Chairman Steve AmRhein opened the meeting, and Brian Scheidler kept the meeting minutes.

All board members were present; Clay Nuhring and Suzanne Parmer were virtual. Also present were CEO Brett Abplanalp and employee Matt Raver. Special guest Earl Ridlen of LWG CPAS and Advisors was in attendance.

Dale Wernke moved to approve the agenda. Steve Nobbe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

2023 AUDIT RESULTS

Ridlen presented the results of the 2023 financials with a clean opinion and no adjustments.

Wernke moved to accept the audit results presented by LWG. Jason Barnhorst seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

SAFETY MINUTE AND COOL MOMENT

Abplanalp covered the six golden rules our lineworkers must follow when on the job. The cool moment highlighted Jason Barnhorst as the first director to achieve director gold training status.

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES

Barnhorst moved to approve the minutes from the Feb. 28, 2024, board meeting. Parmer seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

CEO UPDATE

Abplanalp updated the board on strategic projects, including the company’s vision and culture project, the operations Kaizen event, the organization’s open/filled positions, the 2024 prioritized project list, and the fiber grant update.

Wernke moved to approve the company goals for 2024, as presented by Abplanalp. Nobbe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Abplanalp then covered the company metrics as prepared on CTO. February’s median temperature was 16.3% cooler than our five-year average. Wholesale purchased energy was down 4.8% compared to our five-year average, with demand 7.9% lower than our five-year average. Year-to-date (YTD) energy sales ended 5.4% above budget. There was no major storm for the month of February. Lost consumer hours were 592 compared to our five-year average of 795. The number of outages was 35 compared to our five-year average of 35.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

Raver gave the financial update. Net utility plant increased by $187,190 in February, and the current equity is 62.82%. Revenues are over the YTD budget, and power costs are over, resulting in a gross margin above budget of $155,299 YTD. Controllable expenses are under budget by $34,678. The cash flow statement shows a beginning balance of $454,087, and we ended the current month with a net increase in cash of $398,467, resulting in an ending cash balance of $862,554.

NEW BUSINESS

WHOLESALE COSS AND DCREMC’S PLAN

Abplanalp covered the work Hoosier Energy is doing to complete its cost-of-service study. Any changes to rates would occur in Q2 of 2026. Decatur’s plan is to have cost-of-service training for directors at the end of June, then again in November or December. DCREMC’s cost of service study will be kicked off by December this year and to be completed in 2025.

CEO LEADERSHIP PLAN (VISION-STRATEGY-GOALS)

Abplanalp presented his recommendations for the company’s vision and direction. He then covered the strategy or plan to get there, followed by the goals along the way.

OLD BUSINESS

BYLAW CHANGE: DISTRICTS FROM 8 TO 7

The board was presented with the changes to the following: district map, bylaw updates and DCREMC community trust bylaw updates. The board’s consensus was to have the director and trust appointment during the first year and then the nominating committee member in the second year. This would not force the nominating committee member to find a director the first year they are elected to the committee.

Scheidler moved to approve the changes to the bylaws, the district maps and trust bylaws. Wernke seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

SOLAR ECLIPSE PLAN

Abplanalp presented the mitigation strategy for the eclipse weekend and Monday.

FIBER PROJECT UPDATE

Abplanalp went over updates to the grant project.

AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS

Scheidler gave an update from the March 18 Hometown meeting. The next meeting is set for May 30. Barnhorst gave a short update from the board on Hoosier Energy. AmRhein gave an IEC update.

Carl Riedeman moved to adjourn the meeting. Scheidler seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:41 p.m., and the board moved into executive session.

The board came out of executive session at 9:10 p.m.

Nobbe moved to approve a budget add for an engineering study in the amount of $2,125 that was unbudgeted. Scheidler seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:11 p.m.