Annual Meeting
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Co-op Annual Meeting
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Scholarships given away to members
Our 2024 Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
The 86th annual meeting of cooperative members will be held on Thursday, April 25th to discuss important policy and leadership issues and review the successes of 2023. All customers of Choptank Electric Cooperative are members and are entitled to vote and participate in discussions about how our electric distribution company functions here on the Eastern Shore.
The annual meeting and dinner will be held at The Fountains Wedding & Conference Center at 1800 Sweetbay Drive in Salisbury, Maryland. Doors will open at 4:30pm for members to register, visit with staff and vendors and enjoy dinner. The business portion of the annual meeting will begin at 6:00pm with President and CEO Mike Malandro reporting on the Co-op business over the last 12 months. Three Board members will be standing for re-election during the 2024 meeting.
• Bob Arnold, representing Queen Anne’s County
• Kristen Nickerson, representing Kent County
• Doug Scott, representing Talbot County
Biographical information about each Director candidate is posted online at www.choptankelectric.coop and is displayed in the lobby of the headquarters office in Denton. Petitions for nomination were submitted, reviewed and approved by the Credentials and Elections Committee. Because there is only one approved Director candidate for each district, the Committee has invoked Bylaws section 4.06(b). This section states that in the event of an uncontested election, Choptank Electric Cooperative may forego the balloting process. A final vote to elect Directors will occur during the annual meeting. This saves the Cooperative and its members thousands of dollars in the printing and mailing of ballots and the hiring of a voting service provider.
Ten $1,000 Luck of the Draw scholarships will be awarded to students who pre-file their applications and are present at the meeting with their parent or legal guardian who is an active cooperative member. Learn more and apply before April 18 here: https://choptankelectric.coop/scholarships.
All members who attend the annual meeting will be awarded a $10 bill credit on their next electric bill (limited to one per membership). There will also be door prizes drawn at the end of the meeting ranging from $100-$500 in bill credits.
To RSVP and reserve your space at the 2024 annual meeting, please contact our Member Service Center by calling 1-877-892-0001 or emailing us at annualmeeting@choptankelectric.coop. We will need your name, account number, guests’ names and total number in your group to reserve your space and accurately register you for the 2024 annual meeting. The RSVP deadline is Monday, April 8, but call today to guarantee your spot.
2024 Notice of Election of the Board of Directors
In conjunction with the 2024 Annual Meeting of Choptank Electric Cooperative, Inc. there will be held an election of directors for Dorchester County, Kent County, and Queen Anne’s County. If you are interested in being a candidate for one of these positions, please complete, sign, and deliver a 2024 Petition for Nomination of Candidate for Director by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
The completed petition must be delivered to the attention of the Credentials & Election Committee, c/o Dawn Bowie, Choptank Electric Cooperative either: (a) by hand delivery or courier to the headquarters office, 10384 River Road, Denton, MD 21629; (b) by mail to P.O. Box 430, Denton, MD 21629; or (c) by email to Dawn Bowie at dawnb@choptankelectric.coop. Any applications received after Wednesday, December 20, 2023, will not be reviewed by the committee.
Choptank Electric Celebrates 85th Annual Member Meeting
April 27th, 2023
Denton, Md – Choptank Electric Cooperative held its 85th Annual Meeting on April 27, 2023, at the Talbot County Community Center with over 300 guests in attendance. Members re-elected four Board members, the Cooperative awarded ten $1,000 scholarships to students in attendance and shared significant highlights from 2022 about Choptank Electric and its subsidiary, Choptank Fiber.
Mike Malandro, President and CEO of Choptank Electric, started by thanking our members for being the heart of our cooperative as owners. He summarized the success of the Cooperative last year by pointing out that we “maintained over 6,000 miles of electric lines across the Eastern Shore, continue to receive a 99% reliability rating from the ASAI, and we are pleased that our long-term investments continue to pay off.” He added that the Cooperative made “great strides with grid upgrades to modernize electric service and protect against cyber threats.”
Jeff Rathell, Chairman of the Board, applauded the Cooperative’s dedication to rural members by providing broadband services through Choptank Fiber. “We are proud to provide our communities with this necessary resource that has become the lifeblood of our modern world,” adds Jeff. Choptank Fiber has passed over 3,500 homes, constructed over 1,250 miles of distribution fiber, and secured over $38 million in grants as of December 31, 2022.
The following uncontested Board members were re-elected to another three-year term: John Burke Jr. of Cecil County, Craig Mathies of Somerset County, Jeff Rathell of Talbot County and Robert Thompson of Ocean Pines District.
Ten $1,000 "Luck of the Draw" Scholarships were awarded at our 2023 Annual Meeting!
Choptank Electric’s Luck of the Draw Scholarship winners were drawn from those who applied and attended the Annual Meeting. Winners included:
• Delaney Bennett of Wicomico County
• Catherine Cronan of Talbot County
• Emma Duff of Cecil County
• Kinley Elliott of Caroline County
• Ashton Elzey of Dorchester County
• Gunnar Hoffman of Caroline County
• Kai Kelly of Talbot County
• Emilie Schanken of Dorchester County
• Blaire Smith of Wicomico County
• Drew Swanger of Wicomico County
Please visit our Scholarship Page for more information and to apply for next year.
A full recap of the Cooperative in 2022 can be found online at www.choptankelectric.coop/financial-information
Click here to view the 2023 Annual Meeting Minutes
View the 2023 Annual Meeting Below