April 2022 | Volume 84 | Issue 4
Your Co-op Election Guide
Dave Deihl, General Manager
From the General Manager
Our team put together this edition of the Northland Connection with a special focus on our upcoming cooperative membership election in May as a means of giving you all the information you need to cast your ballot.
Elections are an essential part of the cooperative business model. Each and every one of our consumer-members can have their voice heard through voting for the Board of Directors, who are elected democratically.
Our consumer-members have a seat at the table when it comes to guiding the future of the cooperative and their voice is heard every month through their elected representatives meetings. Democratic participation is one of the many things that sets us apart from investor and municipal owned utility companies.
Any eligible PCEC member can choose to run for the Board of Directors through a fair, open and transparent election process.
This year, there are five positions on the ballot. David Edwards, who was appointed to the vacant North District seat last year, is running to finish the regular term for that position.
Incumbent board members Larry Leachman and Kim Goepferich are running unopposed for reelection in the West and South Districts.
Candidates are running to serve in each of our two other board positions, with one candidate stepping forward in the North District (Mark Baker) and two stepping forward in the South District (Chris Shipley and Ed Barger) for the vacancy created by the passing of Gary Shanks.
Our leadership team looks forward to welcoming new board members to Team PCEC after the election concludes in late May of this year.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns you can reach me directly via email at GeneralManager@PCEC.coop.
Board of Directors Candidates
LARRY LEACHMAN
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
- Have served on the Board of Directors since 2013
- Spent 36 years in the business world
- Have an understanding of business principles having earned a business degree
- Served on several boards, including the City of Platte City, my church and the Platte County Fair
What would be a few of your priorities as a member of the Board of Directors?
- Support efforts to continue the culture of safety
- Support management in efforts to provide service reliability
- Always be knowledgeable of new technologies in renewable energy making sure it is reliable and affordable
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
- Have the experience to understand the business of the co-op and the direction for the future
- Work well with others and considers all points of view
KIM GOEPFERICH
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
Over the years every job I have had has had one constant: people. What I mean by that is skills to deal with people. Customer service, problem solving, leading and listening.
Growing up with a family business you learn quickly how to evaluate and make decisions that benefit the whole rather than just the one.
What would be a few of your priorities as a member of the Board of Directors?
The first and most important priority for the board is the safety of the co-op’s employees. A job well done and done safely is key to our success. The board also has to provide the manager and staff the tools and resources to hire and retain quality employees. Our greatest asset is our employees.
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
What I believe makes a good candidate for the board is someone willing to listen to everyone. It is easy to listen to those that agree with you – the true talent is really listening to those who don’t agree with you. You learn more by listening, not speaking. Board members must be willing to work together. More is accomplished that way.
MARK BAKER
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
I have been in the Insurance Industry for 44 years. I have worked my way up from CSR to Producer to now an Owner with five locations. Throughout the years, I have developed a strong understanding of customer service and how to provide that to thousands of customers who use our agencies. I provide advice to our customers to protect their personal investments and have a good comprehension of the products that will meet each individual’s need. I have served on several not-for-profit boards and recognize how important it is to volunteer and be dependable. I enjoy providing this service to the community and I value the importance these services provide.
What would be a few of your priorities as a member of the Board of Directors?
The number one priority would be to continue to provide essential services at the most efficient cost. I would like to help our co-op learn of new green energy possibilities and develop these new technologies to provide a cost-effective service for our customers. I would like to maintain and further develop a safe and quality local workforce. I would like to work closely with legislature and governmental departments on environmental regulations and green energy opportunities.
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
I believe I am an excellent candidate for the Board of Directors. I have resided in the Cameron, MO area for 54 years. I have grown a small one location insurance agency into a large 5 location agency. I own and manage a cow-calf operation and equine breeding farm, where we raise Black Angus and AQHA Horses. I have held positions on several not-for-profit boards and have several years of experience dealing with boards and understanding what it takes to be an asset to a board. If I am selected I vow to be dependable and reliable to the board and our members.
DAVID EDWARDS
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
I have over 30 years business and leadership experience across a number of industries, including manufacturing, service, software, banking and cybersecurity. During that time I have successfully led diverse teams of production, transportation, marketing, client support and sales. I do believe everyone brings a unique set of skills and understanding that helps strengthen teams. My experience both leading and participating in corporate teams helps me remain focused on the goal of providing excellent service and value to co-op members.
My current role involves consulting with organizations of all sizes to help them identify and understand cybersecurity risk and implement strategies that mitigate those risks. Cybersecurity is a real threat to organizations of all sizes and I am happy to share my experience and understanding to make the cooperative more secure.
What would a few of your priorities be as a member of the Board of Directors?
My first priority is to ensure the long-term success of PCEC by providing oversight and guidance to the management team. One of those priorities is insuring Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative is taking proactive steps to mitigate cybersecurity threats and minimize the potential financial and operational impact of a cyber event. Our members are the most important asset and I believe strongly in the cooperative model. My interest is in keeping prices low and service levels high for all current and future co-op members.
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
As a long-time Platte-Clay member, I appreciate the work that management and the Board of Directors has done to provide high quality, affordable service. I feel it is my responsibility to continue that tradition by lending my time and expertise to Platte-Clay Electric. Having served on the Platte-Clay Electric board the past five months, I feel my experience as a business leader puts me in a position to understand the regulatory, financial, security and staffing hurdles PCEC faces and I look forward to helping continue to meet those challenges.
CHRIS SHIPLEY
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
With over 30 years of civil construction and development experience, I hope to bring innovative ideas, cost saving measures and today’s standards to play.
What would be a few of your priorities as a member of the Board of Directors?
As a business owner and developer, I would focus on the infrastructure improvements, equipment modernization, member needs and affordability.
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
I feel that as a member, consumer, entrepreneur and land developer, I have a vested interest in ensuring the reliability and affordability to every family and business owner.
ED BARGER
How would your skills, talents or experience help shape your service on the Board of Directors?
Spending over 40 years in public service has developed a deeply rooted personal sense of dedication and responsibility to serve both the community I live in and organizations that serve the public. That commitment centers on providing the highest quality and most capable service delivery possible, regardless of service type. The delivery of safe, efficient, and highly effective services should be the goal of any organization while remaining fiscally responsible to those being served.
Service organizations must be tailored to the needs of the consumers while striving towards the financial goals of the organization by not creating over-inflated capabilities or unnecessary programs at consumer expense. Throughout my career, and since my retirement from the Fire Service I have worked at length through Strategic Planning activities as well as a private consultant facilitating Strategic Planning sessions for fire service organizations.
What would a few of your priorities be as a member of the Board of Directors?
Firstly, dedication of time committed to meetings and projects that are required of the Board of Directors. Secondly, it is imperative that organizations have comprehensive strategic plans in place to be effective over the long term. Strategic planning is invaluable, provided that it is used to provide points of focus for budgeting and operations.
Constant reference to short- and long-term goals lined out in the plan for development of action plans is imperative to success. Lastly, employee recruitment and retention are monumental tasks in the business environment today. Personnel are the most valuable asset to any organization and recruitment of high-quality employees and retention of quality tenured personnel is imperative to build the leadership core for the future.
What makes you a good candidate for the Board of Directors?
In many cases the emergency services world and service delivery organizations such as Platte Clay Electric are extremely similar, both operationally and administratively. Both organizations strive to provide the best possible servicing of customers in what are sometimes extremely tenuous environments while maintaining focus on both service delivery and personnel safety.
Both organizations strive to provide the best possible service while providing transparency, accountability, and stringent budgeting and expenditure control. While Platte Clay Electric Coop and emergency service organizations are funded differently, responsible and effective budget control and strategic planning for future service needs are high on the priority list for the Board of Directors. Educationally, I hold a Master of Science in Human Resources, Organizational Leadership. That combined with my experience maintaining budgetary accountability, guideline and policy development/enforcement, personnel supervision and leadership mentoring will provide a useful resource for any organization.
Why We’re Ditching The Long Lines And Hotdogs
Gone are the days of suffering through long lines and greasy hotdogs to participate in Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative’s membership election process.
This year, the majority of voting for PCEC’s membership election will be conducted through online and mail-in voting. The election will utilize the same secure system that has been in place the last two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-op consumer-members have busy home and work lives that may not allow for them to set aside several hours on a weekday to complete a complicated in-person voting process. Moving to the hybrid format lowers barriers to participating in the co-op’s election.
In 2021, members voted overwhelmingly to make mail-in and electronic voting options a permanent part of the co-op election process. The cooperative has seen large increases in member participation as a result of implementing easier ways to vote and the easy-to-use online portal has received positive reviews across the board.
Members will still have the opportunity vote in person for the hour period prior to a scaled down business-only meeting of the cooperative. The business-only meeting will be held at 6:30 PM on May 26, 2022 at the cooperative’s headquarters (1000 W Hwy 92, Kearney, MO 64060).
Cooperative Capital Credits Explained
As a nonprofit electric utility, Platte-Clay only needs to cover the cost of yearly operations and ongoing good business practices. Any money left over and above those costs, or net profit, is collected and allocated back to our members, who own the cooperative. The longer you use the service, the more monetary equity you accumulate. We call this equity allocations, which is the total sum of annual capital (equity) accrued by the member during their prior year or years of service with Platte-Clay. The actual total cash amount is determined by the cooperative Board of Directors. The refund each member receives is usually a percentage of the total allocation amount from a previous year or years of service.
The Northland Connection is published monthly by Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc., 1000 W. 92 Highway, Kearney, MO 64060. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Northland Connection, PO Box 100, Kearney, MO 64060 or mail@pcec.coop.
Platte-Clay is an equal opportunity employer.