A new board member was selected last week during Intercounty’s 77th annual meeting, which included drawings, a health fair and more activities in Licking.
In the race to fill the vacancy left by retiring board member Harold T. Dandridge, members elected Matt Duncan of Licking over Keith Steelman to represent the central district. He joins incumbents James E. White from the north district and Richard H. Ichord III from the south district. Both were re-elected. White, the board president, was challenged by Dan Cartwright of Rolla.
The business meeting began with the presentation of colors by Mountain Grove Junior ROTC after an invocation by Dr. James Miller, pastor of Abounding Hope Church in Licking. The Heritage Boys, a local gospel trio, performed the national anthem.
The business meeting serves as a forum to share the previous year’s financial and business reports, keep the members informed of progress in various projects and system upgrades and development.
In the board president’s report, White talked about the 2-percent rate increase that went into effect earlier this year and ensured the membership that raising rates is not done lightly, but at times is necessary to keep the cooperative financially strong. He touched on the added and improved services such as electronic billing, prepay power and the digital mapping of the system.
White closed by giving recognition to Dandridge, who served Intercounty as a director the past 25 years.
“His wisdom, leadership and dedication will certainly be missed,” White said.
General Manager Aaron Bradshaw discussed the three categories of most importance to the majority of the members: reliability, affordability and service. He shared that the key to reliability is the right-of-way maintenance, which the co-op continues to invest in. Bradshaw recognized joint efforts with the statewide organization, AMEC and generation partners at AECI as part of the key to defending the right to affordable electricity against both regulatory and legislative threats. He also discussed some of the services that Intercounty offers.
Bradshaw closed by extending a promise to members: “Expect to see a focused effort to serve you better in the three key areas mentioned …continuous improvement in reliability, affordability and service,” he said.
The guest speaker, David Klindt, vice president of AMEC, highlighted the success of past grassroots efforts and thanked Intercounty’s membership for their role in those efforts. He outlined the current legislative and regulatory threats to affordable electricity and detailed the electric cooperatives’ plans for combating those efforts. Klindt said Missourians could see drastic increases in their power bills if some of the plan developed in Washington, D.C., aren’t derailed. Finally, he asked Intercounty’s member to once again join the fight to keep power bills reasonable by joining ACRE-COPA, the Co-op Owners for Political Action program.
Due to the nature of cooperatives, the day was more than just a business meeting. Families gathered for a picnic atmosphere complete with barbecue and classic and modern southern gospel harmony performed by The Heritage Boys. Many members also took time to stroll through and visit the huge craft fair.
At the health tents, members of Texas County Memorial Hospital offered screenings. Other booths included: adult eye health by Missouri Lions Eye Research; hearing tests by the Roby Lions Club; and blood pressure tests and heart health education from the Texas County Health Department. Other services and information was provided by Three Rivers Hospice, Tri-County Center for Independent Living and Meadowbrook Natural Foods.
Each registered member received a gift bag and was eligible to win one of the many prizes given away. Ann Leibert of Licking claimed the grand prize, a $600 electric credit. Winners of the $100 electric credits were: Hickory Ridge Church, Bucyrus; Jay and Claudia Dickson, Salem; Belinda Gale, Licking; and Lillian Morse, Rolla. The winner of the 32-inch flat screen TV, courtesy of Sho-Me Power, was David Owens of Beulah.
Bicycle winners were Nate Case, James Scavatta, Tory Knox and Zoey Collgan. Coloring contest winners were Aleksey Cook and Allie Decker.