Midwest Electric’s Annual Meeting 

Saturday, June 3, 2023, at St. Marys Memorial High School.

Details on the upcoming rate change, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and severe weather events will be topics of discussion at Midwest Electric's 86th annual meeting. Stop by for free breakfast and your trustee election results.

**Don't miss the tethered hot air balloon rides this year!**

Registration, kids games, and the free breakfast buffet starts at 8:00 a.m. The business meeting starts at 9 a.m.

All members are invited. Best of all – the business meeting typically only lasts only 45 minutes!

Highlights include:

• Free breakfast buffet
• Tethered hot air ballon rides 
• Kids games, bounce houses, and more!
• Health Fair
• The Auglaize Sheriff’s Department will be available to take expired, no-longer-used medications as part of the Grand Lake Health/Auglaize County Sheriff’s drug take-back program. 
• Trustee election results announced and results of voting of by-law changes. (Voting is conducted prior to the meeting, by mail and online.)
• Annual “State of the Cooperative” address by the CEO, Board President, and Ohio's Electric Cooperatives President & CEO, Pat O'Loughlin.
• $2,000 in cash prizes.
• $1,000 scholarship drawing, done entirely at the meeting and unrelated to our general scholarship program - the winner must be present to win
  • Any Midwest Electric member is eligible who will be a college or trade school student in the fall of 2023. The winner cannot have won a past scholarship from us. Members, or children of members, must enter at the annual meeting, where the winner will be drawn and must physically be attending to win. Money will be disbursed in Feb. 2024 following confirmation of college or trade school enrollment with a minimum 2.5 GPA. 

More information on voting on Board Candidates is available below.

You can also find more information in your May edition of Ohio Cooperative Living and your RSVP card.

Information for Voting for 2023 will be available soon. 

Have questions or comments you'd like addressed during the meeting? Give us a call at 800-962-3830 or email info@midwestrec.com

Unable to attend the member meeting in person?  Links to the Live Stream will be available below.

Two of the eight seats on the co-op board of directors are up for election this year. Voting will be conducted by mail and online, with results announced at the annual meeting.

Members can vote now by logging into your SmartHub account and clicking the VOTE NOW button on the top. You will also be receiving a ballot in the mail and can return it to the address on the ballot. As a reminder, do NOT send your ballot with your bill or drop it off to our office. You can view a sample ballot by clicking here.

Nomination of trustees
 

• District 1 (3-year term): Auglaize and Shelby counties | ONE CANDIDATE
  • Randy Heinl, Wapakoneta, has been a Midwest Electric member for 36 years. He has served on the Midwest Electric Board of Directors since 2004 and currently serves as secretary/ treasurer. Randy has earned the Board Leadership Certificate, Credentialed
    Cooperative Director Certificate, and Director Gold Credential through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He graduated from Wapakoneta High School. Heinl has worked for the Telephone Service Company (TSC) of Wapakoneta for 41 years; 10 years as a Lineman and 31 years as the Outside Plant Manager including pole construction, aerial and buried cables, and the last 20 years building fiber communications throughout the area. He is a member of the American Legion and Eagles. Randy and his wife, Judy, are members of St Joseph Catholic Church, and have three children and six grandchildren.

• District 2 (3-year term): Allen and Putnam counties | ONE CANDIDATE
  • Larry Vandemark, Elida, has been a Midwest Electric member for 50 years. He has served on the Midwest Electric Board of Directors since 2005. Larry is presently serving as Board President. Vandemark has earned the Board Leadership and Credentialed Cooperative Director certificate along with maintaining the Director Gold Certificate through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He is a graduate of Elida High School and attended The Ohio State University. Larry is associate broker with Oakridge Realty & Auction Co. in Lima and just recently retired from farming in Allen County. Vandemark also serves as an American Township trustee in Allen County as well as past president of the West Central Association of Realtors. He is a member of the Allen County Township Trustee Association and also serves on the Allen County Regional Planning Commission. Larry and Sharon, his wife, are active members of Cable Road Alliance Church in Lima. Larry and Sharon have three children and five grandchildren.

The board meets monthly to review the financial and operating performance of your cooperative. They review reports from the CEO and department managers and provide general direction for management decisions.

Other important issues — such as long-term planning and whether to change electric rates — are also acted upon by the board. Candidates commit to strive to do what is in the best long-term interests of the cooperative.

Interested? Candidates must complete the official petition form and turn it in to the co-op's office after March 17 and no later than 8 a.m. on May 1. Call us at 800-962-3830 for details or for a copy of the Code of Regulations.

Midwest Electric is governed by an 8-member board of trustees, comprised of co-op members just like you. Any member residing in a district up for election (listed below) may become a candidate by obtaining a petition form from the co-op’s office, and obtaining at least fifteen (15) valid signatures of members who reside within that district.

The Board meets monthly to review the financial and operating performance of your cooperative. They review reports from the manager/CEO and department managers and provide general direction for management decisions.

Other important issues – such as long-term planning and whether to change electric rates – are also acted upon by the Board. Candidates will need a commitment and a desire to always strive to do what is in the best long-term interest of the cooperative and its members.

Any member in the district up for election may be a candidate for the Midwest Electric Board of Trustees. Interested members must obtain a petition from our office and get at least 15 valid signatures of members who reside within the district.

Please see the "Board Elections" drop-down menu above for details about this year's election process. More information about the 2023 election will be available in spring 2023.
 

Candidates must complete the official petition form and file it in our office by the deadline. Call us at 800-962-3830 for details or for a copy of the Code of Regulations.

Contact us for more information, a petition form, or for a copy of the Code of Regulations.

The latest Code of Regulations (last updated 6-4-2022 after the annual meeting voting results were announced) can be found by clicking here.