Annual Meeting
September 12, 2020 | 9:00 A.M.
Your Virtual Meeting Experience
White River Valley Electric Cooperative’s 2020 Annual Meeting occurred on September 12, 2020. If you were unable to view the livestream, you may view the recorded meeting below:
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WRVEC’s concern for community extends to the health and welfare of each member, neighboring friends, traveling visitors, and all those we do business with each day. Many hours have been spent evaluating best alternatives to conduct White River’s 2020 Annual Meeting in light of possible restrictions and health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic.
After weighing the pros and cons of all options, we joined other cooperatives and utilities around the nation and moved to a virtual meeting for 2020. The business meeting occured on September 12 at 9:00 a.m., and was live-streamed from our website and social media channels.
Many avenues were considered in the decision to host the meeting virtually, first and foremost the health and safety of our members and employees. We also realize convenient voting options will encourage participation from all members. With the format change, we can also drastically cut the cost of a traditional meeting which has turned this scenario into a tall glass of lemonade. We are happy to pass that savings on to you while still delivering need-to-know information about your Cooperative.
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Due to Corona Virus outbreak, the Missouri Governor authorized a waiver of statutory requirements related to cooperative annual meetings found at Section 394.120 (2) and (7). This waiver allows cooperatives to hold and conduct annual meetings and voting in a means and time-frame, as determined by their boards of directors, to be in the best interest of the cooperative and its members.
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All 2019 documentation was sent out in the August/Annual Meeting edition of the Rural Missouri magazine. It is also accessible here:
VIEW CEO AND PRESIDENTS REPORT
VIEW TREASURER’S REPORT AND FINANCIALS
VIEW 2019 ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
WRVEC’s first-ever annual report was also attached to the August edition of the Rural Missouri. The report highlights the Cooperative’s initiatives, projects, programs and other successes throughout the past year. View it here:
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The voting window was open for one full month, August 1-31, 2020 for members to cast their ballots for board candidates and bylaw amendments. The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, a third-party, securely handled the election.
Members had the option to cast their ballots online request a mail-in ballot to be sent directly to their homes and/or businesses.
Voting details:
Remember, each member account receives one vote. This is explained in our 2020 Annual Meeting video, starting at marker 7:55. Members will verify their name, address, and unique membership account number to participate. The unique membership account number can be found on the monthly billing statement, incorporated into the account number minus the last three digits.
In the example, 123456 would be the unique membership account number:
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White River Valley Electric Cooperative does everything with our members in mind. You are not just customers, but members who own and control the organization. That’s why we want to share some information you will need before voting at the 2020 Annual Meeting. Voting is your right and responsibility as a member, and participation is key to our success.
Since the last annual meeting, we formed the Bylaws, Governance, and Engagement Committee to help evaluate what we do at the cooperative in order to provide best-in-class service for our members.
After closely reviewing our bylaws, we presented three bylaw amendments to the membership for a vote. You can watch the video explaining these amendments here:
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Potential board nominees submitted their applications to the nominating committee, which met on July 10, 2020 to complete the vetting process. Since WRVEC did not have an in-person meeting, floor nominations are not viable this year. Given the circumstances, we temporarily implemented a petition option presented in our 2020 bylaw amendments. One nominee chose to run via petition for District C during the 2020 Annual Meeting.
View the nominating committee’s recommendations here:
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Any member who voted in the election received a $10 bill credit. Prizes were announced during the virtual meeting.
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Members were encouraged to send in questions to be addressed during the meeting through our Member Alliance Program — the Cooperative’s direct pipeline to the Bylaws, Governance, and Engagement Committee. The committee was formed to evaluate best practices to continually improve the organization and help the Cooperative to better reach the membership. The answers to your questions, the annual report, the meeting video, and election results will all be made available on our website.
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District A
Keet Short: 1045
Daniel Murphy: 306
Jim Reisener: 253
Drew McClelland: 81
District C
Dr. Jeff Hyatt: 1354
John S. Waters: 269
District E
Pat Funk: 972
Anita Scott: 492
ALL AMENDMENTS PASSED