New SMECO Directors Elected at Annual Meeting
At Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative’s recent annual meeting, customer members voted for the Co-op’s Board of Directors. SMECO held the annual meeting, its 75th, at the Blue Crabs Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, where it has been since 2009.
The Cooperative had 784 members register to vote, with 83 of them voting by absentee mail-in ballot. The following SMECO members were elected to serve on SMECO’s Board for three years: W. Michael Phipps of Calvert County; Gilbert O. Bowling and Richard A. Winkler of Charles County; James A. Richards of Prince George’s County; and P. Scott White of St. Mary’s County.
SMECO’s president and CEO, Austin J. Slater, Jr., reviewed the Co-op’s activities of the past year, including SMECO’s solar farm, which has been operational since November, the Co-op’s newly completed engineering and operations center in Hughesville, and the Southern Maryland Reliability Project being constructed in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties.
In the concourse of the stadium, SMECO hosted informational displays about energy-saving programs such as CoolSentry and the Quick Home Energy Check-up. A smart meter display provided information about SMECO’s program and plans for further deployment. To complement the annual meeting theme, “SMECO in the community,” representatives of the Charles and St. Mary’s county volunteer fire departments provided information to prospective volunteers.
Each customer-member who registered received a bag made of recycled materials, a magnet, and a flashlight. Joseph V. Stone, Jr., chairman of the SMECO Board of Directors, welcomed SMECO’s customer-members to the ball park and called the meeting to order. J. Ernest Bell II of Leonardtown served as the meeting chairman, a duty he has performed every year since 1999.
Joe Lehan, voice of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, served as the emcee for the entertainment prior to the meeting during which the Justin Crenshaw Band performed a 45-minute set and customers won prizes for bingo games. Pastor Bill Walker of Grace Brethren Church in Waldorf gave the invocation, the Chopticon High School Air Force Junior ROTC presented the colors, and SMECO employee Tim O’Neal sang the national anthem.
Members who registered to vote were eligible to win one of 50 electric bill credits of $35 each. In addition, winners of 14 cash prizes of $75 each and a well-traveled SMECO vehicle were randomly selected from the registered members in attendance. George “Kenny” Hayden of Welcome won the SMECO vehicle, a 2002 GMC Sonoma short-bed truck with 122,000 miles.
Winners of $75 cash prizes from St. Mary’s County are, see photo: Seated from left to right are Jennifer Sams of Mechanicsville, Shanda Buckler of Mechanicsville, and Sarah Pingleton of Clements. Standing from left to right are Shawn Hill of Mechanicsville, James Burroughs of Mechanicsville, and Tom Tudor of Leonardtown.
