The 82nd annual meeting of Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative will be held Tuesday, July 17, at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington.
Family Fun Day will kick off at 1 p.m. The day’s activities will include bounce houses, the Jungle Bob Reptile Show, electric safety demonstrations by LMRE linemen, face painting, Critter Camp with pony rides, and balloon twisting.
Children must be accompanied by an adult cooperative member. All children will receive a wristband when their parents or grandparents register. The bands must be worn to enjoy the children’s activities and special displays. Member wellness booths will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. The annual meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
Trustee candidates
Incumbents are being challenged in two of the three district trustee races.
In District 5, Kathleen Duplaga, 56, of LaGrange Township will challenge incumbent Judy Pickworth, 66, also of LaGrange Township. Duplaga and her husband, Brian, raise 130 head of registered Limousin beef cattle and farm about 1,000 acres of cropland. Pickworth and her husband, Ron, operate a 200-acre grain farm. She is a retired teacher from Wellington Schools. District 5 includes LaGrange Township in Lorain County.
In District 8, David Bertram, 65, of Spencer Township will challenge incumbent Keith Lowe, 70, also of Spencer Township. Bertram is a retired vocational agriculture teacher from the Medina County Career Center, where he taught from 1976 to 2008; he was also a science teacher at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School from 2005 to 2009. Lowe has been the owner of KEL Nutrition for 37 years where he is a nutritional consultant. District 8 includes Homer and Spencer townships and Spencer Village in Medina County, and Canaan and Congress townships and the Village of Burbank in Wayne County.
In District 2, Jim McConnell, 72, of Pittsfield Township is running unopposed. He has been part owner and operator of Hickory Grove Farms in Pittsfield for 46 years. District 2 includes Camden, Henrietta, New Russia, and Pittsfield townships in Lorain County, plus Florence Township in Erie County.
Special presentations will be given throughout the afternoon in Fair Hall (Building 19) where the business meeting will be held. At 2 and 4 p.m., Energy Services Advisors Don Foster and Andrew Finton will give an energy efficiency presentation and talk about the cooperative’s rebate and incentive programs.
At 5 p.m. Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing Brian Barr will show a video from the Project Ohio effort in which 17 linemen from electric cooperatives across the state traveled to Guatemala in Central America and built power lines to bring electricity to two small villages. Barr served as the documentarian.
Registration cards will be at the top of the July electric bill. Members should sign the card and bring it to the annual meeting for quicker registration.