[Watchdogs] My Comments at Yesterday's PEC Board Meeting

[Andy Wilson]

Milton,

We may not always see eye to eye on a lot of issues regarding the
cooperative, but I could not agree with you more on this.  This is
tremendous work, and I think is going to bear real fruit given yesterday's
board actions.

Thank you for this and all your other work, and a very Merry Christmas and
Happy Holidays to all of you in co-op land for all of your efforts this
year.

~~Andy

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 8:28 AM, Milton Hawkins <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>wrote:

> A Comment for the 20 December 2010 Board Meeting
>
>
>
> Bennie Fuelberg was on trial these past few weeks in Fredericksburg.  So
> was the Board of Directors of Pedernales Electric Cooperative.  Both were
> found guilty.
>
>
>
> Of course you as individual directors were not serving when, as R.B. Felps,
> E.B. Price, Will Dahmann, and a host of others willingly testified, the
> Board gave Mr. Fuelberg almost free rein to run the cooperative as he saw
> fit.  In doing so, those directors utterly failed to exercise their
> fiduciary duty to the owners of this cooperative.
>
>
>
> Of course the directors’ failure had been well documented already in the *Navigant
> Report*, which cost us over $2.8 million, and which is itself missing in
> action, having been expunged from the new web site.  (Who knows how much
> that web site cost us, by the way?  Look at the checks to Tocquigny in
> today’s packet, and there are lots more checks noted in previous Board
> packets.)
>
>
>
> No, you may not have been serving then, *but you are serving now*.  You
> are it, the Board of Directors of Pedernales Electric Cooperative.  *And
> you have a mess to clean up.*  One might say it’s your duty as a *
> fiduciary*, one of those words heard so often at the trial.
>
>
>
> According to the *Navigant Report* (XVI. “Former Senior Management
> Compensation and Benefits,” page 239), Mr. Fuelberg participated in PEC’s
> Defined Benefit Pension Plan.
>
>
>
> As of April 1, 2008, Mr. Fuelberg began receiving *monthly payments of
> $12,638.53* from that plan, amounts payable to Mr. Fuelberg until his, or
> his wife’s death, or until March 1, 2018, whichever occurs latest.
>
>
>
> I and others believe that you have the ability—*and the duty*—to act in
> this matter of Mr. Fuelberg’s compensation.  When for some strange and
> unexplained reason you were desperately trying to prevent Mr. Gunter from
> representing Mr. Fuelberg, you spent tens of thousands of our money on Paul
> Coggins and his associate from Dallas.  When you were seeking a small sum
> as settlement from Clark, Thomas, and Winters, you agreed to give Jimmy
> Williamson a third of the proceeds.  We got $4.1 million, a pitiful
> settlement in light of the facts now in evidence, and Mr. Williamson got
> $1.3 million of that.
>
>
>
> So I urge you now *to do your duty*, to hire an attorney skilled in
> forfeiture litigation, and move aggressively to protect our interests.
>
>
>
> The Fredericksburg DID find him guilty! *It's up to us now*, *and to you, our
> elected representatives, to recover as much as we can of what Mr. Fuelberg
> took from us, and to see to it that he gets not one more penny of our money.
> *
>
> * *
>
> Quickly to other matters:
>
>
>
> Concerning easements and rights-of-way, conservation programs, funding the
> Defined Benefit Program, and other matters, we owners are in the impossible
> position here of trying to comment on resolutions that we have not seen.
>
>
>
> Why are you keeping so much so secret?  Can your discussions of easements
> and rights-of-way not stand the light of day, or scrutiny by the owners
> directly affected?  Are you intending to give away yet more money in
> rebates and incentives, money that you take from all the owners, including
> the less affluent, and give to a few others, usually the more affluent?  *Is
> the Defined Benefit Plan running out of money?*
>
>
>
> Concerning litigation, again you retreat to secrecy.  What’s with the
> Gunter litigation?  What’s that costing us?  Who’s threatening litigation,
> over what?  What is the “investigation” on the agendas all about?
>
>
>
> And finally, I note that the 2011 budget is *not* on the agenda.  Neither
> is the *long-promised Strategic Plan*, which was to have been rolled out
> and adopted in November.  You cancelled the Special Board meeting that was
> to have considered the 2011 budget.  Yet we see the prospect of more
> spending in the secret KPI discussions you’re having today.
>
>
>
> Merle Moden will speak this afternoon on your spending habits, so I’ll
> leave the rest of this discussion to him.  Listen carefully.
>
>
>
> *And remember that you’re the Board of Directors now.*  *We expect you to
> do your duty.*
>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
> Milton Hawkins
>
>
> --
> Milton Hawkins  milton.hawkins at gmail.com
> P.O. Box 1502
> Johnson City, Texas 78636-1502
> 830-868-9075
>
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