Summary of July’s board meeting

By
Posted on Oct 16 2025 in Decatur County REMC

Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of Decatur County Rural Electric Membership Corporation held July 23, 2025, at the headquarters facilities on 1430 W. Main, Greensburg, Indiana, at 5:30 p.m.

CALL TO ORDER

The regular meeting of the Decatur County REMC Board of Directors was called to order at 5:30 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.

YOUTH TOUR PARTICIPANT PRESENTATION

Dana Thomas shared her experience with the board about participating in the Washington, D. C., Youth Tour trip sponsored by Decatur County REMC.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Suzanne Parmer moved to approve the agenda as presented. Carl Riedeman seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously.

SAFETY MOMENT AND COOL MOMENT

Abplanalp began the meeting with a safety moment, focusing on the hazards associated with extension cords. For the cool moment, he highlighted key successes from the first half of 2025.

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES

Riedeman moved to approve the minutes of the May 28, 2025, regular board meeting and the May 28, 2025, executive session. Brian Scheidler seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously.

MANAGEMENT REPORT

Abplanalp provided an update for the fiber project and the meter replacement project.

The chairman then went into executive session to hear strategy recommendations for applying for BEAD, the federal broadband grant program.

The board then came back into regular session.

Abplanalp then presented company metrics, which included the following:

  • The median temperature for June was 3.7% warmer than the five-year average.
  • Wholesale energy purchased was up 3%, and demand was up by 2.8% compared to the five-year average.
  • Year-to-date energy sales were 1.91% above budget.

FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT

Raver presented the financial update for June, noting the following:

  • The net utility plant increased by $2.5 million compared to the previous month, driven by pole replacements.
  • Year-to-date revenues were $594,349 above budget.
  • Power costs are over by $267,361, resulting in a gross margin over budget of $326,987 YTD.
  • Controllable expenses were under budget by $132,471.
  • The ending cash balance for the month was $3.85 million, driven by recent borrowings.

BUDGET APPROVAL

The board discussed the next steps in evaluating the feasibility of remodeling or rebuilding the 1960s-era operations building. As part of the discussion, they completed an exercise in which two teams brainstormed the approval requirements and defined the boundaries for addressing the project.

POLICY APPROVAL

Policy 1-8: Director Fees and Expenses was reviewed along with supporting market data; changes were recommended, and the board will consider approval in August.

Policy 12-2: Artificial Intelligence Usage was reviewed as a new policy.

The periodic review was completed for Policy 4-1: Check Signing and Debt Authorization and Policy 10-22: Use of Corp Electronics, with no changes recommended.

Scheidler moved to approve Policy 4-1 and 10-22 as presented. Parmer seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously.

GOVERNANCE

Abplanalp presented on the 2025 annual meeting statistics.

The board members reported out on recent training and events attended.

AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS AND BOARD COMMITTEES

Jason Barnhorst and Abplanalp updated the board on wholesale power cost and other Hoosier Energy business.

ADJOURNMENT

Riedeman moved to adjourn the meeting. Scheidler seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m.