No quorum halts annual meeting
Whether it was because of the extraordinarily strong winds, the absence of door prizes and donuts, or a light agenda, member-owners of Socorro Electric Cooperative failed to achieve a quorum at the annual meeting on Saturday night and no business was conducted.
Members were supposed to vote on a proposed plan to realign districts — one of nearly a dozen reform measures passed at last year’s meeting — but although ballots were cast the lack of a quorum kept the proposal from being ratified. The plan aimed to adjust district boundaries to achieve as equal a member population in each district as possible.
It took about 50 minutes to get around to business. Co-op Vice-President David Wade, standing in for President Paul Bustamante, who Wade said had another commitment, announced that 239 people registered.
“We needed 292 to have a quorum,” he said. “I’m sorry to say, and I hate to say it, I was hoping this building would be full — a year ago it was full. Today, I don’t know what happened.”
“A year ago you guys let us down, that’s what (explicative) happened,” shouted a man from the back of Finley Gym as he slung his coat across his arm and walked out.
The man was apparently referring to the board of trustees’ reluctance to go along with some of the bylaws members passed at last year’s meeting. Two months later, the board took the unprecedented action of filing a lawsuit against all of its approximately 10,000 members challenging the validity of three of the new bylaws — all of which call for increased transparency.
The interruption was brief and wasn’t acknowledged by Wade, who then formally adjourned the meeting.
“You should have brought your neighbor with you, I guess, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Wade said in parting.
All for Naught
Afterward, Wade, the trustee representing District 4, said he was disappointed people didn’t come out to vote on the plan.
As per one of the new bylaws, voting was being handled by an outside firm this year. The co-op paid Automated Election Services $14,000 to administer the vote.
“Look at the money it cost us,” Wade said. “That’s money that’s got to be paid, whether there’s a meeting or not.”
Trustee Donald Wolberg of District 3 said he was frustrated by the lack of a quorum.
“It’s frustrating that we can’t get even 3 percent of our 10,000 members to come out,” he said. “It’s frustrating that the co-op went through the expense of having an annual meeting and we can’t get enough people to show up. Fortunately, we did the redistricting internally and didn’t have to bear the expense. If we would have spent twenty or thirty thousand dollars (on an outside firm) we would have wasted that money, and we didn’t do that.”
Wolberg was chairman of the committee that drew up the redistricting proposal. He took some solace in knowing that the majority of those who did vote approved of the plan. Including mail-in ballots, which did not count toward the quorum, 243 people voted in favor of the plan, while 124 voted against.
“Our ideas won the day de facto by the jury du jour, but it didn’t count,” Wolberg said. “Obviously, folks like what we did. Perhaps they didn’t understand that they had to be present.”
The redistricting plan can only be passed at an annual meeting, so the plan will be shelved until next year. Even if approved, it would not be implemented until the size of the board is reduced from 10 to five trustees — another bylaw passed at last year’s meeting.
A Disgruntled Group
Many of those who did show up for the meeting left in a sour mood.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Charlene West of Lemitar, chairman of the Socorro Electric Cooperative Reform Committee. “What they did was illegal anyway.”
West said the board of trustees didn’t follow proper procedure. The redistricting plan should have been drawn up by an independent firm, she said, and not trustees who could have a stake in the outcome. She also was critical of the way the plan was presented in the notice of the meeting, lacking information on how the lines were drawn up and the number of members in each district.
Carol Auffrey said she was extremely disappointed that nothing got done. She lives just south of Quemado and had to drive more than two hours through a wind storm to get there.
“It’s a long way to come and not conduct business,” she said, adding that she had another long drive ahead just to get back home. “They need to change the bylaws. It’s an inconvenience for people to have to leave their homes to come this far.”
Auffrey said a good bylaw change would be to allow mail-in votes to count toward the quorum.
At least one man, Jim Drennan of Magdalena, was glad it was over.
“I’m happy to get the hell out of here. I didn’t feel like having a fight,” he said. “There was too much talk and it didn’t accomplish anything.”
Last year’s annual meeting drew about 600 members, who voted on 13 changes to the bylaws. Asked why they thought not nearly as many people turned up this year, members gave explanations ranging from the windy weather, to having no door prizes, to apathy.
Pleas for Harmony
Socorro resident Gene Cole served as emcee at the meeting, which opened with the presentation of colors by Socorro Civil Air Patrol cadets.
The invocation was given by two local men. Florencio Saavedra urged everyone to forgive each other and forget the past. Dr. Bokary Maiga told those assembled they should put the community first, ahead of their own interests.
Joseph Herrera, the co-op’s new general manager, served as the guest speaker, and he carried a similar message.
Herrera said he came to Socorro because he saw it as a challenge and an opportunity to make a difference. He referred to the conflicts that have arisen between members and the board of trustees.
“I don’t blame the board for the situation; they are reflective of the membership,” he said. “I understand there are differences of opinion. A lot of people disagree, but they still get along. I would suggest to you, especially during these difficult times, that it’s important to recognize those differences. We must put our personal differences aside to solve problems.”
Herrera said one of the management principles he’s learned is that in order to get things done, you have to be flexible.
“Let’s come together and accomplish something great in Socorro,” he said in closing.
Wait ‘Til Next Year
Before and after the meeting there was some speculation about what would happen to the redistricting proposal. The rumor was that the bylaw passed last year would die if members didn’t pass it this year.
Vice-President Wade said afterward that he wasn’t sure, but that might be the case. He said that if members still wanted to realign districts, members may have to pass another resolution to do so and then vote on the plan the following year.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’ve never been in on one of these deals before.”
Contacted by phone on Monday, Dennis Francish, the co-op attorney, said he couldn’t speak for Wade but his interpretation of the bylaws led him to believe the bylaw was still in place, and the plan for redistricting would be up for vote again next year.
“They (members) got their survey, the board presented it and put it up for approval, but because there was no quorum it wasn’t ratified, so we’ll try it again next year,” Francish said.
Contact T.S. Last