Attorney To Challenge Three Amendments

By John Severance

Socorro Electric Cooperative attorney Dennis Francish wants to go to court to determine which, if three bylaw amendments adopted by the members at the annual meeting in April can be challenged.
Francish drafted a letter
to Trustee president Paul Bustamante and the other trustees Wednesday night and he wanted to test the following:
• The open meetings act and inspection of public records act. Francish says it is unworkable and provides a hardship for the corporation.
• The guarantee of transparency of actions with open access to SEC books, records and audits to members for a proper, non-commercial purpose with the exception of those records which would violate the Privacy Act. Francish says this is illegal and a abuse of the membership’s rights and it is harmful to the corporation.
• Board meetings being open to member/owners being open to member/owners and representatives of the press with timely notice of the meeting advertised in monthly bill mailings and local newspapers. A section of the meeting agenda shall be reserved for member participation during which member/owners may address the Board without prior approval of the Board. Francish claims this is unreasonable with the corporation’s operations and capacity to function properly.
Francish then addressed the members in the audience, "All you people in the audience are just wanabees. You come to these meeting because you would like to be trustees - well run for a trustee seat."
Not surprisingly, the board voted to allow Francish to proceed and file the necessary paperwork to take this to court.

Attorney To Challenge Three Amendments