Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) will host its 67th Annual Members' Meeting on Wednesday, August 31, 2005, on the lawn at the Cooperative's Hughesville Headquarters. Registration begins at 3 p.m. and will end promptly at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m., rain or shine.
At the Annual Meeting, members will vote for candidates running for five available seats on SMECO's Board of Directors. In Calvert County, director John W. Williams, Jr., is running for re-election to the one available seat. In Charles County, director John H. Bloom, Jr., is running for re-election to the one available seat. Director Daniel W. Dyer is running for the one seat up for election in Prince George's County, and in St. Mary's County, incumbent directors G. Purnell Frederick and Joseph V. Stone, Jr., as well as candidate George Michael Thompson, are vying for two available seats.
All Co-op members, regardless of their county of residence, may vote for directors from all counties. This year, there are no proposed changes to SMECO's bylaws.
To register to vote, members should bring their registration postcards to the meeting. The "Membership Identification Cards" were mailed in mid-August. Members who register to vote in person will be eligible to win attendance prizes. Drawings will be held for 50 small prizes and six grand prizes: three U.S. savings bonds, two gas grills, and a used SMECO vehicle.
SMECO will serve free soft drinks and ice cream from 3 to 7:30 p.m. to those attending the meeting. Hot dogs and nachos will be offered for sale, with proceeds to be donated to the Center for Abused Persons. Entertainment will be provided by the Country Memories band from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., and at about six o'clock, there will be a Hot Line demonstration - the same as the one recently aired on Good Morning America. Representatives from Calvert Healthcare Solutions, Calvert Memorial Hospital, Health Partners of Charles County, Health Share of St. Mary's, and St. Mary's Hospital will have displays for attendees to view until the Annual Meeting begins at 7 p.m. In addition, SMECO will have customer education and generator displays. A representative from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Action Committee for Rural Electrification (ACRE) will host a special display and enroll members in the Co-op Owners for Political Action program. Co-op members are encouraged to join this political action committee, which supports the interests of electric cooperatives and their members.
For more information about SMECO's Annual Members' Meeting, visit the Cooperative's Web site at http://www.smeco.coop.
SMECO is a customer-owned electric cooperative providing electricity to over 135,000 services in southern Prince George's County, and in Charles County, St. Mary's County, and all but the northeast portion of Calvert County. Co-ops are distinctly different from investor-owned utilities because co-ops are owned by their customers, and these members vote for men and women who sit on the Board of Directors.