By-Law Amendments for Consideration at Annual Meeting

Cimarron Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees will bring eight proposed by-law changes to the membership for a vote at the 2022 Annual Meeting. This meeting will be held on September 8, 2022 6:30pm at the Kingfisher County Fairgrounds. All members are encouraged to attend and vote. Democratic member control is a principle of cooperatives and voting at an annual meeting is the best way to exercise this principle.

Two of the proposed amendments are proposed to align Cimarron’s by-laws with recent Oklahoma statute changes related to voting and quorum requirements for electric cooperatives.

The other six amendments are written to modernize the by-laws to align with available options for communication and record keeping.

A summary of each proposed amendment is included below. Specific wording changes are detailed at this link.

2022 BYLAW PROPOSED AMENDMENT SUMMARY

The information below is a summary of each of the proposed bylaw changes being referred to a vote of the members. The Board of Trustees recommends that all the proposed amendments be approved. 

  • Proposition 1: This amendment is being proposed to modernize the bylaws to allow the Cooperative to send out notices digitally to members who have ‘opted in’ to receive notices digitally. The amendment also addresses a minor grammatical issue.
  • Proposition 2: This amendment is being proposed to update the bylaws to reflect a recent statutory change in how quorum for a Meeting of the Members is determined. While it is likely that the new law will take effect without the proposed update, it is still desired that the bylaws reflect the current statutory structure.
  • Proposition 3: This amendment is being proposed to allow members that choose to register for a meeting in-person as allowed by the new state law noted in Proposition 2 the ability to vote on matters that will be considered during the meeting. The goal of this amendment is to receive more member participating in determining the direction of the Cooperative. It also modernizes the bylaw to allow for digital voting and corrects minor grammatical issues.
  • Proposition 4: This amendment is being proposed to modernize the bylaws to allow the Cooperative to send out notices digitally to Trustees for upcoming meetings.
  • Proposition 5: This amendment is being proposed to make clear that the Cooperative, through its Secretary, is required to maintain certain records, but it is removing the requirement that the records be kept in a “book” or “register”, allowing the records to be maintained in other formats, including digitally.
  • Proposition 6: This amendment is being proposed to reflect the fact that the Cooperative no longer uses the Rural Utilities Service (“RUS”) for financing of projects, and therefore no longer has a requirement to report to that agency directly when utility rates are changed. However, the change still requires the Cooperative to report to any state or federal agencies that reporting to is mandatory and it also authorizes the Cooperative to provide courtesy notices of rate changes to agencies.
  • Proposition 7: This amendment, similar to Proposition 7, is removing the requirement to report certain matters to RUS, but maintains the requirement to report to any required agencies.
  • Proposition 8: This amendment is being proposed to drop the maximum coverage amount for insurance for Board members as many portions of the Cooperative’s business, such as its retirement plan, require higher coverage amounts.

Click this link for detailed by-law change proposals: 2022 Proposed By-Law Changes

Click this link for a full copy of Cimarron Electric’s current by-laws: Cimarron Electric By-Laws

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