CEO’s Message – April 2023

Aloha!

As the saying goes, nobody has family in Hawaii, everyone IS family in Hawaii.

Well, as much as we would all rather go to Hawaii for real, Columbia REA will do its best to bring the Island life to you, our “Ohana,” our Columbia REA family!!

On Thursday, April 20, the 2023 Columbia REA Annual Meeting and Luau (!) will be held in our Warehouse at the Walla Walla Service Center. Yes, you heard that right. This year’s Annual Meeting will have a Hawaiian theme. So dig out that crazy Hawaiian shirt in the back of your closet and join us on April 20. Full details, schedule and agenda are on pages 4 and 5 of this issue.

If you joined us last year, you know that our warehouse is a terrific location for the Annual Meeting. You will once again have the opportunity to get a close-up look at some of the cool toys, tools and trucks that our linemen and engineers use to keep your electricity flowing steady and safely. And in a first for the Annual Meeting, we will also be offering rides in the bucket! Kids of all ages are invited to go up in the bucket on one of our boom trucks. That’s about 60 feet up! There are some safety guidelines that we need to follow, so please see page 5 for more details. Our Hawaiian-style buffet dinner will start at 6 p.m. (by the way, “ ‘Ono grinds” translates to delicious food in Hawaii speak), but arrive early if you want to go up in the bucket.

Following dinner, we will take care of a little bit of business. We will announce the winners of our 2023 Board elections. Voting is underway right now and you should have received your ballot in the mail. See page 29 of this issue if you still have questions about how to vote. We also have 6 bylaw amendments on the ballot this year, so please take the time to vote! Your voice matters.

We will also announce the recipients of our 2023 Clark Brewington academic scholarships. Once again, we had a stack of strong applications from an impressive group of local high school seniors. Thank you to all who applied, and best of luck to you in your future endeavors. You’ll all do great.

We couldn’t complete this important work without help from our volunteer members, so again, our sincere appreciation and a big thank-you to all our members who served on the Nominating Committee, our Elections and Credentials Committee, and our Scholarship Committee. We are deeply grateful for all your hard work and dedication to your Co-op!

Scott Peters
CEO