Business & Finance
Paperless at the Co-op Board Meeting
When Billy Ussery was trying to convince the 13 directors of Oglethorpe Power Corp. to eliminate paper during board meetings, he made his point in a dramatic fashion.
Some co-op directors, including Kendall Montgomery, board chairman of the Texas statewide, are shunning paper in favor of iPads or laptops during board meetings. (Photo By: Vida Burtis)
“I rolled into the board room a handcart carrying 22 reams of paper,” or 11,000 sheets, said Ussery, executive vice president of member and external relations at the generation co-op in Tucker, Ga. “I told them, ‘this is a year’s worth of paper.’”
The visual aid worked. Shortly afterwards, Ussery said the directors approved the use of laptops to replace paper-laden board books and binders.
That was in 2008, and the paperless trend is making inroads in other co-op boardrooms, as well. Co-ops are buying directors iPads, laptops, and even desktops to conduct business. While there’s an initial investment of money and time—teaching directors how to use them—co-op officials have said the benefits outweigh the upfront costs.
Co-ops reported some savings in posting and printing. But one of the biggest plusses is the ability to communicate instantaneously with directors instead of depending on weekly and monthly mailings.
Going paperless “makes our directors smarter, faster and better,” said Mike Williams, president and CEO of Texas Electric Cooperatives, where iPads made their debut at a meeting last month. The seven iPads in use by directors will save about $3,000 annually, he said.
“Now, we give them a pre-loaded tablet with briefings and bylaws, and they can have the information at their fingertips,” said Williams.
Guadalupe Valley Electric Co-op, Gonzales, Texas, used to send “packages of between 80 to 100 sheets of paper to each director each month,” said Gary Coke, the management assistant. But ever since the co-op bought iPads for each of its 11 directors, staffers are spared the labor-intensive process of assembling dozens of binders each month.
“We created e-mail accounts for each director and set that account up on an iPad,” said Coke, who’s also the go-to person for directors’ computer questions. “Staff is then able to e-mail information to the directors, such as news articles, important documents and the monthly board meeting material.”
To be sure, some co-ops contacted for this story haven’t made the digital conversion because some board members weren’t comfortable with the technology. But with extra help from staff at co-ops with e-board rooms, the learning curve is surmountable.
When East River Electric Power Co-op, Madison, S.D., told its 22 directors more than a decade ago that computers would replace printed materials, “one director said he would go off the board” rather than go paperless, said the G&T’s Scott Parsley.
“But our IT department walked him through it,” and the director became one of the biggest champions of the technology, said Parsley, the G&T’s assistant general manager, member services.