SMECO voters eliminate annual members' meeting

Winner of the well-¬traveled SMECO vehicle: Derrick Berry of Mechanicsville, MD, with his daughter, Emma. Photo courtesy of SMECO.

Waldorf, MD — No more used truck giveaways. No more cash prizes. No more free ice cream and live bands. At its 78th Annual Meeting members of the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) voted to eliminate those annual meetings. Instead starting next year all members will be sent by mail a ballot with a stamped return envelope for the annual voting of co-op board members.

At the Aug., 23 annual meeting at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, SMECO CEO Austin “Joe” Slater (shown at left) explained that attendance at the annual meetings had been on a steady decline. This year 882 members voted out of 133,476 notices mailed. Of those voting 140 were by absentee ballot.

The bylaws change eliminating the annual meeting passed by a vote of 637 to 120. Slater said the elimination of the annual voters’ meeting would save rate payers $84,000 yearly and also alleviate a lot of time and effort put in by SMECO employees for the event.

Slater said instead of the annual voters’ meeting there would be an annual business meeting at which members could attend and ask questions and express concerns. Time had been set aside at the annual voter’s meetings for that.

In years past there typically have been few questions. Ironically at the final meeting there were a number of questions raised from the stadium stands. Many of them supporting SMECO’s commitment to renewable energy, particularly solar power.

Slater reported the co-op continues to pursue purchasing sites for solar farms., He said the commitment to date has avoided the output of five million tons of CO2. But he said the initiative has been slowed down somewhat by Maryland Public Service Commission decisions calling for subsidizing solar by other rate payers.
Slater said the push for community solar that would allow renters to adopt the technology is in a test phase out of concern for the cost to rate payers. Slater also talked about the roll-out of smart meters., of which 12,000 were installed in the past year.

During the meeting Slater introduced Megan Mattei of Leonardtown High School, who was the cooperative’s representative at the National Electric Cooperative Association’s Youth Camp in Washington, DC. She will represent Maryland at the association national convention in San Diego.

Mattei talked about her experience in DC of buying a chocolate bar at the hotel and learning it had been produced by a cooperative in Chana that was committed to providing safe drinking water with the proceeds. She said she felt an affinity with them and a greater understanding of the power of cooperatives.

There was only one contested election in this year’s members’ vote–for two representatives from Charles County, with three candidates competing. Gilbert Bowling and Richard Winkler won board seats, besting Vernecia Smith, the only woman and African-American candidate.

Other board members elected to serve three-year terms were W. Michael Phipps of Calvert County, James Richards of Prince George’s County and Scott White of St. Mary’s County.

Winner of the final well- traveled SMECO vehicle: was Derrick Berry of Mechanicsville, whose wife works for SMECO. He posed with his daughter Emma in front of the truck after the announcement.

Registered members were also eligible to win one of 50 electric bill credits of $50 each. In addition, winners of 15 cash prizes of $100 each were awarded.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com

Winners of $100 cash attendance prizes from Calvert County: Ms. Carolyn Cunningham representing the South Gate Home Owners Association and Richard Morin. Photo courtesy of SMECO

Winners of $100 cash attendance prizes from Charles County.
Seated, from left: Betty Brooks, Tina Ford, Leonard Lentz, and JoAnn Duckett
Standing: Mary Adler, Paula Adair, Samuel Nelson, Kenneth Gage, Andrew Lewis III, and Everett Gantt. Photo courtesy of SMECO