By Rick Lemonds, president & CEO
Much of the center pages of this month’s issue of Ohio Cooperative Living is dedicated to the fact that South Central is your cooperative. It’s owned by you and governed by you. By participating in our election (online or through the mail) and attending our annual meeting, you are directly engaging in selecting those members who serve as your elected trustees and making business decisions such as voting on changes to the cooperative’s code of regulations. In 2026, members will select the trustees who represent them in districts 1, 8, and 13. Details about the geographic boundaries of those districts, as well as the timeline and process for nominations, is outlined here.
To be involved in your cooperative, though, you don’t have to serve as a trustee or even attend our annual meeting. We provide members with updates on our business, as well as a chance to meet employees, ask questions, and more, during regional member meetings each spring. This year, we’ll host member meetings in St. Clairsville, Hillsboro, and Canal Winchester, where you can engage with your cooperative and learn more — conveniently closer to the community where you may live and work.
Our regional member meetings for years have followed largely the same format, and in St. Clairsville and Hillsboro, that format will remain largely the same. We’ll share a meal, hear a business update and recognize our local scholarship recipients on-stage with a presentation from our South Central Power Company Foundation. In central Ohio, we’re testing out a new format for 2026. Instead of a sit-down evening event over a meal, we’re piloting a new drop-in format that will allow members to come and go with their families on a Saturday at BrewDog in Canal Winchester — a location that also happens to be one of the larger members we serve in the area. This location is also close to home for many of our newest members.
We hope this casual and family-friendly, drop-in setup will mean you can still learn about your cooperative and get to know us better at a time and place that is accessible, and if successful, you can expect us to host more meetings like this in other areas as well. If you want to make sure you receive timely updates about all our member meetings and events, please make sure you have your email address on file with the cooperative by adding it online through the My Account portal, on the app, or by giving us a call at 800-282-5064. Event details for our spring member meetings are below — I hope we see you soon!
Spring member meetings
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Thursday, April 2 at Belmont College
68094 Hammond Rd., St. Clairsville
5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
HILLSBORO — Thursday, April 9 at Southern State University
100 Hobart Dr., Hillsboro
5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
CANAL WINCHESTER — Saturday, May 30 at BrewDog DogTap Columbus
96 Gender Rd., Canal Winchester
Drop in between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
From the March 2026 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living.