CEO’s Annual Meeting Message

Good morning, and welcome! Thank you for being here today for Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative’s (GCEC) 76th Annual Members’ Meeting. I’m your cooperative’s CEO and general manager, John Bartley. For 83 years, our member-owners have trusted us to energize their homes and ways of life. Although we call this our annual meeting, it is really a co-op celebration for you to enjoy good food, good music, and, most of all, good fellowship with your neighbors, friends, and family.

Attending the co-op’s annual meeting is truly seeing a democracy in action. Thank you for your participation in our election. We had nearly 3,500 members, roughly 20% of our membership, take the time to mail in their ballots or to cast their votes online, and election results will be announced toward the conclusion of today’s meeting.

As you know, by casting your ballot, you were entered to win a gift card, an electric bill credit, and the grand prize: Solo Stoves! We are proud to offer these prizes to our membership in appreciation of you taking the time to vote. And remember— every member who voted will receive a $5 bill credit!

We will also announce our scholarship winners. We have 22 high school seniors from 9 area schools joining us today. These students applied to win one of 20 $1,000 awards that may be used to continue their education at a college, university, or technical school. We are delighted to assist these students and thank them and their families for joining us today. This is another of the many ways your cooperative gives back to our communities.

Speaking of our youth, I am pleased to announce we are continuing the more-than 50-year tradition of recognizing great students through the Rural Electric Youth Tour program. Earlier this year, local high school guidance counselors and civic organization representatives nominated high school juniors to compete for a chance to travel to Washington, D.C., this summer. In February, all students nominated traveled to Tallahassee for our state Youth Tour. Following the Tallahassee trip, we held our Youth Tour competition, and this year’s winners are Emily Rollins of Bay High School and Taylor Schreiber of Deane Bozeman School. We are proud to have them representing us in Washington this year.

This past summer, local educators attended the Empower Energy Education Workshop to learn more about a balanced approach to energy generation. Enlightening our teachers on the truth of energy generation will help dispel many of the myths touted in the news regarding emissions and clean energy. To effectively provide power to our great country, we need more generation. The overly burdensome regulations being proposed currently and enacted in the past only increase the risk that many parts of our country will be more likely to run out of power. What power we do have will cost substantially more.

I want to thank the management and employees for a job well done during the past year. Day or night, rain or shine, calm or storm, your cooperative employees work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to keep your homes comfortable and energized. We are lucky to have such incredible people working behind the scenes to power our homes, businesses, and communities. Through whatever else comes our way, your cooperative’s employees and board are here to keep the power on and serve you, our members.

We are working with engineers and contractors to determine the most cost-effective way to repair or rebuild our headquarters building here in Wewahitchka. You may have noticed we have recently acquired the former Dixie Dandy property adjacent to our headquarters office. This building will be used as warehouse space to house the materials needed for the Tyndall Rebuild. The building will be paid for by our contract and will not cost our GCEC members. Having adequate warehouse facilities will ensure we can continue delivering a stellar level of service to our members, including residential, commercial, and the Department of Defense.

In 2011, GCEC’s 50-year contract to own and maintain the electric and water distribution systems at Tyndall Air Force Base commenced. We have completed several water and electric projects, including replacing aging infrastructure. This contract has allowed us to hire more employees and help stimulate local economies by buying materials and expanding your cooperative—all while keeping rates stable.

Today, our primary duty is to help Tyndall Air Force Base fulfill its mission of recovering and rebuilding from Hurricane Michael’s devastation. Supporting Tyndall is not only our job; it is our great honor. Supporting the base of the future allows GCEC to directly contribute to the security of our great country and support our freedom. We are proud to be a part of Team Tyndall.

At your cooperative, we are committed to the safety of our employees and members. Safety training is held at least once a month for all GCEC employees. We are also committed to safety training for our community.

Today, we have safety demonstrations using our live line demonstration trailer. We hope you will take the time to attend 1 of the presentations. We are proud of this trailer, built by employees, and enjoy taking it to local schools, festivals, and training sessions to educate our members and keep them safe.

GCEC is a 5-star Co-op. That means we encourage our member-owners to learn about federal, state, and local elections and help make sure they are registered to vote; empower members to make independent, educated decisions about voting for the future of your cooperative and community; engage with elected officials by inviting them to visit the cooperative and meet with the co-op’s member-owners; and develop a political game plan to advance and advocate for issues on behalf of the electric cooperative.

GCEC has 100% participation on behalf of its employees and trustees in America’s Electric Cooperatives PAC, formerly known as the Action Committee for Rural Electrification, or ACRE. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s federal political action committee supports candidates for the U.S. House and Senate—those in office now and running for office—who will speak for and protect the interests of electric cooperatives and their member-owners.

GCEC member-owners have the opportunity to be active in this political action committee. If you are interested, I encourage you to stop by our booth in the conference room.

Our employees’ mission is to deliver safe, affordable, and reliable power. 1 way we ensure reliability is through our right-of-way program. If vegetation comes into contact with power lines, it can interfere with your electric service and cause a potentially dangerous situation. It is vital this vegetation be cleared from the power lines to provide reliable electric service and prevent hazardous conditions. We realize most property owners regard trees as an asset.

However, federal law states that GCEC is responsible for eliminating hazardous conditions. The co-op tries to work with each landowner to preserve landscaping when maintaining rights-of-way. If we are trimming in your area, we ask that you please mark anything buried underground that our trucks and heavy equipment could harm. Please be aware we need access to fenced-in areas. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to bring you quality, reliable service.

We know how busy everyone is these days. That’s why we offer many ways to do business with the co-op. Our lobbies and drive-thrus are open, and you can reach us over the phone during regular business hours. Don’t forget that our drop boxes, automated phone system, and website are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for payments or reporting power outages. If you haven’t downloaded our app, we encourage you to do so. It is available from the App Store for iPhone users and Google Play Store for Android users. It offers a variety of convenient features, including the ability to view and pay your bill and to report an outage.

And, don’t forget that if you can’t make it to 1 of our office locations, you can pay your bill at retailers such as CVS Pharmacy, Dollar General, and Family Dollar. Visit the Checkout page to get started.

We are proud to offer rebate programs for electric vehicles, HVAC, and water heaters, as well as products, including GenerLink, meter poles, and surge protection. For more information, please stop by the marketing booth in the conference room and speak to Shannon Hill.

At GCEC, we aim to meet your needs while providing reliable energy services at the lowest possible cost. To serve you better, we need a little feedback.

In March, we began a residential satisfaction survey to find out how well we currently meet your needs and how we can improve. Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative has partnered with research firm Inside Information of Kansas City, Missouri, to conduct the survey via telephone and online to measure your attitudes and perceptions toward Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative; satisfaction with and loyalty to your cooperative; perception of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental issues; new product and service offerings you’re interested in; use of technology and personal communication opportunities such as social media, texts and mobile apps; and demographics.

Randomly selected members received postcards in the mail asking them to go online and complete the survey. The survey includes a series of questions that rate the reliability, value, and quality of our service; our commitment to the community; our concern for the environment; our ability to restore power following an outage; how well we communicate with you; and other questions that will help us gauge the quality of our service. All information gathered during the interviews will be kept confidential and will not be shared with any outside third parties.

By participating in this short survey, you will help us by providing your thoughts about your co-op, while assisting us in making important decisions about delivering reliable power and exceptional member service. After all, at GCEC, our members are the owners, and we are here to serve you. If you have questions about the survey, please contact us.

On behalf of all your co-op employees and board members providing this great celebration for you, please enjoy our annual meeting and our celebration of you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve all of you. Thank you again for your time and attention this morning.