Co-op certifies election results
The Socorro Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees certified election results this week, finalizing the numbers from the early October proceedings.
The certification process — which appeared to be headed toward contention after District 5 trustee Charlie Wagner questioned whether or not federal election guidelines had been followed — culminated with the board voting 9-1 in favor of certifying the results. The lone nay vote was cast by Trustee Juan Gonzales, who was defeated Oct. 3 in his bid for re-election.
The Oct. 3 District 3 election (Socorro proper) saw incumbents Harold Baca, Gonzales and Herman Romero defeated by Dr. Donald Wolberg, Prescilla Mauldin and Luis Aguilar, respectively.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, Wagner survived challenges from two hopefuls — Godin “Dean” Otero of Magdalena and Clark Bishop of Datil — to retain his seat on the board.
In related news, a host of reform-oriented resolutions were approved at the recent district elections and are bound for the 2010 annual meeting agenda; among them is a proposal to reduce the size of the board from 11 to five.
In order to facilitate such a reduction, the board must determine how best to realign districts to ensure equal representation.
To that end, Gonzales — who heads SEC’s Redistricting Committee — said the committee met Oct. 19 to discuss redistricting options.
“We sat there discussing issues and all that; we talked about hiring Polling and Research to help map out a plan,” Gonzales told the board. “We decided, however, that we won’t do anything until the members decide if they want to redistrict.”
Gonzales said the committee’s recommendation was to pose the question to member-owners during next April’s annual membership meeting.
Wednesday’s meeting was preceded by an incident in which member-owner Charlene West allegedly threw a bunch of grapes at Trustee Juan Gonzales — an apparent response to a guest commentary Gonzales penned in the Wednesday, Oct. 28, issue of El Defensor Chieftain.
Trustee Milton Ulibarri said he called a Socorro Police Officer to the scene because, “West violated the restraining order against her.”
When the officer arrived, Gonzales and West left the meeting room only to return a short time later.
At the conclusion of the meeting, a motion was made to have Co-op attorney Joanna Aguilar consult with District Judge Matt Reynolds regarding the incident and the in-place restraining order. As of Chieftain press time, no action had been taken.