COVID-19 CHANGES 2020 ANNUAL MEETING TO DIAL-IN ONLY, NO IN-PERSON MEETING
United Cooperative Services’ 2020 Annual Meeting will be conducted without in-person attendance for the first time in the cooperative’s history, at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct.15, after the United Board of Directors in June decided that the widely attended annual event posed too many COVID-19 exposure risks for members, employees and the general public.
Members can access live audio of the Annual Meeting by calling 1-833-946-1532.
The decision to alter traditional attendance at the meeting adheres to federal, state and local best practices and public health guidelines reissued in July in response to ballooning infection rates across the nation.
Instead of traditional meeting fanfare that has included a health fair, live entertainment, and a barbecue meal in addition to the business meeting, United members this year will be invited to dial in and hear the meeting in progress via live electronic access from the comfort and safety of their own home, as well as to vie for their chance to win this year’s Grand Prize Cash Drawing for $2,500 if they remain on the call throughout the entire meeting.
United’s bylaws require the cooperative to have an annual meeting every year in October. State law governs when notification of the annual meeting is sent to members.
Although members cannot attend the annual meeting in person this year, they can still be represented by returning a signed and completed ballot, which will be mailed in the September issue of Texas Co-op Power magazine, along with a postage prepaid return envelope.
Deadline for receiving ballots will be by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9. All ballots must be returned and postmarked before or by that date to be eligible for a variety of cash prize drawings.
The return of ballots is important since mail-in ballots this year will be the sole means to determine the existence of a quorum (at least five percent of the cooperative’s membership)—required to conduct business at a meeting of the members.
Previously, members have been able to register and cast a ballot in person at the meeting.