Happy New Year! It doesn’t seem that long ago that 2025 felt far off in the future, but here we are. I hope you all had a safe and joyous holiday season.

As we begin the new year, your 4 Rivers Board of Trustees is proposing a few bylaw changes. One is substantive: lowering the quorum requirement for our annual meeting from 75 to 50 registered members. The other two are related to language updates.

Our annual meetings don’t seem to draw the same level of member participation as they did in the past. Last year, for example, only 79 members attended the meeting in Fredonia. This proposed change would help ensure we meet the quorum requirement and can hold an annual meeting, as required by state law.

The second proposal involves cleaning up outdated language from the consolidation. The proposed changes remove provisions that are no longer necessary, such as those related to transferring memberships and capital credits to 4 Rivers and maintaining the same voting districts until new ones were created. These actions have already been completed, making the language obsolete.

The third proposal is focused on grammatical corrections. These include addressing issues like incorrect verb tense and the use of a definite article instead of an indefinite article. For the grammar enthusiasts, I admit that I had to Google those terms. Mrs. Willardsen’s high school English lessons didn’t stick as well as they should have!

Detailed information for these proposed changes is included in this issue of Kansas Country Living. I strongly encourage you to vote in favor of all three amendments.

I also urge everyone to participate in the upcoming trustee election. As of this writing, I don’t know who will run for the board, but I trust our members will make thoughtful choices and elect strong leaders who prioritize the membership’s best interests.

Speaking of participation, if you know a high school junior with leadership potential whose parent is a 4 Rivers member, encourage them to apply for our co-op-sponsored leadership opportunities at Electric Cooperative Youth Tour in D.C. and Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Colorado. These programs offer invaluable experiences, leadership lessons and lifelong memories. More information is found online and in this issue.

Wishing you all a happy and blessed New Year!

(Originally printed in January's KCL Centerspread)