REGULAR BOARD MEETING
November 30, 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, November 30, 2020 at 6:33 pm. Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert presided. Trustees Blake Brigman and Melanie Hawkins attended via Webex.
After the call to order, invocation, and establishing members present, Leann Hutto, Vice President of Human Recourses, presented different options for insurance for 2021. After some discussion, a motion was made by Trustee Craig Kesler to keep the insurance as the same. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
Trustee Doug Hipp made a motion to approve the Regular Board Meeting minutes from October 26, 2020 as emailed. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Finance Committee Chairman John Nichols reported that the Finance Committee met on Monday, November 23, 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 stated that he wanted to have an Executive Session. Trustee Kesler made a motion to go into Executive Session. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition. After Mr. Pope undated the trustees, Trustee Hipp made a motion to reconvene into Regular Session. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition. President and CEO G. Keith Avery reviewed his activity and meetings for the month. He attended CarolinaConnect and Power Team meetings. He also had RDOF daily updates.
President Avery reviewed in detail the financial and operational data for October 2020. The amount of write offs for October is $9,163.34. Trustee Hipp 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. Engineering is working on upgrading the Prosperity substation. Newberry Electric has received $428,782.34 for the fiber grant.
Information for the ECSC Virtual Winter Conference was reviewed.
The Trustees reviewed information for employee bonuses. After some discussion, Trustee Kesler made a motion to present bonuses for the year. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
The Membership and Public Relations Committee decided to meet on Thursday, December 17, 2020 to discuss plans for the 2021 Annual Meeting.
A trustee is needed to serve on the CarolinaConnect Board of Trustees. Trustee Hipp made a motion to nominate Chairman Dickert. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
The following reports were accepted as information. They are the FAR Committee, FAQs on Santee Cooper, M & ES Committee, and the Power Committee.
Every year, Newberry Electric has to decide if they want to continue to send the Living Magazine to the membership and if they want to continue to be a member of the ECSC. After some discussion, Trustee Hipp made a motion to continue sending the magazine at the Platinum level and remain a member of the ECSC. The motion was seconded and passed without opposition.
The trustees also accepted as information a request for personal funds to the Tim Scott for Senate campaign.
There being no further business and without objections, Chairman Johnnie L. Dickert adjourned the November Regular Board Meeting at 8:50 pm.
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SECRETARY APPROVED
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CHAIRMAN