Valley Rec Members Reelect W-Burg Resident During Co-Op's Drive-Through Annual Meeting

For the second year in a row, Valley Rural Electric Cooperative held its annual meeting as a drive-through event at the Huntingdon County fairgrounds. Members attending the event, held on Friday, April 8, reelected three members to the co-op board.

More than 1,400 of the co-op’s consumers participated. Members could arrive anytime between 4 and 7 p.m. They followed a route that took them through a registration tent where they received the co-op’s 2021 annual report and a ballot. At a second tent, members cast their ballots to fill three seats on the nine-person board of directors that represents the utility’s approximately 18,000 consumer-owners. Those directors reelected to three-year terms on the board are: Greg Henry of Hustontown, Fulton County, District 7; Linda McMath of Shade Gap, Huntingdon County, District 8; and Cindy Bigelow of Williamsburg, Blair County, District 9. Robin Forshey of Williamsburg also ran for the District 9 seat on the board.

“Last year’s drive-through event was a first for Valley Rural Electric. The format was adopted to lessen the likelihood of COVID spread after the coronavirus forced the cancellation of our 2020 meeting,” Valley REC President & CEO Rich Bauer explained. “We opted for another drive-through event this year because of ongoing concern about COVID and because we received a very positive response to the format last year.”

For many years the co-op held its annual meeting in a high school auditorium, either in Huntingdon or Mount Union. Like the 2021 event, this year’s drive-through annual meeting saw a marked increase in attendance over the traditional three-hour high school meeting. Participants in the 2021 event were surveyed by mail, and nearly all respondents were favorable to the drive-through format. Many members commented that they are not able to attend the traditional meeting for a variety of reasons, including not being able to sit for that long, no longer driving after dark, or having the longer meeting interfere with their schedules.

Electric distribution cooperatives across the country have had to find creative ways to hold their annual membership meetings since COVID. Some opted for web-based events while others held drive-in or drive-through meetings. Many co-ops have adopted the new formats as their new normal.

“We hope our members again found this drive-through event to be a safe and convenient way to participate in their annual meeting,” said Valley REC Board Chairman James Stauffer of McVeytown, Mifflin County. “As a member-owned electric cooperative, we’re pleased with the increase in attendance.”

Participating Valley REC members received a $25 bill credit and a travel mug. Additionally, cooperative staff collected for proper disposal spent compact fluorescent light bulbs that members brought with them.

Valley REC’s territory is divided into nine director districts with one member from each district comprising the co-op’s board of directors. Normally, the co-op hosts nominating meetings in February in the three districts with a seat open for election. The names of members nominated at those fire hall dinner meetings appear on the ballot for election by all attending memberships at the annual meeting.

Due to ongoing COVID restrictions, the co-op again did not hold nominating meetings in February. Instead, members in the three districts received a mailing explaining a signature-gathering process to have their names placed on the ballot.

Valley Rural Electric is a member-owned cooperative providing electric service to consumers in eight counties of south-central Pennsylvania, including Bedford, Blair, Centre, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata and Mifflin. Incorporated on Nov. 1, 1938, Valley REC energized its first lines Nov. 17, 1939.