Members of the electric cooperative have until 6 p.m. Wednesday to petition to run for seats on the 10-member board representing Areas 1, 6, 7 and 10. Although directors must live in the area they represent, all members may vote in all 10 director elections.
More than 50 people turned out Tuesday night for a meeting of the Owners Association, held at the offices of Butch Thompson Enterprises in Kennesaw. Thompson is one of the six plaintiffs who brought suit against the electric cooperative and some directors in 2007 accusing them of breach of fiduciary duty, among other things. The plaintiffs formed the Owners Association earlier this year.
Already, there are at least 10 known candidates for the November elections who are seeking the group’s endorsement, plus a few other candidates. Members of the group have two upcoming meetings — Oct. 13 and 18 — where members will ask questions of each candidate, then decide as a group whom to endorse.
The known candidates in Area 1 are Johnny Woodward and Ed Crowell, as well as the incumbent Don Barnett.
In Area 6, known candidates are Bill Sharp, Stewart Manley, Patrick Longhi, and David Tennant, as well as incumbent Al Fortney.
In Area 7, Charles Malcolm Swanson, Vance Booker, Andy Crowe and Bill Cominos are seeking the group’s endorsement. Other candidates for area 7 include Karen Thornburgh, Paul Phillips and current director RJ Patel.
In Area 10, which is the Pataula district in south Georgia, Cheryl Meadows is intending to run against incumbent Henry Balkcom.
The Owners Association wants to avoid having two or more challengers split the “reform” vote and thus giving victory to the incumbent. As such, the group will endorse only one candidate in each area, said David Welden, one of its leaders.
“We’ll give the endorsed candidates extensive support, and we hope that the candidates we don’t endorse will throw their weight behind the one candidate who is endorsed,” he said. “We think the rewards would be greater this way. Of course, the other candidates don’t have to do that, but that’s the spirit we’re hoping for.”
That could also help avoid the need for any runoffs. The bylaws require directors to be elected by a majority of the votes, which means that to win, a candidate must get 50 percent plus one vote. There are no provisions in the bylaws for how a runoff vote would be done, so members could potentially be called back for another vote on another day, as happens in government elections.
Sam Kelly, the EMC’s vice president of public relations, confirmed that directors must be elected by a majority vote.
“Run-off elections would be held at a separate time,” Kelly told the Journal. He did not say who made that decision or why a second round of voting could not simply be held on the original election day.
One thing the Owners Association won’t budge on in endorsing candidates is its demand for an independent forensic audit — ordered after new board members are in place.
“We, as the Cobb EMC Owners Association, will not support or endorse any candidate who opposes a forensic audit,” Welden told those gathered on Tuesday.
The group is already organizing committees to campaign for its slate ahead of the Nov. 12 elections, with various people focusing on writing and polishing candidate profiles, and others taking candidate photos, as well as technical and production teams to get out the yard signs — and the members to vote. The efforts will be repeated twice next year, ahead of the Feb. 18 and May 12 elections. Another reform group, Take Back Cobb EMC, is working with CEOA on the effort.
The utility itself also has a credentials and elections committee, whose members are appointed by the board of directors, to interview and qualify candidates seeking election to the board.
Two current directors of Cobb EMC, Don Barnett and RJ Patel — both of whom are up for reelection on Nov. 12 — attended Tuesday’s meeting and were met with polite, if unenthusiastic, applause when introduced. That’s not terribly surprising. After all, part of the Owners Association’s stated mission is to replace the entire board.
In opening the meeting, Butch Thompson offered some words of reconciliation to his fellow EMC members.
“All indications are that we’re ready to move forward and go with openness. Going forward, I want to emphasize this: What’s happened in the last four years is public knowledge, it’s already passed, and it’s time for healing and to go forward,” he said. “We need to realize we’ve come this far, we’ve been successful, now let’s finish it up on a good note.”
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1. Get rid of the current board by having Cobb EMC Owners recommend capable candidates after they have vetted them thoroughly. Please no stewards of company bankruptcy or criminal backgrounds that will embarrass us. Please no split votes!
2. Initiate a forensic audit that blankets the wide web of the companies enumerated by the other commenters below that Mr. Brown controlled or still controls directly or indirectly as well as the companies they do business with.
3. Put all new contracts or contract renewals up for competitive bid, possibly with the assistance of an independent, unbiased evaluator.
4. Put in place a chief control officer that understands the power and interest rate markets, like they have at financial institutions, and that reports directly to the board. Obviously Mr. Nelson being a “nuts and bolts guy” – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and Mr. Steele being CFO during this whole debacle are in over their heads when it comes to managing the energy and interest rate risk that comes with $400 million of dollars of energy purchases that Cobb is doing now since Brown “did the something with Oglethorpe” as well as decided to build and finance a very large coal plant.
There are many issues and layers here. As others have pointed out, Mr. Brown was quite clever in how he structured the maze of companies for the benefit of himself and his business buddies.
A party in a civil suit can subpoena a witness, as well as records and other documents. A civil suit can be initiated if Cobb EMC or one of the corporations in which Cobb EMC is a shareholder, such as Power For Georgians and Cooperative Energy, has audit rights and the other party doesn’t fully cooperate.
If Cobb EMC or one of the corporations in which Cobb EMC is a shareholder, such as Power For Georgians and Cooperative Energy, has been negligent in obtaining audit rights it can request anyway. If the party providing assets, services or power to Cobb EMC or one of the corporations in which Cobb is a shareholder refuses to cooperate then Cobb, or the corporations in which it is a shareholder, can cease doing business with them as soon as allowable under the contract.
Hopefully, in any circumstance, the Board, the Management of Cobb EMC, as well as the corporations in which Cobb is a shareholder, will require that any new and renewed contracts are subject to open and transparent, competitive bidding.
I agree that a subpoena can be pretty persusive. My point is that neither the board nor a forensic audit firm have subpoena power.
In footnote 1 (page 10) of the company's 2011 annual report, the following appears: "Allied Energy Services, LLC was sold on August 9, 2011 for $128,256." That's all the details I have.
I've been involved in audits before and a subpoena can be pretty persuasive.
Also, it doesn’t matter if Brown has an interest in the aforementioned companies or not. The current CEOs are exactly the same as were there when he was in charge, so payouts to these folks haven’t stopped.
What a joke!
I'm not trying to protect anyone - I don't have that power or ability. I'm just trying to be realistic. I've been involved in a few forensic audits in the past.
Sure, Cobb EMC may have the right to audit
transaction that any of the other mentioned copmpanies entered into as Agent, Representative, Consultant, etc. on behalf of or for Cobb EMC if, and I say again if, the contract for those services allows for an audit. If so, the audit will be limited solely to those transactions specified in the contract.
Bwyond that, the Board doesn't have any power to compel these firms to cooperate nor does a forensic audit firm have subpoena power or any other power to search and seize records from non-related companies or individuals.
The bottom line is that if these other firms or individuals don't want to cooperate, no forensic audit firm is going to get a very good look at their books, records and contracts.
This is just my opinion and maybe you think I'm wrong - we'll see sooner or later.
What? Whose butt are you trying to protect??? The Board has the right to audit any transaction that Cobb EMC entered into as well as any transaction that any of the other mentioned copmpanies entered into as Agent, Representative, Consultant, etc. on behalf of or for Cobb EMC.
Once we’ve cleared out the obvious charlatans like Ashbury Consulting, Allied Energy, Red Clay and the Tarbuttons, we need is an independent Control Officer like we have at the bank that reports directly to the Board. We need someone who knows about the workings of Cobb EMC’s big ticket outsourced contacts like the $400 million per year in energy purchase contracts managed by Energy Consulting. Someone who hasn’t being drinking the Kool Aid of the Cobb EMC web of companies.
Your describing EMC members that want an accounting of Cobb EMC is not only insulting to those whose relatives suffered under the hands of Hitler’s Brown Shirts because they didn’t support the status quo in Nazi Germany, but is also a feeble attempt to misdirect the attention of Cobb Members. If anyone are “Brown Shirts”, it’s Brown’s cronies that supported his dictatorial management of Cobb EMC for years. You should be ashamed of yourself!
To Caution please,
How should we vote? And what else needs to be done? Don’t leave us hanging!!!
Audit it ALL or else we may find a few years down the road the man from Alabama/Brown is still collecting a paycheck via EMC members!
Define Forensic Audit please! I won’t vote for anyone who supports a forensic audit that doesn’t include Allied Energy Services, Ashby Consulting, the Tarbutton family of Washington County , Red Clay, Pro Core, Energy Consulting Group, as well as the power supply contracts that Mr. Brown put in place after the “something he did” with Oglethorpe Power. I want to know if services and asserts were put out for competitive bid, if the services and assets received were commensurate with the dollars paid and if there were any business dealings outside of Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy between Mr. Brown and the people at these respective companies. Real estate deals inside GA (Plant Washington) as well as outside of GA between these parties are supposedly rampant. There are way too many ways that Mr. Brown and others could have received, as well as paid, undeserved compensation in their business dealings. There are many ways to be rewarded by, as well as reward, people who are willing to do your bidding and keep quite besides sliding money under the table!
We would never have received all the information from the various groups formed to fight Cobb EMC, if it hadn't been for the MDJ. Many thanks.
If they do not withdraw, most likely they are trojan horses who are tools of the Dwight Brown group to help either the present board members maintain power or continue with the rubber stamping activities of the present EMC executives, who worked with Brown and never thought any of his activities worthy of whistle blowing to the authorities.
We need bright and savvy board members. I can’t get behind Vance Booker. He was part of the senior management team that led Southern Company’s merchant energy company Mirant, into bankruptcy. Besides, being from Southern I’m afraid that he’ll be sympathetic to those who want to sell Cobb EMC to GA Power.
I encourage you to review the business histories and relationships before endorsing any candidate.