Letters to the Editor
No faith in SEC board
Editor:
At this point it is safe to assume that Socorro Electric Cooperative’s board of directors realize that their collective services are too costly in the eyes of many owner members, otherwise they would not have advanced their own board size reduction proposals — that or their proposals are cleverly designed to thwart any change.
No doubt all the “old head” board members have come to personally depend upon the thousands of dollars that they receive each year from their tenure and have no desire to lose same.
But, one question that I injected at Saturday’s (March 27) Finley Gym meeting had to do with what the board members do to earn their money. I didn’t get much of an answer. And, I didn’t get much of an answer to another question involving the merits of the very reasonable appearing member-proposed changes.
It seems to me that if the board members were truly concerned about their neighbors (member-owners) they would be quicker to cooperate. Apparently the board’s attitude towards member-owners is “go away, you are a fly in the ointment.”
I have been an owner-member-user of SEC services for 24 years. Until not so long ago, when an SEC board member “hung up” on me as I was pressing an issue regarding a very costly system failure, I had nothing but good to assert about the cooperative. That good view changed.
Having personal knowledge of what it takes to endeavor in the fields of electrical distribution, accounting and fraud investigation, I must wonder what education, training and expertise those 11 nicely paid board members have brought to the SEC’s management table.
Frankly, as a member-owner I would like to see an honest, objective, up-to-date and complete audit of SEC affairs by professional auditors.
With a fresh start then, and only then, will my faith be restored.
Alvin B. Hickox
San Antonio, N.M.
Unbearable antics at SEC info meeting
Editor:
And … the beat goes on. Co-op members seek improvement and efficiency and the board of trustees continues its disdainful response to member wishes.
The “Informational” meeting called on March 27, resulted in continued stonewalling and thinly veiled tactics by the board.
After having their outlandish rate of expenditures reported in the news statewide, and having them seem to be taking the membership for every dollar they can, they don’t back away from their profligate ways, but “double down” and spend 50 percent more! And — that’s just what we know from reports.
The meeting was manipulated by the trustees to “talk down” to the member attendees with a program of electric co-op basics. As if these serious members didn’t understand what a co-op is about.
The board had speakers give what amounted to a “social studies” seventh-grade talk about Haiti, Tri-state activities, and an unnecessary introduction of co-op employees.
The format said (printed in the newspaper) that all questions would be addressed and that members would have an opportunity to speak. Both were false.
The questions were winnowed down to a very few; members were not afforded a chance to follow-up; and only Mr. (Donald) Wolberg addressed the questions and the crowd. His style was abrupt and dismissive. Wolberg had said he wanted to prevent “speeches”, but obviously that didn’t apply to him.
Other trustees did not step forward to speak to the members, but I suspect they’d rather not. They seem to not respect the members and see them beneath the board. In fairness, new trustees (Prescilla) Mauldin and (Luis) Aguilar deserve a chance to make their views known before being lumped with the incumbent board trustees.
This board has deliberately added extraneous choices to the resolutions co-op members put forward for a vote on Saturday, April 17. This will serve to dilute the voting outcome. It’s a well-worn tactic that assures that two candidates will not be fairly evaluated by voters, but a third, or even a fourth, candidate is plugged into the election to split up the votes.
Before this balloting became a reality, the board had not advanced any choices for changes to be made. Now, all of a sudden, they are rife with suggestions for members to vote on! I suspect their legal advice has illuminated these possibilities to our unimaginative, but high-rolling, board of trustees.
Members must turn out in record numbers and vote for the resolutions they’ve proposed.
If we are to make changes, save hundreds of thousands of dollars, and remove the highly expensive dead wood from the board of trustees, we must be mindful. No matter how many chits they call in we have to mount a vote from paying members who want to have the best co-op possible — not the most expensive.
Herbert Myers
Socorro
Thanks to all for SGH support
Editor:
Socorro General Hospital Hospice would like to thank everyone for their tremendous support of the 15th Annual Spring Daffodil Days.
The daffodil sales would not have been successful without your support. We appreciate your efforts on behalf of the hospice program.
The money will be used to help patients who need financial assistance for services and equipment for their end-of-life care.
Thank you again for your continued support of the Socorro General Hospital Hospice Program.
Sharon Long
HHC/Hospice Director and
Tracey Kubitschek
Social Worker