Ozark Border holds annual membership meeting, plus vote

Of the 2,544 Ozark Electric Cooperative customers who cast ballots, 1,954 voted before noon at 84th Annual Membership Meeting.

The incumbent board members retained their seats, while the only race was in District 2 where Tom Rankin petitioned to run against incumbent Judy Lunsford, both of Poplar Bluff. Lunsford received 1,801 to Rankin’s 687 votes.

The other incumbents and their totals were District 1, Jordan Collins of Ellsinore, 1,687; District 3, Bill Hager of Harviell, 1,768; and District 4, Greg Lintz of Dexter, 1,654.

General Manager/CEO David Schremp said, “We are doing really well to get to this at noon.”

The day was “going very smooth,” Schremp said. “The first members were lining up at 5:45 in the morning. When we opened about 6:30 a.m. we already had a line. Everything is operating the way we intended.”

Chuckling, Schremp said, they had seen a couple of boats and a couple of trailers going through the line, but “no tractors and no lawn mowers this year, but it is early.”

The first station scanned each person’s notice before giving them an ink pen with a stylus, at the second they retrieved their gift bag and at the third they voted electronically. “It worked very quickly and we have the results within minutes,” Schremp said.

The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives supplies the iPads and the voting system like they have for three years. AMEC is a statewide organization headquartered in Jefferson City representing Missouri’s 47 electric co-ops.

In his address to the cooperative members, Schremp said, “While Ozark Border has continued to grow in terms of active accounts and kWh sales during 2022, it hasn’t been without challenges.”

The material inventory, construction equipment, tools, trucks, repair parts and any number of other essential items have been difficult to obtain due to the ongoing supply chain issues, he said.

“If we were able to get these items, the costs have skyrocketed,” Schremp said. “Fuel prices have also taken a toll on the cooperative’s operating costs. But your board of directors and Ozark Border’s management team are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient and to cut costs where possible and, despite these obstacles, we have been able to reach mid-year 2022 on budget.”

Schremp talked about three workers who retired this year.

“Noel Spence, who was our Western Area Supervisor, retired after 48 years of service. Cindy Braschler, who was our Doniphan office clerk, retired with 43 years of service, and Steve Hager, who was the service foreman at Van Buren, retired with 33 years of service,” Schremp said. “I just want to say how much we appreciate all three of them, and we wish them all a very happy retirement.”

In his address Board of Directors President Darrell Atchison said. “Our success depends on our members’ support and participation in the activities of the cooperative. Ozark Border continues to remain financially strong.”

At the end of 2021, the cooperative was providing service to 40,505 consumers and maintaining 6,026 miles of power line.

“We continue to be one of the largest electric cooperatives in Missouri,” Atchison said. “In June, 2021, the cooperative refunded $1,664,000 in capital credits to our member/owners and in June 2022, another $1,534,000 in capital credits were refunded. This was the 27th consecutive year of refunding capital credits.”

Atchison said, the coop’s “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. One of the benefits of these factors is that our operating efficiency has remained among the best in Missouri for a number of years. Ozark Border members enjoy electric rates that are below average for the State of Missouri. OBEC has not had a rate increase since 2016, and I am happy to report that there will not be a rate increase in 2022 either.”