July 27th, 2022

SDCEA Board Meeting

Notes from SDCEA Board Meeting, July 27, 2022 - AVCSEF comments in italics

Sandra Attebery is now the Board secretary and took roll call. 

Ann Jefferson from Casey Martin’s law firm was representing him in this meeting since he is on vacation.

Blake Bennetts was officially seated on the board.

Suzy Kelly officially submitted her resignation, effective November 29.  The Board thanked her for her service. The Board will start the process to find a replacement in August.  They will advertise the opening and have a committee conduct the interviews. This appointment of the board vacancy will be until the next election in May of 2023 when members will elect the next board member for the position Suzy represents which is a rural chaffee/lake county position.

Joe Redetzke spent a few minutes going over housekeeping items, rules and etiquette since there are 3 new board members.  Check politics, religions, ideologies at the door.  Be considerate and courteous to others.  No cell phone usage.

Member Comments: 

Steve Reese spoke on his concerns about SDCEA Board Transparency.  He pointed out that board meeting minutes are often posted 2 months after the meeting.  He was not able to attend the May Board meeting where transparency (I believe this was member engagement was on the agenda but there was no mention of it in the minutes).  Dan Daly said he appreciated meeting with Steve and Diane and that he will bring up transparency later in the meeting.  Suzy said that minutes cannot be posted until approved by the board at the next month’s board meeting.  Sandy Long commented that the point was that slides were presented at the May meeting and there was no mention in the minutes. Paul expressed his displeasure in Steve’s suggestion that they take too long to post minutes. “We are busier than ever in our history…I take umbrage at the statement that we wait too long. We put up the minutes at our earliest convenience.”

Board Discussion

The Construction Work Plan was discussed.  No slides were presented but the plan must have been in the board packet.  Most of the money will be spent on upgrading backbone feeders between substations which will improve reliability.  Some discussion on the growth projections in the plan versus actual which is higher.  Lots of discussion on loans to finance the plan.  The plan was brought to the board for info and there was no need for approval today.  Paul (CEO) added: “we build this backbone to react to the economy…make a no-regrets plan…puts economic burden on our members…that is why we need a monthly service fee…we hope people will use more electricity.” (the monopoly utility default will always be to sell more electricity, this is why a regulatory board that represents the interests of the consumers is so essential)

Wildfire Mitigation Plan discussion.  Sandra brought up that constituents are not happy with the wildfire riders on their bills and would like to know how long they will have to pay. Board is proud that the mitigation rider money helps to leverage more dollars in the valley from other groups for mitigation work.

Board Committee assignments were announced.

  • Executive Committee:  Joe Redetzke, Chair; Dan C. Daly, Vice-Chair; Sandra Attebery, Secretary; Charles A. Abel II, Treasurer

  • Policy Committee:  Nick Hellbusch, Chair

  • Finance/Audit: Charles A. Abel II, Chair; Two Open Seats

  • Director Affairs/Compensation Committee:  Suzanne Kelly, Chair

  • Charitable Giving Committee:  Sandra Attebery, Two Open Seats

  • Planning Committee:  Blake Bennetts

  • Director/CEO Nominating Committee:  Dan Daly

  • Colorado Rural Electric Association:  Joseph Redetzke, Director; Suzanne Kelly, Alternate

  • Western United Electric Supply Corporation:  Dan C. Daly, Director; Paul A. Erickson, Alternate

  • Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association: Charles A. Abel II, Director

Nick brought up the topic of possible conflict of interest of being a director on the SDCEA Board and on another board (like Tri-State).  The law has changed so that Directors are not required to wear separate hats and can represent interests of both.  It was proposed that Casey Martin should brief the board on what are the responsibilities under the new law.  Joe mentioned that Casey will have director orientation for new board members. It was suggested that the entire board have Casey’s orientation together since they are all working under the new law. Paul added: “We are a private corporation. We have a duty to the corporation. We can’t be TOO transparent . This is not a democracy.”

During Director updates, Dan Daly brought up two areas where he was thinking about transparency:  1) Board Agendas and 2) Board Minutes.  For the Agenda, the Board could publish a side note to describe some of the items to be discussed in the meeting and what action might be taken.  This way members could determine if they want to attend the meeting and for what agenda items.  For the Board Minutes, it was noted that the Board has to be very careful about the minutes since they are legal documents and have legal implications.  Perhaps the Board could issue a report, or newsletter, to add more substance to what was discussed.  The Board does not want to burden the staff with more work, though.  Dan brought up the topic for discussion only.  Joe said the topic would be put on the agenda for next month. The main thrust of Dan’s suggestions is that he agreed that there is “very little meat on the bones” of the agenda and that the minutes are “not detailed enough” and “need more substance.” Everything is too generic and more like a template. The main worry among board members was the extra work for the staff, although only Dan suggested that he would be willing to help draft agendas and minutes with more substance. (AVCSEF note: posting the board packets prior to the meeting as the town of BV does would be a great transparency move, as would posting the public meetings on a facebook channel.)

During Director updates, Blake said he has been talking to a lot of folks.  He said it was a little eye-opening how SDCEA has little revenue and high costs.  “Paul gave me a presentation. It was fascinating how little revenue for such high cost we have for rural electric. This should be a presentation that Paul gives to other groups…get the word out.”

Actually, our revenues can only cover our costs as SDCEA is a non-profit, any excess is returned to members through capital credits each year. Last year that amount was about $1M - so our revenue is in line with our costs. If our coops costs are higher than other cooperatives (as would be indicated by our high rates), there should be a concerted effort to look into why our costs are so high. Paul routinely cites our rural, mountainous nature, but that is not unique to our territory in Colorado. He also cites our 7 customers per mile, however that is also not out of the ordinary for cooperatives in Colorado. This may be an area where a detailed investigation of our costs relative to other cooperatives should be pursued.

During Director updates, Suzy said she would like to see a breakdown from the election of how many voted per each county.  She said something like I know you all got elected from crowds in Chaffee County.

During Director updates, Nick brought up the topic of proprietary information.  He wants to know the rules on what is proprietary and what can be shared with members.  Paul Erickson said it was vague and determined by the board “Transparency is the word of the day. We want to be transparent. We have nothing to hide. We have an executive session for things that need to be held in confidence. The board determines what those things are. Do we abuse it? Not on your life. In the political life we are in, special interests are a tiny percentage. It’s like the story: give a mouse a cookie and he will want some milk. Give him some milk and he will want…you get the idea. When someone says we aren’t transparent, I always ask “for example??”’ Nick countered with the example of a jar of jellybeans. If 1000 people guess how many beans are in the jar, the average of those guesses comes pretty darn close to the number actually there. His point was that hearing from 1000 people would give the board a pretty good reading of the mid-point of ideas that members have. Transparency is good, member input is good. Dan noted that “we need to strike that balance, and we can do better.”

Paul’s CEO report was short. He said that SDCEA is a small buyer of TriState and talked about some numbers, but it wasn’t clear where he was going with this. He gave more detail about the franchise agreement: he is working on “pushing back on some of the alternative language,” much of which is being put in a memorandum of understanding including some things about renewable energy, streetlights, and the rapid change expected in the next 25 years. He and the BV trustees are getting to closure on the agreement.