2010 Annual Meeting
More than 900 members and guests celebrated the 75th anniversary of Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative at its annual meeting Thursday, June 24 at West Holmes High School.
Three incumbent trustees were reelected to the board. William Grassbaugh of Glenmont won election to serve District 2. Barry Jolliff of Wooster was reelected to serve District 8. And David Mann of Shreve will serve as trustee for District 9.
Board Chairman Ronnie Schlegel noted the 75th anniversary in his remarks. “We are excited to be celebrating 75 years of service. It’s hard to believe that just 75 years ago, rural America was still in the dark. Electricity was offered in the cities but not to rural areas because it was not profitable for the electric providers. Fortunately, enterprising farmers and community members in Holmes and Wayne counties saw the situation much differently. In October 1935, they formed a not-for-profit member-owned cooperative and built lines to electrify our countryside.”
He continued, “In the past year, the board has spent considerable time strategically planning for the growth and future needs of your cooperative. It is a constant effort to balance the quality of service at an economical price. The board continues to monitor changes in the industry on a monthly basis. We are currently reviewing the most recent wholesale price increase from Buckeye Power, our generation company, to discuss the impact on Holmes-Wayne Electric and any appropriate future rate adjustments.”
Schlegel addressed reasons for escalating power costs. “The price to produce electricity is in a very volatile market which is being greatly influenced by the world market impact on fossil fuels, the research and development of green energy, the investment in equipment to meet environmental emission requirements, the increasing price of transmission, the purchase of additional generation facilitates to meet consumer demand and the proposed legislative climate change policies.
In other remarks, Schlegel said the co-op retired more than $914,000 of capital patronage credits to its members this year.
Dan Mathie, president of the Holmes-Wayne Electric Foundation, Inc. gave a brief report on the activities of Holmes-Wayne Electric’s Operation Roundup. Mathie said an average of 7,233 members participated in Operation Roundup during 2009 by allowing their monthly electric bill to “round up” to the next highest dollar.
In 2009, total income for the program totaled $60,786 in donations and interest on deposits. The fund awarded grants to those in need throughout the area of more than $38,000. Since its inception total grants are more than $145,000
Mathie said funds are awarded to individuals for emergency medical needs, emergency housing, food and clothing. He said, “The foundation is usually the last resort after all other government programs and private charities are pursued. The board tries to assist those who otherwise would fall through the cracks.”
Mathie also stated that funds are awarded to charitable organizations that assist those in need such as the American Red Cross, Every Women’s House, many local food pantries, the Salvation Army and others.
Mathie concluded his remarks by saying, “It’s extremely gratifying to witness and be a part of caring for those in need in our communities through the Operation Roundup program.”
President and CEO Glenn Miller gave an update on the recent accomplishments of Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative during his address to the members.
Miller said, “In our continuing effort to improve reliability, we recently completed a $16.4 million dollar work plan. This focused on building tie lines between substations so we can transfer affected members to other substations in the event of transmission-related outages. This will not eliminate outages from our transmission supplier but will greatly reduce the length of an outage.”
Miller noted the co-op is now beginning a new $16.5 million dollar work plan. Approximately $10.5 million of this money is focused on line rebuilding.
He also addressed a common cause of outages. “Tree limbs on the power lines is our number one source of power outages,” he said. “In the past six years, we have trimmed approximately 2,470 miles of our system. This year, we will trim another 406 miles in Mohicanville, Clear Creek, West Salem, Golden Corners and North Wayne substation areas.”
Miller said the co-op paid $1.37 million in kilowatt-hour taxes to the State of Ohio in 2009 and paid $756,000 in property taxes that benefit 12 local school districts and local governments.
“We continue to be actively involved in the legislative process. The current proposed climate change legislation has been our main focus for past couple of years. The initial legislation would have been devastating to co-op members, drastically increasing your monthly electric bills,” he added.
“We have made some progress, but there are still some fundamental problems with this legislation, mostly in terms of affordability. We remain vigilant to protect your interests. However, we need your help like never before. We face proposed legislation with damaging potential impacts to your monthly electric bill. The latest climate change and renewable energy proposals have noble intentions, but they are not likely achievable with current technologies and certainly come with a big price tag.”
He urged Holmes-Wayne’s members to make their voices heard by joining other co-op owners and becoming members of COPA (Co-op Owners for Political Action).
Prior to the meeting, attendees took advantage of a health and information fair. Each person also received free compact fluorescent bulbs to help reduce their energy consumption and a commemorative Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative 75th Anniversary mug.
