Fayette Electric Cooperative opened the doors of the Knights of Columbus Community Center in La Grange to a flood of its members at 5:30 p.m. on July 17, eagerly awaiting fellowship with their neighbors, news about their co-op and the chance to win some fun prizes at the co-op’s 87th annual meeting.

One of the first-time attendees was also the co-op’s general manager, Doug Lambert. But though he may be new to Fayette EC, he’s worked 32 years for electric cooperatives, starting his career at Wharton County Electric Cooperative, down the road in El Campo. He most recently worked at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“I’ve had the pleasure of walking into the doors of about 400 different rural electric cooperatives, and nothing brings me more pleasure to come back home, to be part of this community and to serve you,” Lambert said to the attendees.

Lambert started July 1 in the position left vacant after Gary Don Nietsche announced his retirement. Nietsche could not attend the meeting, but expressed his thanks to the membership, employees and community for allowing him to serve for almost four decades.

As the members filed in, their first stop after greeting the FEC Board of Directors, was to register to vote. The 396 members put their voices to work in the democratic process, reelecting incumbent directors Gale Lincke, District 3, and Leo C. Henke, District 4, who both ran unopposed.

“Your board of directors has worked very hard over the last year for you,” said Karen Mahoney-Woods, FEC’s attorney. “They have been facilitating and overseeing the construction of our new building and very conscientiously keeping costs at the very minimum.”

Lincke voiced her thanks for the vote of confidence.

“It has been my great pleasure to represent you on this board,” she said. “This is an exciting time in the life of the cooperative, with a brand new, state-of-the-art building that I can’t wait for y’all to come see.”

The new headquarters, at 2111 N. Von Minden Road in La Grange, was completed after years of issues brought about by the pandemic and supply chain delays. It replaces the undersized headquarters built in 1963. Lambert is excited about this investment in the future of the co-op.

“This building is state-of-the-art, and there’s all kinds of tech that we can use,” he said. “The first thing we’re doing is really looking at all of our existing technologies and assessing what we can do to better utilize the investments we’ve already made.”

The co-op also invests in the local community. Concern for Community is a principle for all cooperatives.

At the annual meeting, Tracy Denton, marketing and training coordinator, awarded academic scholarships to local students Andrea Eckermann, Alivia Eindorf, Kelly McAfee and Brooke Wanjura. In 2022, FEC began awarding scholarships to students who planned to attend a trade or technical school or take classes for a certificate or an associate’s degree in an applied science. Students who received this scholarship were Brigham Kelley and Nathan Olsovsky.

For the first time, the FEC board held a drawing for high school graduates who did not receive a scholarship from the regular contests. This contest, called the Luck of the Draw Scholarship, awarded $1,500 to a student in attendance at the annual meeting, with Teagan Branch hearing her name called for the prize.

Another way FEC supports local youths is through the Government-in-Action Youth Tour, sponsoring two students from the co-op’s service territory on the trip of a lifetime to Washington, D.C. Reagan Moreau of Fayetteville High School and Rylynn Thumann of Weimar High School represented Fayette EC along with 145 of their peers from across rural Texas in the nation’s capital, where they visited monuments, met with congressional staff and forged lifelong friendships.

“The Youth Tour strengthened my belief that, even as the daughter of two public servants living in a small Texas town, I can be a doctor, senator or even the president with enough hard work and support,” Moreau said. “Fayette Electric Cooperative, Texas Electric Cooperatives and the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association are moving America forward in a variety of ways, and we were small, yet fortunate, beneficiaries of these efforts.” 

Another group that benefits from Concern for Community is local nonprofit organizations. As one of his first official duties as GM, Lambert announced that the Veterans Memorial Park of Weimar, Combined Community Action, Flatonia Area Food Pantry and CASA of Bastrop, Fayette and Lee Counties each received grants of $5,000. These funds came from specially allocated accounts from FEC and a match from CoBank’s Sharing Success matching grant program.

In his video, past General Manager Gary Nietsche provided his final update to the membership, discussing the history of the cooperative as well as its financial health.

Operating revenues for 2023 were $38.4 million, up $3.6 million from 2022. Operation expenses also increased, totaling $32.1 million in 2023, up from $29.3 million in 2022. The co-op realized profit margins of $803,051, which will eventually be returned to members as capital credits.

Other highlights of the meeting included homemade cookies and drinks served by members of the local Fayette County 4-H clubs; games of chance and skill with FEC swag as prizes; and an appearance by Solar Sam, a Touchstone Energy Cooperatives mascot. 

And no annual meeting is complete without drawing names for fabulous door prizes, which this year included gift cards, electric bill credits and two TVs. Even kids were able to get in on the action, winning gift bags that included Walmart and Sonic gift cards.

An evening of fun, festivities and fellowship wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated employees at Fayette EC, and in his video, Nietsche recognized employees who were celebrating career milestones at the co-op: Joey Jasek, Aaron Tonn and Brian Zbranek for five years of service; Mahoney-Woods and Justin Whited, 10 years; Denton, 20 years; Greg Noak, 25 years; and Robert Thomas, 35 years.

Once the official adjournment had been called and members headed to their cars, the employees stayed until everything was cleaned up and put away. They don’t go home until the job’s done, just like they’ve done since the cooperative’s founding.

“We’re dedicated to assuring that we continue to provide affordable power to our members, continuously working toward improving their quality of life in doing so and remaining dedicated to this community and serving this community since 1937,” Lambert said. “We have a legacy to uphold, and we owe that to our membership. We’re here to serve them."