TALLADEGA, Ala. – Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative announces it will conduct the Annual Meeting of its members in virtual fashion due to the rapidly escalating cases of COVID-19.
The CVEC Annual Meeting is typically held the first Saturday after Labor Day each year at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Fox Sports 1 Dome in Talladega. It regularly draws several thousand attendees with activities including Bingo, featuring more than 100 prizes, carnival-style rides for children, food and soft drinks and several grand prizes. This year most of that is not occurring.
“The Annual Meeting of our members has always been a fun event,” said Leland Fuller, CVEC general manager. “But as we’ve observed the recent surge of COVID cases in our area as well as the state, we decided the more responsible approach was to conduct the meeting virtually.
Still scheduled for September 11, the event will feature few of its usual activities—no Bingo, no children’s rides and no food. Registration will open at 8 a.m. and close at 10:45 a.m. It will be conducted in drive-thru fashion in the parking lot of the Fox Sports 1 Dome. Members need only bring their registration cards, which were mailed to them along with the Official Notice of the Annual Meeting, and a state-issued photo ID.
They can drive thru, drop their registration cards in a box, get their gift bags and head home. Members who register will receive a $15 bill credit, a gift bag stuffed with goodies valued at more than $60, and be entered into all prize drawings. Prizes this year will include more than 50 door prizes and a handful of grand prizes.
While members must register to be eligible for prize drawings, they need not be present to win. Cooperative officials will contact prize winners the week following the meeting.
The business session, a staple of each Annual Meeting, is scheduled to start at 10:45 that morning. While members who would like to attend in person will be allowed into the Fox Sports 1 Dome at 10:30 a.m., Mr. Fuller encourages them to watch Live on Facebook if they are able.
“Thankfully, technology now makes it possible for those wanting to participate in the meeting to do so from the safety of their own homes or another safe location,” Mr. Fuller said. “We will broadcast the meeting through Facebook Live. Members who have questions can email us at [email protected] at any time, and we will answer those questions promptly.”
Members who have questions about the meeting before September 11, may call 1-800-273-7210 and choose option 3 or email [email protected].
“The safety of our members and our employees is a paramount concern of ours,” Mr. Fuller said. “We encourage our members to register the morning of September 11 so they can receive their $15 bill credit, a really nice gift and be eligible to win prizes. If they want to know how their Cooperative is doing and hear an update on our broadband project, they can tune in Live on Facebook.”
Coosa Valley Electric, which serves 17,500 consumers in Talladega, St. Clair, Shelby, Clay, Etowah and Calhoun counties, is a Touchstone Energy® cooperative. Nationwide, some 1,000 cooperatives provide power to rural America, and more than 700 of those are members of Touchstone Energy.
