Well over 500 registered members of Cimarron Electric Cooperative and more than 200 members of their households turned out for the co-op’s annual meeting Thursday evening in Kingfisher.

In his first annual report to members, new CEO Aaron Roark described his transition from for-profit corporations (American Airlines and an Oklahoma City oil and gas company) to the nonprofit cooperative business model as “incredibly refreshing.” “We’re not worried about how Wall Street is going to react or where our stock price is going to close, we are concerned about making sure our members have affordable and reliable power,” he said. “All our decisions are made through that lens.”

The cooperative finished 2021 with $67.7 million of total revenue and $60.9 million in expenses, leaving a net margin of $6.7 million which is allocated to members’ capital credits.

Capital credits are distributed to members in the years in which they are retired. Last year, the coop retired nearly $1 million in capital credits to its nearly 9,000 members, returning margins from 1996-97.

“To date, Cimarron Electric has retired and returned $13.6 million in margins to our members and we’re on track to continue that trend in 2022,” he said.

“At our August board meeting, your Board of Directors voted to retire capital credits from 1998, 1999 and 2000.

“A total of $1.3 million will be retired and returned to our members around Thanksgiving this year.”

Roark also reported that Cimarron members had power 99.98% of the time in 2021, “some of the best reliability numbers in Oklahoma.”

“But we’re not resting on these strong numbers,” he added. “We know that each minute without power is an inconvenience to our members.”

Roark said a system strengthening and hardening project in the area impacted by the October 2020 ice storm will help ensure future reliability.

“The great thing about ourpartnership with FEMA is that FEMA will pay for between 75 and 90 percent of the costs of that project.

“The challenge of working with FEMA is that they are a federal government agency,” he said, noting that after two years of wading through a lengthy application process, the project finally started last month.

Cimarron’s attorney Jared Harrison led the business portion of the meeting, where members voted to re-elect a slate of trustees and also approved by-law changes.

Trustees are generally elected at district meetings, but Harrison said attendance at meetings for District 1 in Isabella, District 3 in Okeene and District 5 in Geary lacked the necessary quorums for votes to take place.

That event triggers a by-law provision that the current trustees are held over until the general membership meeting when an election can be held.

Members voted Thursday night to re-elect Ron Sproul, District 1; Rudy Patzkowsky, District 3, and Gene Peters, District 5.

Members also voted to approve a slate of by-law changes, allowing for digital notice for members who opt in, digital record-keeping, lifting the cap on insurance coverage for board members.

Other amendments involved “housekeeping measures” to update by-law language to reflect current conditions.

Musical entertainment was provided by the Dean Jackson Band and the meal by Iron Wheel BBQ.