Lucas McFadden:
Welcome to York Electric Cooperative’s Annual Meeting, celebrating serving YOU for 82 years!
I’m Lucas McFadden and I am anchor and producer for CN2 News and co-host of WRHI’s Palmetto Mornings.
We are happy to join you virtually to update you on your cooperative.
At this time, Rev. William Buie, serving First Calvary Baptist Church in Rock Hill, who will offer our invocation.
Rev. Buie: Invocation
Pray with me Most gracious and eternal god our father. In your presence is the fullness of joy therefore we welcome you into this place. Bless our time together. Let us carry out the business of this well-organized 82-year-old institution in a timely fashion. We thank you in advance for what happens when we yield ourselves to you. We do so now in the name of Jesus the Christ our Lord. This is your servant’s prayer. Receive now. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
Lucas McFadden:
Thanks, Rev. Buie.
And now YEC Lineman and Veteran Brenton Hollingsworth will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Brenton was a Sergeant in the Army Rangers, serving for 9 years with 5 tours in Afghanistan.
Brenton Hollingsworth:
Please stand.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Lucas McFadden:
Thank you very much, Brenton, for your service to our country. We appreciate it.
And now I would like to introduce YEC Board Chairman, Tom Settlemyre.
Tom Settlemyre:
Thank you, Lucas.
I’d like to officially call the 2023 Annual Meeting of York Electric Cooperative to order.
York Electric has certified proof 59,124 individual registration cards were mailed to invite its membership to the 2023 Annual Meeting.
The total number of registered members for the 2023 annual meeting has been recorded as 4,882.
The required quorum to host the meeting is 2,975, which has been met with the number of members present.
We also have an action item to approve the 2022 annual meeting minutes. Are there any objections to approving the minutes?
Hearing none, the 2022 annual meeting minutes are approved as presented.
Now, YEC President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Basha, will provide a report on your cooperative.
Paul Basha:
Thank you, Chairman Settlemyre.
I would like to thank everyone who came out this year to our drive-thru Annual Meetings celebrating serving you for 82 years. For the first time, we hosted an additional location in Fort Mill where we were able to register 1,679 members.
Most of all, though, I want to thank our Lord for another year without a major injury or large-scale outage.
I’d also like to thank our Board of Trustees. Thank you for your dedication to our co-op.
Actually, for years, we have kept our increases in electric rates reasonable. Actually, for the last twelve (12) years, our rates have either had no increase or a slight decrease. This year we continue that trend with no increase.
You may have received a check in your mailbox recently. This year’s capital credit rebate is the largest ever! Our board of trustees voted to return $2.6 million to members through capital credits showing the financial health of your cooperative.
I’d like to brag on our employees who live and breathe service. In my one-on-one interviews with employees, I learned that our family atmosphere is what employees like the most. Not only do we treat each other as family, but we strive to treat our members like part of our family, too. That’s why we prioritize greeting you with a smile, going the extra mile, having a live person answer the phone and hiring locals to look out for you.
We’re working for you to continue planning a brighter future for you and our communities by incorporating new, innovative technology.
This includes:
- Upgrades to several substations with equipment that helps us locate and restore power more quickly in outage situations.
- Researching, developing and implementing special rates and services for electric vehicles.
- Providing in-home smart devices, such as smart thermostats, that help members monitor energy use and save money.
We know having reliable power is important. That’s why we are proud to invest in two new 100 kV transmission lines that will serve two of York Electric’s substations.
Speaking of projects, our Rural Internet Project is in the final stretch. Now, more than 4,500 members have access to high-speed Internet that didn’t before.
Lastly, I want to thank you for continuing to support the cooperative business model.
Supporting your co-op helps you maintain democratic control of your business – your co-op – right here at home. Your co-op is run by locals, giving our members a voice in how your electric utility operates instead of the alternative which includes multiple layers of regulation.
In summary, rates are stable, rebate checks are large, rural internet is being installed, electric service reliability is excellent, and this co-op is still your co-op where members have a voice.
Your Cooperative is in great shape.
Now, our emcee, Lucas McFadden, will continue the business meeting and announce the election results.
Lucas McFadden:
Thank you, Paul.
First, is there any old business to come before the meeting this afternoon?
Any new business to come before the meeting this afternoon?
Hearing none, we’ll move on to reporting on the election results.
For the 2023 election, there were three uncontested trustee seats.
- Tom Settlemyre ran unopposed for District 1.
- Scott Good ran unopposed for District 2.
- And Jack Cornwell ran unopposed for District 3.
All three of these gentlemen have been reelected to serve another 3-year term.
Congratulations to all of you.
Next, I’d like to report the results of the two questions presented to members on this year’s ballot.
The first question asked members their preference on their annual meeting logistics, giving members a choice between a drive-thru event or an in-person event, as it was in previous years.
The votes were tallied as follows:
3,727 members voted for your co-op to continue drive-thru registration and voting.
703 members voted for the in-person meeting.
The second question asked members their preference on receiving a power bill credit or a tangible gift to thank them for registering their membership at the annual meeting.
The votes were tallied as follows:
4,370 members voted for a power bill credit.
71 members voted for a tangible gift.
That concludes the business meeting for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Members for York Electric Cooperative.
Without any further objection, is there a motion on the floor to adjourn this meeting and continue with the prize drawings?
Hearing a motion and a second, we will adjourn.
Thank you.
At this time, we will begin our prize drawings.
YEC’s staking engineers Thomas Wilkerson and Michael Dickson will dump the prize drawing tickets in the hopper from our Fort Mill registration for our first drawing.
This is like a magic show! (laughs)
To help us select each winner out of the hopper, we have Miss Annabelle Chambers, daughter of YEC members Katie and Cory Chambers and granddaughter of YEC employee Carol Newman.
Annabelle will join us here. I’ll tell you a couple of quick facts about Annabelle. She’s in the first grade at Orchard Park Elementary School. She likes to swim and play tennis, and she has a dog named Baxter. We appreciate so much you joining us to help.
Members who registered and voted at our Fort Mill location have all been entered in a special drawing for (1) $500 power bill credit.
And the winner is: Janet Overstreet. Congratulations!
All of these members will remain in the hopper for the additional prize drawings.
Now, Thomas and Michael will dump the remaining registration cards from our York location into the hopper.
There’s a lot in there!
As you saw, the winning ticket from Fort Mill back in the hopper as well.
Thanks to the generosity of several business partners of York Electric, we have 22 valuable door prizes today.
If your name is called as a winner, we will record your information and you will be contacted by your co-op on Monday to coordinate claiming your prize.
Let’s get started!
- A Garden Trimmer, donated on behalf of Turner Communications, Inc.:
Greg Sidney - 12-month Family Membership to the Anne Springs Close Greenway, donated on behalf of Leroy Springs & Company, Inc.: Loane Wylie
- $50 Visa Gift Card, donated on behalf of McCall-Thomas Engineering: Turner, Steven G and Linda
- $50 Visa Gift Card, donated on behalf of McCall-Thomas Engineering: Brenda M. Gleaton
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Zemar Transformer Company with Cooper Power Systems: Chester and Kathryn McHenry
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Zemar Transformer Company with Cooper Power Systems: Jeffery & Tonia Collins
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Zemar Transformer Company with Cooper Power Systems: Margie M. McCarter
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Zemar Transformer Company with Cooper Power Systems: Trixy E. Ednemano
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of The Okonite Company: Bradley and Claudi Devereaux
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of The Okonite Company: Resnik, Alan
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Pike Electric, LLC: John William Amacher
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Pike Electric, LLC: Daniel Robinson
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Pike Electric, LLC: Adam Hummerio
- $50 Walmart Gift Card, donated on behalf of Pike Electric, LLC: Douglas Algire
- $50 Visa Gift Card, donated on behalf of Bank of York: Rebecca L & Kevin Chambers
- $50 Visa Gift Card, donated on behalf of Bank of York: Kelly Thoma
- An Igloo Fishing Cooler, donated on behalf of Interstate Solutions: Dale & Cynthia Davis
- $100 Lowe’s Gift Card, donated on behalf of Border States: Candace Kitchen & Edwin Starkey
- $100 Lowe’s Gift Card, donated on behalf of Williams Electric Company: Alfred and Pamela Haselden
- $100 Lowe’s Gift Card, donated on behalf of Williams Electric Company: James E. Douglas
- $100 Lowe’s Gift Card, donated on behalf of Williams Electric Company: Wesley L. Moorefield, Jr.
- $100 Visa Gift Card, donated on behalf of CEE-US: Kwame Moyo
All of these tickets have been recorded and now Annabelle will help us place all 22 back in the hopper for the grand prize drawings!
This is fantastic. As a kid, I wanted to be Bob Barker on The Price Is Right, so, I’m not out in Hollywood, but I do get to give out all kinds of winnings.
And now for the grand prizes!
The first $500 power bill credit goes to…
Joseph Gilfillan
The second $500 power bill credit goes to…
Alyin Wallace
And the truck goes to…
Ellen and Angel Weatherly
164256001
You just won a new car, or new truck!
As a reminder, if you won a prize today, someone will contact you by phone on Monday to remind you of what you won and coordinate you claiming your prize.
Thank you for joining us and for allowing York Electric Cooperative the opportunity to look out for you.
I’m Lucas McFadden. Thank you so much for spending the day with us. Have a great day!