On a sunny and warm Saturday morning, more than 1,300 Cullman Electric Cooperative members and their guests gathered for the co-op’s 83rd annual meeting, Sept. 14, 2019, at Northbrook Church in Cullman.
More than 400 members were lined up at 8 a.m. and registered within the first 30 minutes. By the time registration closed at 11 a.m., 1,348 co-op members received a $15 bill credit for attending the meeting and entered the grand prize drawing for a 2003 Ford Ranger truck.
A total of 6,440 co-op members — approximately 19 percent of Cullman EC’s membership — voted in the board of trustees’ election. More than 6,100 votes were submitted by mail before the meeting. Sheila Sizemore (District 2), James Fields (District 4) and Daryl Calvert (District 6) were re-elected to the board for three-year terms.
During the business meeting, CEO Tim Culpepper gave an update on the co-op. He discussed work the co-op is doing to improve system reliability and decrease the number of power outages. He also shared news that TVA has informed Cullman EC there will be no rate increase in the coming year.
“We have been blessed that prior boards and management made prudent decisions that placed us in good financial shape so that we don’t have to have rate increases very often,” Culpepper said. “We are also blessed to have employees who care about our members, and our member satisfaction surveys confirm that we are doing a good job, but we can always do better and are constantly looking for ways to improve. We will never forget that we work for you, so let us know if we can help in any way.”
All members who registered and voted by mail or at the meeting were eligible for the drawing of 10 bill credits. The $500 winner was Sherrill Johnson. The four $250 winners were Shirley Chambers, Diana Medina, Donald Green and Norma Pannel. The five $100 winners were Richard Coots, Vic Baughman, K.E. Robertson, Jerry Nix and Waymon Potter.
Among those who attended the meeting and registered for the grand prize, Danny Seymore was the lucky winner of the 2003 Ford Ranger pickup truck.
Prior to the business session, students and parents from the Cold Springs High School Marching Band prepared and served more than 2,500 hot dogs to those in attendance. Activities outside the church included live music from Avenue G Band, inflatables slides and games, free popcorn, children’s hard hats and a bucket truck photo booth. Inside, Cullman Regional hosted a free health fair, and southern gospel group The Freemans entertained a large crowd.