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Cooperative Membership Meetings
October 2, 2010
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Membership, held September 14 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, was the grand finale of three membership meetings held this year. The first two membership meetings were held in July at or near our local offices in Spur and Childress.
As a consumer of South Plains Electric Cooperative, you are also one of the member-owners. As such, a cooperative business invites you to attend an annual membership meeting to hear reports, ask questions and elect your local board of directors.
We say “invite,” but actually, it’s part of your responsibility as a cooperative member to be informed and participate in the governance of your electric cooperative. The success of South Plains Electric Cooperative depends on each individual member’s involvement.
Gate City Division
The Gate City Division membership meeting was held on July 13 at the Fair Park Auditorium in Childress. The Main Event, from Childress, served dinner to more than 200 members and guests while Payton Kane, Dodson, entertained the crowd.
Board President Tommy Joines and General Manager James Driver reviewed the Cooperative’s financials and overall state of the business.
Recognition was given to this year’s Youth Tour and Operation Round Up Scholarship recipients.
Kerry Taylor was recognized for 20 years of service to the Cooperative.
The evening always ends the same—with door prizes! The grand prize was a television and this year’s lucky winner was Jarret Jameson of Tell.
Dickens Division
The Dickens Division membership meeting was held on July 15 at the local office in Spur. Riversmith’s Catering, from Lubbock, catered a catfish and chicken dinner to about 380 members and guests while Mike Porter, Dickens, entertained the crowd.
This was an election year for the Dickens Division members. The District 10 Nominating Committee nominated Bob Forbis of Roaring Springs. Members unanimously voted to elect Forbis to the board.
President Joines and General Manager Driver gave their reports. Members heard about steps to guarantee the availability of long-term, wholesale power resources and the value of wind power to this area.
Recognition was given to this year’s Youth Tour and Operation Round Up Scholarship recipients.
Seven employees received service awards, representing 115 years of service. They were: Bobby Baker, Melva Harris, Shane Shobert, Elaine Lovell, Frankie McAlpin, Bucky Phelps and Bear Long.
Employees handed out great door prizes until the grand prize was awarded to Kevin Brendle of Spur.
Annual Membership Meeting in Lubbock
The official annual membership meeting is held in Lubbock where the Cooperative is headquartered.
This meeting happens on a grand scale. With about 636 members registering for the meeting, it means we provided dinner for more than 1,900 guests because members always bring their families. Danny’s Fins & Hens, from Lubbock, offered a delicious barbecue dinner.
The business meeting was called to order and the membership seated four directors to board positions (see side bar on next page).
General Manager James Driver addressed the topic, “What have we done for you lately?” He went through several examples of how the Cooperative looks out for the member’s best interest including:
• the lowest power cost since 2004;
• refunding $3.5 million in capital credits;
• controllable expenses at half the U.S. median; and
• capably serving our members with 21 percent fewer employees than the U.S. median.
Driver also spoke about community level support with programs such as Operation Round Up grants and scholarships, sending students on the Youth Tour, energy efficient information at TogetherWeSave.com and the money being saved using the Co-op Connections card.
Twenty-four employees from the Lubbock offices were honored for their 435 years of service. They are honored on pages 20-21 of this issue.
We thank our door prize sponsors: Brazos Electric Cooperative, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Milsoft Utility Solutions, PlainsCapital Bank, SGS Engineering, TEC Utility Supply & Service and Xcel Corporation.
The grand prize of $500 went to Andrew Ramirez of Slaton.