Coweta-Fayette EMC hosted approximately 3,000 consumers and family members for a foggy fall morning full of food, fun and prizes at the 68th Annual Meeting and Member Appreciation Day Oct. 10 at cooperative headquarters in Palmetto.
This tradition is an important part of the cooperative business model. Co-ops are open to anyone able to use their service, meaning any person who moves onto Coweta-Fayette EMC lines is allowed membership. Annual meetings serve as a way for members to get to know the people who run their cooperative, and it is where members are updated on business matters. Every fall, Coweta-Fayette EMC convenes because of a belief in the cooperative principle of “Voluntary and Open Membership.”
The EMC also adheres to the notion of “Democratic Member Control,” which means members vote for a director who represents them on a board that in turn governs the co-op. Annual meetings serve as the forum for these elections.
This year, the event’s carnival-like festivities featured midway games, “Little Lineman” photo opportunities, arts and crafts, Varsity concessions, EMC information stations, prize drawings, bingo, health screenings by Piedmont Newnan and Piedmont Fayette Hospitals, music from the Northgate High School Marching Band and a fire truck with Freddie the robot. For coming out and attending the event, members received special gifts upon registration.
As for EMC subsidiaries, consumers of True Natural Gas were entered into the running for a gas grill, and Relyco Security held a drawing for a year’s free system monitoring. The grand EMC prize was a $1,000 electric bill credit.
During the business meeting, W.L. Clements, Alice Mallory and Mildred Winkles were declared winners of the board election and will serve another three-year term.
Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to more than 76,000 member accounts in Coweta, Fayette, Heard, South Fulton, Clayton, Spalding, Troup and Meriwether counties.
