NorthStar’s Shareholder Proposal Presentation at Badger Meter Annual Meeting (2023)

When a shareholder proposal proceeds to the company’s proxy statement, the proponent of the proposal (in this case, NorthStar Asset Management, Inc.) is required to send a representative to the annual meeting to officially move the proposal for a vote. This year, NorthStar’s proposal at Badger Meter relates to fair chance employment (the intentional recruitment of people with criminal records). Dant’e Cottingham, a community organizer local to Badger Meter’s region, presented NorthStar’s shareholder proposal at the company’s annual meeting on April 28, 2023. With his permission, the text of his presentation is reproduced below.

Author and Speaker: Dant’e Cottingham of EXPO (Ex-incarcerated People Organizing)

Good morning. My name is Dant’e Cottingham of EXPO (Ex-incarcerated People Organizing), here today as a representative of NorthStar Asset Management, to move their shareholder proposal — item number #6 on the proxy.

I would like to begin by telling you a little bit about who I am thus who I represent….

Back in 1995 I was waived into the adult criminal justice system as a juvenile and sentenced to Life imprisonment. I was released just 13 months ago, at age 44, after serving 27 years.

Since my release I have become a Wisconsin Certified Peer Support Specialist, a full time Community Organizer for EXPO, a public speaker and am currently a Marquette University student in pursuit of my degree in Social Work.

Prior to my release from prison, obtaining employment was one of my most intense anxieties — because employment equals freedom. For I knew that I had a 27-year gap in my work history, I knew about the stigmas associated with the formerly incarcerated, and I knew that some companies have internal policies barring men and women with criminal records. Yet, I also knew that while I was in prison, I was doing everything in my ability to ensure success upon release. I know that we, directly impacted people, are men and women who’ve made mistakes but refuse to be defined by them. We are people who want and place tremendous value on a livable wage. We are people who want to make contributions to our communities and the economy. We are people who want a fair chance to display who we ARE not who we were.

As a Community Organizer I work with a lot of men and women transitioning from jails and prisons. Not long ago, during some of the coldest days of winter 2022, I was introduced to a young man named Cedric. He had just come home from prison, he’d acquired trade certificates while incarcerated though unfortunately he was unable to find adequate employment. As a result he was sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the homeless shelter where his mom was living. His mom reached out to EXPO for help, I went to where he was at and he explained to me that he’d put in hundreds of applications. He said most didn’t even respond, some did and informed him that it was his criminal history and the ones that offered him a job paid a rate well up under a livable wage, one of which, he took out of desperation.

As a Community we can do better than this…we MUST do better than this. Today, I’m here during Second Chance Month to support NorthStar’s shareholder proposal that encourages us to think about ways that a company like Badger Meter can be a leader in fair chance employment and benefit from recruiting motivated people who have been in prison but are eager for a new chance.

 I would like to end with a quote by Ghandi, I think he sums it up perfectly when he says:

“Evil, Injustice, Hatred exist only insofar as we support them.”

Shareholders, we urge you to vote “FOR” proxy item number 6.