Taos Coop Traveling Trustees Redux

(Part 2 in a series of previous stories from Horse Fly posted on Taos Friction. During coverage of KCEC, frequently, trustees were the sources of financial information about themselves and other trustees.)

May 15, 2008

By Bill Whaley

Little Known Facts

“What goes on in Vegas, no longer stays in Vegas.”

On Friday May 9, the KCE Board of Trustees voted 6-5 to approve a three-year contract with CEO Luis “The Rabbit” Reyes. Reportedly, the trustees also voted 6-5 not to give The Rabbit a raise.

As Horse Fly goes to press on May 13, Kit Carson Coop members in District 1, Taos, are going to the polls to vote in the board of trustees’ election. In Ojo Caliente, members will vote on Mon., May 19. Incumbent trustee Art Rodarte is running unopposed. On Wed., May 21, members will vote in Peñasco for two of four candidates: incumbents Chris Duran and Ambrose Mascareñas are being challenged by Edwin Fernandez and Fred Martinez.

Apparently, the policy for trustee travel and per diem charges amounts to “let your conscience be your guide.” Some trustees charged $150 for the photo op with Senator Pete Domenici when he handed over a $2.8 million check from the Department of Agriculture for a loan to build the controversial command center on May 30, 2007. (Ed.Note: Like Francis Cordova) Some did not.

When the trustees went on a board retreat in Sept. 2007 to Pagosa Springs, the Coop paid for lodging and meals out of its operating fund. Some trustees charged the coop for mileage and per diem meeting fees of $150 per day. Some did not While trustees flaunt the use of CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights) as a way of conserving electricity at community meetings, some trustees also charge the Coop $150 to advise the few members attending on how to save money.

Of particular note are the expenses incurred by some trustees for the NRECA’s (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association) annual “Education & Training” meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, held in March of 2007.

Trustee Art Rodarte of Ojo Caliente spent $6,123.78;
Ambrose Mascareñas, $5,061.88;
Mike Arguello, $4, 809.56;
Chris Duran, $4,553.12;

Virgil Martinez, $4,258.27;

Manuel Medina, $3,974.29;
Luisa Mylet, $3,959.85;
Francis Cordova, $2,211.24;
and Robert Ortega, $1,840.88.

Below, Horse Fly lists total trustee compensation for 2007: regular meeting fees of $150 each, registration fees for education and conventions, and travel reimbursement for lodging, shuttle-taxi service, flights, mileage, and meals, both in state and out-of-state. Out of state travel is included in the total but listed separately in parentheses for members’ information. Horse Fly obtained the Kit Carson records from a reliable source.

1. Art Rodarte: $37,103.21 (Out of state total: $19,055.60)
2. Ambrose Mascarenas: $34,843.32 (Out of state total: $17,457.27)
3. Michael Arguello: $32, 703.75 (Out of state total: $14,787.42)
4. Luisa Mylet: $28,112.62 (Out of state total: $11,353.37)
5. Francis Cordova: $26,668.73 (Out of state total: $11,522.46)
6. Jerry Smith: $25,720.77 (Out of state total: $13,415.73)
7. Robert Ortega: $18,898.67 (Out of state total: $9,399.33)
8. Manuel Medina: $16,048.93 (Out of state total: $8,486.84)
9. Virgil Martinez: $15,825.61 (Out of state total: $6,765.58)
10. Chris Duran: $15,517.07 (Out of state total: $6,540.73)
11. Tim Cottam: $4,263.83 (Out of state total: None)

Rounded off, the above-mentioned figures total an estimated $255,000.00 in individual compensation. These figures don’t include charges for extras, like the board retreat in Pagosa Springs.

Last year, Mora-San Miguel Electric Coop members twice voted to reduce the number of trustees from 11 to 5 in order to curb what they considered excessive expenses charged by trustees. The KCE Coop annual meeting is on Sat., June 28. According to the trustees, members are encouraged to attend and ask questions.

(Update to the Above)

Trustee Chris Duran introduced a motion to reduce compensation from $150 per day for committee meetings to $75: it passed unanimously.

Some of the pay is justified, some not.

For instance, Trustee Mylet is paid by Kit Carson to attend statewide NMRECA meetings in Santa Fe at $150 per day. The Tri-State rep’s job is the real plumb: KCE trustee Jerry Smith is compensated by the Denver board at an estimated $400 per day plus expenses but his reimbursement does not show up on the KCE financial reports. Apparently, KCE trustees can attend a meeting at Tri-State of their volition and receive compensation at $150 per day. Similarly, trustees are paid when they attend meetings at brother Coops in New Mexico, the PRC in Santa Fe; meet with legislators, tribes, or even local consumer-members.

(Editor’s Note: Art Rodarte, the swing vote, has been the TRI-State Rep. He was rewarded by the business faction, led by Robert Ortega and Manuel Medina, pictured–aka “Parking Lot,”  who seized control of the board. Now they’ve been joined by Francis Cordova, Toby Martinez, and Ambrose Mascarenas, all of whom support the rate increase and increases in salary for Reyes and voted to spend $20 million for Broadband. Mylet and Martinez are the only dissenters on the board.)

According to the (financial) report on Ambrose Mascarenas, Mary’s boy, the Penasco representative charged coop members to meet with legislators, consumers, etc. The policy for per diem pay and travel is arbitrary. Some trustees charged $150 for the photo op with Senator Pete Domenici, when he handed over a $2.8 million check from the Department of Agriculture for a loan to build the controversial command center on May 30, 2007. Some did not. Similarly, the trustees went on a board retreat in Sept. 2007 in Pagosa Springs. Though the Coop paid for lodging and meals, some trustees charged the coop for mileage and per diem meeting fees of $150 per day for the three day R&R session. Some did not. Apparently, the policy is “let your conscience be your guide and devil (or consumer-members) take the hindmost.”

Rounded off, the above-mentioned figures total an estimated $255,000.00 in individual compensation. These figures don’t include charges for extras, like the board retreat in Pagosa Springs, which came out of the KCE operating account.

KCEC Voting Facts and Figures

(Editor’s Note: Members can’t get justice from a gerrymandered board.)

District 1, Taos, represented by Francis Cordova, Toby Martinez, Manuel Medina, and Luisa Mylet, has 17, 113 meters and 12,469 eligible voting members. So each trustee represents about 3,100 members. (Almost 2,000 members voted in the last election.

District 2, Questa and Red River, represented by Virgil Martinez and Bobby Ortega, have 3,634 meters and about 2,726 voting members. So each trustee represents about 1,376 members.

District 3, Ojo Caliente, represented by Art Rodarte, has 1,640 meters and 1,239 eligible voting members. Trustees estimate that Art, the Tri-State Rep, makes an easy 40,000 grand for representing 1,239 members.

District 4, Peñasco Valley, represented by Chris Duran and Ambrose Mascarenas, has 2,057 meters and 1,619 eligible voting members. Each trustee represents 809.5 voters plus one cheerleader.

District 5, Angel Fire-Eagle Nest, represented by Jerry Smith and Bruce Jassman (see the sleuth trustees at right), has 4,714 meters and 3,918 voting members. Each trustee represents 1,959 members. (74 members voted in the last election.)

The one man, one vote rule applies to political subdivisions but, apparently, not to the Coop.
21,971 members are eligible to vote. Yet, the elected officers represent only 6,763 members.