by JEN BIUNDO

Voting is underway in the election that will replace the last of the old guard leaders on the Pedernales Electric Cooperative board of directors.

Members can also vote on a member bill of rights which will establish core rights, such as election safeguards and access to PEC meetings and records, and can only be changed with a member vote.

Ballots have been mailed to all PEC members by Election Services Corporation, the independent New York-based company that is managing the election tabulation. Voting opened on May 5.

Members can cast their ballot by mail or vote online through a secure website through June 11. Members also can vote in person at the PEC Annual Membership Meeting June 19 in Johnson City, where election results will be announced. Ballots will not be accepted at PEC offices.

The last two remaining directors from the old era at PEC, R.B. Felps and O.C. Harmon, are not seeking reelection. Harmon has held the District 4 seat since 1975 and Felps has served District 5 since 1994.

Eight individuals have filed to seek the District 4 seat, which represents the northwestern portion of Hays County and portions of Travis County. The sprawling District 5 seat is anchored in PEC’s Johnson City headquarters in Blanco County and includes slivers of 15 different counties. All of PEC’s 200,000-plus members can vote in each race.

The co-op has seen a rocky three years of change, ushered in by a member-driven lawsuit. In 2008, an exhaustive report investigating 10 years of management practices at PEC painted a grim picture of wasteful spending, questionable financial transactions, and an iron-fisted former general manager enabled by a complacent board of directors. Since 2008, PEC members have voted in large margins to throw out former leaders and bring in new reform-minded directors.

Former General Manager Bennie Fuelberg, who ran the co-op for decades, is now facing felony charges of money laundering, theft in excess of $200,000 and misapplication of fiduciary duty in excess of $200,000, as is former co-op general counsel Walter Demond.

Election information, a link to ESC’s voting site, and video clips of candidates presenting their platforms at PEC’s April 27 public forum are available at www.pec.coop.

PEC Candidates
District 4: Ted Lehr, Geoffrey VanderPal, Ken Rigsbee, Deborah (Deb) Ballew, Dan W. Pedersen, Tom Griebel, Chris Perry, Bob Driscoll
District 5: Joe Summy, Ross Fischer, Steven Carriker, Thornton Keel, Don Casey