Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Board discusses open meetings

T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager

TSLAST The question of whether rural electric cooperatives are subject to the New Mexico Open Meetings Act was addressed at last week's Socorro Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees meeting.

The question came up after an Aug. 23 editorial in El Defensor Chieftain urged New Mexico Attorney General Gary King to make a ruling on the issue. The editorial indicated that El Defensor Chieftain filed a complaint against the SEC Board of Trustees with the Attorney General's Office on the basis that open meeting laws should apply to the co-op.

Trustee Harold Baca raised the question at the co-op board meeting on Aug. 27. He said that he had talked to several attorneys, but he wanted to hear what the co-op's attorney, JoAnna Aguilar, had to say about it.

Aguilar responded by reading the first part of the Section 10-15-1-B of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act, which identifies what entities are subject to the OMA rules and regulations. They include "any board, commission, administrative adjudicatory body or other policymaking body of any state agency, any agency or authority of any county, municipality, district or any political subdivision ..."

Aguilar said rural electric co-ops do not meet the definition.

"Your co-ops are not state agencies," she said. "They are a private entity and Sunshine Laws no not apply to them."

Aguilar went on to say that some states mandate through state statutes that co-ops follow open meeting laws, but New Mexico is not one of them. She said her research on the subject revealed that just four states — Alaska, Colorado, Florida and Indiana — require that co-ops to follow open meeting rules and regulations.

Baca added that one attorney told him that co-ops are not subject to the OMA because they operate as corporations, just like Coca-Cola.

Trustee Charlie Wagner, who said he'd be glad to put his name on a document that required the SEC board to follow open meeting laws, said there is a distinction. He said co-ops are public corporations owned by members.

Wagner said there doesn't have to be a state statute to mandate the board follow open meeting laws — the board could take it upon itself to subscribe to open meeting laws.

"We can have open meetings if we want to," he said.

No action by the board was taken.

In a separate interview, the board's president, Paul Bustamante, said the question of whether the co-op is subject to the New Mexico Open Meetings Act has been examined before. He said several years ago, the question came up and it was determined that the law does not apply to co-ops.

Editor's note: The Aug. 23 editorial was written by the author of this story.

tslast@dchieftain.com

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