Dear Fellow Citizens and CDEC Owners, As most of you know, the lifeblood of our community in Cibola and McKinley County – Continental Divide Electric Cooperative (CDEC) - is owned by the very people it serves, which includes many of us.
Oddly enough, the organizational dynamics at play here do not reflect this fundamental ownership structure. I come from a town that was powered by a truly community-involved electric cooperative in rural Colorado, and the contrast with CDEC is staggering.
My former local electric cooperative was an open book. It posted Board Meeting announcements, inclusivity was commonly practiced through board meeting invitations to its members, and even board meeting minutes were regularly shared with all. The icing on the cake was capital credits were regularly paid back to customers.
Seven years later and now miles apart, I find myself in a different cooperative environment. The management and directors of CDEC operate more like an investor-owned utility where key decisions are made behind a heavy veiled curtain. The question arises - why is this so? As owners, are we not entitled to clarity and transparency?
My greatest worry lies in the likelihood of heavy rate increases. I hope we, the owners and users, have a say in this. It's essential that our funds aren't spiralling into exorbitant CEO and upper level management salaries, over-the-top board perks, or needless and potentially disastrous fiber infrastructure projects. As marvelous as it looks, how much are we paying for the new building? How much of these costs are passed on to our monthly electric bills? Financial burdens should not fall squarely on the shoulders of us cash-strapped owners.
A change is necessary. As owners, we should move to amend CDEC’s bylaws. Let’s implement director term limits, encourage public board meeting participation, and advocate for the publications of monthly board minutes and the annual 990 tax filings.
Bluntly put, where are our capital credits? This deafening silence is disheartening. It's time that CDEC rethinks its operational strategy and remember that it stands as a member-owned cooperative.
CDEC, it's high-time for a shape-up and a new change in leadership.
Yours truly, Cindy Matheson