• The Jan. 25, 2018, meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Crowe at 6:30 p.m., and Jason Barnhorst kept minutes of the meeting.
• All members of the board were present except for Dan Schantz. Also present was CEO Brett Abplanalp.
• Upon motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Steve AmRhein, and carried, the agenda of the meeting was approved by unanimous vote.
• Representatives from both Nelson’s and Asplundh were present to explain their business relationship to each other and address concerns of competitive bidding for ROW work. In 2002, Nelson’s was purchased by Asplundh and became a wholly owned subsidiary. Since that time, both companies have continued to operate separately and competitively. It was explained to the board that they do not share bid information, equipment or labor, with each other. Each company has separate management and reports to different boards.
• Rachel Sullivan updated the board on the upcoming annual meeting and presented information on the early voting process. The event agenda and layout were reviewed and it was decided to begin the business meeting at 6 p.m. Members will receive a $10 bill credit for attending the meeting and another $10 bill credit for voting. Sullivan recommended Survey & Ballot System (SBS) for handling and processing of the early voting. Members will have three options for voting: 1) online via Smarthub, 2) mail-in paper ballot, 3) in-person at the annual meeting. After the election, SBS will summarize the voting and report member demographic information. SBS submitted an estimate of $14,668.60.
• Upon motion by Roy Friedersdorf, seconded by Lawrence Young, and carried, the proposal by SBS was approved by unanimous vote.
• The financial report was given by Abplanalp and reviewed on Call to Order. 2017 margins ended better than budgeted. This is mostly due to small increases in volume and decreases in controllable and fixed costs. Revenues from Hometown Energy, Exede internet, and pole contacts were discussed. Abplanalp will make this an action item and report back to the board.
• Upon motion made by Jeff Lawrence, seconded by Lawrence Young, and carried, the consent agenda of the meeting was approved by unanimous vote.
• Abplanalp gave his CEO, safety, and outage reports as prepared on Call to Order. The ice storm on Jan. 12 caused outages at the Westport substation transmission lines and two circuits out of the Washington substation. Our crews worked diligently and restored power as quickly as possible. Thanks to those guys for their dedication and hard work.
• The decision was made to move ahead with the COSS without completing the in-class study first. The in-class usage data has been difficult to put into a format that can be used by Prime Group, but NISC and our IT department will continue to work on the issue. It was also decided that the COSS subcommittee will now transition into a rate design committee.
• Hometown Energy update was given by Lawrence Young. The board reviewed minutes of the meeting held July 31, 2017, as well as a financial report dated Nov. 30, 2017. Sales volume is up due to colder weather, but margins are being offset by higher LP costs.

Old Business:

• Abplanalp updated the board on the priority project list, giving updates on each active project. The 2018 goal and project lists were derived from the strategic pillars that were identified by Abplanalp, his staff and the board in 2017. The projects are ranked by priority, assigned to a departmental manager, and given a completion schedule. The goal is to create company alignment on projects, increase communication, and create accountability. Abplanalp encouraged board and member involvement in the priority task list.
• Upon motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Roy Friedersdorf, and carried, updates to policy 10-2, hours of work and rates of pay, were approved by unanimous vote.
• Upon motion by Jeff Lawrence, seconded by Lawrence Young, and carried, capital credit resolution dated 1/25/2018 was approved by unanimous vote.
• Abplanalp reviewed and closed all concerns over the quality of right-of-way maintenance spraying that was discussed in our October board meeting. The priority of circuits was also covered for right of way trimming. Lastly, Abplanalp covered the outstanding performance of our ROW strategy in 2017. Over 228.65 miles of reclaim and 127 miles of spraying were completed. This yielded a reduction in lost consumer hours of roughly 4,273.9 hours and, for the first time, we started 2018 with zero outstanding tree ticket investigations for our members.
• Policy 2-7, member access to board meetings was discussed. Abplanalp and his staff presented redline recommendations to the policy and the changes were reviewed on Call to Order. There was no action taken. This will be discussed further at the February board meeting.

New Business:

• Nominating committee candidate approval was tabled until the February meeting.
• Upon motion made by Steve Gasper, seconded by Steve AmRhein, and carried, Karen Forshee was named an officer of DCREMC by unanimous vote.
• Upon motion by Jeff Lawrence, seconded by Roy Friedersdorf, and carried, Dan Schantz was elected 2018 Hoosier Energy Director for DCREMC by unanimous vote.
• Upon motion by Steve AmRhein, seconded by Jeff Lawrence, and carried, Jason Barnhorst was elected Hoosier Energy voting delegate for the 2018 annual meeting by unanimous vote.
• Upon motion by Jeff Lawrence, seconded by Steve AmRhein, and carried, Lawrence Young was elected CFC voting delegate and Roy Friedersdorf the alternate by unanimous vote.
• A quality of life survey was sent to directors via email by IEC. Abplanalp asked all directors to complete the questionnaire.
• Upon motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Jeff Lawrence, and carried, the meeting was adjourned at 10:49 p.m.