Hammett keeps his seat on Grady EMC board

Incumbent District 6 Grady E.M.C. director Jimmy Hammett defeated challenger Ashley Register in the hotly contested race for the seat on the co-op’s board of directors by a vote of 299 to 188.

District 3 director Lee Powell was unopposed but he received 264 votes.

This was the first election where directors were elected by district members rather than by at-large voting. The vast majority of voters took advantage of the vote-by-mail option with only 11 votes being cast in-person last Friday in the Hammett-Register race and four for Director Lee.

A grand total of 875 members registered for the annual meeting and were eligible for bill credits given away this year as prizes.

“Our 82nd Annual Meeting was a success due to the hard work of our employees. Although the meeting was virtual, there was a lot of behind the scenes work put in to pull it off. A great deal of planning was put into the way that we directed traffic and conducted our in-person registration and voting,” E.M.C. President and C.E.O. John Long said this week.

C.E.O. Long said the E.M.C. utilized a “great deal” of technology to conduct the meeting.

“We wanted to give our members every opportunity to participate in spite of the circumstances. For the districts that did not have an election this year, we also wanted to make sure that every member had the opportunity to register, and many did so with the early registration option that we provided in our office, the week leading up to the Annual Meeting,” Long said.

The grand prize winner of a $500 bill credit was Keri Cassels Hartsell; the $250 bill credit winners were Centennial Church and Zeola F. Connell.

A total of 82 bill credits in the amount of $82 in recognition of the 82nd anniversary of the creation of Grady E.M.C. were awarded to the following: Tammy Baggett, Carolyn Barrett, George Bartee, Robert J. Beson, Bethel Methodist Church, Boggy Pond Plantation, Evelyn Brock, Christopher Brown, Mark Bryant, Robert Bryant, Alex Butler, Charles Cannon, Randall Carlton, Elwyn Childs, Marshall Collins, Robert Collins, Linda Conti, James Cook, Charles Cooper, Ronald Crawford, Devane Bros. Spraying Service, Diversified Window & Door, Marcia Fenn, Laura Fletcher, Pamela Forrester, Jeffrey Fredrick, Hilda Goodin, Grady County Board of Commissioners, Malania Green, Vivian Harris, Litia Harrison, Cindy Harvey, Kenneth Hawthorne, Inita Heatter, Nathan Higdon, Benjamin Hopkins, Leroy Hopkins III, Bettie Huckeba, Robert Humphries Jr., Ron Ingramm, Lewis Johnson, Timothy Jones, Bryan King, Donald Maxwell, Patricia Maxwell, William Maxwell, Virginia McBride, Louis McCullough, Arelia McDaniel, Dorothy Mercer, Angie Mobley, Russell Moore, John Mark Morrell, Christine Nicholson, Chad Norton, Joanna Noteman, Gearl O’Brien, Jeams Pass, Richard Pellin, Joyce Pike, Ponders, Inc., Clyde Poppell, Precision Bldg. & Remodeling, Patrick Price, Donnie Prince, Brandee Puckett, John Puskar, Myrle Rogers, James Scott, Judy Selph, Robert Sloan, Kimberly Smith, Shelton Smith, Zana Stephens, Stacey Suber, Sugar Plum Properties, Betty Thigpen, Jimmy Weaver, Kris White, Timothy Widener, Wayne Windham, and Edward Wood III.

“I value our members, and I’m happy that we were able to provide them with so many options to be involved in this year’s annual meeting. Although this meeting was a success, I am hopeful that I will get to see our members in person next year. Congratulations to all of our prize winners!“ Long said.