For immediate release:
8:00 a.m. – Monday, July 13, 2020
For the first time in a long time, there will be not be bingo, donuts, or a community meal at San Isabel Electric’s Annual Meeting.
And for the first-time ever, the meeting will be held online, and registration gifts will be $20 bill credits that will be automatically applied to the bill due October 15.
After considerable thought and deliberation, the Board of Directors decided it was in the best interest of the membership to postpone the in-person meeting and conduct the meeting online in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately, this year COVID-19 has shut down our country, and southern Colorado hasn’t been immune to the impacts. Decisions for big events like the 82nd San Isabel Electric Annual Meeting need to be made in advance, and the wisdom of cancellation will only be known after the meeting, but that isn’t an option. The safety of our members and employees that work the Annual Meeting is our top priority. Based on what we know today, cancelling the in-person meeting is the best decision,” San Isabel Electric Chief Executive Officer Reg Rudolph said.
Some things will remain the same. Everyone who gets power from San Isabel Electric will still receive a notice in the mail about the meeting as usual. Instead of location information, the notice will provide registration instructions for the online virtual meeting.
The meeting will still be held on third Saturday of September, on the 19th, at the same traditional time, 1 p.m.
Instead of the meeting being held at John Mall High School in Walsenburg, the meeting will be hosted by GoToWebinar.
“We realize this may eliminate some members that have historically participated in person, but it also opens the meeting to those that feel the distance is too much to travel,” Rudolph said.
There will still be a business meeting and elections. Voting for board directors will be done by mail-in ballots and drop-off ballots on the day of the meeting, no different than recent prior years. Pre-registration will allow members to participate in motions during the meeting.
The meeting will be conducted live, by Chairperson Jacque Sikes, and supported in-person by the full Board of Directors. Reports will be given by the officers. Members will still be able to ask questions, but they’ll have to be asked during the pre-registration process.
Members who’d like to ask questions are asked to email them to contactus@wordpress-666784-2187745.cloudwaysapps.com. Some answers will be pre-recorded and played during the live online meeting. Depending on the number of questions submitted, the question’s and answer’s complexity, not all answers will be presented during the online annual meeting. However, answers to all questions will be posted at siea.com/annualmeeting the following week.
The grand prize giveaway this year is a Black and Decker electric lawn mower. The winner will be drawn randomly from pre-registrants for the meeting and notified the week following the annual meeting.
“We will still have an Annual Meeting, it’ll be different, but still a celebration of a great year. Rest assured; this decision will not permanently change the format. We’ll be back in Walsenburg playing bingo, drawing door prizes, and conducting business in 2021… if we’re done fighting this pandemic,” Rudolph said.
The annual meeting is only open to San Isabel Electric member-owners.
###
As a not-for-profit cooperative utility, San Isabel Electric provides electricity to communities throughout southern Colorado. Serving nearly 20,000 Member-owners and 24,000 meters, San Isabel Electric has been keeping the lights on since 1938.
Recent Comments