Contentious co-op meetings continue
As has become commonplace at Socorro Electric Cooperative board meetings, trustee Charlie Wagner came under attack by his colleagues at Monday’s meeting. Not lost between volleys was that the co-op is out another $60,000 because of an administrative error and the declaration by trustee Milton Ulibarri that he was misled by the co-op attorney about voting to enter into a lawsuit against all of the private, non-profit corporation’s member-owners.
As has become commonplace at Socorro Electric Cooperative board meetings, trustee Charlie Wagner came under attack by his colleagues at Monday’s meeting. Not lost between volleys was that the co-op is out another $60,000 because of an administrative error and the declaration by trustee Milton Ulibarri that he was misled by the co-op attorney about voting to enter into a lawsuit against all of the private, non-profit corporation’s member-owners.
Under agenda item “Subjects by Trustees,” Ulibarri brought up several issues, including the announcement that he was duped into voting in favor of a lawsuit filed against all of the co-op’s approximately 10,000 member-owners that challenged the validity of three bylaws passed by members at the 2010 annual meeting.
The co-op lost the lawsuit, but that’s not the end of the case. A district court judge is now considering a countersuit aimed at trustees and other former co-op officials alleging breach of fiduciary duty and fraud.
“I should have brought this up a long time ago,” Ulibarri said. “I’d like to go on record that I was misled by our attorney Dennis Francish that we were going to sue the members. All I wanted was to get a legal opinion from a judge about the legalities of the bylaws passed.”
Ulibarri went on to cite the legal fees being paid to attorneys. He said the ultimate cost could lead to members having to pay higher rates and the danger of the co-op falling into default.
Neither Francish, who was present in the room, nor any other trustee responded to Ulibarri’s remarks.
Letters to the Editor
Ulibarri had more to say, however. He took issue with the content of two letters to the editor that appeared in El Defensor Chieftain in recent weeks.
One was from Charlene West, a leader in the movement to reform the co-op and the only individual named in the lawsuit the co-op filed against “all unnamed members/owners” in June of last year. It alleged the trustees were “bankrupting” the co-op.
Ulibarri asked General Manager Joseph Herrera how the co-op was looking financially.
“Well, the tiers are looking good,” said Herrera, who added that he recently went over financial data with Larry McGraw, a field representative with USDA Rural Utilities Service, which provides millions of dollars in loans to the co-op.
“And he’s happy?” Ulibarri asked.
“Yes,” Herrera answered.
Ulibarri also referenced another letter to the editor from trustee Wagner, in which he claims “there is no shred of truth” behind allegations that Wagner made derogatory remarks about Hispanics.
Ulibarri said that he and trustees Leroy Anaya, Leo Cordova and Dave Wade and representatives from LULAC met for 2 1/2 hours last May with U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales and the Department of Justice was looking into the complaints against Wagner.
“We gave them documentation and they are investigating this case. They’ve also received a letter in the last month about racial remarks made by Mr. Wagner about African-Americans,” Ulibarri said.
Ulibarri also wanted it noted that Wagner had exceeded his $10,000 per year expense limitation by $108.52 and still hadn’t paid the money back. He confirmed through Herrera that other trustees who had exceeded the limit had already paid what they owed.
Wagner responded to that by saying he intends to pay the money back and the reason he hadn’t already was because he didn’t receive his bill until recently, a month after the others did.
As for allegations of making racial remarks, Wagner said those claims were completely unfounded.
No Confidence
Wagner is at the center of the countersuit against his fellow trustees, named as the representative of the class of member-owners in a proposal asking for class action certification.
A leader in the movement to reform the co-op, Wagner said his colleagues are engaged in a campaign to discredit him.
And discredit him they did, passing a vote of no confidence against him later in the meeting.
At last month’s meeting, Ulibarri made the motion to have docked approximately $595 from Wagner’s expense account for attending a New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board hearing in Santa Fe earlier this year. Despite Wagner’s efforts to justify the expense, the motion passed.
When the subject came up again at Monday’s meeting, Wagner again argued that he was entitled to the advance and that Ulibarri’s motion was a waste of time and an attempt to “smear” him.
With that, trustee Donald Wolberg took issue with Wagner.
“Well, I feel compelled to answer that,” said Wolberg. “The aggregation of the trust of the co-op and Mr. Wagner’s past record has bothered me for some time.”
Wolberg went on to accuse Wagner of a number of transgressions. He said Wagner violated board policy by going out on his own to speak on behalf of the co-op. He said Wagner campaigned against co-op President Paul Bustamante in an effort to have him recalled last year and encouraged petition drives to have other trustees ousted. He said there was an instance when Wagner tried to milk the co-op by getting an advance for an out-of-state trip based on mileage when he instead flew at a cheaper rate.
Wolberg alleged that Wagner had an agreement with his attorneys that Wagner would get paid for his part in the countersuit. He said Wagner was a hypocrite for accusing other trustees of running up expenses, while Wagner was incurring expenses of more than $40,000 per year.
“This record of everyone else is bad; I am good because I say I’m good is illogical and absurd,” he said.
Wolberg then made a motion, seconded by Ulibarri, to hold Wagner in check.
“I move that Mr. Wagner’s behavior has been disruptive, not factual, mostly in error and has cost this board an enormous about of time and money, and that he has to cease and desist,” Wolberg said.
Bustamante then asked attorney Francish to weigh in on the motion.
“How are you going to enforce it?” Francish said.
“Can’t,” Wolberg said.
“Then why make it?” Francish said, suggesting that a vote of no confidence would be more appropriate.
Wolberg made a motion to that affect with a second from Ulibarri, and Wagner was allowed to respond.
“You don’t have to have confidence in me,” Wagner said. “That’s OK. The people who elected me showed that they had confidence in me.”
Seven trustees approved the no confidence vote, Prescilla Mauldin abstained and Wagner remained silent.
Out of Compliance
During his manager’s report, Herrera told the board that it was discovered that the co-op had been under-contributing to employee pension plans since last year and needed to pay back the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association the difference.
“We’re out of compliance with the federal government, so we owe NRECA $66,000 of back pay for employees and interest and penalties,” he said. “So next month I will be presenting to the board a resolution to reduce the number of loans and we have to look at our 401K plans because the security plans will continue to go up. We’re pushing above our ceiling right now.”
Wolberg asked whether the mistake resulted from a mathematical error, and Herrera said that it was a case of the previous manager not understanding the contract.
Herrera said the error was discovered recently when NRECA representatives were in town to conduct a workshop for employees about their pension plans.
In Other Business
• Herrera reported that the double circuit line between the new Quemado substation and the Spingerville, Ariz., generation station was completed and the power load was transferred to the Quemado substation on Aug. 19. He said that the substation picked up the load for approximately 1,600 meters.
• Herrera reported that there had been several outages in the western and northern parts of the service area. He said the outages in the north were caused by lines making contact with trees.
• Trustee Leroy Anaya, the co-op’s representative to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, reported that nothing has been decided about the new rate design that will likely result in increased electric rates. The new rate design was supposed to go into effect in 2012, but Anaya said it may not happen until the following year.
A special meeting regarding the rate design is scheduled for Sept. 6 in Westminster, Colo., and some trustees are considering attending.
• The board voted to discontinue the co-op’s franchise agreement with Dish Network.
• The next meeting of the co-op’s board of trustees is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Contact T.S. Last