Coastal Electric Cooperative Annual Meeting of Members set for Thursday, May 23

In accor­dance with the require­ments of the Bylaws of Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, the fol­low­ing excerpts are being pub­lished for the infor­ma­tion of the Mem­bers. Mem­bers will receive an offi­cial notice of the meet­ing in April.

Arti­cle IV
Board Mem­bers

SECTION 1. Gen­er­al Pow­er

The busi­ness and affairs of the Coop­er­a­tive shall be man­aged by a Board of nine (9) mem­bers, which shall exer­cise all of the pow­ers of the Coop­er­a­tive except such as are by law, the Arti­cles of Incor­po­ra­tion or these Bylaws con­ferred upon or reserved to the mem­bers.

SECTION 2. Elec­tion and Tenure

In order to equi­tably dis­trib­ute the rep­re­sen­ta­tion on the Board of Direc­tors, three (3) mem­bers of the Board of Direc­tors shall be elect­ed at the annu­al meet­ing each year, one (1) each from the coun­ties of Bryan, McIn­tosh and Lib­er­ty to serve for a term of three (3) years, so that there always shall be a per­pet­u­al Board of expe­ri­enced mem­bers to con­duct the affairs of the Coop­er­a­tive. Mem­bers from the area in Long Coun­ty served by the Coop­er­a­tive shall be eli­gi­ble to serve in the posi­tion of direc­tor cre­at­ed for McIn­tosh Coun­ty.

SECTION 3. Qual­i­fi­ca­tions

No per­son shall be eli­gi­ble to become or remain a board mem­ber of the Coop­er­a­tive who:

(a) Is not a bona fide mem­ber and main­tains a res­i­dence in the area served or to be served by the Coop­er­a­tive. The indi­vid­ual must main­tain an active pres­ence in at least one (1) of the com­mu­ni­ties served by the Coop­er­a­tive and main­tain a res­i­dence in the ter­ri­to­ry served or to be served by the Coop­er­a­tive; or

(b) Is in any way employed by or finan­cial­ly inter­est­ed in a com­pet­ing enter­prise or a busi­ness sell­ing elec­tric ener­gy.

© Is an employ­ee of the Coop­er­a­tive or who was employed by the Coop­er­a­tive with­in a peri­od of three (3) years imme­di­ate­ly pre­ced­ing the date on which such employ­ee would take office if elect­ed; pro­vid­ed, how­ev­er, that any mem­ber of the Board of Direc­tors shall be eli­gi­ble to be employed by the Coop­er­a­tive on an inter­im basis not to exceed a peri­od of twen­ty-four (24) con­sec­u­tive months.

Upon estab­lish­ment of the fact that a board mem­ber is hold­ing the office in vio­la­tion of any of the fore­go­ing pro­vi­sions, such board mem­ber shall resign, and if such board mem­ber fails to resign, the Board of Direc­tors shall remove such board mem­ber from office.

Noth­ing con­tained in this sec­tion shall affect in any man­ner what­so­ev­er the valid­i­ty of any action tak­en at any meet­ing of the Board of Direc­tors.

SECTION 4. Nom­i­na­tions

(a) Nom­i­na­tions by the Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee

It shall be the duty of the Board of Direc­tors to appoint, not less than one hun­dred twen­ty (120) days nor more than one hun­dred six­ty-five (165) days before the date of a meet­ing of the mem­bers at which board mem­bers are to be elect­ed, a com­mit­tee on nom­i­na­tions con­sist­ing of not less than six (6) nor more than nine (9) mem­bers who shall be select­ed from dif­fer­ent sec­tions so as to ensure equi­table rep­re­sen­ta­tion. No mem­ber of the Board of Direc­tors may serve on such com­mit­tee. The com­mit­tee, keep­ing in mind the prin­ci­ple of equi­table rep­re­sen­ta­tion, shall pre­pare and post at the prin­ci­pal office of the Coop­er­a­tive at least one hun­dred (100) days before the meet­ing a list of nom­i­na­tions for board mem­bers which shall include at least one (1) can­di­date for each board posi­tion to be filled by the elec­tion.

(b) Nom­i­na­tions by Peti­tion

Oth­er nom­i­na­tions for such elec­tion of board mem­bers may be made by writ­ten peti­tion signed by not less than thir­ty (30) mem­bers which shall be sub­mit­ted to the Sec­re­tary of the Coop­er­a­tive or his nom­i­nee not less than nine­ty (90) days pri­or to such meet­ing.

© Notice of Nom­i­nees

The Sec­re­tary shall be respon­si­ble for post­ing at the head­quar­ters of the Coop­er­a­tive the nom­i­nees for the elec­tion made by the Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee and by peti­tion, and if fea­si­ble, shall include same in the notice to the mem­bers for the meet­ing at which the elec­tion is to be held.

(d) Nom­i­na­tions From the Floor

Addi­tion­al nom­i­na­tions for the elec­tion of board mem­bers can­not be made from the floor at such meet­ing of the mem­bers; except that in the event of death or for any oth­er rea­son there is no can­di­date nom­i­nat­ed by the Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee to run for a board posi­tion, then in such event addi­tion­al nom­i­na­tions from the floor may be made. How­ev­er, no mem­ber may nom­i­nate more than one (1) such can­di­date.

(e) Fail­ure of Com­pli­ance

Fail­ure to com­ply with any of the pro­vi­sions of this sec­tion as to the elec­tion of direc­tors, except bad faith or inten­tion­al fail­ure to com­ply, shall not affect the valid­i­ty of the elec­tion of any direc­tor nor shall it inval­i­date the actions of all or any of the direc­tors.