Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electric Cooperative. The buzz is a monthly message to our community celebrating what it means to be a member owner of your local electric cooperative, Boone Electric Cooperative, your co op, our community.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome back to the Buzz. I'm Zach Smith, community communications specialist at Boone Electric Cooperative, and we're taking a break from our discussion of the seven cooperative principles to discuss Boone Electric Cooperative's annual meeting. And joining us today is Boone Electric's manager of member services, Laura Baker. Laura, thank you for joining us.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: You bet.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: We always talk about the annual meeting in terms of the members handling the business of the cooperative, and it's the biggest day on the calendar, any cooperative. Can you tell us a little bit about what the annual meeting is for and why? We hold one every year?
[00:01:01] Speaker C: So we have bylaws that kind of it's what our business is based on the rules and directives that are developed over the years so that we're doing business properly. And one of those things is we have our members who own the cooperative meet once a year to elect directors and make adjustments to the bylaws. We have amendments that they vote on. And then, of course, the minutes from last year, like any meeting does, they go over the minutes from the previous meeting. So that's what we do, is that we are voting on director candidates and bylaw amendments and the minutes from last year.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: And when is our annual meeting this year?
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Our annual meeting is Thursday, September 12, from 07:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. and.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: How does one attend the meeting to vote? Because in the past, we used to do a big in person meeting. Some members may even remember the days of the striped tent and the wooden chairs and the fried chicken. Or as I actually heard from one of our board members recently, before the fried chicken, it was ham and cheese sandwiches.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: Oh, boy.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: We haven't done it that way for a while now. So what is this year's annual meeting going on?
[00:02:12] Speaker C: So this year it is a drive thru again, like we've had for the last few years, from 07:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. you come to our office location at 1413 Rangeline street, and you'll be directed on a path to avoid any traffic buildup on Rangeline street. And then come into our garage and vote for our director candidates register, and then you're on your way.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: And who can vote in the annual meeting?
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Our members. So we have two different types of members. We have a single membership or a joint membership. So a single membership is whoever signed up for service. It's under one person's name. No matter how many adults are in the home. A joint membership would be a legally married couple, and so either of them can vote, but only one vote per membership. So if you have a single membership at your home and you are not the member, you would not be able to vote unless you had a proxy. So those are the things that we look for when you register. Is it your name on the account, and is it a joint membership where you are one of the two members on the account?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: It's one of the drier details about annual meeting, but it's very important. We always have questions about that every year.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: We do, and we include that.
We include your registration card, which would show either name if it's a joint membership. So that kind of helps us tell whether it is a joint membership or not. And then we also put the proxy on our rural Missouri pages for the annual meeting. And so if you, if it is a single membership and you want to vote but your name is not on the account, then you would have the member sign the proxy over to you, and that's an adult over 18 living in the same household. And so an adult member of the household can vote for the member.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: So when the September issue of rural Missouri shows up in the mailbox towards the end of August, beginning of September, definitely check the names on that back panel. And that registration card is also the reverse side of that as your proxy card. And if you have any questions, reach out definitely before September 12.
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Absolutely. And we can help you with that. And we also have absentee voting prior to that. It's August 19 through 30th. So if neither the member or the other person in the household who might be a proxy are able to make it to the meeting, they can still come and vote for the director candidates, the bylaw amendments, and the minutes.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: And we're emphasizing who can vote because of something that we're going to talk about in a little bit. But the drive thru format that you mentioned earlier, that's something that Boone Electric and a lot of cooperatives started doing to accommodate social distancing during COVID We've kept it around. Why have we kept it around?
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Well, so our first year in 2020 of having a drive thru, we were a little concerned that we wouldn't have the attendance, but it was our best attended meeting in several years, and it was very convenient, so our board decided to keep doing that. And so last year, we had a record number of attendees at 2876, I believe so again, our best year of attendance, and that's what we want to continue doing, is increase attendance for participation in your co op.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: And, of course, we get a lot of survey responses from people after the annual meeting. And year after year since we started doing it, they've continued to say many of those things that you just said. They find it convenient. It's nice that they can come in, vote, get out. It doesn't take them a whole day. They can do it on their lunch break, before work, after work, whatever's convenient for them during that time frame.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: And I think that's why they like it so much, is because they can stop by any time. They don't have to get kids out of the car. They don't have to wrestle with any of that. Other issues, maybe parking far away, you don't have to worry about any of that. You can just stop by, register, vote, and you're on your way.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: It's really as simple as that. For folks who haven't attended before, drive in to the garage, register with your registration card, or we can look you up. If you forget that on the day of you vote, and we don't vote with paper ballots anymore, how do we do that?
[00:06:37] Speaker C: That's correct. We use iPads, and so everything is there on the iPad. Once you register with your registration card, then they will direct you towards the end of the garage, and I will have an iPad for you to choose your director candidates. There are two options in each district, and all members are able to elect a director in each district. So you don't have to only vote for your district. So there are three districts. There are two candidates in each district, and then we have three bylaw amendments and then the minutes from last year.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: And for members who maybe haven't come out to the annual meeting before, haven't been in a while, they haven't been here. To the new drive thru format.
What would you say, you know, is a good reason for them to come out this year and check it out in 2024?
[00:07:26] Speaker C: Well, this is their co op, so our membership, our co op was built on the members that we serve, and so we encourage participation from every member. If you want your voice heard, the best way to do that is be a participant in the election of the directors, because you're picking who is sitting at that table, making decisions for the cooperative.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Another reason why we allow members to vote for more than just their specific district where they live.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Correct. Because they're making choices for the entire co op, not just their district as well.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: And there's another little bit of an incentive to come, because this year, for every registered member that comes through to vote, they do receive a little gift, don't they?
[00:08:09] Speaker C: They do get a bill credit of $20, and that's always a nice thing to have. Right now, with the prices of everything increasing, it's nice to have a little extra money on your bill.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: That's right. And there's the opportunity to potentially get an even larger bill credit, right?
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Oh, yes, there is up to $1,000 prize for that goes on your bill as part of a drawing of the attendees that day.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Excellent. We mentioned the surveys earlier and that the members who responded and really enjoyed the convenience of the drive thru format, some of them also said that they kind of missed that social aspect of the cooperative annual meeting. They don't have the opportunity to talk to employees or directors as long. They don't really have an opportunity to visit with friends or neighbors. So we're trying to do some new things this year to help accommodate those folks. Can you tell us a little bit about the member events that Boone Electric has done in 2024?
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Absolutely. Like you mentioned, our members have considered it the picnic for several years, and so they missed that social interaction with our neighbors, which we also love. So we want to encourage that. And we're doing that by having member events. We're trying to have them throughout the county this year just to try some different places and reach some different people. We had our lakeside Ashland movie night in April, and that was well attended by some members who haven't participated in things for a while. We had our CIDR event in June this year at Wave Cider down the street, and that was a nice event, an opportunity to get to talk to our board members and employees if you had any questions about anything. That's why we're encouraging these events to come on out and ask us questions, ask the board members questions, ask our employees questions, and get to know us a little better. And we can get to know you a little better. And then we're looking forward to the ones coming up in September and October. We try to have information about our energy efficiency programs and our billing processes and smart hub and that kind of thing. So come on out. We're going to have a food truck event in September on September 27 at the Columbia's Agricultural park, the Mu Pavilion off of Ash street. And then we're going to have our energy expo along with the city of Columbia and Ameren on Saturday, October 12, here in our community building at 1413 Rangeline street. And then we're going to have an event in Sturgeon later this fall that we're still planning.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: Even though we're talking about annual meeting and the membership, it's important to note that you don't have to be a member to attend either the food truck event or the Energy expo. Those are open to the public. But if you are a Boone electric cooperative member, you can rsvp to the food truck event right now on the.
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Website right under member benefits. There is a tab for member events and we're going to have an option for signing up for that ahead of time. And you don't have to be there at a specific time, but it is nice to know how many people will be joining us. And then the Energy Expo is going to be open from 10:00 a.m. to 02:00 p.m. and you can come and go as you please and get to know anything energy related. So that will be a good event for any type of questions and we'll.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Have more information on those in the next few episodes. In the meantime, you can always check our website, boonelectric dot co op, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on those events as they happen around the community. Back to annual meeting Laura, is there anything else that we want to let the members know about before September 12?
[00:11:36] Speaker C: Laura, be sure to watch for your rural Missouri so you have that registration card to register with. That makes it much quicker for us to be able to get you checked in and get that bill credit to you. So. But we'd love to see you.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you very much, Laura, for being here and thank you for joining us here on the buzz. Be sure to come back next month, and until then, we'll see you somewhere down the line.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning in to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electric Cooperative. To subscribe or for more information you can find us on Facebook, Instagram pics, and LinkedIn. And of course, you can always visit us. Op Boone Electric Cooperative, your co op our community.
