Co-op board continues contentious meetings
The Wednesday, Dec. 9, meeting of the Socorro Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees was short, but not sweet.
True to form, a large portion of the meeting was riddled with cross-talk and interruptions.
Trustee Juan Gonzales walked out soon after delivering a lengthy speech, which began as a motion to give co-op employees Dec. 24 and 31 off for the holidays. The speech turned into a lecture about the importance and seriousness of being a co-op trustee, and eventually deteriorated into a diatribe against Charlie Wagner.
Gonzales accused Wagner of costing the co-op more money than any other trustee.
Wagner made a motion to video tape and broadcast meetings, saying that the measure was “to provide a greater amount of decorum and transparency in meetings.”
“The cost of having that done is pretty nominal,” he said.
“You want to be in the movies, too?” Gonzales retorted. “Mr. Chairman, I’m going to have to excuse myself now.”
Jeered by a few co-op members on his way out, Gonzales replied, “Monkeys!” and left the building.
After introductions, the meeting began with trustees granting “two to three minutes” total for any members of District 1 to voice their concerns. Given the short time allotted to the district, members allowed an open letter from nine-year member Roger Martin to be read.
The letter was critical of trustee spending and stated that according to the 2008 SEC audit report, 28 percent of all co-op spending went directly to the board, and that in 2009, 22 percent went to the board.
Martin also criticized inadequate representation for District 1, particularly in comparison with District 3. There are currently six trustees representing District 3, and one representing District 1.
The letter concluded by chastising the board for shutting down the last annual meeting for lack of a quorum, after it was announced that a quorum did exist for a ballot vote.
Next, Charlie Wagner asked for a motion to review meeting minutes, as a matter of procedure, but his motion died from lack of a second.
SEC General Manager Polo Pineda reviewed co-op spending, a lengthy outage at a substation in District 1 and how the co-op fared during the recent bout of inclement weather.
A motion to appoint Leroy Anaya as the SEC representative at Tri-State meetings, an assignment that would continue until the end of his term in March 2011, quickly resulted in opposition from Wagner.
Wagner believed the decision should be delayed until the three newly elected members were installed in January.
“We have new people coming on the board on January 1st,” Wagner said. “They should be allowed to take part in the decision. It’s totally unfair to overlook the new talent.”
After the board voted to finalized the measure, Wagner said, “I think that does a great disservice to the newly elected people.”
A motion to move the next meeting from Wednesday, Dec. 23, to Monday, Dec. 28, was passed, with Wagner as the lone no-vote.
Despite running accusations from reformists concerning lack of transparency in meetings, the board did not go into executive session.
The meeting was adjourned around 7:30 p.m.
Contact Ether Ashe