Ozark Electric Co-op prepares for annual election, facing influence from outside groups

[RandySF]

During Ozark Electric Cooperative’s 89th annual meeting on July 25, members will elect directors for three of the co-op’s nine districts.

Approximately 36,000 people in southwest Missouri have accounts with OEC, according to its most recent annual report. Its service area includes nine districts covering parts of Greene, Christian, Stone and Lawrence counties.

Entities outside of OEC have apparently sent communications to co-op members and non-members in an effort to influence its 2025 election. In a July 22 Facebook post, the cooperative warned its members of election-related postcard mailers and emails impersonating OEC. The cooperative issued a similar warning about automated text messages coming from outside OEC on July 23.

In addition to electing directors, members are weighing three proposed changes to OEC’s bylaws, included on the ballot as Proposition A. The proposition would modify the eligibility and election requirements for directors by requiring candidates to submit a criminal background check and prohibiting directors from being employed by OEC for five years after their terms.



https://sgfcitizen.org/news/ozark-electric-co-op-prepares-for-annual-election-facing-influence-from-outside-groups/

[The Roux Comes First]

1. The Consulting Engineering Firm That Employed Me for 12+ Years Had Its Roots in the Origins of Public Power

While I had some great experiences, projects, and relationships while employed there, one of the big disappointments was that the company itself was just as greedy, penny-pinching, and uninterested in employee morale as almost every firm is. Frankly, I did not learn of the firm's roots in what seemed to me an almost-socialistic insurrection in the face of the big uber-profit mega-utilities of the time until I had been there for years. Of course I was only 28 when I signed in, so my naivete had not quite been snuffed. It was when I left!