FROM YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
	April 2004 From A Director
Board Meeting Summary February 24, 2004 The meeting was called to order by President Jim Dyer. All directors were present except Jerry Berger. The board welcomed new director Joe Van Meter.      Roger Kuhlman, Engineering & Operations Manager, discussed the power outage that occurred a week ago as a result of a failed meter transformer at Salem Substation. There were approximately 4,700 customers out of power, but everyone was back on within one hour and 40 minutes.      Terry Kelly, Member Services Manager, advised the board that For the Sake of the Salmon (FSOS) is dissolving due to lack of funding. Automatic FSOS monthly contributions have been stopped for the 86 Salem Electric members who participated in the program. The money remaining in the fund will be given to local Watershed Councils.      Rachel Knotts, the Leadership Youth Representative, reported that a group of Leadership Youth students met and discussed the different boards they are participating on. She thanked the Salem Electric board for being stable and for always holding their meetings on schedule. She said some of the students were assigned to boards that no longer meet at all or have been dissolved.      Manager Bob Speckman reported receiving a letter regarding a voluntary fish assessment from the Public Power Council (PPC) and recommended that the board consider a contribution. Following a discussion, a motion carried unanimously to contribute $1,000 to the PPC’s efforts for fish recovery.      Speckman said a new effort was underway with regard to fish issues. The “Coalition for Smart Salmon Recovery” has been formed and its purpose is to provide consistent and effective communications to each organization’s members. Speckman said the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) is polling its board to see if they support ORECA joining the coalition. A motion carried unanimously that Salem Electric go on record in support of the Coalition for Smart Salmon Recovery and that Bonesteele, as Salem Electric’s representative to the ORECA board, be directed to support ORECA’s membership in the coalition.      Speckman reported that the annual meeting, scheduled for May 11, 2004, is being finalized. Budget adjustments for 2004 were presented by Belleque and approved unanimously by the board.      Bonesteele asked staff to prepare a list of membership dues Salem Electric pays to organizations, along with a description of the benefits of membership to each organization. This information will be included in next month’s board packets.      Ennor reported briefly on his attendance at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s annual meeting held earlier in February.      Meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Carl Beach Secretary/Treasurer
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As a participant in the Leadership Youth program through the Salem Chamber of Commerce, I am blessed with the opportunity to serve on the Salem Electric Board of Directors. Along with students from every other Salem-Keizer high school, I went through training last year, but my experience on the Salem Electric board of directors has been a far cry from my adventures last year with Leadership Youth.      Last year, once a month usually on a Wednesday, a few students would meet at the Salem Chamber of Commerce where we would start off the day with cinnamon rolls from Izzy’s. Then we would play a funny little game (games like the toilet paper game and the spider web game) and hopefully extract some meaning from it. And most of the time, we would take “field trips” to places like E-Z Orchards (where we ate free apple cider doughnuts), J. James restaurant (where we learned table manners), and the Marion-Polk County Food Share (where we sorted a couple of tons of food). However, despite the variety and diversity, all our activities shared a common thread; we learned about how our community fits together, and how it could fit together ideally.      Our discussions had no limits, besides what our young minds could think up. And so, we were able to create a perfect world between us.      Sadly, the reality of our world is less than perfect. And I am finding out that this is where the board comes in, doing essentially what we did in Leadership Youth, striving to create a perfect world. Only unlike our old discussions, there are limits on what can be accomplished. But every time we meet, I am impressed with how much is accomplished by Salem Electric and how efficiently resources are used. It’s all about doing the best you can with the resources at hand. Rachel Knotts Leadership Youth Representative
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