Lucas McFadden:
Welcome to York Electric Cooperative’s 83rd Annual Meeting, May the FOURTH be with you.
I’m Lucas Skywalker – I mean McFadden. Sorry, that happens every May the Fourth. Shout out to all of our Star Wars fans out there.
Thank you so much for joining us. I am the anchor for CN2 as well as co-host of WHRI’s Palmetto Mornings. You can listen to us weekly, Monday through Friday, 6 to 9am on FM 100.1, stick around and watch us on CN2 or also on all of your favorite social media channels. So click, like, subscribe so you can find out what’s going on locally right here in your home town.
We are happy to join you virtually to update you on your cooperative.
At this time, YEC member and SC House Representative Tommy Pope, will offer our invocation. Representative Pope.
Representative Pope:
Thank you, sir. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for these opportunities today. Thank you for this country, the freedoms you’ve given us. Father lay your hand on all the members of the co-op, all the members of the board, the staff. Keep them safe, give them peace. Give us your wisdom, Father, as they make their decisions today. Keep all the workers safe here, Father, as they go about taking care of us, our communities and our families. Thank you for our blessings, our county, our opportunities. All these things we ask of you in Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
I also have a small, special presentation. We’ve also got a number of house members, if you’d like to step up, gentlemen. Mr. Basha, will you join us, please?
He doesn’t look near surprised enough.
Paul Basha: Oh, I’m very surprised.
Representative Pope:
Mr. Basha, on behalf of the Governor of the state of SC, it's our honor as members of the legislation to represent the governor and present you with The Order of Palmetto. Our delegation members got together, as did some very good friends of yours, and applied to the Governor’s office. I know it has been my honor over the years to hand out a number of these under various governors. I will note that Governor McMaster actually let your name be bigger than his name, which I think is a sign of his humility and comfort in the position he’s in. But Paul, you, you’ve been a great asset. You’ve been an asset and friend in this community, to the co-op and to the state of South Carolina. I don’t know who you’re going to give my number to when you want something done in Columbia, but I look forward to hearing from you and whomever you choose.
Paul Basha:
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, y’all. I am totally surprised. I don't know if you know this, but this is like the biggest civilian award you can get in South Carolina and I do not deserve it, but I'm just, I don't have anything to say. Just thank the Lord and my family and these employees here who make it all possible and I'll never forget this day. Thank you very much.
Representative Pope:
I bet you could put it on your dash so you can get out of traffic tickets, but I think that would fade. So I’d probably take it home.
Paul Basha:
Haha. Do I get a license plate? Thank you all again.
Lucas McFadden:
Oh, my goodness. Well, congratulations. And that is correct, Paul is right. That is the highest honor a civilian can receive here in South Carolina is the order of the conduct of job well done, Paul.
And thank you so much again for representative, the other representatives here with us today. Well, now YEC board member, Rick Sadler will join us in the pledge of allegiance,
Rick Sadler:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Lucas McFadden:
Thank you, Mr. Sadler.
And now I would like to introduce YEC Board Chairman, Tom Settlemyre.
Tom Settlemyre:
I’d like to officially call the 2024 Annual Meeting of York Electric Cooperative to order.
YEC has certified proof 60,369 individual registration cards were mailed to invite its membership
to the 2024 Annual Meeting.
The total number of registered members for the 2024 annual meeting has been recorded as 5,354.
The required quorum to host the meeting is 3,022 which has been met with the number of members present.
We also have an action item to approve the 2023 annual meeting minutes. Are there any objections to approving the minutes?
Hearing none, the 2023 annual meeting minutes are approved as presented.
Now, YEC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Basha, will provide a report on your cooperative.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we would like to thank Paul for his tireless service for our members and congratulate him on a job well done as he welcomes his retirement in June.
Paul Basha:
Thank you, Chairman Settlemyre.
I would like to thank everyone who came out this year to our drive-thru Annual Meetings celebrating 83 years of serving you.
For the second time, we hosted an additional location in Fort Mill where we were able to register 1,363 members.
For years, we have kept our increases in electric rates reasonable.
Actually, for the last thirteen (13) years, our rates have either had no increase or a slight decrease.
This year we continue that trend with no price increase, but due to rising costs an increase might be needed in future years.
Rising costs continue to affect us all. As you can see, everything has gone up in price significantly.
Household goods, as well as the equipment it takes for your cooperative to keep your lights on continues to increase each year, as well as the cost of power.
Speaking of money, you may have received a check in your mailbox recently. This year’s capital credit rebate is the largest ever! Our board of trustees voted to return $2.7 million to members through capital credits, showing the financial health of your cooperative.
This will be my very last annual meeting report to you as I end my 21 years of serving you as CEO and 35 years at YEC.
Please allow me to thank a few folks.
First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus who has protected this co-op from major storms and employee injury. Thanks to my supportive and loving family, especially my wife Sarah who has walked with me in this journey and prayed for me faithfully.
Thank you to the Board of Directors who took a chance on a 37-year-old engineer and has led this organization with a member focused vision.
Lastly, and not by any means least, I say thanks to the best group of employees who have made this the best electric cooperative in the country.
To you members, I ask that you continue to support YEC like you have and know that I appreciate you so very much.
God bless you, YEC and America.
As I leave, I am confident your future is in good hands. I’m pleased to announce that your Board of Trustees unanimously selected Craig Spencer to become YEC’s next President and CEO.
Craig began his career with YEC 32 years ago as purchasing agent, then became Vice President of Engineering where he served our members for the following 21 years.
It has been a pleasure to work with Craig throughout his impressive career and I’m honored to introduce him to you all now.
Please help me welcome Craig Spencer.
Craig Spencer:
Thank you, Paul. Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. You have done a great job and it is well- deserved.
I am grateful for the board’s trust in me to lead this organization. I’m also grateful to my family for their ongoing support and for the YEC employees – past and present – for their guidance throughout my career.
As your new CEO, you can expect me to continue the dedication our board and employees show each day.
We will work to maintain reliability– we want to keep your lights on.
To maintain safety– we want to share the importance of electrical safety through education in our community and by extensive training for our employees.
And we will work to maintain affordability– we want to keep your bill low and money in your pocket by keeping low rates and continuing conservative spending.
As we go through this transition, I also want to remind you of something we are very proud to say here at York Electric – we’re locals looking out for you.
That includes me. I grew up here and my wife and I are proud to call Smyrna our home where we raised our three children. It is truly an honor to lead this great organization that strives to make a positive impact in the lives of others – our members, neighbors and friends. We’re honored to be part of this great community.
Now, our attorney, John Tiencken, will continue the business meeting and announce the election results.
John Tiencken:
Thank you, Craig.
First, is there any old business to come before the meeting this afternoon?
Any new business to come before the meeting this afternoon?
Hearing none, we’ll move on to reporting on the election results.
For the 2024 election, there were two uncontested trustee seats.
Carolyn Boyd ran unopposed for District 1.
Tommie Bratton ran unopposed for District 2.
Mrs. Boyd and Mr. Bratton have both been elected to serve 3-year terms. Congratulations to both of you.
The vacant seat in District two was voted on by the membership of York Electric today.
Terri Lovelace was nominated by petition and received 2,249 votes.
Kevin Tolson was nominated by petition and received 2,576 votes.
Congratulations to _Mr. Kevin Tolson who will fill the vacant seat in District 2. Congratulations.
As a reminder, this seat will be up for regular election again in 2025.
Incumbent Richard Roach’s seat for District 3 was contested by Mr. Ronald Wylie, who was nominated by petition.
The votes for this board seat are as follows:
Richard Roach received 2,556 votes and Ronald Wylie received 2,282 votes.
Congratulations to Mr. Roach, who will serve an additional 3-year term for District 3. Thank you for your service.
That concludes the business meeting for the 2024 Annual Meeting of Members for York Electric Cooperative.
Without any further objection, is there a motion on the floor to adjourn this meeting and continue with the prize drawings?
Hearing a motion and a second, we will adjourn.
Lucas McFadden will now lead our prize drawings.
Lucas McFadden:
Thank you, Mr. Tiencken, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Basha. Paul, we certainly wish you all the best in your retirement and thank you for your 35 years of dedication to YEC.
At this time, we will begin our prize drawings.
YEC’s staking engineers Thomas Wilkerson and Michael Dickson will spin the tickets in the hopper from our Tega Cay Catawba Park registration for our first drawing.
To help us select each winner out of the hopper, we have Miss Annabelle Chambers, daughter of YEC members Katie and Cory Chambers and granddaughter of YEC employee Carol Newman.
How old are you, Annabelle? Are you excited to help? We appreciate you being here!
We also have Collins McFadden, my daughter, who couldn’t miss out on the action! It’s part of the job when you have me as a dad!
Collins, tell folks a little about yourself.
Hi I’m Collins McFadden, I am 12 years old and I’m in the 6th grade. I speak Spanish because my school is a Language Immersion school.
Alright, thank you, Collina and Annabelle. Let’s get this started!
Members who registered and voted at our Tega Cay location have all been entered in a special drawing for (1) $500 power bill credit.
And the winner is: Susan and James Morrisey
All of these members will remain in the hopper for the additional prize drawings.
Now, Thomas and Michael will dump the remaining registration cards from our York location into the hopper.
Annabelle and Collins will place the winning ticket from Fort Mill back in the hopper as well.
Thanks to the generosity of business partners, we have valuable prizes for our members.
If your name is called as a winner, we will record your information and you will be contacted by your co-op on Monday to coordinate claiming your prize. Let’s get started!
**Door Prize List separate and available on Monday, May 6th**
All of these tickets have been recorded and now Annabelle and Collins will help us place all of them back in the hopper for the grand prize drawings!
And now for the grand prizes!
The first $500 power bill credit goes to... James R. Turney, Jr.
The second $500 power bill credit goes to… Thomas Wohlfeil
And the 2014 Ford F-150 truck goes to… Thomas and Ruth Buechlein
As a reminder, if you won a prize today, someone will contact you by phone on Monday to remind you of what you won and coordinate you claiming your prize.
Thank you for joining us and for allowing York Electric Cooperative the opportunity to look out for you.