Summary of board’s meeting in May

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Posted on Jul 27 2020 in Decatur County REMC
  • Chairman Steve AmRhein called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and Michael Brelage kept minutes of the meeting.
  • All members of the board were present. Also present were DCREMC CEO Brett Abplanalp and DCREMC staff members Jennie Meyer, Crystal Greathouse and Eric Busch.
  • Upon motion by Suzanne Parmer, seconded by Dale Wernke and carried, the agenda of the meeting was approved.
  • Crystal Greathouse presented the board with the opportunity to purchase IVR Secure pay for a onetime fee of $1,500 instead of the typical monthly fee model. On a motion by Suzanne Parmer, seconded by Jeff Lawrence and carried, the board authorized the funds for the IVR Secure Pay.
  • Crystal Greathouse reported that the 2019 delinquent write off will be $25,638 which is down $10,000 from 2018.
  • The financial report for April was given by Eric Busch and reviewed as presented on Call to Order. Margins were up $68,000 on the month but still below budget by $80,000. The financials were reviewed by the board as presented and filed for audit.
  • A motion was made by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Dale Wernke and carried, the April minutes were approved with an addition.

New and Rescinded Members

  • CEO Abplanalp reported the completion of the fleet rotation process and internal outage management process. He is also working on the plan to reopen the lobby with COVID-19 safety measures in place. Finally, he reported he is preparing for union negotiations toward the end of the year.
  • The dashboard review showed a major storm caused a large number of outages on April 8. Also, it showed a large decrease in purchased power mainly due to industrial members being shut down and lower commercials sales related to COVID-19.
  • In project reviews, pole replacement started back up May 11 and is projected to be complete by the end of the year. Security updates have been started. The new substation radios are to be installed June 16.
  • Jason Barnhorst reported that Hoosier Energy had a conference call board meeting. It was approved to move the margin tracker down from 3% to 2% for the remainder of 2020. The board also approved to retire $6 million of 2018’s Capital Credits.

Old Business

  • The board accountability committee brought three policy updates to the board for vote.
  • On a motion by Dale Wernke, seconded by Michael Brelage and carried, Policy 1- 7 Director education was changed as redlined.
  • On a motion by Michael Brelage, seconded by Dale Wernke and carried, Policy 1- 8 Director’s Fees and Expenses was changed as redlined.
  • On a motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Michael Brelage and passed on a 5- 3 vote, Policy 1-16, Director Conduct Policy, was changed as redlined adding a requirement for directors to attend all mandatory events or forfeit their retainer fee for the month in which the event was missed. Also, upon a board member missing three mandatory events in a 12-month period they will be eligible for dismissal.
  • Upon a motion by Dale Wernke and seconded by Brian Scheidler and carried, CEO Brett Abplanalp’s goals for 2020 were approved.
  • Steve AmRhein reported that all directors had completed their educational requirements for the year.
  • Upon a motion by Jeff Lawrence, seconded by Michael Brelage and carried, bylaws section 1.05 was changed as redlined to no longer require the board to accept new and rescinded members.
  • Director Jeff Lawrence reported on his special conference calls with the rate consultant to gain understanding and clarity regarding the cost of service study completed in 2017. Following discussion, the decision was made to have the rate consultant address the entire board in a special meeting to share information regarding the meeting with Director Lawrence.
  • A motion by Jeff Lawrence and seconded by Carl Riedeman was passed stating that the REMC will pay half of the old Decatur County Landfill’s electric bill through Dec. 31 2020. DCREMC staff will inform the landfill that a future decision regarding this donation will be made with the 2021 budget.
  • A motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Suzanne Parmer and passed, will turn on power to the Park & Recreation sports complex Sept. 1 with no future tariff deviations being made. However, a possible donation will be discussed in the 2021 budget.

New Business

  • On a motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Brian Scheidler and carried, the Large Commercial tariff was changed as redlined.
  • Jason Barnhorst presented a recommendation to the board to use Hoosier Energy’s $275,000 Capital Credit retirement and an additional $140,000 to retire DCREMC 2018 and 2003 capital credits in an effort to alleviate some financial hardships to members as a result of COVID-19. After discussion, it was decided to only retire the 2018 capital credits.
  • On a motion by Michael Brelage, seconded by Dale Wernke and passed, the board approved the immediate retirements of the 2018 capital credits in the sum of $317,865.
  • Districts 4, 5, and 6 need to bring forward Community Trust nominations to serve on that committee.
  • On a motion by Michael Brelage, seconded by Dale Wernke and carried, Brett Abplanalp was reelected to the Hometown board.
  • On a motion by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Jeff Lawrence and carried, Policy 4-3, Allocations and Refunds of Capital Credits was changed as redlined with the addition of changing the word “refund” to “retirement”. This will allow capital credits to be retired as bill credits, saving the REMC approximately $3,500 annually.

Upon a motion made by Jason Barnhorst, seconded by Jeff Lawrence, and carried, the meeting was adjourned to executive session at 9:20 p.m.