Duck River Electric welcomed members, employees, and other special guests at its annual meeting on Aug. 17 at Harris Middle School in Shelbyville.

During the meeting, DREMC Board Chairman Anthony Kimbrough announced that four directors, whose terms would expire this year, were unopposed and would retain their board positions by acclamation vote. They include Brent Willis, who represents Coffee and Warren counties; William Henley, who represents Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties; Wayne Tucker, who represents Bedford and Rutherford counties; and Lyn Stacey, who represents Marshall and Giles counties.

In his remarks, Kimbrough focused on four key topics: DREMC leadership, power generation, rate pressures, and broadband support.

Kimbrough stressed the importance and commitment of the Duck River employee family. The current leadership team, Troy Crowell, Kayla Young, and Scott Dahlstrom, along with other senior management and supervisors have done a remarkable job over the past months as they continue leading the DREMC team as the board continues to identify who should be the next Chief Executive Officer for Duck River Electric.

The chairman discussed the cooperative’s current concerns related to power generation by TVA to supply the Tennessee Valley region and rate pressures as inflation continues to impact the materials needed to build power lines to new homes and maintain the system for safety and reliability.

Kimbrough said that DREMC, along with many other electric cooperatives, is exploring opportunities to offset some of the constraints on today’s electric grid – not to replace TVA, but to add to the ability to serve cooperative members now and in the future, which will further secure reliable electric service during peak demand challenges.

In addition, he stated the importance of DREMC’s partnership with United Communications through Project UNITE to help bring high-speed and affordable broadband service to DREMC members. The current collaboration involves upgrading or replacing approximately 30,000 electric poles in Maury, Marshall, and Giles counties alone this year to support the fiber attachments for broadband expansion in rural areas that DREMC serves.

He also reflected on the dangers of a lineman’s job and the tragic loss in July of the Appalachian Electric Cooperative lineman resulting from electrical contact. Kimbrough states that this loss of life serves “as a sober reminder that these folks keeping the lights on put themselves in harm’s way every day.”

“Annual meeting messages are normally business-oriented and informational for the membership,” says DREMC’s Interim CEO Troy Crowell,” however, I would like for the members to understand that the employees are personally vested in DREMC, and their sacrifices to duty should not go unnoticed. Because, to us as employees, DREMC is personal. It is our livelihood. It is our coworkers, our teammates, it is our friends, and it is a family.”

Crowell’s membership address was a personal and humble reflection of his years at the cooperative as he shared how he began his career as an apprentice lineman at the DREMC Lewisburg office in Feb. 1990. Six months later, as a member of the Army National Guard, he was called for duty in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. After serving for 10 months overseas, he returned home to his family, a fiancée, and his job at DREMC.

Currently serving as DREMC’s interim CEO, Crowell has spent the past 34 years at the cooperative as a lineman, supervisor, and manager at DREMC’s Lewisburg office, and as the Senior Director of Lewisburg Operations. As he states, “Retirement was on the horizon.”

On Feb. 28, Crowell was asked by the DREMC board to fill the vacant CEO position on an interim basis, and he agreed to do what he could for DREMC because for three decades, “DREMC has done so much for me,” he said.

“Duck River Electric is a great place to work, and we as cooperative employees are thankful to you, the members, for all the opportunities DREMC has afforded us over these many years,” Crowell adds.