first three weeks following the closures, the organization lost 15% of its revenue for the period — which was less than expected — while saving millions of dollars in costs. 

To further improve the financial situation, Gauker said they’re “not spending money” at corporate and are looking to sell roughly $4.5 million worth of property, including the Worland tire and farm store buildings, the Riverton grain facility and the Greybull corporate headquarters building; he said the corporate staff can move into the Greybull store.

The empty spaces not being sold, such as the Powell retail store, are being offered for lease to other businesses. Gauker said he’d already had a call from someone looking at the Powell space. 

By cutting most of the retail locations, they’ve also cut payroll.

“We have cut $2.2 million in salaries and wages, and not just at the store, at corporate. We have all felt that,” Gauker said. “That’s why we’ve got the main building up for sale … We don't spend money, we don’t take each other out to lunch, we don't go to conferences. We want to be in the black with agronomy and fuel. Then we can go out and attack, get more customers.”

“We cannot structure this thing on hopes, we’ve got to make it profitable right now,” he said.

Gauker said the agronomy and energy sales are profitable, and the situation should improve as they shed the buildings and inventory. At that point, he said they can start working through a $1 million backlog of requests for equity payouts from members who have hit the retirement threshold of 67 years old. Right now, Gauker said, the bank and state statute won’t allow the co-op to pay out any equity. 

That was a concern for many of the members present, along with frustrations over the loss in services. Mike Christiansen of Cody said the co-op has been central to his farming family. 

“You’ve got to take care of your members first, and without that it’s really tough,” he said. “The co-op’s been a really positive and good thing. The reason we come to the co-op is because of the people. It's all about the service … Get the pride of the co-op back again. It's pretty important that you guys get this turned around.”

While there were a lot of frustrated comments from members and others in the public — including former Powell farm store employees who wanted to know how best to help people who ask her questions about services — there were also efforts to solve issues and connect ag producers and members of the Powell Co-op team. 

Farmer Lynn George attended an earlier town hall in Worland and said he had expressed a lot of frustration. But by the end of the Powell event, he had a new message. 

“One take away is our confidence in what we’ve got here moving forward,” he said. “I feel so much better with what we’ve got now than what we had with [former CEO] Randy [Carlholm]. If we can be positive, say we’ve got the right guys here now, get the questions answered. Each of us needs to play a part in making the co-op successful once again.”