Annual Meeting a chance to exercise co-op member rights

Some 2,149 mem­bers par­tic­i­pat­ed in Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s Annu­al Meet­ing Reg­is­tra­tion and Vot­ing from May 19–21, pre­ced­ing the 2025 Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers on May 22. This year marks 85 years since locals formed Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive to bring elec­tric­i­ty to rur­al, coastal Geor­gia.

In addi­tion to a chance to win a $1,000 grand prize, mem­bers who par­tic­i­pat­ed in Reg­is­tra­tion and Vot­ing took home a mem­ber reg­is­tra­tion gift—a 10.5‑inch Lodge Sea­soned Cast Iron Grid­dle brand­ed with the Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive logo and a Lodge Sil­i­cone Hot Han­dle Hold­er.

Every not-for-prof­it coop­er­a­tive like Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive oper­ates by sev­en Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ples. Prin­ci­ple No. 2 is Demo­c­ra­t­ic Mem­ber Con­trol, and that’s what the Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers and mem­ber vot­ing is all about.

Dur­ing Annu­al Meet­ing Reg­is­tra­tion and Vot­ing, mem­bers could stop by the Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive offices in Mid­way or Rich­mond Hill to reg­is­ter for the Annu­al Meet­ing, vote to elect direc­tors and pick up a grid­dle as a “thank you” for par­tic­i­pat­ing.

On Thurs­day, May 22, mem­bers tuned into the Annu­al Meet­ing, which was live-streamed on Face­book and Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s web­site.

Evonne Gor­don of Rice­boro won the $1,000 grand prize after CEO Chris Fettes and oth­er Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive staff gave a year-in-review, which includ­ed:

• What it was like for Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s oper­a­tions team to respond to extreme weath­er events in 2024.
• How Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive works with local eco­nom­ic part­ners as our area grows.
• How one local orga­ni­za­tion is using a Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion grant to make life bet­ter in our com­mu­ni­ty.

Fol­low­ing the year in review, mem­bers could watch the busi­ness por­tion of the Annu­al Meet­ing, held at the co-op’s head­quar­ters in Mid­way. Mem­bers reelect­ed incum­bent direc­tors Kyle Chris­tiansen (Bryan Coun­ty), Hol­ly Stevens (Lib­er­ty Coun­ty) and Chuck Gaskin (McIntosh/Long coun­ties) to new three-year terms on the co-op board. Direc­tors who serve on the board are mem­bers them­selves, elect­ed by the mem­bers, to rep­re­sent the mem­bers’ best inter­ests in deci­sions that affect the coop­er­a­tive mem­ber­ship.

You can find the 2025 Annu­al Meet­ing video on Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s YouTube chan­nel or on our web­site. A tran­script of the video is also avail­able on our web­site.