September 5, 2024
Pursuant to notice thereof, the 2024 Annual Meeting of the members of the PlumasSierra Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC) was held at 92202 Highway 70, Vinton Grange Hall, and via YouTube. The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. by the President of the Board of Directors, Fred Nelson. Thereafter, the following proceedings were held: Emily Compton, Member Services Manager, and Director Hansen presented the photo contest and scholarship winners. Pastor Mike Preston delivered the invocation. The American Legion Color Guard placed the flags, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Fred Nelson, along with the playing of the National Anthem. Board President Nelson introduced the Board of Directors, General Manager Robert Marshall, Corporate Attorney Mike Vergara, and Alyson Ackerman. Mr. Marshall thanked the employees and volunteers and introduced the special guests.
Bob Marshall introduced Don Fregulia from the Plumas National Forest to provide a thank you from our community for all the recent fires and the great job the Forest Service has done. Don Fregulia spoke briefly about the fires and thanked the community for their support. Bob Marshall, CEO of Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications (PST), gave the PST report and spoke about the history of PST. Mr. Marshall referenced the work done this past year on the system and the grants received. He explained the first grant PST received was in 2010. PST is continuously applying for grants with the goal of reaching all member owners. Bob thanked all staff for their hard work.
Bob Marshall, General Manager, introduced a guest speaker, Randy Howard, the General Manager of NCPA (Northern California Power Association). Mr. Howard spoke on the projects that NCPA offers its members and the projects that PSREC is involved in. He continued to explain that the biggest concern in California is wildfire. Plumas Sierra gets most resources from the federal hydro system and spoke about the importance of wildfire hardening. Climate change and emissions are the biggest problems in this state. Bob Marshall spoke on the pivotal moment of building the Marble tie to the Nevada Grid in 2004. In 2007, it was a live interconnection between Nevada and California.
Mr. Marshall then introduced Mason Baker, General Manager of UAMPS (Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems). Mason spoke on building new resources and the challenges faced with that. He continued to say there is an expectation to experience a lot of pricing volatility over the next 10 years due to building and expansion. The annual business meeting was then called to order by President Nelson at 6:44 p.m. President Nelson introduced the cooperative’s attorney, Alyson Ackerman. He then turned the meeting over to Ms. Ackerman, who presided over the business portion of the meeting. A quorum was determined to have been met, with 728 valid ballots. There was a motion to waive the reading of the 2023 minutes; the motion passed unanimously, and the minutes were accepted as presented. Ms. Ackerman introduced the members of the nominating committee: Cindy Smith as Chair, Jan Tew as Vice Chair, and committee members George Fraser, Janell Newton, Holly George, and Ken Johnston.
Cindy Smith gave the Nominating Committee’s report, and Ms. Ackerman introduced the candidates up for election and re-election. The candidates were Larry Price for District 1, Fred Nelson for District 3, Ray Stewart for District 3, and Dave Roberti for District 4.
Ms. Ackerman introduced the Credentials and Election Committee: Jeremy Pilkington, Roy Theil, and Sean Bowers. Ms. Ackerman announced that Larry Price, with 609 votes, had been elected for District 1. The candidates for District 3 were Fred Nelson with 454 votes and Ray Stewart with 217 votes, electing Fred Nelson for District 3, and Dave Roberti with 630 votes was elected for District 4.
President Nelson reported on the issues that the coop faced last year and expanded on the cost of power doubling and tripling. He advised the Board of Directors recommendation to convert the WPCA (Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment) of currently $0.03 to the regular rate and advised that this will be discussed further in Rate meetings later in the fall.
President Fred Nelson explained that the board has approved the Fort Sage project, which will connect to Nevada. Explained the financing of $8,900,000 grant from the Department of Defense and that the project will take 2 to 3 years to complete.
Mr. Nelson reported on behalf of PST over 3,000 customers for fiber. He thanked LaMalfa and Kiley for providing grants. Reported all 10 grants applied for were awarded for over $60,000,000.
Bob Marshall reported on the outages and the SCADA system, and the hard work from employees. He advised on different ways of improving our system, including drone work. Bob Marshall explained further the Fort Sage line and how building the 345 lines will help us and will have the capacity to carry our entire system, plus Portola, Loyalton, and Quincy if needed. Overall, providing greater control and greater reliability.
David Hansen, Board Secretary/Treasurer, introduced a motion to waive the reading of the Treasurer’s Report. The motion passed unanimously.
The floor was then opened to members for a Q&A session.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:38 p.m.