About 525 members and guests of Consolidated Electric Cooperative attended its annual meeting on May 7 at the cooperative’s Delaware office on State Route 521.
The number doubled the attendance of the previous year. Consolidated, formed in 1996 through the merger of Delaware Rural Electric Cooperative and Morrow Electric Cooperative, used the meeting to celebrate 80 years of service to its members.
Three members of the cooperative’s board of directors were re-elected to new terms.
Re-elected to serve the cooperative’s District 1 was Richard Gearhiser of Radnor. A cooperative member for 46 years, Gearhiser has been a trustee since 1990.
Don McCracken of Centerburg was re-elected to serve District 2. McCracken has been a trustee since 1993 and has been a cooperative member for 45 years.
Dick Miller of Mount Gilead was re-elected to serve District 3. He has been a cooperative member for 37 years and a trustee since 2010.
Board chairman Larry Roof also recognized Richard Carter, who retired in March after 34 years of service to the board.
In a review of cooperative’s People Fund, Roof mentioned that more than $1 million has been awarded to local organizations and people in need since the fund was established in 2002. Money awarded by the fund is received by cooperative members rounding up their electric bills to the next dollar.
Roof read a board statement and led members in a moment of silence commemorating Larry Cline, a longtime People Fund board member who passed away in April.
Scholarship winners were also recognized at the annual meeting. First-place winner of the Touchstone Energy scholarship sponsored by Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives and Buckeye Power was Rachel Barber from Delaware Christian, who received $500 for first place locally and who also competed at the statewide level for additional scholarship money, winning an additional $200. Second-place winner Isabelle DiTullio from Northmor High School was awarded $250.
Consolidated Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit, member-owned electric utility serving more than 14,000 consumer-members in Delaware, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Marion, Morrow, Richland and Union counties.
