The Power of Connections

The 2019 annual meeting was the first to be held at CREC’s Lake Saint Louis branch office. It was also aired live on YouTube.

any proposed bylaw modifications. “Our members can participate in the democratic process of electing their directors—who also must be members—which is one of the tangible differences that a co-op has over an investor-owned utility,” explains Hurd. As the co-op continued to grow, the annual meeting evolved into a signature event that attracted up to eight thousand people and offered food, entertainment, prizes, and fellowship. Several large venues have hosted the event in recent years, including the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Troy, the National Equestrian Center in Lake St. Louis, and the Family Arena in St. Charles. But rising costs, declining attendance, and the growing popularity of absentee voting (made possible through a bylaw change approved by members in 2015) led the board to institute a modified format for the annual meeting. A smaller-scale version of the event debuted at the Lake Saint Louis branch office in 2019. Members could attend the meeting in person or watch a live broadcast of the event on the Internet. The new meeting format simplifies the planning, logistical, and budgeting challenges of the previous large-scale event. It also made for a simple transition to a socially distanced meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. “We’re always looking for how we can do things differently or change as technology and member needs change,” says Tracy. “Cooperatives can easily get stuck in a routine where they’re not willing to change because they’ve always done something a certain way. That’s not us.”

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