Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Co-op cancels annual meeting

There was a shortage of 33 members

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

The Socorro Electric Cooper-ative annual membership meeting was cancelled Saturday for lack of a quorum. Paul Bustamante, president of the board of trustees, announced there were not enough members present to have a meeting.

Bustamante said 3 percent of the total membership needs to be present for the meeting to occur. He said it is not unusual for a membership meeting to be cancelled for lack of a quorum. Membership is tied to the ownership of an electric meter. No matter how many people live at a residence, the only member is the person whose name is on the meter. Although there was a crowd at Finley Gym, not enough of the people at the meeting were members according to the cooperative's figures.

Administrative assistant Eileen Latasa explained there are 9,550 co-op members. To establish a quorum, 287 members need to be registered. The co-op records showed 254 members present at the April 26 meeting, a shortage of 33 members.

Bustamante said without a quorum, there is no meeting and all votes cast by the members on the bylaw changes proposed by the board of trustees would not be counted. He also said there will be no make-up meeting. Everything will continue as is until the 2009 annual membership meeting.

On the way out of the meeting, a few members who had been prepared with questions for the board expressed their unhappiness that they did not have an opportunity speak.

Before the meeting was scheduled to begin, a group of members set up tables outside the gym to gather member signatures to petition the board of trustees to change the bylaws. Charlene Wagner said the group had no intention of bringing the petitions into the meeting and presenting them at this time. She said the group expects to continue getting signatures throughout the summer.

"Ten percent won't be enough," she said. "They won't give us the membership list so when we think we've got enough, we'll go over them looking for duplicates or other obvious problems."

The petition requests bylaws changes that would decrease the size of the trustee board from 11 trustees to seven and combine districts two and four. Each of the seven trustees would represent between 1,464 and 1,306 members. Now, with 11 trustees, each represents between 618 and 1,464 members. The group calculates the reduction in the number of trustees would save about $150,000 per year.

The proposed changes would also reduce the number of board meetings from two monthly meetings to one monthly meeting and would open the board meetings to members and to the press.

Wagner said according to the current bylaws, the board would have 45 days to schedule a special members meeting after the petitions are presented.

Charlene West, who is part of the group seeking signatures, said she has found some people are afraid of retaliation if they sign a petition.

"I had one person tell me he wouldn't sign the petition because they'll cut off his power," she said.

West said a few co-op employees have contacted her discretely and said they think the group is doing something that needs to be done.

Some of the current board members both inside and outside of the gym expressed their opinions against the member petitions.

Even though the business meeting was cancelled, there were still activities going on inside the gym. Members who came to Finley between noon and 2 p.m. received two coupons along with their ballot. One was for the door prizes and one was for a free gift and light lunch. Members received a small backpack containing water, an energy-saving light bulb and a pen. Lunch was hot dogs, potato chips, coffee or punch and cookies.

The Bernie Romero and Friends Band walked around the gym serenading people while they waited for the meeting to being.

At 2 p.m., the business session began with the presentation of the colors by veterans Frank Torres and Leonard Clapes. Fifth graders from Magdalena Elementary School led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. Catherine Chavez sang the National Anthem.

Scholarship winners were announced. Valedictorian scholarships of $735 were awarded to Alamo Navajo Community School student Tranette Baca, Magdalena High School student Theandra Marthell, Socorro High School student Jeanne Ruff and Quemado High School Student Eric Candelaria.

SEC scholarships of $600 were awarded to Alamo Navajo Community School student Maurina Apache, Belen High School student Brian Baca, Magdalena High School student Jacob J. Thomas, Quemado High School student Stormy Monday and Socorro High School students Johnny Marquez and Jaron Contreras.

Tri-State scholarships of $500 were awarded to Magdalena High School student Elyssia B. Apachito and Quemado High School student Sarah Marshall.

There were 58 winners of the coloring contest. Only the top three winners were announced.