By Robert Medley
Senior Staff Writer
Cimarron Electric Cooperative became the fastest-growing rural electric cooperative in the state last year, covering areas that see suburban sprawl across nine counties of west central Oklahoma.
At the 87th annual yearly meeting Thursday, Sept. 14, Cimarron Electric chief executive officer Aaron Roark told more than 600 people who showed up at the Kingfisher County Fairgrounds’ exhibit room all about the cooperative’s latest milestone.
“We are the fastest-growing electric cooperative in the state of Oklahoma in 2022 and then out of about 1,000 co-ops across the U.S. we were the 28th fastest growing co-op of 2022,” Roark said.
People who entered the meeting with barbecue sandwiches and live music also entered a drawing for prizes such as a big screen TV, weed-eater and other items. They had to be present to win, and the drawing was after the featured speaker, chief executive officer and general manager Aaron Roark spoke to the crowd.
And seats remained full after barbecue sandwiches and chips were served by the Dover FFA members. The band Dr. Pepper Dean performed before Cimarron Electric chief marketing officer Jeff Hyatt spoke.
In the crowd was the Cimarron Electric mascot, Willie Wired Hand. Images of the company’s history were played on a large projector.
The business portion of the meeting was short under the direction of cooperative attorney Jared Harrison, and then Roark was able to recap the highlights of the past year with more projections for what is ahead.
“There is a lot of activity going on,” Roark said. He pointed to a map projected on the big screen that showed the places where work was happening across the nine county area. There is heavy activity in northeast Canadian, southeast Kingfisher, and southwestern Logan and northwest Oklahoma counties. The cooperative serves rural parts of Piedmont, Okarche and Cashion in Kingfisher, Logan and Canadian counties where housing additions are driving up the demand for electric service.
Workplace safety has been excellent by the cooperative, despite the heavy workload.
“I’m going to share several statistics with you tonight,” Roark said at the annual meeting. “But the one I am most proud of is with all of that work that is going on, our employees are focused on working safely and making sure that they go home in the same condition they arrived in every morning.”
The cooperative has gone 1,316 days without working-related injury that caused lost time, he said.
A cooperative is different from a traditional company, he said.
“Part of being a co-op is participating in events like tonight in our annual meeting. So we sure appreciate you being here. We know there are a lot of different things you could be doing on a Thursday evening and you chose to be here. I think the State Fair kicked off tonight so you could be in Oklahoma City having bacon on a stick or eating a deep-fried Oreo, but you chose to be here. We don’t have the novelty food that they have at the State Fair. But I hope everybody enjoyed the barbecue sandwich,” Roark said to an eruption of loud applause in the Kingfisher County exhibit building.
Joe and Dannette Wittrock of Okarche ride a golf cart driven by Eric Roberts of Cimarron Electric Cooperative who shuttled them to the front doors
“It’s the big night,” Wittrock said. “It’s the entertainment, and a free meal and we get to dance,” Wittrock said.
State Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, was in the crowd and stood for the National Anthem with hand over his heart. The crowd stood for the band’s version of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
