I have been a member of Central Electric Cooperative for many years. During that time, I have seen the organization make remarkable progress as a modern electric utility.

Again this year, the member-owned company has maintained distribution (poles and lines) as well as purchased power (electricity) rates.

This is the second year for no rate increases.

Members should be very proud, considering most other forms of energy continue to increase while our cooperative has maintained high reliability (few power outages).

The dedicated cooperative staff, under the leadership of chief executive officer Larry Adams, is one reason for this continued success. The other reason is the board of directors, made up of local cooperative members selected by the members.

I want to especially recognize Lloyd McClintock, a board member from Butler County who also was past board president. He recently passed away.

His strong leadership and concern for all the members of the cooperative will be sorely missed.

I want to express appreciation to the board of directors and all the employees of the cooperative for their efforts to keep reliability up and rates down.