Bence Asks KCEC for Transparency

FAXED to 575-758-4890

Linda Bence
P O Box 469
Taos, NM 87571
lbence502@hotmail.com
575-751-4465

August 23, 2012

Luis A. Reyes, Jr.
CEO
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative
P O Box 578
118 Cruz Alta Street
Taos, NM 87571

Dear Luis,

I am making a request to be placed on the agenda for the monthly board meeting on September 25, 2012. I am making this request well enough in advance to allow you and the board to consider my request at your next work “secret” meeting on August 27, 2012.

The board and management have operated in “secret” for far too long to the detriment of the cooperative owner/members resulting in wasted spending, unnecessary travel and excessive legal fees resulting from the board attempting to cover up the proceedings and the finances of the coop. I believe that owner/members who pay the expenses of the board and its management should have more say in the running of our cooperative. In May of 2011, over 800 owner/members signed a petition to be placed on the agenda of the 2011 annual meeting and we were punished with a lawsuit and legal fees for this request as well as for the hearing at the PRC with legal fees in excess of $500,000. Owner/members were retaliated against when the board made the annual meeting so inhospitable that even fewer people attended this year. The goal of the board was to reduce and discourage participation so that there will never be a quorum so that no business can be conducted or voted on.

The board has let down its members by not having its legal department research the law which only allows the cooperative to collateralize a maximum of 20 percent of the coop’s assets for the loan with the RUS. The board violated this law, not once but twice as it also pledged all of the electric assets for the loan on the defunct command center that the coop has failed to find a tenant for in over a year. It was a grave mistake for Cuddy and McCarthy or perhaps it was their ineptitude on the part of the law firm for this “oversight”. This could be detrimental to the coop in the long term should the coop not make the command center a viable asset and if the coop does not get the 5500 customers that it will need for their broadband operations as the board and its legal counsel have put ALL of the assets of the electric cooperative in jeopardy.

Owner/members who pay the salaries and expenses of the cooperative want transparency in the records and at meetings. They want a say in how the cooperative is run and do not want to see their money spent on unnecessary legal fees to attempt to hide the workings of a few.

There are many owner/members of the cooperative who may be able to advise the board on constructive matters of saving our money.

The PRC has ordered the cooperative to break off the propane and internet/broadband from the electric service. You and the board, Luis, have a duty to over 23,000 owner/members to make this happen. We cannot understand why the coop allows the propane and internet to use the electric charge account for their purchases and travel. Employees of the internet have abused the credit privileges. Why do they charge pay-for-view movies on their hotel bills? There should be a clean severance between the electric and propane and internet. I understand that the coop opened an account with Centinel Bank for the broadband and that is where you have deposited the funds. That is where all the expenses for the broadband should be drawn off. Only by complete separation of the accounts can we owner/members be assured that cross-subsidization of Kit Carson Electric is not continuing.

The PRC also ordered that Kit Carson show meaningful changes to lower the board and coop’s expenses. I would like to know what you have done with this request. Instead of cutting costs, the coop has added an additional six-figure executive. Why is it that the newly-added SIX-figure position of Public Relations Executive was not posted and advertised and that applicants were solicited rather than filling the job with a crony who had proven himself to be a poor leader of the Chamber of Commerce. What skills did Steve Fuhlendorf bring to Kit Carson that made his salary worth more than $60,000 plus benefits than his position with the chamber had paid? Are his accomplishments holding up that HUGE salary? Applicants’ salaries should be commensurate with their education, work experience and prior salary considerations not what the applicant requests.

There is a considerable drive in our community for TRANSPARENCY in all areas of the government and utilities such as the coop to bring the functions into the sunlight and for the Open Meetings Act as well as the Information for Public Records Act to be adopted and followed in all cases. I have considerable support in my request.

I have four subjects that I would like to place in discussion.

1) I would like for the board to consider adopting both the Open Meetings Act as well as the Information for Public Records Act.

2) I would like the board to combine the two monthly meetings into one meeting and that the one board meeting be scheduled in the evening so that more of our owner/members can attend and participate in the running of the coop.

Changing the meeting to the evening hours will allow greater participation by working members. Scheduling meetings on Tuesday mornings limits the participation of all working people. Changing the meeting to the evening hours will allow board members to not miss their employment or to seek employment thus lessening the need for a second meeting fee of $150.

I would like the members of the board to fill out all portions of their expense requests such as the time that meetings begin and end.

I would like to know what members of the board were reimbursed for last month’s “meetings.” Were they reimbursed for the non-work meeting on Monday and how many and how much were trustees reimbursed for the 40-minute meeting on Tuesday wherein at the start of the meeting Bobby Ortega announced that there would be no business conducted due to Luis’ absence. The meeting consisted of reading through the agenda and of Jerry Smith stretching out the time of the meeting by discussing Jerry’s leadership in the safety arena. Those of us in the audience could not hear the exchange because apparently no one wants to use the microphones.

3) I would like for you to add a place on each month’s agenda that would allow owner/members to be heard with their questions or concerns.

4) I would like to discuss setting up a committee or committees to update and modernize our bylaws to make them more efficient and relevant to today’s cooperative activities. Additionally, the OMA can be tailored to meet the needs of our cooperative. I would also like for a review and updating to take place for the procedures, travel and compensation for the board. I do not feel that the revision of the bylaws or the board operation and compensation should be decided solely by the board members who most benefit from their decisions. I particularly feel that the issue of nepotism needs to be defined and STOPPED. I feel that the committees to accomplish changes and ALL of the members on these committees should serve without compensation operating for the good of the cooperative. There are many owner/members who would gladly serve on standing committees as should the trustees who would serve with them.

I await your decision for me to bring these matters to the September 25 KCEC Board Meeting. I expect that there will be additional guests who will also like a voice.

Respectfully yours,

Linda Bence

CC: Joan Livingston, Taos News
J. R. Logan, Taos News
Nancy Stapp, KTAO
Bill Whaley, Taos Friction
Jason Marks, NMPRC