REGULAR BOARD MEETING

February 3, 2022

 

         The Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Newberry Electric Cooperative, Inc. for January was held at the Newberry Electric Cooperative, Inc. located in Newberry County, State of South Carolina on Thursday, February 3, 2022

         The meeting was called to order by Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert at 6:32 p.m. followed by invocation with the determination of a quorum present. 

         The secretary reported that the following Board Members were present:

                        C.J. Bishop                  Leon Fulmer                Craig Kesler

                        Blake Brigman            Melanie Hawkins        William Lominick

                        Johnnie Dickert           Doug Hipp                  John Nichols  

            Also present were President and CEO G. Keith Avery, Vice President of Operational Support Stephanie Sullivan, and Executive Secretary Deirdre Murphy.  Attorney Thomas H. Pope, III was absent. Trustees Hipp and Kesler attended virtually.

            Chairman Dickert asked if an Executive Session was needed for discussion of some cooperative matters. Trustee Brigman made a motion for the Executive Session.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.  Trustee Dickert convened into Executive Session.  After the Trustees discussed some matters, Trustee Hawkins made a motion to come out Executive Session. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.  No action was taken during the Executive Session.  Trustee Dickert reconvened the Regular Board Meeting. 

Vice President of Operational Support Stephanie Sullivan explained the possibility of swapping some territory with Dominion Energy to help with lake crossings.  After a lengthy discussion, Trustee Fulmer made a motion to continue talks with Dominion Energy to move forward on the areas mentioned.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.  

            The Board dispensed with the reading of the minutes of the December 2021 Regular Board Meeting.  A motion was made by Trustee Brigman to accept the minutes as emailed.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.    

            Committee Chairman John W. Nichols reported that the Finance Committee held its regular meeting on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.  The committee members are Trustees C.J. Bishop, Johnnie Dickert, William Lominick, and John Nichols.  President and CEO Avery was present.  Trustee Bishop was absent.

            Chairman Nichols reported that the Finance Committee reviewed cash disbursements for December 2021.  All expenditures were found to be in order, and the committee is presenting this report as information.  The consensus of the board was to accept the report.

 Due to Mr. Pope being absent, there was no Attorney Report, but a motion for an Executive Session was made by Chairman Dickert.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.  President and CEO Avery and Executive Secretary Murphy were asked to leave the room.  After the Executive Session ended, President Avery and Ms. Murphy were asked to return to the meeting. No action was taken during the Executive Session.

             President Avery reviewed the functions and activities he attended or participated in during the month of January.  He conducted a meeting with the Nomination Committee for Trustees to be voted on at the Newberry Electric Annual Meeting to be held Wednesday, April 13, 2022.  No nominations were presented.

             President and CEO Avery reviewed in detail the operational data for December 2021.  The amount of write offs for December is $1,068.05.  A motion was made by Trustee Nichols to accept this amount.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

             President and CEO G. Keith Avery reviewed the Engineering and Operations and Operational Support reports for the month. Engineering has received a spare power transformer.  The new 750 underground feed to Kiswire is installed and ready to be energized.  Work has begun on getting power to Daeyoung. Engineering has met with Metal Masters to discuss solar options.  Four replacement vehicles have been ordered, but with the supply chain issues, it will take over a year to receive the replacements. Caleb Black and Jarret Waites attended Transformer Training at ECSC.

             President Avery referenced thank you notes from consumers for the work done by employees during the recent ice and snow storm. Peyton Pitts sent a thank you card for being selected for the Touchstone Energy Bowl. Scott Sandor, of the Newberry YMCA, sent a thank you letter for the funding Newberry Electric contributed during the Vision 2020 Campaign.  

             President and CEO Avery reminded the trustees of the 2022 PowerXchange meeting to be held Saturday, March 5 – Wednesday, March 9. 

             President Avery reviewed an email stating that Central Electric will be hosting two regional meetings to provide information on Central’s 10-year plan along with the proposed shared resources with Santee Cooper to trustees and receive feedback.  The meeting for this region will be February 10, 2022 in Greenville, SC.  Trustees Dickert, Hipp, Kesler, and Nichols, and President Avery plan to attend.

             President and CEO Avery referenced a memo from Caroline Robinson at ECSC requesting email addresses for the trustees to use for the event app that will be launched at the ECSC Summer Conference this year. 

             President Avery reviewed two memos from Rob Hochstetler, President and CEO of Central Electric.  The first one is requesting delegates to Central Electric’s March 16, 2022 Annual Meeting to serve on their Board for a one-year term.  Trustee Lominick made a motion to keep the delegates the same as last year.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition to keep President Avery and Chairman Dickert as the delegates. 

             The second memo is asking for certification of Trustee qualifications for Central Trustee Appointments at the March 16, 2022 Annual Meeting to serve on their Board for a one-year term. Trustee Lominick made a motion to keep the trustees the same as last year.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition to keep President and CEO Avery and Chairman Dickert as the trustees.

            The Central Electric Power Cooperative January 18th and 19th Board Meeting Summaries were accepted as information.

            President and CEO Avery reviewed a letter from Mike Couick, President and CEO of ECSC, requesting the remaining half of the allowed donation to McMaster for Governor from last year.  Trustee Lominick made a motion to contribute the remainder. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.   ECSC will host an event on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 and Trustees Dickert and Nichols, and President Avery plan on attending.

            President and CEO Avery reviewed a letter from Oscar F. Lovelace, Jr., MD, of Lovelace Family Medicine, requesting a donation to Super Heroes Wear Masks and Take Jabs.  This project is an effort to help increase childhood vaccinations by providing them with capes or patches.  The donation would help to underwrite the cost of sewing and embroidery of capes and patches as well as print and media costs to promote this local campaign.  This was accepted as information.

             President Avery referenced an email from Caroline Robinson at ECSC to if any trustees wanted to attend the Washington Legislative Conference.  Trustees Fulmer, Hawkins, Hipp, Lominick, and Nichols along with President Avery are interested in attending.  

             There being no further business and without objections, Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert adjourned the January 2022 Regular Board Meeting at 9:03 p.m.

 

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SECRETARY                                                                                    APPROVED

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CHAIRMAN