Press Room

Press and news resources from JWEMC.

April 10, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Joe Wheeler EMC Holds Annual Meeting

TRINITY: For the second year Joe Wheeler EMC’s Annual Meeting was limited to mail ballots and drive-through voting. Following the drive-through vote, JWEMC General Manager and CEO updated the cooperative members via Facebook Live.

With the mail-in ballots netting 3,927 votes, and 13 in-person, for a total of 3,940 votes, the election surpassed the required quorum and was a success. As all four Trustee elections resulted in the winners receiving more than 50 percent of the votes, there will be no need to hold a run-off election. The final results were:

District 7 Trustee, Charles Teague, ran unopposed and received, 3,060 votes.

District 8 Trustee Ray Long ran unopposed and received 3,026 votes.

District 9 Trustee, Shirley Livingston, received 2,126 votes, for a total of 59.64 percent, retaining her seat for another three years. Her opponent, James Michael “Mike” Hall received 1,439 votes totaling 40.36 percent.

At-Large Trustee, Milton Taylor received 2,115 votes, for a total of 57.36 percent, retaining his seat for another three years. His opponents, Lymos Lee McDonald and Marvin Jackson received 738 votes (20.02%) and 834 votes (22.62%) respectively.

Also on the ballot this year were two proposed bylaw amendments. Amendment #1, allowing abbreviated annual or special meeting of the membership, passed with 3,000 total votes. There were 511 no votes. Amendment #2, allowing remote participation at meetings during emergency situations, passed with 2,832 total votes, with 710 voting no.

Following the election, JWEMC General Manager, George Kitchens gave his report to the members via Facebook Live. This report was held to announce the results of the election, report on the yearly co-op business, draw for prizes and announce scholarship winners.

During this event, winners were drawn from the registered voters for ten, $100 gift cards, and the grand prize of an F-150 Pickup Truck retired from the JWEMC fleet. The winners for these prizes were:

Ford F-150 Pickup Truck – Vonda Patrick of Moulton.  

$100 gift cards – Hutson Parker of Town Creek, Virginia Jones of Moulton, Lashonia Morrow of Danville, Mallard Creek PB Church in Hillsboro, Lee Roden of Moulton, Abby Alexander of Moulton, Zachary Gibson of Moulton, Charlies Body Shop in Moulton, Ricky Cook of Hartselle, and Cecil Whitt of Town Creek.   

The winners for the ten, $2,000 J.R. Knouff Scholarships were also announced live during the Virtual Annual Meeting. The recipients are Gabriel Pelluso II, attending Mississippi State University; Lori Arrington, attending UAH; Benjamin Estep, attending UAB; Elizabeth Craig of Hatton HS; Rhylee Miller of Hartselle HS; Cheyenne Campbell, attending the University of Alabama; Emeri Nosal, attending the University of Mississippi; Wren Col, attending Wallace State; Sam Smith of Hatton HS; and Savannah Fowler of Falkville HS.

Two $500 Electric Cooperative Foundation scholarships were also awarded to Maggie Shelton and Emily Jones, both from Lawrence County High School.

The Board, management, and employees of Joe Wheeler EMC thank everyone for working together to beat this virus and look forward to getting life back to normal for next year’s annual meeting.