Released by West Florida Electric Cooperative …
GRACEVILLE – The West Florida Electric Cooperative’s 82nd Annual Meeting/Member Appreciation Day was held Saturday, April 27.
Attendees were greeted by a large American flag displayed between two bucket trucks when they entered the grounds of the Graceville Civic Center.
Booths ranging from health screenings to wood turning, quilting, face painting and more were set up for members to visit.
The co-op also provided valuable information about services available to members including outage texting, surge protection and the mobile app which allows members to update account information, pay bills and more using their phone or tablet.
Musical entertainment was provided by The Cedar Creek Band of Chipley.
The meeting started with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem and the colors were presented by Vernon High School JROTC students.
During the course of the business meeting the results of this year’s District 2 election were announced to the members present at the meeting. According to Carr, Riggs & Ingram, the certified public accounting firm who conducted and oversaw WFEC’s mail ballot procedure, Tim Alford received 2,336 votes and Howard Hodge Jr. received 1,400 votes. This means Tim Alford will continue serving as District 2 Trustee.
Ty Peel, EVP & CEO of West Florida Electric Cooperative (WFEC) started the meeting by speaking to the co-op’s members about defining moments in our lives.
One of the defining moments Peel spoke of and described in his speech happened on October 24, 2018. “October 24 is when I lost one of my best friends, Bo Ussery, one of the top notch employees at this co-op, along with two others, Ryan Barrett and George Cesil from Lee Electrical Contractors,” said Peel. “Tragically, three great men were taken from us that day. It will forever be on my mind. I will miss him greatly. Three months after the storm, the board of trustees passed a resolution naming the engineering and operations building after James “Bo” Ussery. And, today we have a special presentation,” said Peel. With those words, he presented a commemorative bronze plaque which will be hung on the engineering and operations building at West Florida’s Graceville headquarters office.
Congressman Neal Dunn was a special guest at this year’s annual meeting where he presented the Ussery Family a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in Bo’s honor.
“You know this is a business meeting, but we are also here to celebrate some heroes – and there were thousands of heroes spawned by this storm. Every day someone is doing heroic, kind, generous things for their neighbors. And that’s what Bo was doing and we single him out to recognize him because he gave his life in the line of duty serving us. We should remember heroes like that because it is heroes like that who make life worth living. I want you to know your country is grateful, your community is grateful and your neighbors are grateful,” said Dunn to the Ussery Family.
