[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electra 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, Zach. I'm Zach Smith, communications specialist here at Boone Electric Cooperative. And today we're once again going beyond the pages of our monthly print publication plugged in to speak with Boone Electric Cooperative director, Teresa Snow Voller. Teresa, welcome to the program.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Zach. I'm glad to be here.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: So Annual Meeting 2026 is now behind us, which means that you have been a board member for Boone Electric for just over a year. And before we discuss what that previous year has been like for you, I was just wondering if you might tell us a little bit about how you first found out about the co op.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: I found out about the co op when I worked just down the business loop@kmiz tv. And so I passed Boone Electric every day on my way to work. And Boone Electric was really the organization that we would call to get that sound bite to find out how is the electric cooperative preparing for bad weather? How are they responding when there's bad weather? And so this was kind of the go to place to do that.
Well, during that time, I was really looking at the cooperative from the outside, you know, a journalist trying to get answers. But it's been interesting because now I see it from the other side. You know, being a board member, you
[00:01:34] Speaker B: have kind of a unique perspective on that. Like you just said, being from the outside as a journalist. But you were somebody who was engaging with the co op in a completely different way for your job for a long time.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Yes. And sometimes I would get to see the inside of the old building.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: But a lot of times it was standing out in the yard interviewing someone about the storm that was coming up or how they were preparing.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Where are you from originally?
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Well, I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and I landed in Missouri for work for television news.
And I think I became a Boone Electric member when I married my husband. And we'll be married 30 years next March.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Congratulations.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Thank you. He had a home west of Columbia that was on Boone Electric lines. And then we moved to our farm just outside of Hallsville in 2002. So I think I've been a member about 30 years.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: You mentioned one of your jobs earlier with KMIZ, and I'd like to know a little bit more about that because I'm personally always curious when I hear about someone in journalism, how they End up starting off in one market and then they're halfway or all the way across the country and then that ends up becoming home base for them.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: It really is. It's amazing. You know, back in the day, you'd send out tapes just everywhere, hoping somebody would watch them. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. I went to school in Florida and I had an uncle in St. Louis. And I actually did an internship at the flagship station, KSDK TV in St. Louis. And that helped me land a job in St. Joseph, Missouri, which was far from my home in Columbus, Ohio. And then I got a job at KMIZ here in Columbia and had a lot of opportunities at that station. Became a news director, was an evening anchor. I eventually went to krcgtv, the CBS affiliate here in mid Missouri and spent another eight years or so there. And so was a big part of my life. Got married, raised a family here. And so Columbia has really become home. But you don't always know where you're gonna land and where you're gonna be planted. When you start in the television news business, it's very transient.
I went to MU Healthcare and so I spent eight years there. I led strategic communications, which was very much related. I oversaw the social media, internal external communications, PR websites, crisis communications, that kind of thing. And the funny thing is, is now when you call mu, I'm still on the hold lines.
So I put you on hold, for better or for worse at mu. But today I do help on the farm.
So I full time work on our family rental property business. And then I like to call myself a farm business partner, which really means I don't do the heavy work. I don't drive the tractor, I don't drive the combine.
I run errands, I pay bills. Sometimes I'm just called out to hitch this up or hold that or whatever. But yes, we have a full farming operation. But that's really my husband's heavy work.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: You may not be doing the heavy work, but you were doing all the stuff that helps the heavy work happen. So you are still doing the work.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Absolutely. And especially during planting or harvest, I think. How did he do this while I was working full time? Because now I am running to the parts places all the time, you know, getting whatever's needed or delivering a meal, which is just as important.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, and you're still getting royalties, I'm sure, for putting people on hold at the hospital, right? I wish you guys have a lot going on in your personal lives as well.
Why did you want to become more involved with Boone Electric. And did you have some prior board experience or experience with nonprofit boards or something of that nature before you decided to run?
[00:05:06] Speaker A: I had worked on some boards before, but they were very different than the Boone Electric board. And I can talk about that. But I think for me, I was always active in community service. And while I was at MU Health Care, I was very active in the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. I was the chair of the Women's Network, which is the large, largest arm of the of the chamber. And that was a three year commitment. You know, you were chair elect and you led the committees. You were chair and you served on the Chamber's board of directors and then you were past chair. And then when I left MU Healthcare, I didn't have that opportunity. I'm not working with a chamber business. You know, I'm self employed. And so I wanted some of that volunteer work, that professional work. And a friend suggested, would you be interested in running for the board of Boone Electricity?
And I really hadn't considered it in the past. It piqued my interest.
I looked at it, I waited a year and a year later in 2025, I ran for the board.
So that was really it. I'm thankful that I have the time to do that because when I worked professionally and raised a family, I didn't have time to give to something like this. And even now I'm involved in some other things that are in the community. I teach Rent well classes through Love Columbia and I'm also helping with a couple of fundraisers locally right now for Woodhaven and Tigers on the Prowl. So I enjoy having the time to do those kinds of things that I didn't have time for in the past.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: You mentioned the difference between the board and I understand where folks see some similarities because obviously you mentioned a lot of different instances of community involvement. And one of the things we talk about frequently here in the co op world is concern for community.
But you mentioned that it's very different than those other boards. I'd love to hear your perspective on how it's different.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Well, it's different in the amount of responsibility we have. You know, we are overseeing the organization that provides electricity 247 to tens of thousands of people in our community. We are overseeing not the day to day operations because we have such a great staff and leadership and management here, but we are the boss to the CEO.
Absolutely. And so we have to know the questions to ask. We have to know what we're looking at. We have to know how we're being informed and it's very interesting. One thing I liked when I ran for board was I told people, and they'll train me because my background is not in the electric industry.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Sure, few peoples are when you join the board.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah, few peoples are. And so our charge is to become a credentialed cooperative director.
And that requires a series of five classes. I've taken four of the five so far. You have three years to do the five classes and you learn different parts of your role of being a director. And these are really like college level courses. I actually took another course that wasn't one of the five called Rate Making Strategies here a couple months ago. And I left it thinking this is like a college level class. Like, I'm really learning things. And how many boards are you on where they really teach you and educate you on what you're supposed to know and what questions you're supposed to ask locally to be as informed as possible? So I think that's part of the difference.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: I completely agree with you on how that aspect of the training stands out to a lesser degree. So I also came from a journalism background, and when I joined Cooperative Communications, I didn't have any knowledge about electric cooperatives of any kind. And the training that they provide for, just the communication side of it was, I would say, very comprehensive. And I can only imagine exponentially how much more that is when you have to sit there and talk about rate making or substations or safety or any of the other myriad of things that you all discuss every month in the meeting.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Yeah, well, our job is very varied, and so we're updated in different areas each month. Luckily, you get to focus on one area and really, you know, make it shine as you do with the bus.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Oh, well, thank you. You have three years to do all five of them, and you're one year in and you've got four of the five out of the way. So you have hit the ground running, to say the least.
Is there anything in that training that has stood out to you about either Boone Electric itself or just the cooperative business model in general since you've started serving on the board and learning more about all those different roles?
[00:09:25] Speaker A: So, you know, I expected the electric business to be complicated, and it certainly is. You know, it's something new.
I knew safety was important, and it is emphasized at every board meeting. You know, keeping the employees safe around electricity, keeping anyone who comes close to the lines safe, like that's so important.
I've gained a greater appreciation for how much infrastructure it takes to bring this reliable electricity Whether that's poles, lines, substations, new technologies. There's just so many layers to it. You know, the electric service is an expense that somebody has every month, every day. And so affordability is really key.
And while the cooperative does its part to control costs, what really surprised me was how much members pay on their bill.
A big part of that is ultimately driven by the generation and the transmission of that electricity. And that's before it ever even gets to Boone Electric, which is the distribution cooperative. And so I hadn't really learned about all of those pieces. I also learned that there isn't one simple source of electricity that serves us all the time.
Coal, hydroelectric, wind, solar, natural gas.
There are all these different sources of generation and they play different roles, especially when we have peak demand. It's really hot, it's really cold. And so it's continually balancing this affordability, reliability and the realities of how and when electricity is available. And so I can really talk the talk now because I've learned it and I never thought about those things before I was a part of the boon electric board.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: It's not something that most people probably do think about.
There really is a lot that goes into it behind the scenes that people don't see when they flip the switch.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Yeah, and it's very high tech. You know, even something as easy as, you know, they have to trim the trees to keep the lines clear so that the trees don't fall over on the lines. Like Boone Electric has this high tech system, gps to map the trees and decide what trees should be trimmed when and what's the cycle of trimming the trees. And you know, it's all very high tech and it helps them be more efficient. Whereas, you know, as a customer you just think, you know, I hope that the tree limbs don't fall over on my lines. Like there is a systematic process to this and we are educated as directors on that process. And then we're taught through these courses questions to ask and how to oversee and make sure that we're following best practices.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: And you mentioned the sort of the golden rule or the balance that you called it when it comes to the members reliability and affordability. That's always at the top of the priority list when you're talking about the decisions in the boardroom that are going to affect the folks at the end of the line. What are some of the other topics or maybe emerging trends that you all are talking about right now as far as addressing the future of the co op and the membership and reliability and affordability?
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Well, we always look at growth. You know, where is the community growing? Where is it not growing? Because that's really going to affect the infrastructure plans. Where are you going to put poles, where are you going to need substations? Where will the transmission cooperative partner put transmission lines? You know, growth is always number one. Data centers are certainly a part of the conversation or any other large electric load that we may in the future serve. And so that's part of what we talk about in the boardroom and preparing to serve larger electric loads. They may invest in infrastructure at some point in the future as well. But the bottom line is how do we keep service affordable for the members? Because we're not going to serve a large load at the detriment of the members who are paying every day. Like it has to be affordable for our members.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Goes back to the balancing act. I mean, you talk about having something potentially come on the lines one day, whatever that may be.
And how is that going to affect all those things you just mentioned, the infrastructure planning for the future. But then it's also going to, in some way it's going to impact a rate at some point. And how do you balance the growth while making sure that people can afford to pay their electric bill?
[00:13:32] Speaker A: And you serve electricity to everybody who needs it. You know, if there was a new subdivision coming in or a new complex, you know, we're going to run the lines there. And how do you do that in a way that supports the system, builds up the system, but that doesn't hinder the members because it could be, you know, 50 new homes.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: I know we're discussing all of this only one year into your three year term, but what are some of the things that the memberships accomplish during your time here at the cooperatives?
[00:14:00] Speaker A: You know, you may not realize it, but a lot of members will round up their bill and it's a few cents every month, but it adds up. You know, members have contributed tens of thousands of dollars through that rounding up of the bill. And, and that money goes to the Boone Electric Community Trust, which in turn funds community nonprofit projects, energy assistance programs, scholarships. You know, the members also showed up at annual meeting and at other cooperative activities, you know, movie nights, food truck meals and energy expo, the annual meeting. And so I applaud those members who had the time and took part in those activities. And like I say, others, maybe it's just dropping us an email board of
[email protected] But I think being active as a member and using your voice is, is really important. And our members Showed up and did that this year.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Folks who have participated in that program through the co op for many years know it as Operation Roundup. It's recently gone through a bit of a name change here and goes by plus one. But all the folks who voluntarily choose to do that are helping keep those extra dollars and cents local and helping a lot of organizations here in our service area. I think since 1997, when the trust was started, it's over a little over $5 million.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: And it's amazing because you're giving just a little bit every month through your local cooperative. It's a great program.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: When we did your director candidate video last year for annual meeting, we talked a little bit about what a cooperative means to you. And I'm curious, now that you have had some time in the role, not just as a member of Boone Electric now, but an elected director of the cooperative, how would you describe the cooperative difference and do you think that that description's changed at all from what you might have thought about it a year or more ago?
[00:15:49] Speaker A: I think I just more consider myself a member than a customer. I know people, they just flip the switch. Their electricity goes on. They don't even think about it. But they are members. You know, they're not serving some business far away, like the linemen, the engineers, the people at the front desk, the board members. Everybody's local.
So you have a stake in how the cooperative is governed. Like an annual meeting, when you vote, there is a level of local accountability and connection, and that is really different from really doing business with a large company somewhere else. And I can tell you, at the board table every month we see emails, cards, communication that comes into the board of directors. And so everybody can feel confident that drop us an email with a question or a concern, and it will be shared with all the directors. That's probably unique.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: It's very unique, especially from the standpoint that, yeah, you all receive those every month. And I'm sure that the content and the tone probably ranges on what you hear back, but you all receive that. I mean, you're looking at those things.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: It's not hidden away. It's not out of sight, out of mind.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: And the bottom line is there's not enough of it. You know, like, it doesn't help to tell your neighbor you've got a problem. Like the cooperative is going to help you solve that problem, and there's someone on the line, local, to answer your question, to get you to the next person. And maybe it's a board member or maybe it's you know, an employee, maybe it's a manager at the cooperative, but you're going to get somebody live local to work with you.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: So then that to me begs the question, why should members care that they're owners of their cooperative?
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I think it's really just that like I said, local ownership, local accountability, local decision making, you know, you may never need that. You may for years not have any problems. You're paying your bill, the electricity's fine, there's no major outage. But then you've got some question and there is a structure in place for your voice to be heard. And so to know that that structure is in place, you know, is important. You know, we're not serving shareholders or an out of town board of directors.
Members sometimes realize that they're an owner when they get that capital credit check or credit on their bill. You know, that's definitely a part of being an owner is capital credits when those are paid back to members. But ownership really comes with a voice and it's meaningful when you use that voice.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Well, Teresa, thank you for joining us today. I know this is a busy time of year, especially with new directors coming onto the board. You're doing all this training. You've got lives, it sounds like, outside of the boardroom to live as well. I appreciate you sharing those recent experiences with us today and it's been fun getting to know you a little bit better.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: You too. Thank you so much. I appreciate this opportunity and thank you
[00:18:41] Speaker B: for joining us again on the Buzz. Be sure to come back for next month's episode and until then, we'll see you somewhere down the line.
[00:18:49] 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 X and LinkedIn. And of course, you can always visit us 24 7@ Boonelectric Co op Boone Electric Cooperative, your co op, our community.
