More than 2,200 of the 2,354 Ozark Border Electric Cooperative members participated in the organization’s 85th annual membership meeting Friday.
This was the first year the OBEC hosted registration and voting at its four sub offices leading up to Friday’s event, cooperative general manager David Schremp said.
“The response by the membership this past Monday through Thursday has been fantastic, and we are grateful that this change has allowed more involvement from the cooperative’s membership,” he said.
Members voted on the board of directors and bylaw changes.
Those elected were District 1 Darrell Atchison, Williamsville; District 2 Jim Hover, Harviell; District 3 Charles Bunting, Poplar Bluff; District 4 Curtis Clark, Puxico.
In the only contested race, Bunting received 1,638 votes to beat his competitor Jeff Shawan’s 649 votes, to represent District 3. Shawan lives in Poplar Bluff.
Bylaw changes dealing with the nominating committee and one about prohibiting excessive campaign contributions received a majority of “yes” votes.
The cooperative bylaws were amended to provide a larger time frame in which the nominating committee can work and clearly define when petitions for board candidates may be received.
“The campaign contributions issue has arisen out of some special interest groups trying to impact cooperative elections in Missouri right now. The goal of the campaign contributions measure is to protect the members local control,” Schremp said.
Voters approved the amendment prohibiting board of director candidates from receiving funds, financial benefits, and campaign contributions in excess of $250 from corporations and special interest groups for their election or re-election campaigns and to prohibit such contributions by individuals, corporations and special interest groups for board service.
Any violation would result in disqualification from board service, whether learned before or after the election, and the vacancy created by such disqualification will be filled by the directors.
Schremp explained, the electric industry as a whole is probably facing some of the most severe challenges it has ever had to deal with and is finding itself at a critical juncture.
“EPA regulations are forcing the early retirement of base load generation such as coal and gas, with nothing ready to replace it, putting consumers at an ever increasing risk,” Schremp said. “We have all seen the increase in rolling blackouts that our neighboring states have been subjected to during periods of extreme weather. The Associated family of cooperatives have not caved to the demands of the EPA and DOE, and therefore have not succumbed to the reliability problems many of our neighbors have faced in the past three years. However, due to the fact that we are heavily interconnected with our neighbors, their problems can become our problems.”
“The cost of power we provide to our members is one of the most significant expenses Ozark Border has,” Schremp said. “Power cost represents more than 60% of the cooperative’s total operating budget and, unfortunately this spring we experienced a substantial increase in rates from our suppliers due to the fact they have been deeply impacted by EPA regulations and cost increases of their own. When they announced a price increase of more than 10% for 2023, with the possibility of more increases in 2024 and 2025, Ozark Border found it was no longer in a position to absorb it all. In April, we increased the monthly availability charge by $5.
“This was OBEC’s first rate increase since 2016, and our plan was to take a ‘wait and see’ approach to determine the extent of any other increases that would be necessary,” Schremp said. “Unfortunately, the study produced by an independent firm that has been reviewing our rates has made it clear that the $5 increase won’t be enough. We are currently working with them to determine the timing and amount of the increase needed, but I can assure you that Ozark Border will keep it as minimal as possible for our members.
“These are difficult times we are living in,” Schremp said. “But by working together, we can weather this storm. I appreciate our members, and I want to say thank you to the Ozark Border employees for your hard work, to our management team for all you do every day (you are the glue that holds this place together), and to the Board of Directors for your guidance, support, and encouragement.”
The cooperative’s success depends on its members’ support and participation in the activities, Atchison, board president, said.
“Ozark Border continues to remain financially strong; some of the highlights from 2022 are at the end of 2022, the cooperative was providing service to 40,669 consumers and maintaining 6,026 miles of power line. We continue to be one of the largest electric cooperatives in Missouri,” he shared.
In June 2022, the cooperative refunded $1,525,000 in capital credits to the member/owners and in June 2023, another $2,071,000 in capital credits were refunded, Atchison said. This was the 28 consecutive year of refunding capital credits.
“Our operating expense per consumer still ranks among the lowest in the state, and our ratio of consumers to full-time employees still ranks among the highest,” Atchison said. “One of the benefits of these factors is our operating efficiency has remained among the best in Missouri for a number of years.
“Early in 2022 the Public Service Commission approved a 30-year extension to the territorial agreement between Ozark Border and the City of Poplar Bluff. With minor modifications to the previous existing plan, this agreement will be a value to both parties for many years to come.”
In 2022, OBEC developed and began offering safety programs for first responders.
The management team also developed and presented a general adult safety presentation as well as an agriculture related safety presentation, Atchison said. These programs have been a huge success and OBEC is happy to be able to make this contribution to its communities, he continued.
“In December, OBEC was, for the first time, awarded certification in the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program,” Atchison said. “We are proud of the cooperative’s efforts to promote and encourage workplace safety, especially in such a demanding and potentially dangerous industry.”
Schremp recognized employees who retired this year. They are Doyle Rexroad, 26 years; Brit Moore, 28 years; Lennis Stroud, 28 years; Judy Douglas, 30 years; Kenny Loury, 41 years if service; and Denise McKuin, 42 years.
“Together, this group represents 195 years of experience and service to the coop, and I just want to say how much we appreciate all these people, and we wish them all a very happy retirement,” Schremp said. “We also lost an active employee to cancer last week. Cliff Barker, who was a clerk in our member service department for seven years, passed away. We just ask for your thoughts and prayers for his family and the Ozark Border family as we deal with his loss.”