General manager addresses membership

AS I SEE IT Manager’s Viewpoint

16 The Tennessee Magaz ine

Iwould be remiss if I didn’t takethis opportunity first off to brag onour board of directors. They cer-tainly deserve it. They

serve you well, and theyserve you collectively for thebest interests of CumberlandElectric, not just the particu-lar district in which they live.It is indeed a privilege and apleasure to work for them.If you listened closely to

the financial report, youheard that we made a littleless than $9 million last year.I’d like to take the time totell you about some of theitems we purchased with thatrevenue. The Bledsoe substation in South

Sumner County, which is a 50-mega-volt-ampere substation, was completedand energized this year. It has improvedthe reliability in that area but also al-lowed CEMC to get out of an aging,maintenance-intensive substation inGallatin and out of a lease agreementwe had with Gallatin Department ofElectricity. CEMC spent $3.2 million on right-

of-way maintenance this past year. Asyou know, we’ll have to continue to dothat. We will work with you as best wecan, but in our area, the trees are thegreatest contributor to power outages.We constructed some microwave

towers to enhance our communicationsystem. This was a two-year, $2.4 mil-lion project. We have added six towersand beefed up five more. It is sort of ahybrid system; we do have some fiber

links to substations, and it’s workingwell for us. We appreciate the opportu-nity to spend the money in that regard.

A few years ago, we pur-chased a building in Robert-son County next to ourSpringfield district office,and we have just completedconverting it into a disasterrecovery center. We havebackup computers andservers in this multipurposebuilding so that should a cat-astrophic event occur in ourheadquarters office, wecould continue to do busi-ness as seamlessly as possi-ble with you, the end user.

This year CEMC became a memberof Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.Touchstone represents a total of 750 co-operatives nationwide, and you will behearing more about Touchstone. It doesa great job of advertising the coopera-tive principles. Another item purchased was an auto-

matic vehicle location system, or AVL,that was added to our outage manage-ment system. The AVL lets us see indi-vidual outages and that a particulartruck has been assigned to each outageand allows us to track the truck’s actuallocation. The benefits of this system aretwo-fold. Obviously, safety is a benefitbecause we know where all of our menare at any given time, and it is much-improved economic dispatch.Your board of directors and manage-

ment team does lobby for you in Wash-ington, D.C., at least once a year with

These are the remarks made by Jim Coode, general manager of CumberlandElectric Membership Corporation, at the cooperative’s annual meeting Sept. 14at Rossview High School in Clarksville.

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Cumberland Electric Membership CorporationCEMC Management and StaffJim Coode, General ManagerRandy Holt,Operations Division ManagerLynne Wilson, Administrative Division ManagerChris A. Davis, Administrative Division ManagerMark T. Cook, Engineering Division ManagerMichael Batson, Financial Services ManagerAnnabelle Chester, Human Resources ManagerBarbara Harper, Member Services ManagerHoward Whitaker, District Operations Manager

CEMC Co-op News EditorJulie WallaceP.O. Box 3300Clarksville, TN 37043

Open Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 800-987-2362

Ashland City officeJosh Gill, District Operations SupervisorClarksville officeKenny Davis, District Operations SupervisorDover officeTerry Odom, District Operations SupervisorGallatin officeAllan Cook, District Operations SupervisorPortland/White House officesTravis Akins, District Operations SupervisorSpringfield officeNicky Roberts, District Operations Supervisor

CEMC Board of DirectorsTommy G. Whittaker, Sumner Co., PresidentWesley H. Aymett, Cheatham Co., Vice PresidentShela K. Williams, At Large, Secretary-TreasurerK. Jean Beauchamp, Robertson Co., Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Stephen E. Douglass, Stewart Co.Charles R. Hancock, Stewart Co.Michael A. Mason, Robertson Co.C. David Morgan, Montgomery Co.Edward L. Oliver, Montgomery Co.Joe H. Whitaker, Sumner Co.

Mission StatementCumberland Electric MembershipCorporation is committed to providingdependable, affordable electric servicethrough the expertise and dedication ofcompetent leadership and a well-trained and responsive workforce.

Jim Coode,General Manager,Cumberland

Electric Membership Corporation

November 2013 17

Three incumbent directors earned new three-yearterms on the board during the 75th annual meet-ing of Cumberland Electric Membership Corpo-ration on Sept. 14 at Rossview High School in

Clarksville. Due to uncontested elections this year, votingtook place by voice acclamation during the business ses-sion of the meeting. Wesley H. Aymett of Ashland City will serve his fourth

term as director representing Cheatham County. Aymett

serves as vice president on the board. Dr. K. Jean (Jean-nie) Beauchamp of Coopertown was elected to serve herfirst full term as director for South Robertson County.Beachamp was appointed to the board in June 2012 toserve the remainder of the term vacated by Gene E. Cookfollowing his retirement. Beauchamp serves as assistantsecretary-treasurer. C. David Morgan of Clarksville willserve his fourth term representing South MontgomeryCounty.

Directors re-elected to serve on CEMC board

Aymett Beauchamp Morgan

CEMC members win BIG at 75th annual meeting

Members who attended Cumberland ElectricMembership Corporation’s 2013 annualmember meeting were treated to a few ex-tras this year to help the co-op celebrate its

75th anniversary. Among those extraswere two grand prizes! A few of theother door prizes were also givenaway in duplicate, allowing moremembers an opportunity to win, andadditional bill credits were awardedthis year as well.In addition to the major door prize

winners featured on the followingpages, 22 members were awarded elec-tric bill credits valued between $75 and$275. The winners are: • $275 bill credits: Benjamin Burton, Clarksville, and Bon-nie Eanes, Dover. • $175 bill credits: Laurie Drake, Ashland City; MarkBaggett, Clarksville; Roy Morrison, Clarksville; JohnBryant, Dover; Ladonna Prentice, Ashland City; Lucian

Minton Nursery, Springfield; Paul Heady, Portland; JerryHorton, Clarksville; Carolyn Brown, Springfield; andThomas Kelly, Clarksville. • $75 bill credits: Steven Koch, Clarksville; Rodney Black,Clarksville; Debra Moore, Clarksville; F.E. Wilson, Ash-

land City; Louise Cook, White House;Davis Potts, Clarksville; MalindaGupton, Ashland City; Nelda Smith,Ashland City; David Reason, Dover;and George Tucker; Ashland City. Bill credits of $100 were awarded

to the following members who partici-pated in early registration Sept. 13 atthe district offices: Mike Lockert, Ash-land City; Margaret McWhorter,

Clarksville; Bill Darnell, Dover; Angela Whitaker, Gal-latin; Connie Gross, Portland; Shirley Morgan, Springfield;and Randy Sutherland, White House. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and thank

you to all of our members for making our annual meetingand 75th anniversary celebration such a success!

Scenes from the 2013 annual member meetingGRAND PRIZE WINNERS —Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Meadows of Cotton-town and Mr. and Mrs. Gary Oldham ofSpringfield were the big winners of theday. Each couple was awarded a $2,075credit to Lowe’s for an energy-efficiencymakeover.

Charles Bidwell of Pleasant Viewwon the Pick Tennessee ProductsPackage.

One of the Backyard Family FunPackages went to Eileen Frazier ofBig Rock.

Shirley Chandler of Clarksville tookhome the second Backyard FamilyFun Package.

Winner of the Cool Springs Shop-ping Getaway was Elaine Luton ofDover.

The Front Porch Haven Packagewas won by Tina Westberg ofClarksville.

Bettina Jones of Springfield andTeresa Brunker of Ashland Cityeach took home an iPad mini andaccessories.

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November 2013 19

Each of these individuals won a $575 scholarship for aloved one who is currently attending college.

Children who visited the Youth Corner registered forprizes, including bicycles and an assortment of age-ap-propriate gift cards.

Linda Bess of Ashland City was thewinner of one of the UT TailgatingPackages.

JoAnn Davidson of Adams wenthome with the second UT Tailgat-ing Package.

The Gatlinburg Retreat Packagewent to Paul Borkowski ofWoodlawn.

CFL Charlie and Louie the Light-ning Bug were a big hit in theYouth Corner!

The Bluegrass Volunteers providedentertainment prior to the businesssession of the annual meeting.

Youth Corner attendees had a chanceto try out the climbing pole and tookhome souvenir CEMC hard hats.

General manager’s address

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the assistance of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Asso-ciation Executive Vice President and General ManagerDavid Callis. Some interesting events have transpired thisyear. When President Obama’s proposed budget came out,much to everyone’s surprise in the Valley, it suggested thedivestiture of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which isWashington-speak for, “Let’s sell it.” I think I would preferfor TVA’s revenues to be turned back into the system formaintenance to increase capacity and attract talent ratherthan turning it over to stockholders. You’ve all heard the terminology “war on coal.” The rea-

son it’s called a war on coal is because the EnvironmentalProtection Agency has assigned restrictions on emissionsfor which there is no current technology. At some point,we’re not going to be able to burn coal. The EPA needs tobe reined in somewhat. We’re all about clean air. Everyonewants it, but this needs to be done in a timely fashion if thisis the direction this country is going to take. The EPA, if ithas its way, will force us into power prices none of us canafford. TVA has done a great job since its inception of improv-

ing the quality of life in the Valley. Its reliability is second

to none. That’s a fact. Speaking for Cumberland Electric,TVA does a great job. We have no problems communicat-ing with TVA. As far as its rates, I’ll let you decide if youthink they’re competitive. TVA is working in that arena.Maybe some of the classifications need tweaking; that’s anongoing thing. I think the new CEO is making headwaythere. As shown in the 2012 data regarding electricityprices per state, Tennessee falls well below the nationalaverage. I believe it was Confucius who said, “If you choose a

job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I get towork with the employees here at CEMC every day. You cantell from the smiles on their faces and their expressions thatthey love their jobs. They are the greatest asset your co-ophas. They do a terrific job for you and for other co-opsaround the state as well. Lastly, I would like to recognize some of our retirees

who are here in the blue shirts today to help celebrate the75th anniversary. These are our mentors. Each one, as theyleft the co-op, handed it off to us in a little better shapewith a charge for us to make it better, and we intend to. Thank you for your attention today.

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If you’re expecting guests for holiday festivities,

consider giving your heating unit a break. With

the oven cranked up and the house packed with

people, the temperature will rise on its own. Also,

make sure it has a clean filter so the unit can

work as efficiently as possible all winter long.

Find more ways to save at TogetherWeSave.com.

Source: TogetherWeSave.com

The offices of CumberlandElectric Membership

Corporation will be closedfor the Thanksgiving

holiday on Thursday, Nov.28, and Friday, Nov. 29.

Crews will be available in the event of an emergency by calling 1-800-987-2362.

Have a safe and happy holiday!