Hello friends,
It was terrific being with so many of you this Saturday at our Annual Member-Owner meeting! This meeting is the big one of the year for our cooperative, where we as the collective owners of Cleveland Solar Cooperative discuss and vote on the future of our co-op.
We also took time to reflect on the past and why we are doing this work. This year's keynote was from David Beach. David Beach is a writer and activist who has been a leading voice on environmental and regional planning issues in Cleveland for more than 40 years! David has deep roots in Cleveland, and shared with us his experience fighting for environmental justice. He was a college reporter during the fiscal crisis in Cleveland of the late-1970s and told the story of the fight to save Cleveland Public Power. The mayor at the time was Dennis Kucinich who ran on canceling the sale of Cleveland Public Power (then called Muny Light) to investor-owned utility Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co (CEI). In retaliation, CEI and their banking friends refused to rollover Cleveland's debt, making Cleveland the first major city to go into default since the Great Depression. Kucinich stood firm, even at great cost to his personal reputation, because he knew that selling off a public asset as valuable as our grid would mean millions of dollars out of the pockets of working people. CEI's successor, FirstEnergy, continues their legacy of corruption with the HB 6 scandal.
In 1992, he founded EcoCity Cleveland, a nonprofit organization that changed the civic discussion about urban sprawl, transportation alternatives, green building, watershed planning, lakefront design, and other issues. David's work in the 1990s led to the ecovillage near West 65th, where Cleveland Solar Cooperative hopes to continue his work, and the work of many others, and construct the first community-owned solar array in Ohio!
Read on below for the results of the Board Election and chances to get involved with the cooperative movement here in Cleveland! And big thanks to our friends at Lakeside Bible Church for hosting us!
Member-owners at Saturday's Annual Meeting excited to take a group photo
Board Election
This year, we had two open board seats and three candidates. It was a tough decision, we had three really qualified, passionate member-owners who each would add a lot to our board!
After a rousing discussion and rank choice vote, it's my pleasure to welcome Juanita Stevens and Teresa Potter to the Cleveland Solar Cooperative board! Big shout-out to everyone who ran, it takes real courage to put yourself out there!
Two new board members also means two are stepping back and I want to give a heartfelt thanks for the leadership and dedication that both Geoff Miller and Patrick Ziemnik have shown during their terms. 👏👏👏
Local parliamentarian and board member Geoff Miller ensuring a fair election process |
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