Transcript:
JEFF LEWIS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the 83rd Annual Meeting for members of Little River Electric Cooperative. I want to thank you for taking the time to participate in the meeting today. This year, like the past several annual meetings, the cooperative offered drive-through registration and was again a huge success.
Your participation and involvement in the decision-making process have been instrumental in shaping the direction of our cooperative. You have let us know you love the convenience and safety provided by the ability to remain in your vehicle.
The business session is being streamed today. We welcome your comments via the live stream platform you are using.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Travis Burriss, who is the president of Little River Electric Board of Trustees. Mr. Burriss represents District One in Anderson County and has served his community as a board member since August of 2020. Welcome President Burriss.
TRAVIS BURRISS: Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. At this time, I’d like to call the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Little River Electric Co-op to order. I would like to have Steven Hughes give our invocation. Steven is our right-of-way staking and line inspector and manager and has been with us for 34 years. Following Steven Hughes, we’ll have the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag.
STEVEN HUGHES: Let’s pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for this day, Lord, I thank you for the many blessings you’ve given us, Lord, in life, Lord, I pray just protection and blessings over this meeting, Lord, that we have today. Lord, I thank you for our employees, I thank you for the ones, Lord, who are our board of directors. I thank you for each one, Lord, and the work that they do to keep this co-op running. Lord, I thank you for the employees, for the work they put out, Lord, and just keeping everything safe. Lord, I thank you for most of all our members, Lord, and what they do to keep this company running. Lord, I thank you, if it wasn’t for them, Lord, that we would not have a co-op. I thank you for just all the many blessings you’ve given us, Lord, and I pray your protection over this meeting, Lord, and that good things will come of it, Lord, and that voting, Lord, would be well. And I just pray that you bless each and every one today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[National Anthem plays.]SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PRE-RECORDED VIDEO: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
BURRISS: At this time we will dispense of the minutes of our 2022 Annual Meeting. The minutes of the meeting have been posted on our website.
Are there any additions or deletions to these minutes? Hearing none, do we have a motion to accept the minutes as posted? We have a motion. Do we have a second? We have a second. Thank you, and we’ll let the minutes stand as written and continue to be posted on our website.
Our Operation Round-Up program: we have eight Trust Board members who are responsible for overseeing the disbursement of our Operation Round-Up funds. We would like to thank these Trust Board members, and they are Jean Smith, Karen McMullan, Linda Kidd, Gale King, James Bach, Janice Hawthorne, Marissa Busbee, and John Calhoun.
We would like to also thank those who participated in giving to Round-Up. This is a chance for everyone to help others in our area by agreeing to round up the funds to the nearest dollar on their monthly bill. The money goes towards the help of members in need and those emergencies for such things as house fires, medical necessities, and to replace broken appliances, water heaters or other household necessities.
In the last year, we had $40,000 contributed to these funds and were able to assist 50 members and organizations throughout our community. We would also like to thank those that donated money at the voting sites for the annual food drive. The total amount will be posted on our website in a few days.
At this time, I would like to recognize our Election and Credentials Committee members who work closely with our legal counsel, Mr. John Andrew Bishop. These members are Don Campbell, Brad Cuttill, T.A. Ferguson, Gerald Hanks, and Marissa Busbee.
Lastly, I would like to recognize our current Board of Trustees and thank them for their commitment and service to our cooperative. Those are Terry Ricketts, Vice President, District Five. Ms. Patsy Wilson. Secretary-Treasurer, District Six. Wayne Gary, District Eight. Wayne Erwin, District Seven. Mike Johnson, District Three. Robert Parker, District Two. and Bill Davis, District Four.
We would also like to recognize our CEO, Mr. Jeff Lewis, for his leadership during his first two years at our co-op. We appreciate what the cooperative has accomplished through his leadership in being a valued partner of the Board. At this time, I’m going to turn it over to CEO Mr. Jeff Lewis to give us an update.
LEWIS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Burriss. It’s an honor to work on behalf of Little River membership and alongside your board of trustees.
As a reminder, we currently have 2200 miles of lines serving just shy of 15,000 meters. We operate and maintain this electric distribution system with 32 employees. Which brings me to the group I have the utmost respect for and can’t thank enough for their dedication and hard work every day, and that is our employees. They are the heartbeat of the cooperative.
On behalf of this staff, I would also like to thank the Board of Trustees for the support they provide. On behalf of the Board, staff, and myself, we appreciate the turnout from the members and support you’ve shown with respect to our drive-through Annual Meeting. Since implementing this format, the early drive-through voting process has allowed more members to participate in our annual meetings. Your feedback, however, is welcome as we plan for the future meetings and the potential of being back in person for 2024.
The annual business meeting is very important to us and is an opportunity for our trustees and management to provide an update on the affairs of your cooperative within your community.
I would like to begin by sharing Little River is in sound financial standing. As a result of this sound standing, it is our ability to return capital credits to our members. Capital credits reflect each member’s ownership in the cooperative. Any margins or revenues related to the sale of electric service remaining after all expenses have been paid, are returned to the cooperative members in proportion to their electrical use. This year, Little River will return just over $300,000 in capital credits in the form of bill credits and checks in the next month to those who received electricity in 1998 and 2022.
We saw tremendous growth over the past year. Our system grew 3.1% during calendar year 2022. 381 meters were added to the system. This is a 44% increase over 2020, just two years ago. As I stated last year, one of our goals at Little River is to be continuously improving.
Around March and April of this past year, we completed the transition to a new accounting and billing software. The transition did not come without challenges. We recognized it was a tough month for our members and our staff, as billing was moved from one system to the other. We are confident with the upgrade that the upgrade will provide convenience through the app SmartHub for members to access their accounts on their smartphones or home computers. You should already be able to access your account, pay your bill online, receive communication regarding outages and restoration, and any other important messages that need to be relayed to the membership in a timely manner. We will continue to roll out updates as they become available.
I would like to share some of the accomplishments and milestones Little River has achieved in the past year around safety and reliability. Safety is our number one priority. We want each of our employees to go home to their family every night. We track no lost time in Little River due to accidents. At last year’s meeting, we let you know we had recently set an all time record of 972 consecutive days with no lost time. I’m happy to report we have shattered that record and are now up to 1,355 days. That is over three and a half years. This is a testament to our safety department and the linemen performing the job with exceptional attention to detail.
Another area we continue to improve upon is the Right-of-Way maintenance program. Just a few years back, we were on a ten plus year clearing cycle. At the end of this calendar year, we will be down to five year rotation, which helps ensure service reliability to your home and businesses. An additional measure we take to keep our members, the public, and employees safe is through the assessment of damaged utility poles on our system.
As mentioned, we take pride in the reliability of the electric service that we provide for our members. Part of this is through our system-wide maintenance program, which includes an annual pole inspection completed on a ten-year cycle. We recently replaced 120 poles in the Crescent and Donald substation areas. Poles deemed inadequate are replaced in a timely manner to ensure both electric service reliability, and safety.
In conclusion, I urge each member of our cooperative to remain actively engaged and voice your thoughts and concerns. Together, we shape the future of our cooperative, and ensure that it continues to serve as a pillar of our communities. Again, I want to extend my gratitude to all the hardworking employees who tirelessly maintained our lines, respond to emergencies, and keep the power flowing. Your dedication and excellence in safety is second to none.
I’m proud to be a part of Little River Electric Cooperative and confident in our collective ability to shine even brighter in the years to come. Let us embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead with the same spirit of cooperation and determination that has defined us for years. Thank you for your continued support. At this time, I will turn it over to our legal counsel, John Andrew Bishop, for additional business items of the meeting.
JOHN ANDREW BISHOP: Good afternoon. My name is John Andrew Bishop, and I’m the attorney for Little River. At this point, we have been informed by the secretary and I’m pleased to announce that we have met the required quorum to hold this annual meeting today. Proper notification was submitted to all members in advance of this meeting as required by the Little River bylaws and the laws of South Carolina. A notice was also posted on our website.
The 2023 Credential and Election Committee met at my office on August 25th to certify all the candidates running for election this year. This year, the cooperative has four districts up for reelection. Those are District One. The only candidate is Travis Burriss, the incumbent, and he met all requirements to run for reelection. District Four, the incumbent, Bill Davis, met all requirements to run, and he has opposition, Joe M. “Mike” Price, who also met all requirements to run for this seat. District Five, we received one petition, and that was by the incumbent, Terry Ricketts. He also met all requirements to run for 2023. And finally, District Six, we received one petition by the incumbent, Patricia Wilson, and she has also met all requirements to run for reelection this year.
At this time, I will turn it back over to President Burriss to close this business meeting.
BURRISS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bishop. This concludes our 83rd Annual Meeting of Little River Electric Co-op. Is there any unfinished business today? Any new business? If none, then I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. Do we have a second? We have a second. Thank you for your attendance. And as a reminder, the election and the prize drawing results will be posted on our Facebook and our web pages shortly. Thanks, and have a good afternoon.
