REMAC President Margaret Pierce is urging all members of Pioneer Electric to cast their ballots in favor of three new Board of Trustee members. Members can vote by mail-in ballot or at the co-op's annual membership meeting on Saturday, Oct. 28 between 8 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. at Greenville High School.

Pierce said the accounting firm handling the election must receive mail-in ballots, included in the October issue of Alabama Living Magazine, no later than Wednesday Oct. 25.

Should some members be unable to mail-in ballots, Pierce said it is imperative that they attend the annual meeting.

&#8220I am urging all Pioneer Electric members to become actively involved in the Pioneer trustee elections now in progress,” she said. &#8220Have a voice in who represents you on the Board of Trustees and vote for the candidates who have been nominated by the members. We've been hearing about the date for the meeting and the election since July, so we can no longer use the excuse that we didn't have adequate notice of the meeting as a reason for not attending and not voting.”

REMAC (Rural Electric Member Action Committee) was formed by a group of Pioneer Electric members in 2003 to investigate alleged misconduct by the Board of Trustees and then-general manager Malloy Chandler.

&#8220As an organized group of members, REMAC started the ball rolling towards getting long overdue changes at Pioneer Electric,” said Pierce. &#8220Some of these changes included getting Pioneer out of the propane gas business, getting Malloy Chandler out as general manager, having member-representation included in board meetings, and getting rid of Pioneer Services Corporation so that Pioneer Electric is now focused on its core mission of providing electricity to its members.”

Steven Harmon was appointed by the Board to replace Chandler in January. Acme Propane - a division of Pioneer Electric – was sold in June 2005.

Three seats on Pioneer Electric's nine-seat Board of Trustees are up for election this year. REMAC is supporting Thomas C. Thompson III of Forest Home against incumbent Jimmy Gardner in District 1, Thomas S. Duncan of Greenville against incumbent Ted Tindal in District 4, and John C. Henry of Sardis in Dallas County against incumbent Hugh Strickland in District 7. REMAC, said Pierce, encourages members to support the new candidates.

&#8220We have rights as members only so long as we take the responsibility required to exercise them,” said Pierce. &#8220If we don't exercise our rights, we may wake up to find that they don't belong to us anymore. If that happens, we will only need to look in the mirror to lay blame.”

The meeting will be held inside GHS's auditorium and will be called to order at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 28.