SEC’s Annual Membership Meeting set for Sept. 25, 2021
Southside Electric Cooperative will hold its Annual Membership Meeting in late September but with certain limitations due to continuing concerns and uncertainty related to COVID-19.
The meeting will be held Saturday, Sept. 25, at Hooper Park in Crewe at 11 a.m.
When it met May 20, SEC’s Board of Directors agreed to hold a business-only annual meeting. The board set other parameters aimed at protecting the health and safety of members and employees who attend. They include no food, music, health fair, prizes, member gifts or display tents by SEC departments. All voting for board members will be done in advance using a proxy attached to the September Cooperative Living.
Attendance at the annual meeting in the park pavilion will not be limited. Those attending must check in at the registration booth. Everyone at the meeting will be asked to wear masks and maintain social distance.
“After not having the Annual Membership Meeting in 2020, the board is pleased to hold one this year, although it will be unlike the ones all of us enjoyed before the pandemic. Still, we will be able to safely accomplish the Cooperative’s necessary business,” Dr. Frank Bacon, chair of the Board of Directors, and Jeff Edwards, SEC’s president and CEO, explain.
THREE (3) DIRECTORS TO BE ELECTED
In accordance with Article IV "Directors," of the SEC Bylaws, three (3) persons will be elected to represent Districts I, II and Ill of the Cooperative’s service area. Voting will be done before the meeting. The territory served by the Cooperative is divided into three districts with each district being represented by three directors. Directors are being elected only to represent those districts for which the terms of office are currently expiring, and all directors elected shall serve a term of three (3) years. Note: The Cooperative system map is included in this issue of Cooperative Living. The map shows county boundaries, thereby making it easier for individual members to determine both the district in which they reside and the person(s) who represents the district on the SEC Board of Directors.
DIRECTOR(S) NOMINATING PROCEDURE
ln accordance with Article IV, Section 5 "Nominations," of the SEC Bylaws, "Any thirty (30) members residing in any territorial district for which a director is currently to be elected may make nominations by petition. The nominations by petition shall be filed with the Secretary of the Cooperative not less than sixty (60) days before the meeting of members. Such nominees duly nominated shall have their names included on the official ballot." Note: A Member Nomination Petition Form is available from the Cooperative upon request. It is important that members understand the nominating process and the fact that, according to the Bylaws, "no additional nominations for directors for a particular district may be made from the floor" during the business portion of the annual meeting.
Please note that the Member Nomination Petition must be delivered to SEC’s headquarters office in Crewe, Virginia, by Tuesday, July 27, 2021, by 5 p.m., so the names of persons duly nominated can be placed on the official ballot.
All candidates will have the opportunity to speak to members in two-minute videos that SEC will record and post at the Cooperative’s website, sec.coop. The proxy with the September Cooperative Living will have a brief biography and photo of all candidates.
Results of the board elections will be announced at the Sept. 25 meeting.
Bacon and Edwards will make reports during the business-only meeting. Cooperative members will be able to ask questions of the board and management. If two people from one household attend, only one will be recognized as a member for the purpose of asking a question.
“While the meeting will not have all of the fun and fellowship of previous annual meetings, we see it as a step toward holding our traditional meeting with a band, prizes, displays and the popular chicken lunch in 2022,” Bacon says.
Although this year’s meeting is not until late September, the format was determined in May because of the number of arrangements that had to be made with vendors months in advance. And while fewer coronavirus cases are occurring, the board is still aware that changes could occur by September that would result in more gathering restrictions being implemented by local and state governments.