NOTE: Board meeting minutes are available on our website, dcremc.com, once approved.
The meeting was opened by Chairman Steve AmRhein and Brian Scheidler kept the minutes of the meeting.
All board members were present. Also present were CEO Brett Abplanalp and employees Crystal Greathouse, Matt Raver, Jeanne Loechle, Jenny Burkhart and Becky Metz, and Allie Jones from IEC virtually.
Suzanne Parmer moved to approve the agenda. Dale Wernke seconded the motion. The motion passed with a 6-2 vote, with Jason Barnhorst and Jeff Lawrence voting against.
Safety Minute and Cool Moment
The cool moment was presented by Abplanalp and included DCREMC receiving the “No Lost Time Accident Award” which included recognition of management and employees for their outstanding achievement of an accident-free record of 344,058 employee hours. Abplanalp also covered the successful Lunch and Listen with DCREMC leadership and members at Midtown Diner.
The safety moment was presented by Abplanalp and included information about making sure that people pull electrical cords by the plug and not the cable.
ACRE & FORE
Jones of Indiana Electric Cooperatives (IEC) discussed with the board the progress these two PACs have made over the past year.
MSR Budget Ask
Greathouse presented a budget ask for an additional member service representative (MSR) to backfill an MSR who has taken another position within the company. Wernke moved to approve the budget ask. Barnhorst seconded the motion. The motion passed with a 6-1-1 vote, Lawrence voting no, and Carl Riedeman abstaining.
Rescind Rate Tariffs
Brett Abplanalp presented impacts to the Industrial Interruptible tariff and the Large Coincidental Peak tariff with Hoosier Energy’s wholesale rate changes on April 1.
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
The board discussed the Oct. 27, 2022, board meeting minutes and approval was tabled.
DCREMC Capital Credit Retirement Resolution
Lawrence made the motion to retire the capital credits for the remainder of 1995 ($489,652) and $67,219 from 1996. Suzanne Parmer seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Hoosier Energy Capital Credit Retirement Resolution
Lawrence made the motion to retire capital credits for $584,124 from 1993 and $84,388 from 1997. Barnhorst seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Resolution for Annual Meeting Date
Parmer moved to approve the resolution for setting the annual meeting date to June 16, 2023. Clay Nuhring seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
CEO Updates
Brett Abplanalp reported out this month’s focus, which was the work around our cost-of-service study, 2023 budget, LMR visits, 2023 right-of-way plan and interviews for the open positions. Brett Abplanalp then updated the board on open strategic projects. Brett Abplanalp also went over the monthly metrics.
Financial Updates
Raver reported on October financials.
Net utility plant has increased over $5M this year due to infrastructure improvement projects, new services and service upgrades. Revenues are under YTD budget by $66,554 but power costs are over by $160,454 resulting in a gross margin under budget of $227,008 YTD. Controllable expenses are over budget $162,290, mainly due to ROW timing and outages. At the end of October, total operating margins are $30,346, or $192,343 lower than budget. The cash flow statement shows an October beginning balance of $1,628,255 and we ended the current month with a net decrease in cash of $563,648 resulting in an ending cash balance of $1,064,607.
Financial Management Plan
Raver covered management’s proposed plan and recommendations. The board discussed and tabled for their review.
Discussion on 1000MCM
Abplanalp answered questions that have come up from members to directors on purchased materials, specifically conductor and conduit at our layout yard. Abplanalp then went over the process to create a construction work plan, the approval steps by the board and ongoing oversight of capital expenses.
The board went into executive session at approximately 9:04 p.m. to discuss accusations that were made and board governance issues.
The board came out of executive session and went back into general session at approximately 9:25 p.m.
Reduce Board Members Bylaw Change
The board discussed moving to seven (7) board members if a position were to vacate and after discussion, the board decided to table this change.
Policy/Bylaws Review & Report Out
Abplanalp reported out compliance with the following policies: Policies 10-18: Employee Drivers & Substance Abuse Testing and Policies 11-13: Identify Theft Red Flag Prevention Policy.
The Roundup Trust board requested the board review changes to their bylaws to remove individual grant opportunities. Suzanne Parmer moved to approve the changes as presented for the Roundup Trust bylaws. Clay Nuhring seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
The Hoosier Energy Board
Barnhorst gave the Hoosier Energy board update including the power tracker drop for 2023 Q1 compared to the forecast.
IEC Board/Committee Update
AmRhein gave the IEC board update.
Director Training/Conference Report Out
Scheidler, Wernke, Lawrence and Clay Nuhring reported on their recent training.
Nuhring moved to adjourn the meeting. Lawrence seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Executive Session
The board then moved into executive session to discuss the SBS contract for the annual meeting election.
The board came out of executive session and went back into general session at approximately 10 p.m. Wernke moved to authorize the CEO to execute the annual meeting election contract with SBS. Barnhorst seconded the motion. The motion passed with a 6-2 vote, Lawrence voting no, and Riedeman voting no.
The board then moved into executive session to discuss an individual member’s deposit for a large transformer purchase.
The board came out of executive session and went back into general session at approximately 10:12 p.m. Lawrence moved to purchase the transformer with a 50% deposit by the member. Nuhring seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
