Ozark Border Co-op users face vote on representation

Ozark Border Electric Cooperative members will vote on the way they are represented at the organization's 75th annual Membership Meeting, beginning at 9:20 a.m. Saturday at Three Rivers College.

Currently all 12 board of directors are elected at large. A proposed bylaw amendment would divide the co-op's service area into four districts, with each district electing three representatives.

District I would include Carter County, western Ripley County, western Wayne County and the portions of Reynolds, Shannon and Oregon counties, which are in the co-op's service area.

District II includes eastern Ripley County and Butler County west of U.S. 67.

Eastern Butler County and areas of Wayne County between U.S. 67 and the St. Francis River would make up District III.

District IV would encompass eastern Wayne County and the portions of Stoddard, Dunklin, Bollinger and New Madrid counties that are served by the co-op.

Each district will serve 6,100 to 7,200 members.

The board of directors decided to put the matter up for a vote after lengthy discussion, according to board president Markel Yarbro. Yarbro lives in Butler County and has served on the board since 1999.

"We have a nominating committee that nominates four candidates per year for the open positions on the board," he said. "The nominating committee did a good job of picking candidates throughout the region, in both remote areas and more heavily populated areas."

Candidates also can be placed on the ballot by petition, however.

"Petitioners could conceivably all come from one area," such as a Poplar Bluff, Mo., subdivision, Yarbro said. "If they were all elected, then you would have a concentration of directors in one small area and no representation in the outskirts. We're trying to cut off the problem before it gets there. The membership should take a real interest in this, and we're anticipating a good crowd."

Ozark Border is following the example of most other electric co-ops by designating districts, according to Yarbro.

If passed, the amendment would go into effect in 2014. This year, board members still will be elected at-large. Ten candidates will be seeking four three-year positions, according to Ozark Border general manager Stan Estes.

"This year we had some people who weren't running again, so we had quite a bit of interest in those positions," he added.

Co-op members also will vote on a nepotism policy, which prevents anyone who was employed with Ozark Border in the last five years or the immediate family members of employees or directors from holding a position on the board. "Immediate family" would include spouses, parents, siblings and some in-laws.

"We've always had a policy on nepotism, but there is no legal obligation to go by a policy," Yarbro explained. "You wouldn't want a father to be on the board and a son to be an employee during labor negotiations. We're proposing a bylaw change on the qualifications."

The five-year period between employment and serving on the board would allow "a little cooling off period if there is animosity on the board," according to Yarbro.

Estes expects 2,500 or more at the meeting, which is not open to the public, but to all co-op members. Members must bring their registration cards, which were mailed out.

Fifty prizes will be given away to voting members, including a 32-inch TV, a Stihl chain saw, small electrical appliances and tools and numerous gift cards.

Every registered member in attendance will receive a copy of "Pioneers of Power," a history of the co-op written by Jim McCarty. (Several years ago, McCarty worked as a sports writer with the Daily American Republic before he took his current position with the state electric cooperative.) McCarty is editor of "Rural Missouri," an Association of Missouri Electric Cooperative's publication sent to all Ozark Border members.

"He does a really good job," Estes said. "We documented how we were organized and the struggles the founders went through. I appreciated it a lot. I didn't realize how it worked when it first started in 1938. They worked for years before they were organized and had lines to the first customer."

Entertainment will be provided by Buzzard Run and the Golden Road.

Voting will conclude at 12:45 p.m. and results will be announced at the business meeting, beginning at 1:15 p.m.

For more information, call Ozark Border at 573-785-4631.

"Ozark Border Important vote facing co-op users" Daily American Republic 08 Aug 2013: A3