Board Spotlight: Board Approves $800,000 in Capital Credits, Capital Credit Checks to Arrive in October
A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of SEMO Electric Cooperative, Inc., (hereinafter referred to as “Cooperative”) was held on Monday, July 20, 2020, at the offices of the Cooperative in Sikeston, Missouri. The following Directors were present: Richard Faulkner, Butch Dirnberger, Carl Eftink, Dennis Fowler, Myron Hawes, James Deneke, Carla Moore, Keith Haynes, Dicky Hanor, Tim Coppage, John Bledsoe, and Hamil Corse. Directors absent: none. Also present were Sean Vanslyke, CEO/General Manager; Megan Ray, General Counsel; and staff members Britney Mulcahy, Angie Byford, Danielle Shepard, Amanda Burnett, Loyd Rice, Becky Ivester, Ron Montgomery, Marty Vineyard, Dannett Cooper, and Brad Milam. The meeting was called to order at 12:35 p.m. by President Faulkner.
A prayer of invocation was offered by Loyd Rice. The chair asked for approval of the agenda. On motion made, seconded and passed, the agenda was approved. Nathan Holmes, owner of PumpTrakr, addressed the Board regarding an app he has developed that assists with irrigation pump tracking and the group discussed irrigation and irrigation revenue, which accounted for 8.6% of the Cooperative’s total revenue in 2019.
The Board considered its consent agenda consisting of: the minutes of the regular meeting of June 15, 2020; minutes of the reorganizational meeting of July 2, 2020; new membership applications; membership cancellations; initial review of Policy 222, Use of Cooperative’s Vehicles; and initial review of Policy 223, Employee Travel.
Montgomery presented the monthly safety report. He provided information on the monthly safety focus which is on summer hazards. Following his report, Montgomery left the meeting. Mulcahy introduced new employee Shepard, a member service representative. Burnett reviewed the financial summary for the month of June 2020 with revenue and expense analysis, budget comparisons, and a review of the arrears report. Compared to budget for 2020, revenue is down 2.72%, expenses are down 6.12% and power costs is down 2.94%.
At this time, Holmes left the meeting. Eftink reported his attendance to the meeting of M&A. Items of interest included: safety; reliability; and finances. Haynes reported his attendance to the AMEC Executive Committee meeting. Items of interest included: service awards and annual meeting cancellation.
Under old business the Board: reviewed its schedule of meetings; Policy 219, Out of Area Storm Pay, was amended as presented; and Policy 220, Employment and Reemployment Rights of Service Members, was affirmed as presented. Under new business the Board: discussed district events; Policy 229, Delegation of Authority, was amended as presented; Policy 232, Education Assistance, was amended as presented; the Board resolved to authorize the distribution of capital credit retirements in the amount of $800,000 as recommended by management; the Board approved loan documents and resolutions for $8,000,000 from CFC for fiber construction and services.
Ivester presented a GoSEMO Fiber subscriber update (nearly 4,500 subscribers), Rice provided an update on the BMU project and discussed new state funding available in certain areas and Chris Freed entered the meeting and discussed outages caused by a house fire and guns. Vanslyke reported on SEMO 360 activities. The Board reviewed written staff reports. Department leaders were present to supplement their reports and to answer questions. The remaining staff members were excused from the meeting. Thereafter, the Board entered into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. There being no further business to come before the Board, on motion made, seconded and passed, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.
