CALHOUN COUNTY CHAMBER
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD
2009

The Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce has chosen the 2009 recipient of the Business of the Year Award.

Their business story began when they received their charter on June 14, 1940 and began serving members on January 7, 1941.

In 1940, Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc. had five employees and served 394 members and 122 miles of line.  As of 2009, this cooperative has 57 employees and serves 17,966 accounts and 2,674 miles of line.

Tri-County Electric Cooperative is one of 20 non-profit, consumer-owned electric distribution systems serving the rural and suburban areas of South Carolina.  It was organized by people in Calhoun County after many years of attempting to get other power suppliers to provide electric service to their sparsely populated rural areas. 

Mr. L. C. Stoudermire served as the Cooperative’s first President of the Board of Directors.  Serving on the board with him were R. L. Felkel, R. A. Burke, C. M.  Hart, G. L Brown, R. F. Wannamaker, J. F. Geiger, R. P. Hamer, and J. L. Cotton.

Tri-County’s first office consisted of a small two-room building, and in 1950, expanded to a spacious office building located on Harry C. Raysor Drive in St. Matthews.  The Cooperative moved to a 50-acre site two miles from downtown St. Matthews in 1990.  The 5-acre campus serves the membership with the new operation facilities on US 176.  The Cooperative also operates two district offices, one near Eastover on Highway 378, and the other in Santee on Highway 6.

Parts of six counties are served by Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc.  They are Calhoun, Orangeburg, Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, and Sumter Counties.

In 2006 Tri-County’s Board of Trustees adopted the Operation Round Up Program, allowing the cooperative members to round up their bill payments to help fund local relief projects.  To date, $264,837 has been awarded to qualified local projects.

Electric Cooperatives have long been recognized as catalysts of economic development.  Through a strong partnership with economic alliances, county, and state leaders Tri-County has been able to assist with the attraction and location of many economic investments in Calhoun County. 

Many of the County’s key employers are served by Tri-County such as Alaglass Pools, Country Clear Bottling, E C & M, Hickory Springs Bottling, Starbucks Roasting, Southeast Frozen Foods, Tuthill Controls, and Zeus Manufacturing.  As well as manufacturing, Tri-County serves countless farms and agricultural centers that provide for Calhoun County’s strong agricultural base.  

During the past 69 years, the following directors have served as President of the Board:  L. C. Stoudermire, J. M. Bates, M. Boyd Dantzler, C. B. Boyne, Robert L. Polin, Frank Weeks, Herbert M. Geiger, W. Kenneth Davis, Jr., Archer D. Smith, Jr., James E. Gravitt, H. Heath Hill, F. Carl Weeks, and Barbara R. Heape.

Henry C. Thomas was the first manager of Tri-County and later became the founder of McCall-Thomas Engineering Company in Orangeburg, S. C.  Others who have served as managers are J. C. Thomas, Herbert Roberts, W. H. Norris, Howard Wilson, Charles Staples, and Robert G. Wannamaker.

The present CEO, Bob Paulling, is the son of Mrs. Gatsy Paulling and the late Gene Paulling, and was raised in St. Matthews.  He is a 1985 graduate of Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering.  While at Clemson he played Baseball and Football.  He is a member of the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame and the Ring of Honor.  He was employed by Tri-County as its Engineer from May 1987 until October 1991.  After being employed as the engineer for Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative and working in sales, he came back to Tri-County as the CEO in August 2004. 

He is married to the former Dale Rucker and they have one daughter, Brittany Paulling Sanders.

The Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce is honored to give the 2009 BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD
TO TRI-COUNTY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE.

I would like for Bob Paulling , Barbara Heape and Chad Lowder to come forward and receive this prestigious award for their commitment and support through all these years to Calhoun County.

I would like to thank Tri-County for allowing Chad to be on our Board of Directors and this year he is President Elect for our Chamber of Commerce and will be President in 2011.