REGULAR BOARD MEETING
July 27, 2020
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Newberry Electric Cooperative, Inc. was held in the Newberry Electric Cooperative, Inc. Board Room located in Newberry County, State of South Carolina on Monday, July 27, 2020 at 6:26 pm. Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert presided. The meeting was also available on Webex.
After the call to order, invocation, and establishing all members were present, Trustee Douglas Hipp made a motion to approve the Regular Board Meeting minutes from June 30, 2020 as emailed. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Finance Committee Chairman John Nichols reported that the Finance Committee met on Monday, July 20, 2020. All members were present, and they are submitting the finance report as information. The consensus of the Board was to accept the report.
Attorney Thomas Pope requested an Executive Session. The motion was seconded by Trustee Hipp and passed without opposition. After updating the trustees, Attorney Pope requested to adjourn the Executive Session and reconvene into the Regular Session. The motion was seconded by Trustee Hipp and passed without opposition.
The trustees discussed the 2020 Annual Meeting while in Executive Session. Because of Covid-19 and the three trustees up for reelection, Trustees Blake Brigman, C.J. Bishop, and Melanie Hawkins, have no opposition, Trustee Bishop made a motion to cancel the 2020 Annual Meeting. The motion was seconded by Trustee Hipp and passed without opposition.
President and CEO G. Keith Avery reviewed his activities and meetings for the month. He and Chairman Dickert met with Rob Hochstetler and attended their monthly CarolinaConnect Board Meeting.
President Avery reviewed in detail the financial and operational data for June 2020. The amount of write offs for June is $3,880.19. Trustee William Lominick made a motion to accept this amount. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
President and CEO Avery reviewed the Engineering and Operations, Operational Support, and IT reports for the month. The 7-Eleven gas station in the Industrial Park is now connected. The New Hope transformer upgrade is now complete. Zoom classes are still taking place for social distancing because of COVID-19. The office is still closed until further notice.
The 2020 Budget revisions were reviewed. President Avery stated that the budget is reduced because of travel and some training being cut out because of Covid-19. RDA funds will continue and the basic facility charge will increase to $20.00 per residential meter. Trustee Craig Kesler made a motion to accept the revisions. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
Two estimates were presented to the trustees, one from Visionaire Solutions and the other from MSS Solutions, for an air cleaner for the office. This machine also can kill germs in the air. After some discussion, a motion was made by Trustee Hipp to accept the quote from Visionaire Solutions to install the air cleaner. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
The trustees reviewed a memo from Leann Hutto reminding them that it is time to renew Acre and Echo memberships. A motion was made by Trustee Kesler for all trustees to be a Century Member for Acre and a Silver Member for Echo. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
The Trustees accepted as information the Central Electric Power Cooperative July Board Meeting Summary.
President Avery informed the trustees that Maghan Belcher received her certificate of completion for RUS Borrower Accounting from Graduate School USA.
There being no further business and without objections, Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert adjourned the July 2020 Regular Board Meeting at 8:00 pm.
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SECRETARY APPROVED
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CHAIRMAN