(the following account of the 2007 AMEC Annual Meeting
appeared in the November 2007 Rural Missouri)

History recalled at
70th AMEC meeting

Clark, Ragsdale honored with Distinguished Service Awards

by Jim McCarty

Associated Electric CEO Jim Jura makes a point during an energy efficiency panel that also featured, from left, Doug Aeilts, manager of Northeast Power, and Mike Torres, manager of Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative. Aeilts and Torres are part of a committee that is working on energy efficiency programs co-ops can use to help members reduce their bills.

For many of the people who attended the 70th annual meeting of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, the scene was all too familiar. A farm family argued over whether it was worth $5 to join a fledgling cooperative that promised to bring electricity to the countryside. In the end, the family joined and marveled at the wonders of rural electrification.

The scene was from the play “Send the Light,” performed by an Illinois theater company and based in part on memories of early Missouri electric cooperative members who recalled the day the lights came on. The play struck a chord with the older members of the audience, who could remember the trials and tribulations of their generation.

That theme was echoed by many of the speakers, beginning with Barry Hart, the CEO of the association that exists to provide services electric cooperatives can’t do on their own.

“I am a product of the electric cooperative movement,” Hart said. “When I was 17 years old, the original manager of Platte-Clay Electric called my dad to see if I wanted to work there in the summer. In those early years, working with some of the original pioneers, I saw the benefits of the hard work they put into their electric cooperative. They pounded into my head that cooperatives are different. Our challenge is, can we stay connected to the people we serve?”

Like Hart, several of the speakers could recall issues that have resurfaced over the years to challenge electric cooperative leaders with the need for new solutions. A panel of speakers that included Jim Jura, manager of Associated Electric Cooperative, Doug Aeilts, manager of Northeast Electric Power Cooperative, and Mike Torres, manager of Platte-Clay Electric, talked about work they are doing to help members use energy efficiently.

Paul LePage, left, is presented with the Frank Stork Democracy Award by CEO Barry Hart.

The Energy Efficiency Task Force they are part of has been seeking new opportunities members can use to lower their energy expenses. “Anything we do that lowers their bill is the right thing to do,” said Aeilts, whose cooperative supplies electricity to electric cooperatives in northeast Missouri and southeast Iowa. “When members ask questions, we need to offer solutions.”

Torres recalled that this is the third time in his career he has seen rates go up. “We have the same purpose today — to set fair and equitable rates while addressing the need for a new power plant. What’s new now is something else that is driving rates up — the global warming or climate change issue.”

Explaining the forces behind the current political debate on energy was Dena Stoner, a legislative watchdog for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Washington, D.C. “Less than two years after President Bush signed the 2005 energy policy act, we are again facing major transformative energy legislation,” she said of the debate on global climate change. “We are at the point where we again need this great, vital grassroots organization to be involved.”

Electric cooperatives were born in politics, and they remain active in the political arena to ensure their existence. So it was fitting that several of the state’s political leaders addressed the annual meeting.

State Sen. Maida Coleman, who represents part of St. Louis where the meeting was held, welcomed the group. She recalled her days growing up in Sikeston and all the good things SEMO Electric Cooperative brought to that part of the state.

Sen. Michael Gibbons, president pro tem of the Senate, spoke of the need for long-term planning on energy issues, calling energy the “beating heart of what people do.”

O.B. Clark, left, is presented with the Distinguished Service Award by CEO Barry Hart.

“When it comes to energy policy, we tend to deal with things as they come up,” Gibbons said. “We tend to be reactionary. But we do not have that luxury in the 21st century. Our ability to plan long-term is critical. I think you should demand from public policymakers a clear energy policy. Because if this heartbeat stops, the growth stops. Our ability to expand the American Dream is diminished.”

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan also spoke at the meeting, comparing her office’s service mission to that of the electric cooperatives. She also thanked the electric cooperatives for joining with her brother, Tom, to bring the first wind energy farm to Missouri. “One farmer told me this is the biggest thing to happen in his area in his lifetime,” she said.

A look at how rates should be set by energy consultant Carl Stover, a speech from youth leader Kailey Tyler and new techniques in knee and hip replacement by Columbia doctor David Hockman rounded out the program topics.

At the meeting the association presented several awards to deserving individuals. Its 2007 Legislative Leadership Awards went to state Sen. Jack Goodman and Rep. Jason Holsman for their work on issues important to rural Missourians.

The Frank Stork Democracy Award went to Paul LePage, long-time director for Three Rivers Electric Cooperative. And the association’s Distinguished Service Awards went to O.B. Clark, director for Co-Mo Electric Cooperative and Phillip Ragsdale, manager of Webster Electric Cooperative.

Phillip Ragsdale , left, is presented with the Distinguished Service Award by CEO Barry Hart.

The meeting was the last as president for Carl Lowrance, a director for Laclede Electric Cooperative. Lowrance was honored for his unprecedented second term as the association’s president.

“I am displaying the cooperative principles here because they are important,” Lowrance said in his president’s message.

“If you give a child some blocks they will build something. These are our building blocks. In my two terms as president of this organization, I have seen all of these principles carried out in the AMEC boardroom and at Laclede Electric Cooperative.

For more information, contact:
Jim McCarty, (573) 659-3402
jmccarty@amec.coop