Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the city has been working on the agreement with the company about six months.

Dicaperl mines perlite, which the company has to dry and then load on rail cars. Used oil currently fuels the furnaces used to dry the perlite, but Bhasker said the city talked to Dicaperl about using natural gas to fuel the furnaces — especially in the summer when gas usage is low.

Bhasker said the city has worked out an agreement with Dicaperl whereby the company will reimburse the city for the cost of installing the natural gas pipeline, which is estimated to cost $70,000. He said the company will reimburse the city over three years, and the city will give Dicaperl a discounted rate on the natural gas. He said the company has spent a considerable amount of money converting its burners to burn both natural gas and used oil.

Bhasker said Dicaperl employs about 40 to 45 people at its facility, and the company’s payroll has benefitted the city’s economy many years. He noted in the past there have been problems with dust from the facility, but the company spent a large sum for a scrubber that decreased dust pollution.

“I think they’re very good neighbors,” Bhasker said.

Jay Santillanes, city utilities division director, said the company will start using the city’s gas June 15, and expects to be fully operational with the natural gas by July 1.

According to the agreement included with the city’s agenda packet, the city charges customers the cost of natural gas plus 38.5 cents per therm. The city’s deal with Dicaperl is for 15 cents per therm.

Bhasker said although the city is giving the company a discount on its natural gas rates, it is not an unlimited contract. The contract will be up for renegotiation in three years. He said the discounted rate will allow the company to have more funds to reimburse the city for installing the gas line.

Santillanes said one important detail of the contract is that the gas supply to Dicaperl is interruptible.

“In the wintertime when we start needing more gas for our other customers, we can cut them off,” Santillanes said. “That’s why they have to have a dual-fuel system, so they can switch back to the waste oil if we shut them down.”

Santillanes noted Socorro winters are mild, and the city would like to sell natural gas to Dicaperl in winter also as long as it doesn’t disrupt gas service to city residents. He said the city has had problems with gas pressure during especially cold times, so staff will have to monitor gas service and shut Dicaperl’s down at the most critical times.

“I think that was very wise to put in there that we could cut them off when we needed it; first, we’ve got to protect our people,” Councilor Gordon Hicks said, adding he thought it was neat the company could retrofit its burners to use natural gas or used oil.

Santillanes said the company hasn’t provided him a conversion chart as to the cost of used oil versus natural gas. But he said natural gas is less expensive than used oil now, and the price of used motor oil is expected go up because more companies are recycling it.

“Natural gas is cheaper and probably more efficient, so they will actually have a twofold gain in using natural gas as opposed to the waste oil,” Santillanes said.

Santillanes said the city’s gas system has minimal use in summer months, so selling to Dicaperl will benefit the city’s coffers. In winter, the city will have the option of shutting off Dicaperl’s natural gas in order to maintain optimal service for city residents. He said if the temperatures get down as low as the teens the city may have to look at shutting off Dicaperl. As things stand, pressure in the city’s gas lines start dropping when the temperature goes down to about 10 degrees.

“It’s not too difficult to predict, but we’ll be very conservative,” Santillanes said.

Councilor Michael Olguin asked about the area by Bullock, which has issues with gas pressure in the winter, and how that area may be affected.
Santillanes said the city is doing projects to alleviate pressure issues in the Bullock area, but selling gas to Dicaperl won’t affect pressures because the city will shut them off before there is an issue.

Santillanes said a few different factors affect the gas pressure in the lines. He said the city is working on replacing its more narrow lines, including putting four-inch lines in the alleys. He said the gas system loses pressure at the valves on the main line, and to get more pressure the city will have to replace those.

Councilor Donald Monette asked if Dicaperl will pay retail price for the city’s natural gas in three years when the contract is up. Bhasker said that would be a discussion for executive session.

Salome said the city’s natural gas rates are set by ordinance, but customers that use large volumes, over a certain amount, have the ability to negotiate the rate they pay. When Dicaperl was looking at converting, they knew it would be a large up-front cost to them and to the city. The city must be reimbursed for putting in the gas line, and the company must also recoup its costs, which Salome presumed it can do in three years.

At that point, he said the city’s negotiations with Dicaperl should be a lot different because the city will no longer be out the capital outlay costs and the company will have recouped the costs of converting its burners.

Salome said the deal with Dicaperl is new from many perspectives. It is the first time the city has negotiated gas prices with a customer. He said the city is trying to create usage in the summer months to add to its revenue. It will be the first time the city has connected a customer with a shutoff option.

Santillanes said the city’s gas service to Dicaperl is expected to generate a minimum of about $30,000 to $40,000 in additional revenue per year, but the company could use more gas than anticipated.

“This first year is going to be a trial for both of us,” Santillanes said.

Bhasker said if natural gas continues to have an impact on energy reliance in the U.S., the city wants to be part of it. He said the city doesn’t sell a lot of gas during seven or eight months of the year; there are only about “three golden months” during the winter when there is a high natural gas usage.

Bhasker said if a fleet business wanted to convert its vehicles to natural gas power, the city would make the same kind of deal with that business as it has with Dicaperl. He added the city has been trying for a long time to get its own fleet of natural gas-powered vehicles.

He said vehicles powered by natural gas are about as efficient as gasoline vehicles, but natural gas costs about $1 per gallon while gasoline costs $3.30 or more.

Since the annual meeting according to co-op attorney Lorna Wiggins lost its quorum before the end of the meeting, trustee Charlie Wagner made a motion at the annual meeting to continue the meeting on the second Saturday in June. His motion was overwhelmingly passed by the members present.

On May 22 trustee Priscilla Mauldin said Wagner broke all the rules at the annual meeting by standing up and “taking over the meeting” without being recognized.

“So anything he said to members and voted on was not legal,” she said. “There can be no vote to have a meeting in June.”

Trustee Don Wolberg said Wagner was not registered to vote at the meeting and so he couldn’t make a motion.

Trustee David Wade asked if a meeting participant has to be a registered member to make a motion at the annual meeting, and Wiggins said she thinks the board has established that.
The first order of business at a meeting is to register.

Wagner said his wife performed the registration; the couple have a joint membership. He also said he has the right to speak as a trustee.

Wagner continued speaking to clarify his statement but board president Luis Aguilar overran Wagner’s words, saying the meeting would move on to the next item.

Wagner said he thinks it is important to address the issue of holding a meeting in June, but Aguilar continued to talk over him.

Socorro Police Department Detective Richard Lopez said police received a call about 9 p.m. May 21 reporting shots fired at Clark Field. Officers responded, securing the scene and detaining a possible suspect.

Lopez said the suspect, Eddie Rodarte, had borrowed his cousin’s truck and was at the park with friends and family when he saw the truck driving away.

Lopez said when Rodarte saw the truck leaving, he ran after it, firing his 9 mm Taurus handgun. He said at first Rodarte denied shooting the gun, but police found a live round and spent shell casings along South California Street by Clark Field.

The person who drove the pickup away from Clark Field was the wife of the man who owns the pickup, Lopez said. She had seen the truck at the park and decided to drive it home.

The criminal complaint filed in Magistrate Court states one of Rodarte’s companions at the park ran to his vehicle and tried to follow the truck, but lost sight of it on Highway 85 and returned to Clark Field. When he returned, the truck was back at the park. Shortly after that police arrived.

Lopez said Rodarte eventually admitted he fired shots in the air, then gave the handgun to a friend to remove from the scene. The gun was later returned to the scene by a third man for police to take into evidence.

Rodarte did not know it was his cousin’s wife who had taken the truck or he wouldn’t have chased her, according to the criminal complaint.

Rodarte was arrested for negligent use of a firearm, a petty misdemeanor, and misdemeanor tampering with evidence for having the gun taken from the scene, Lopez said.

Rodarte told police he never shot at anybody; he only fired in the air to try to stop the driver from taking the truck.

“But that’s still negligent use of a firearm,” Lopez said. “And it’s not legal to do so.”

“Anyone who is interested or involved in the cattle business, whether or not they are NMCGA members, is welcome to join us for this meeting,” said Rex Wilson, NMCGA President, Carrizozo. “The program will include important information for landowners and ranching families, and give people a chance to learn more about the Association.”

Getting information into the hands of ranchers will be the focus of the meeting, with updates on and discussion on issues the 2013 New Mexico Legislative session, endangered species listings, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish issues, and a proposed National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation partnership, Wilson said.

“There is no question that this is a tough year to be in the cattle business, but coming together to talk about current issues, problems and ideas can benefit us all,” Wilson said. “We hope local ranchers will come have a cup of coffee with us and get an update on these important issues and learn more about the work of the NMCGA.”

The NMCGA’s Southwest Regional Meeting will be followed on May 29 by the New Mexico Drought Workshop, hosted by the New Mexico Section of the Society for Range Management in conjunction with the National Drought Mitigation Center and the National Integrated Drought Information System, in Socorro.

The workshop will start at 8 a.m. and focus on drought outlook and management considerations for rangeland livestock production, including a presentation by NIDIS staff on drought and wildfire outlooks for New Mexico in summer 2013, and a presentation from the New Mexico State Climatologist on the current status on the drought in New Mexico.

For more information, or to reserve a seat, please contact the NMCGA office at 505-247­-0584.

County attorney Adren Nance said the county went out to bid on the contract, but during the process discovered the lowest bidder, Ramstone Inc., did not list its subcontractors. The county procurement office then sent Ramstone a letter explaining its bid was thrown out in favor of the next lowest bidder, Advanced Environmental Solutions.

Nance said under the law, the county cannot accept a bid from a company that doesn’t list its subcontractors — unless the amount paid to the subcontractors falls under the threshold set by the state procurement code. He said at the time, the county procurement office had no indication Ramstone was under the threshold.

The threshold is a percentage of the project cost or $5,000; for this project, the threshold is $5,000. Nance said Ramstone filed a protest stating they did not list subcontractors because they would mainly do the work in house, and therefore fall below the $5,000 threshold. County manager Delilah Walsh said Ramstone was purchasing all the materials rather than the subcontractors, who were only quoting labor costs; their labor quotes did not exceed $5,000.

Nance said Ramstone filed an affidavit, and the county procurement office called the company’s subcontractors to verify everything was true, which it was. The procurement office then accepted Ramstone’s bid.

Nance said AES then filed a protest stating Ramstone had not promptly responded to the procurement office’s request for information about the company’s subcontractors. He explained the procurement office had mistakenly mailed its information request to Ramstone’s physical address, not its P.O. box, so the company didn’t receive it. Once that was remedied, however, Nance said Ramstone did promptly respond. He added that even if Ramstone hadn’t responded promptly, that wouldn’t be a valid reason to reject the lowest bid.

Nance explained since the county is working with taxpayers’ money, it must always award the lowest bid unless there is something wrong. He said the county procurement office determined there was no valid reason to throw out Ramstone’s bid.

District 1 Commissioner Pauline Jaramillo said she heard Ramstone has bid jobs like this before, then looked for subcontractors afterward.

Nance said the procurement office investigated that aspect, and although Ramstone may have done that in the past, the company is not doing so on this occasion.

Jaramillo said she received calls about it during the week leading up to the commission meeting. She thought the county should rebid the contract.

Walsh said the county can only rebid the contract if the scope of the project changes.

Jaramillo said concerned callers told her Ramstone’s bids are always low because the company doesn’t name its subcontractors. The callers told Jaramillo the company looks for subcontractors later after the bid process, and some subcontractors Ramstone hires are not licensed to do the work.

District 2 Commissioner Martha Salas said she also received a couple of phone calls about Ramstone, noting a lot of people seem concerned about the company. Jaramillo added this is a small area and contractors are aware of what is happening in their business.

Salas said she wasn’t comfortable with awarding the bid to Ramstone, but the county has gone through every process it could and doesn’t have much choice but to award the bid.

Nance said the county could rescope the project and do something different than originally planned. However, without rescoping the project, he couldn’t see any way to throw out Ramstone’s bid without subjecting the county to “significant liability.”

Walsh said there is still a 30-day appeal period during which AES, the next lowest bidder, could appeal in court if they don’t like the county’s answer as to why the bid was going to Ramstone. She said the county could hold off on approving the contract award until the 30 days is up.

Walsh asked if the commission wanted county staff to rescope the project and rebid. She added the county can throw out its $5,000 threshold and ask companies submitting bids to just name their subcontractors. Jaramillo said she wanted to rebid because of what she’s heard about Ramstone.

District 4 Commissioner Daniel Monette asked about the legal ramifications for rescoping the project. Nance said the county has the right to rescope the project if county administration and the commission think aspects of it need to be changed.

“What we don’t want to be saying is we’re going to rebid it because we don’t like the results (of the bid process),” Nance said. “That’s where we don’t want to be.”

Salas said she has also heard from constituents who want to see the Sabinal Community Center get started.
Nance said no matter what, any project that involves the New Mexico procurement code takes time to get through.
Walsh mentioned Ramstone built the San Antonio fire station, which seemed to have turned out fine.

District 3 Commissioner Phillip Anaya motioned to table the matter, and commissioners passed the motion unanimously except for District 5 Commissioner Juan Gutierrez, who was absent from the meeting.
Nance said tabling the matter gives county administration more time to double check everything and make sure nothing is wrong with Ramstone’s bid.

In other business, the Socorro County Commission:

• Approved a resolution to merge the Mountainair and El Camino Real housing authorities. Mary Ann Chavez-Lopez, director of El Camino Real HA, made a presentation to the commission during its April 23 meeting about merging the housing authorities. El Camino Real HA currently serves Socorro and Valencia counties; it will also serve Torrance County once the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approves the merger.

• Approved revisions to the county’s senior center policy manual. Walsh said the revisions clarify language and will not have a significant impact since they spell out things the county already does at the senior center.

• Approved renewal of the contract for jail inmate housing with Doña Ana County. Walsh noted Doña Ana County’s rates for housing detainees went up quite a bit, which she predicted the county will see more as its housing contracts with other counties come up. She remarked it was another good reason for the county to build its new jail.

• Approved vendor checks issued between April 25 and May 10 in the amount of $692,333.55.

• Approved payroll for May 1 in the amount of $150,784.83.

Lloyd Martinez, water superintendent and director of the city parks department, announced during his department report the city pool opens for the summer this Sunday. He added the pool courtyard features a new shade canopy for the comfort of patrons.

The council’s first order of business, however, was a fireworks proclamation, which prohibits some types of fireworks and limits the use of certain others to barren areas with water handy.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker noted the state gave local governments some leeway in restricting fireworks. The city’s proclamation, which is effective for 30 days beginning June 6, states the city is enacting the provisions due to present extreme drought conditions. The city can issue another proclamation lifting the restrictions if enough rain comes to dampen fire dangers.

Following discussion with a local fireworks vendor during the meeting, the proclamation was amended. The vendor objected to the city prohibiting firecrackers, which he said accounted for about 85 percent of his sales from June 20 to 29. Once amended, the proclamation was approved by the council unanimously except for Councilors Gordon Hicks and Toby Jaramillo, who were absent from the meeting.

The proclamation prohibits the sale or use of missile-type rockets, helicopters, aerial spinners and stick-type rockets, as well as ground audible devices like chasers, within city limits.

Firecrackers are allowed; their use is just limited to paved or barren areas with easy access to water. The same goes for cone fountains, crackling devices, cylindrical fountains, flitter sparklers, ground spinners, and illuminating torches and wheels.

A section of the proclamation added after the council heard from the fireworks vendor “discourages” the use and sale of jumping jacks.

Violating the proclamation is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, a year’s incarceration or both.

In other business, the Socorro City Council:

• Held a public hearing for amendments to the city’s Police Oversight Commission ordinance and approved its second reading. Nobody outside city government offered comments on the amendments. City clerk Pat Salome explained the amendments streamline the POC appeals process without taking away the opportunity for a complainant to file an appeal.

• Approved write-offs for 2007 ambulance accounts totaling $205,237.35. Mable Gonzales, city finance director, said the write-off is 33 percent of the amount billed in 2007.

• Approved financing through the New Mexico Finance Authority for a water line replacement project. Gonzales said the project will replace 20,000 feet of asbestos and steel water line in the Evergreen area and by New Mexico Tech. Martinez added the line by New Mexico Tech will be finished for certain, and the remainder of the money will go to replace as much of the Evergreen line as possible. Gonzales said the total project is $969,600; half of the amount is a 12-year drinking water revolving loan with 0 percent interest, and the other half is a loan subsidy that the city does not repay.

• Approved a budget increase to allow for a $50,000 tourism grant. Gonzales said the increase also cleans up line items.

• Set a preliminary budget meeting for May 29 at noon.

The group was there to persuade the board members to reconsider their plans regarding the allocation of bond monies for school facilities improvements within the district. CVCS had budgeted $500,000 of these bond funds to supplement $1.3 million in funds from other sources for upgrading and expanding their facilities to accommodate their student population, academic and other needs.

The funds had been approved and committed by the school board, but there was a misunderstanding as to how the funds would be allocated — in one lump sum or in allocations over a five-year period.

CVCS facilities committee member Delilah Walsh presented the concerns and requests of the school.

“We have a room full of people here to support our school and our kids — they are not here to try to overwhelm you,” Walsh said, addressing the board. “We understand and appreciate the school board’s need to meet the needs of the entire district, but we are ready to build now.”

“I understood that we committed to $100,000 per year over five years,” said board president Ann Shiells, seeking clarification. “I never understood it to be $500,000 in one lump sum.”

There was discussion about how to provide the charter school with what it needs to accomplish its goals, while also not putting the school district in a bind with regard to their other facilities improvement goals over the next five to 10 years.

“It is true that some of the other facilities improvements are not scheduled to begin for a couple of years,” said superintendent Randall Earwood, “but we must start planning and setting aside funds now in order to make those improvements possible and on schedule.”

Walsh discussed some of the specific needs of the charter school, including replacing “portables” — portable classrooms — with permanent modular buildings.

“We have a short window of time, because we do not have the space to move students to another area while we are building,” Walsh said.

There was discussion about moving some portable classrooms that are not in use at other schools to CVCS to provide space they need during the transition. Shiells asked whether what the charter school needs now is the actual funds, or a commitment of the funds over a specific time frame, in order to begin their project. CVCS officials agreed it was the commitment of funds that was necessary now, but they would need the full funding prior to the five-year period the board was planning for the full allocation.

After discussion, an agreement was reached to allocate the $500,000 in bond monies to the charter school over a two-year period — half in each year. This will allow the charter school to begin construction on their new buildings as scheduled in the fall of 2013, while allowing the school district to retain some of the bond funds to use as needed. The board unanimously approved this decision.

The school board also honored special guests at the meeting. Retiring school teachers and other personnel were acknowledged and presented with awards. A reception was given in their honor. In addition, five Young Authors Poetry Contest awardees were recognized by the board, and each read their poem for the audience. Awardees ranged in age groups from elementary to high school. It was noted that CVCS students who had participated in the poetry contest were recognized at a separate meeting of the charter school’s governing council. Walsh suggested they might also be included in recognition in future years.

The school board passed their 2013-2014 budget with a projected deficit at approximately half what it was last year. In order to accomplish this, the positions of some retiring personnel will not be filled, and attendance goals will be set, among other things.

State Rep. Don Tripp began the session with a question about Sichler’s jurisdiction.

Sichler said the Position 6 director represents all of Socorro County within MRGCD boundaries.

“(It’s) all of Socorro County from the ditch on the east side, the river bosque, to the ditch on the west side,” he said. Some of the district’s Belen Division and areas of the city that used to be irrigated from higher ditches on the west are also part of his jurisdiction.

Sichler went on to address the three “pre-arranged” questions each candidate had been asked to answer:

• Why has the MRGCD now decided that farmers must pay for their own turnouts, check gates, etc.? Do you support this new policy?

Sichler approved of the policy change, saying it would help keep district taxes low.

“If the district had to put in turnouts, we’d have to raise taxes,” he said. Sichler said the current $28 per acre tax hasn’t been raised in 28 years. Albuquerque has many small holdings, so offering free turnouts would increase district expenditures significantly. He said most Socorro irrigators have large fields serviced by one turnout, so the cost per landowner is negligible. The district would still maintain turnouts for free, and charge only for the difference in cost to upgrade existing turnouts. Federal and state cost-share programs are available to defray construction costs.

Sichler said the Socorro Division was the only one in the district paying for turnouts.

“It had been a policy for the Socorro Division to pay for turnouts if the owners did improvements to their properties,” he said.

• How is the new water bank curtailment system working, and do you think curtailments will be handled this way in the future?

Sichler said given that the curtailment system is new this year, it probably isn’t working as well as it will once the bugs are worked out, but the policy is here to stay. Sichler said he helped write the new curtailment policy.

“The policy is based on comments from irrigators,” he said. “The water bank is a benefit to our community. It keeps land in use, green and productive.”

Owners of land from which water rights have been sold are allowed to lease water from the MRGCD when supply is sufficient. When the supply falls below target levels, water bank users are curtailed, or cut off from irrigating.

Sichler said the new curtailment system is more flexible than the old policy that required a directors meeting to lift a curtailment. Now, division managers and district hydrologists can lift curtailments to selected areas when local storms fill the ditches.

Sichler said the Socorro Division manager is working on a rotation system to make sure all water bank irrigators have a fair share of storm runoff.

• What were the major delays on the levy project? When do you realistically expect it to start and finish?

The U.S. Corps of Engineers levy project will strengthen the earthen berms on the west side of the river to protect the county from flood damage. Sichler cited funding and endangered species issues as reasons for the delay in re-engineering the levy. Landowners in floodplains not protected by engineered levies — like Socorro County’s — are required to purchase flood insurance or build their houses above historic flood levels. Sichler said he talked to MRGCD chief engineer Subhas Shah about the importance of the levy project to Socorro. The district along with other governmental entities then agreed to work together to fund the project. Sichler said the district worked with Rep.Steve Pearce and Sen. Tom Udall to craft a compromise to satisfy the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s concerns about protecting endangered species habitat during the reconstruction.

Sichler said the levy project is expected to start in November, beginning with the section east of the city from Brown Arroyo to the Northern Diversion Channel. The project will proceed in sections until the levy is strengthened all the way from San Acacia to the Bosque del Apache. He said it should take about 15 years to complete.

Jericho Sanchez, who is challenging incumbent Chris Sichler for the Socorro County director’s position, canceled a week before the forum, citing a schedule conflict.

Sanchez will hold a public forum at Sofia’s Restaurant in Socorro on Saturday at 2 p.m. for those wanting to meet him.

“We’ve got a little bit of stored water to use this summer to supply our regular water users,” he said. “Once that water’s gone, that’s it. It’ll just depend on what the river sends down our way.”

Regular water users are those not depending on the water bank, a supply of water made available to irrigate land without water rights. Water bank users are already cut off from irrigation because of short supply.

Gensler said this year’s disappointing spring run off means the District will have to start releasing stored water early in the season to supplement river water, but the district only has about 42,000 acre-feet of water in storage, about half of the usual amount.

In a normal year, Gensler said the district stores between 70,000 to 80,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs to supplement river water. Natural flow in the river provides the rest of the water needed by irrigators. Last year, because of very low flows in the river, the district used over 100,000 acre feet of water but still had to cut off regular irrigation deliveries in August. Normally, deliveries are made until the season ends Nov. 1.

An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre of land one foot deep, or 325,853 gallons.

The Rio Grande and its tributary, the Rio Chama, supply most of the MRGCD irrigation water; a pipeline diverts water from the San Juan River basin underground to Heron Lake on the Rio Chama to provide more water for the district, the city of Albuquerque and other users.

For the first time in 40 years, Gensler said the San Juan-Chama project under- delivered water, making matters worse.

Elva K. Österreich/El Defensor Chieftain: Charlene West addresses the board at the May 15 Socorro Electric Cooperative annual meeting.

At 3 p.m. after introductions and an opening address by SEC general manager Joseph Herrera, board of trustees president Luis Aquilar said there are 9,528 members of the co-op and 286 are needed for a quorum.

He said 185 mail-in ballots were returned and 396 people voted on site at the poles, thus creating a quorum for the meeting.

During committee reports, trustee Donald Wolberg began a PowerPoint presentation as the bylaw committee report. He began by explaining the electric co-op system and pointed out most of the co-ops in New Mexico have more than five people on their boards.

SEC’s members had voted for a five-member board at a previous annual meeting and, while currently there are still seven members, ultimately there will be five as attrition takes out trustees in obsolete positions.

The membership applauded when Wolberg said there are only five members on SEC’s board but he went on imply there should be more.

“The problem here is that, with the low number of trustees, is that no member of the SEC board will ever have an influential place on national or regional cooperative board groupings because they can’t be there long enough to know what’s happening,” Wolberg said. “We will never have a significant place at any table.”

Wolberg went on to say SEC is bigger than eight states in terms of area, has 41,000 power poles and 3,500 miles of line taken care of by 34 staffers, 10 of whom do the job.

Then Wolberg began addressing bylaw change resolutions introduced and approved by District V members during their district meeting.

He started on the first one to explain why it should not be passed during the next annual meeting.

Wolberg was stopped from the floor by audience member James Lear claiming “point of order.”

“It seems to me this should be taken up under new business,” Lear said.

Aguilar said it was permitted because it was the secretary’s report.

Arf Epstein, from the floor, raised another point of order.

“This is not a report,” he said. “This is a partisan discussion about whether certain proposed bylaws should be passed. It is not a report, a report does not say ‘this is what you should do for this election.’”

Aguilar again insisted Wolberg was sharing a report.

Trustee Charles Wagner appealed Aguilar’s decision to the assembly; his appeal was seconded. But the discussion continued to go back and forth until Georgette Grey stood to talk for a minute.

“A report does not contain editorializing viewpoints,” Grey said. “It is a straightforward ,factual statement and does not have any persuasive argument attached to it. If the report can be stated that way, we want to hear it, if not it is not a report.”

Aguilar then asked for a vote.

“All those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair say ‘Aye,’” he said.

No one said “Aye.” Numerous members cried “No,” when he asked for nos.

Wolberg was not allowed to continue with the presentation.

During the treasurer’s report trustee Leo Cordova said the co-op has $69,856,681 in total assets; $69,856,681 in liabilities; $25,145,810 in revenue; $23,240,150 total expenses and a net income of $1,905,651 for the year.

Leo Cordova, Dave Wade and Anne Dorough reported on their district meetings, thanking the members who elected them and saying members are welcome to call them anytime on any concerns they have.

The elections results were read by Ernie Marquez of Election Services. All but three of the 17 resolutions on the ballot failed by approximately 1 to 4 ratio.

Resolutions 3, 5 and 6 passed, also by an approximately 4 to 1 vote. These were the items voted for by member/owners at the 2012 annual meetings.

Resolution 3 makes district meetings annual; Resolution 5 says mail-in ballots will count as part of the quorum; and Resolution 6 says each trustee from each district will appoint one election official to validate the mail-in process and two alternates will be appointed by the board.

When new business was brought up, Aguilar said it was time to bring up the resolutions of District V.

Wagner interrupted saying he had not been allowed to make his district report and Aguilar allowed him to speak.

Wagner said redistricting had been accomplished as the members had wanted, but, the redistricting was done in secret.

He also talked about the process of amending bylaws, claiming the co-op is violating federal law by not allowing the members to change bylaws at the annual meetings at the time the amendments are discussed.

Aguilar announced at this point he believed there was no quorum left at the meeting;he asked the staff for a count. Wagner asked that a third part yadministrator perform the count. Co-op staff members proceeded to walk among the audience and count the bands on people’s wrists indicating votes. The chairman did not ask people to raise their hands so the bands could be seen.

Wagner pointed out the bylaw that had just passed required mail-in ballots to count as part of the quorum.

Aguilar announced the meeting was still in quorum. A discussion continued with members coming up to the microphone with various concerns. A member requested District V resolutions be voted on in totality since everyone had a hand out.

Co-op attorney Lorna Wiggins stood up and said she had been asked to explain a quorum. She said the new bylaw requiring mail-in ballots to count as a quorum does not state that the ballots count as in-person votes and thus there is not a quorum present. She pointed out the District V recommended amendments were not included in the meeting notice and therefore can’t be voted on during the meeting.

Wagner pointed out it was the management of the co-op who knew those resolutions should be in the notice of the meeting and they made the decision not to include those bylaws.

An audience member pointed out that there were people at the meeting who were not counted because they were not wearing a wrist band because they had already voted by mail-in ballot.

The parliamentarian described the kinds of motions that could be made without a quorum and one of them is continue the meeting on a later date. Such a motion was made and voted for.

The meeting was adjourned to be re-set on the second Saturday of June and held at the Macey Center at New Mexico Tech if possible.