Voting available online via SmartHub or at NWEC’s Drive-Thru Annual Meeting April 9

North Western Electric Cooperative (NWEC) member-owners will receive an election ballot in the mail in mid-March, asking them to accept the 2021 Annual Meeting minutes and proposed changes to the co-op’s Code of Regulations. NWEC’s Drive-Through Annual Meeting of Members will be held Saturday, April 9, at the NWEC office (04125 State Route 576, Bryan). Member-owners are invited to drive by between 9 am and noon to deliver their completed ballots in person or cast their vote online through their secure SmartHub account starting March 21 until April 8 at noon.

Member-owners who vote either in person or online via SmartHub will receive a $20 bill credit on their August electric bill.

This year, two Code of Regulations changes have been identified by the NWEC Board of Trustees, following recommendations from NWEC’s national and statewide cooperative organizations’ legal counsels. These endorsed changes align with industry best practices and will support NWEC’s future operations and protect the board’s integrity as a democratically elected organization.

• Proposed change #1 organizes the order of business at NWEC’s Annual Meeting and stems from the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a new drive-thru meeting format. This update is needed to provide continuity to the current meeting format and ensure operations can continue effectively and fairly for all members who wish to participate. The old Code language was written for a large in-person Annual Meeting, whereas today’s hybrid format is not supported by that verbiage. The board strongly thinks the revised agenda format better reflects how future meetings may be conducted.
• Proposed change #2 will align NWEC with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives (OEC)’s established best practices and recommendations by legal counsels for basic director qualifications to uphold the integrity of NWEC’s board governance. The update expands the co-op’s nepotism policy for board members to include close relatives and former employees of less than three years – including employees of NWEC’s subsidiary, NW Ohio Propane. It also adds that trustees cannot be recent convicted felons. Adding these qualifications for NWEC board members enhances transparency and removes potential conflicts of interest that may not serve the membership’s best interest.

Change #2 also removes the option of nominating trustee candidates for election from the floor of the Annual Meeting. This old Code language reflects how business was conducted in NWEC’s early days; today, with a larger territory, busy member-owners, and the availability of mailed or electronic ballots, this practice is outdated. Not all member-owners can attend the Annual Meeting, so nominations at the event are biased toward those in attendance.

It’s also a matter of fairness: allowing nominations at the meeting enables board candidates to forgo the verification process and skip the requirement to obtain signatures of support from their fellow member-owners – this is unfair to those candidates who perform due diligence and follow the established petition process. Enforcing a single method of self-nomination follows industry standards and provides an impartial procedure.

More information about the election, proposed Code changes, and full verbiage can be found on NWEC’s website at www.nwec.com/proposed-changes-code-regulations.

Regarding trustee elections, no nominating petitions were received for Board Districts 3 or 7; therefore, the incumbents, Kim Shoup and Dick Polter, are considered elected by affirmation and do not appear on the official ballot. Their biographies are provided on NWEC’s website.

Member-owners with questions can contact the NWEC office at 800-647-6932.