From the CEO: Annual Meeting

As a mem­ber and own­er of Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, you enjoy cer­tain priv­i­leges you won’t find with just any util­i­ty com­pa­ny. We like to call that the coop­er­a­tive advan­tage.

Every not-for-prof­it coop­er­a­tive oper­ates by Sev­en Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ples. Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ple 2 is Demo­c­ra­t­ic Mem­ber Con­trol, and that’s what the Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers and mem­ber vot­ing is all about.

There are so many ben­e­fits to being a mem­ber and own­er of an elec­tric co-op, and one is that you have a voice in how your coop­er­a­tive oper­ates and who is mak­ing deci­sions on your behalf. Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive is led by a mem­ber-elect­ed board of nine direc­tors, who also hap­pens to be co-op mem­bers them­selves. Each of these direc­tors serve a three-year term before they are up for reelec­tion to be vot­ed on by their fel­low mem­bers dur­ing the three days pre­ced­ing the Annu­al Meet­ing.

Of course, the reg­is­tra­tion gifts and prize draw­ings are com­pelling rea­sons to drop by our office May 20–22—our friend­ly staff will scan the reg­is­tra­tion card attached to this very mag­a­zine cov­er, and you’ll go home one Lodge Cast-Iron Grill Pan rich­er. But there is so much more to this event. Our mem­bers’ exer­cis­ing their rights to vote in direc­tor elec­tions and reg­is­ter for the Annu­al Meet­ing is so impor­tant to us, we offer these gifts as just a way to say thank you for your time and par­tic­i­pa­tion. Every member’s voice is impor­tant.

Even after reg­is­tra­tion and vot­ing are over, we extend our warmest invi­ta­tion for you to engage in the Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers on Thurs­day, May 23, which has been offered vir­tu­al­ly for the past few years. This allows more peo­ple to tune in and par­tic­i­pate than the small­er por­tion of mem­bers who attend­ed in per­son in years past.

The vir­tu­al Annu­al Meet­ing will not only be a time to con­duct offi­cial co-op busi­ness, but an occa­sion for mem­bers to learn about the issues affect­ing our com­mu­ni­ty, what we are con­sid­er­ing for the future and some of our wins and chal­lenges over the past year. We look for­ward to greet­ing you face-to-face dur­ing reg­is­tra­tion and vot­ing May 20–22, and we hope you’ll tune in and par­tic­i­pate in our vir­tu­al Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers on May 23 at 10 a.m.