The 80th Annual Membership Meeting of Medina Electric Cooperative was held in Laredo on Saturday, October 6. If you weren’t able to make it, find out below what you missed. If you were there, thanks for taking the time to spend some of your morning with us! Staff is already starting to plan the 81st meeting, so be on the lookout next year for information on that event.
Election Results
All candidates ran unopposed.
District 1—Wayne W. Scholtz—1,246 votes
District 2—Kenneth G. White—1,258 votes
District 3—Joe L. Gonzalez—1,314 votes
Eligible voters – 18,496
Participating Voters – 1,642
Election Participation Rate – 8.9%
Eva Esparza of Batesville won the grand prize of $1,000.
Meeting Highlights
- 152 members attended the meeting, representing 79 memberships.
- Members of all ages came to enjoy the meeting. Younger members got bags that they could color and had a chance to watch the movie Coco!
- Members enjoyed pre-meeting sessions on safety, and distributed generation and energy efficiency. They were encouraged to ask one-on-one questions during those smaller sessions.
- A few members tried their hand at tasks linemen do daily while wearing PPE, and soon realized it is harder than it looks!
- Laredo Occupational Center provided blood pressure screenings, glucose draws and helpful health information for members.
- The co-op’s 2017 financials showed stability, and all financial goals set by the board were met. Mark Rollans, CEO, spoke about those financials and about the challenges of serving a large area with electricity. He also spoke about the expense of maintenance and construction projects that are necessary: for example, a line rebuild project that covered 6 miles and cost nearly $700,000. The various causes of outages were also discussed.
- Members were entertained by Texas A&M International University’s Mariachi Internacional group.
- Lots of lucky members walked away from the meeting with gift cards and energy credits, and a few even got pruning shears and leather work gloves, a “working man’s or woman’s” prize that the co-op has offered annually. Congratulations to Eva Esparza of Batesville! She made the drive to Laredo for the meeting and ended up $1,000 richer because of it, after winning the grand prize.
Members were entertained by Texas A&M International University’s Mariachi Internacional.
Question and Answer Session
Here are a few of the general questions submitted on Ask the Co-op cards during this year’s meeting. Members who asked account-specific questions were contacted directly by a Medina EC staff member.
Do you offer solar panels? Medina EC staff has been evaluating different methods of delivering solar power to members over the last few years, and gathering information to determine what will be the most effective and affordable method for all members. At this time we do not offer solar panels, but it is something staff is actively pursuing, and we hope to have a solution to offer members in early 2019. Staff is always available to answer members’ questions on solar power for their homes.
Is MEC in the stock market? No, Medina EC is not in the stock market. As a member-owned electric cooperative, we are owned by our members, not shareholders. Any margins are returned to members over time as capital credits. Medina EC also does not have money invested in the stock market, aside from employee retirement accounts.
Will I be contacted if electricity goes out on the ranch? You can be, depending on how you have your account set up. We don’t automatically notify members of outages. To receive notifications, log into SmartHub, choose the option to Manage Your Notifications and then select Service. Make changes for the alert types that are important to you. If you have trouble, give a staff member a call, and they can walk you through it. And watch for a future article on how to do this step by step!
Do you have a question for the co-op not answered here? Email [email protected].
