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In
keeping with our mission, there are issues which must be resolved so that
democratic control of the Socorro Electric Cooperative can be established
and assured in the future.
1.
UNNESSARY EXPENSES
•
The SEC Board does not need 11 members to operate. The County Comission
gets by with 5. Reducing the Board from 11 to 7 or even 5 would save a
good bit of money and probably make the Board more efficient. Reduce monthly
meeting from two to one. Do away with committees and have the smallerBoard
function as a Committee of the Whole
The
cost of each trustee by district from 1/1/2006 to 6/31/2008 is shown on
this chart.
Costs
include:per diem, tax, lodging, mileage, insurance, air fares, registration
fees, course tuitions, and subscriptions.
First term trustees
are expected to cost more than trustees who have served more than one term
due to training requirements. But as you can see by the asterisk (*) beside
their names (each * = 10 or more years on the board) several continue to
incur high costs.
Committee appointees
incur more costs because they attend more meetings and Socorro City Trustees
are the majority on all but two committees.
Each twice monthly
meeting and every committee meeting attended earns $60.00 for a trustee.
If one resides in the city, there is no expense incurred by attendance
and the meetings seldom last an hour. Trustees attending from outside Socorro
City limits are also reimbursed mileage, at the federal rate, and a meal
allowance of $15.00.
The committee reports
reveal that little is achieved by the committees that could not have been
accomplished by a staff member or the board as a whole in a matter of minutes.
To the majority of the board committee meetings like the twice monthly
regular meetings are just more gravy.
2. OPEN MEETINGS:
• Socorro Electric
Cooperative Policy # 22 approved 3/2/1998: Visitors to Meetings of the
Board of Trustees stated:
• "Members
of SEC have the privilege of attending meeting of the Board of Trustees
so as to observe and become familiar with the Board’s role in conducting
the affairs of the Cooperative.
• If a Member
wants to be recognized or has a matter to bring before the Board, he/she
must have given prior notice and received authorization to address the
Board and state the subject, prior to the meeting.
• On 11/30/05,
shortly before three newly elected trustees joined the Board, the sitting
Trustees changed the above policy to repeal the first sentence leaving
only the second sentence to apply to visitors giving prior notice and receiving
authorization to attend the meeting. The trustees who were present and
voted for this amendment were: Juan Gonzales, Paul Bustamante, Leroy Anaya,
Milton Ulibarri, Manual Marques, and Dave Wade. Leo Cordova and Jack Bruton
were absent.
• Laws in New
Mexico which apply to public meetings are defined in State law as “The
Open Meetings Act,” NMSA 1978, Chapter 10, Article 15. Rural electric
cooperatives (RECs) may not be subject to this law because they are privately
owned by their members for a commercial purpose (that of providing electric
power to their members for the benefit of their members at cost). RECs
are governed by their members through the co-ops bylaws and are subject
to both Federal and State law. They are regulated by the Rural Utility
Service ( an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and the New
Mexico Public Regulation Commission. The rules and regulations of lenders
also come into play because co-ops depend on long term credit from both
Federal and private sources.
• Assuming that
none of these lenders or governmental entities require open meetings, the
decision to require open meetings still remains in the hands of the members
of the co-op either through the Bylaws or the Policy Manual. Changes in
bylaws can be proposed by members or their elected representatives (Trustees)
but any amendment, repeal or alterations of the Bylaws must be ratified
by a vote of the members. The Board of Trustees is authorized by the Bylaws
to create policies. If the Board thinks open meetings are in the best interest
of the Members (Cooperative), it can create an Open Meeting Policy by majority
vote of the Board at any Board meeting. The Board can also dedicate a portion
of the meeting to a Members Comment Period allowing members to speak without
prior approval of the Board. Jack Bruton made such a motion according to
the minutes of the April 9, 2008 Board meeting. It was voted down.
3.
FAIR ELECTIONS OF TRUSTEES:
Redistricting, Amendment of “Rural Electric Cooperatives,” 62-15-10
NMSA 1978 which forbids voting by mail to allow not only voting by mail
but by phone, online, and in person.
4. BY-LAW AND POLICY COMPLIANCE:
The ignoring and/or delaying on action called for by the By-Laws and Policy
Manual must stop. In addition the dilution of members’ control by
adverse revising of By-Laws and Policy Manual must be undone by rewriting
to make both documents conform to standards which promote fairness and
openness.
5. ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS OF THE COOPERATIVE:
House Bill 279, “Utility Disclosure of Consumer Information”
signed into law March 2007 which was intended to prohibit the unauthorized
release of “non-public” customer information is being used to
block the release to members of all documents.
Also on this matter,
NEW MEXICO LAW REVIEW, Winter, 1998, 28 N.M. Law Rev.133 cites CORPORATE
LAW- Formulating and Applying a “Proper Purpose” Analysis to
the case of a Books and Records Inspection Request-Schein v. Northern Rio
Arriba Electric Cooperative, Inc. Aaron C. Viets. The New Mexico Supreme
Court ordered the release of documents to a member of the Cooperative.
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