The 80th Annual Meeting was held at Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative’s headquarters building in Paulding, Ohio, on March 18. Dr. John Saxton, Board Chairman, called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance. The national anthem was played and Peter Niagu offered the invocation.

Chairman Saxton noted the meeting notice had been mailed to all members on Feb. 27, 2017, which contained the meeting agenda. He asked if there were any objections to him dispensing with the reading of the notice or if there were any changes to the meeting agenda; there were no objections and the agenda would stand as approved.

Saxton noted the minutes to the meeting held on March 19, 2016, had been mailed to all members in the recent issue of Country Living and Electric Consumer magazines and were included in the materials given at registration. He asked if there were any objections to him dispensing with the reading of the minutes or if there were any changes to the minutes; there were no objections and the minutes would stand as approved.

Secretary-Treasurer Gary Hayden gave the Treasurer’s Report. He stated his written report appeared in the handout, and a financial report was printed. He further stated the audited financial report was completed by the local firm of Bashore, Reineck, Stoller & Waterman and was available for review at PPEC’s office. Hayden stated PPEC had received a “clean” audit, which means the auditing firm found the financial reports accurately reflected the operations of PPEC. Hayden reviewed several financial statistics, which had changed significantly during his tenure on the board. He noted the growth in plant and the reduction in outage hours.

Saxton gave the Chairman’s Report. He discussed the cooperative’s history and showed videos on the cooperative creation. The Chairman showed several graphs and discussed how PPEC keeps costs and expenses low for the membership. He highlighted the average residential rate for Ohio cooperatives was $0.1307 per kilowatt-hour, while PPEC’s rate was only $0.118 per kilowatt-hour. Chairman Saxton thanked retiring trustees Gary Hayden and Gerald Sorg and presented each a commemorative meter lamp. Both retiring trustees took a few moments to thank the membership and reflect on their service.

Chairman Saxton then introduced special guest speaker Patrick O’Loughlin, President & CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives. O’Loughlin took a few moments to discuss the status of generation and wholesale power within the Buckeye Power system.

President and CEO George Carter gave the CEO Report. He discussed the history of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and related the mission of the REA to the cooperative’s mission today and how Paulding Putnam was meeting that mission. He explained how many procedures have been updated but are still based on the original cooperative mission of improving rural families. Following Carter’s remarks, he answered several questions from the audience.

Scholarship winners were announced:

Touchstone Energy®

Gabrielle Gudakunst, Wayne Trace High School, $550

At-large

Kelsey Miller, Continental High School, $550

Third place

Claire Westrick, Miller City High School, $550
Griffin Morman, Fort Jennings High School, $550

Second place

Katie Fuetter, Ottawa-Glandorf High School, $650
Troy Ricker, Fort Jennings H.S., $650

First place

Jordan Drummelsmith, Miller City High School, $800
Maggie Wilson, Antwerp High School, $800

Makenna Ricker from Miller City High School and Alex Hoehn from Ottawa-Glandorf High School, both of whom represented Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative on the National Cooperative Youth Tour, spoke about their 2016 experiences in Washington, D.C. The 2017 Youth Tour attendees were announced: Abigail Schroeder and Chloe Lammers, both of Miller City High School.

Cooperative Attorney Norman Cook was called upon to present the trustee election results. Three districts (1, 6, and 9) were up for election: Trustee Dr. John Saxton (District 6) was re-elected by affirmation, Joseph Kohnen (District 1) was elected by majority vote, and Dr. Ronald Black (District 9) was elected by majority vote. Cook noted the elections were conducted by an independent third party and the Election Committee had met on March 9, 2017, to receive the certified results.

There being no further business to come before the meeting, on a motion duly made and seconded, the chairman declared the meeting adjourned.