Official recall notice mailed out
It was all a misunderstanding.
The notice of the special meeting in Socorro Electric Cooperative District 2 for the purpose of considering a recall of co-op President Paul Bustamante was mailed out this week to residents of the district with the correct information. The meeting will be held at Midway Elementary School on Wednesday, March 16, with registration from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and the business session will begin at 7 p.m.
Those weren’t the times that were advertised in last month’s “Enchantment” magazine, a publication produced by Tri-State Transmission and Generation, the co-op’s power provider. Nor were they the times stated by Bustamante when the board of trustees approved the agenda for the special meeting on Feb. 23.
What was announced in both cases was registration starting an hour earlier and the meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. That caused some member-owners of the rural electric utility who want to see Bustamante ousted to cry foul.
Four letters to the editor on the topic were received by El Defensor Chieftain and printed on the editorial page of the March 2 edition. Members complained some working people wouldn’t be able to make it to the meeting by 5:30 and accused Bustamante of trying to manipulate the outcome.
Another concern was the wording on the ballot, which led to even more confusion about what members would be voting on.
No Harm, No Foul
Joseph Herrera, the co-op’s new general manager, took the blame for the advertisement in “Enchantment.” The ad was placed his fourth day on the job, he said, and the information was what was provided to him, coming from what was discussed at the board’s January meeting.
“It was not meant as an official notice,” Herrera said during an interview on Wednesday. “The bylaws say you have to identify the place, time and purpose of the meeting.”
The purpose of the meeting was left out of the advertisement, but Herrera said it does appear on the official notice that was mailed on Tuesday, March 1.
Herrera said the times were corrected after the Feb. 23 meeting and were the result of miscommunication.
“It takes time to vet these things,” he said, adding that the co-op’s intention is to “do what’s right.”
Right or Wrong
There was more misunderstanding over the wording on the ballot to be used at the special meeting when the board addressed the matter on Feb. 23.
Trustee Charlie Wagner, a leader in the movement to reform the co-op, complained that the ballot included an option to retain Bustamante.
“I don’t think you can change the wording on the petition,” he said of the petition presented by Pueblitos resident Richard “Arf” Epstein, which spawned the special meeting. “It didn’t say anything about retaining Mr. Bustamante; it talked about removing him. The wording needs to be ‘remove,’ not ‘retain.’”
Co-op attorney Dennis Francish offered his opinion.
“I think it’s reasonable, what’s on the ballot. You either recall or retain,” he said.
“The option is yes or no,” Wagner countered. “The question is recall or remove, yes or no.”
Francish apparently misunderstood what Wagner was trying to say, and lashed out at him.
“Joseph Stalin would have had it your way,” Francish told Wagner. “All you want to do is give them two choices: recall or remove.”
Trustee Donald Wolberg argued the wording was fine the way it was and made the motion, seconded by Dave Wade, to approve the wording and the motion passed.
The recall question will appear as “Shall Paul J. Bustamante be retained or removed as Trustee for District 2?”
The options will be “Retain as Trustee” or “Remove as Trustee” and voters will make their choice by filling in an oval next to the choice.
Herrera said on Wednesday that he and Office Manager Eileen Latasa drew up the language after consulting with Dan Najjar, attorney for the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
“I think this simplifies it,” Herrera said. “It’s a clear question with two choices: retain or remove.”
Herrera said a voting machine will be used to count the ballots.
On the Agenda
According to the meeting notice, after registration ends someone will be elected to serve as chairman of the meeting and a secretary will be appointed. Then, the existence of a quorum will be determined.
If there is a quorum, a few business matters will be addressed before getting to consideration of the recall.
According to the co-op bylaws, those asking for Bustamante to be recalled will have a chance to state their case, and Bustamante or a representative will have equal opportunity to provide a defense. Voting will then take place and the chairman will announce the results.
Epstein, who lost a district election to Bustamante in 2008, submitted a petition containing 115 signatures at the Nov. 22 board meeting. While the co-op determined more than 30 of the signatures were invalid, there were still enough valid ones (at least 10 percent of the total members residing in the district) to warrant a special meeting.
The petition states the purpose of the recall as breach of fiduciary duty and no confidence.
The accusations came near the end of a turbulent year in which several new bylaws aimed at reforming the co-op were passed by overwhelming margins at the annual meeting; the co-op sued its members over the validity of three of the new bylaws; financial irregularities were discovered, leading to the firing of two managers; and the co-op went into technical default on federal loans for failing to turn a profit for the second year in a row.
Bustamante has served on the board of trustees for 10 years and is in his sixth year as co-op president.
Contact T.S. Last