Orrville resident wins big at Pioneer meeting

Published 12:05 am Saturday, October 20, 2012

Big winner: Pioneer Electric Cooperative Executive Vice President & General Manager Terry Moseley, right, and Pioneer Electric District 8 Trustee Linda Arnold, left, present the Annual Meeting’s top prize, free electricity for one year, to Diane Oglesby of Orrville. She received a $2,232 bill credit, a sufficient amount to purchase 12 months of electricity based on the residential member’s average energy use.

More than 180 co-op members attended Pioneer Electric Cooperative’s 75th anniversary celebration Saturday, Oct. 13. The co-op held its celebration and annual membership meeting at Day Break Farms Corn Maze right outside of Greenville on Saturday, and was the most attended annual meeting in more than 40 years.

During the meeting, Tommy Thompson, board president, reported that the co-op sold more than 187 million kilowatt hours to Pioneer’s more than 13,000 meters during 2011.  Thompson also welcomed longtime Pioneer member Terry Moseley as the new co-op manager.

Melvia Carter, board secretary treasurer reported that the cooperative had sales of more than $30 million last year. Carter informed members that equity had improved, rates were stable and no new monies had been borrowed.

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Woody Trimble of Jackson Thornton & Co. discussed with members, Pioneer’s annual audit. Trimble gave Pioneer a clean report and commented that Pioneer’s financial condition was slowly improving.

The results from the Trustee Election were also announced. Members voted by mail-in ballot as well as in person the morning of the meeting. Each of the three incumbents who ran with no opposition were re-elected for another three-year term:  District 1 representative is Tommy Thompson; District 4 representative is Tom Duncan; District 7 representative is John Henry.

The meeting ended a drawing of more than 60 prizes, donated by vendors who do business with Pioneer Electric. Ten members won bill credits for $75 towards their electric bills and the grand prize winner of the day was Diane Oglesby, from Orrville. Oglesby will receive a $2,232 bill credit to purchase 12 months of electricity.