Summary of April’s board meeting

By
Posted on Jun 27 2025 in Decatur County REMC

Call to order 
The regular meeting of the Decatur County REMC Board of Directors was called to order at 5:32 p.m. by Chairman Steve AmRhein. Steve Nobbe recorded the minutes. All board members were present. Also present were CEO Brett Abplanalp and employee Matt Raver. 

Approval of agenda 
Suzanne Parmer moved to approve the agenda as presented. Dale Wernke seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously. 

Safety moment and cool moment 
Abplanalp kicked off the meeting with a safety moment, highlighting National Work Zone Awareness Week (April 21–25). For the cool moment, he shared that April 14 was Lineman Appreciation Day and April 23 was Administrative Professional Day. 

Approval of previous meeting minutes 
Wernke moved to approve the minutes of the March 26, 2025, regular board meeting. Jason Barnhorst seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously. 

Nobbe moved to approve the minutes of the April 4, 2025, special meeting. Brian Scheidler seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously. 

CEO update 
Abplanalp reported on the 2024 Q4 and 2025 Q1 risk management reviews. The review included two added risks, one closed risk, and seven updated risks. His summary included management’s view that appropriate mitigations are in place to maintain operations within an acceptable risk threshold. 

Abplanalp provided updates to several of the 2025 strategic projects, including the fiber project, meter replacement project, operations building project, and transactional survey project. 

Abplanalp also presented company metrics, which included the following: 

  • The median temperature for March was 4.2% warmer than the five-year average. 
  • Wholesale energy purchased was up 2.3%, and demand rose by 5.8% compared to the five-year average. 
  • Year-to-date energy sales were 3.82% above budget. 
  • No major storms occurred in March. 

Financial update 
Raver presented the financial update for March, noting the following: 

  • The net utility plant increased by $238,807 compared to the previous month. 
  • Year-to-date revenues were $316,066 above budget. 
  • Power costs are over by $304,677, resulting in a gross margin over budget of $11,389 YTD. 
  • Controllable expenses were under budget by $38,396. 
  • The ending cash balance for the month was $1,477,673. 

Budget approval 
Abplanalp presented a proposal from the Annual Meeting Committee to fund three $1,000 scholarships for graduating seniors, to be awarded at the Annual Meeting. We would utilize the funds to decrease the uncollected capital credits, reducing the donated capital line on our balance sheet. Parmer made a motion to approve the allocation of $3,000 in the budget for the scholarships. Carl Riedeman seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously. 

Industry updates 
Abplanalp updated the board on industry trends, including the effects of tariffs and projected increases in transformer costs. 

Policy approval 
Abplanalp presented the following policies up for review: Policy 11-4: Collection Policy on Electric Energy Accounts, Policy 11-5: Insufficient Funds: Returned Payments, Policy 11-01: Relocating REMC Facilities and Lines, and Policy 11-12: Security Light Installations. 

Parmer made the motion, which Scheidler seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously. 

Adjournment 
Parmer moved to adjourn the meeting into an executive session. Scheidler seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m., and the board proceeded into executive session.