Oakdale Electric Cooperative’s rescheduled 85th Annual Meeting was held on Tuesday, August 4, at Oakdale Electric Cooperative. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s meeting agenda was kept to essential business only to streamline the program. 

To ensure the safety of all in attendance masks were required, social distancing was practiced, and plexiglass registration table barrier built.

Attorney Drew Parrish presented the proposed bylaw amendment, which was approved by the membership.

The co-op’s Board of Directors authorized voting for this year’s director elections to be conducted by mail-in ballots. A staggering 1,200 ballots were returned by the August 1 deadline. Mail-in ballots were first opened and tallied at the start of the Annual Meeting. Voting in-person at the Annual Meeting was still permitted.

Incumbent director Bob Hess was up for reelection and retained his position. In a two-way contested race, Robin Craker was elected to represent district seven. Both directors will serve a three-year term.

At the reorganizational meeting, all officer positions remained unchanged. They are as follows: Board Chairman, Rick Barrett; Vice Chairman, Gregory Eirschele; Secretary, Jonathan Williams; Treasurer, James Van Wychen; Assistant Secretary, Cherlyn Moseley; DPC director, Robert Hess; and alternate DPC director – Rick Barrett.

It is unclear what the Annual Meeting in 2021 will look like at this time.  However, Oakdale Electric Cooperative looks forward to when we can safely gather and host a more typical Annual Meeting once again.