by BRAD ROLLINS

PERRY

Two newly elected members of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative board were seated at the organization’s annual membership meeting this weekend, replacing the last two of the so-called old guard.

Reformers used the occasion to declare victory in their three-year effort to wrest control of the cooperative from the administration of former General Manager Bennie Fuelberg, who is charged along with PEC’s former attorney with felony money laundering and theft. Members elected Chris Perry of Dripping Springs and Ross Fischer of Kendalia to board positions formerly held by O.C. Harmon and R.B. Felps, who did not seek re-election.

“I am pleased to announce that, for the first time in the history of this cooperative, all members of the board of directors will be fully elected by the members. This is truly historic and a rarity among electric cooperatives across the United States. We hope it lights the way,” said Larry Landaker of Wimberley, the PEC board chairman.

FISCHER

But if any of the 500 or so in attendance were looking for moral clarity, they might have had difficulty finding it amid fallout from the board’s termination of General Manager Juan Garza five days earlier. People unhappy with the firing, many of them PEC employees, dominated public comments at the meeting’s onset. Speakers most commonly took issue with the termination’s timing less than a week before two new members were seated; lame duck directors Harmon and Felps joined Landaker, Christi Clement and James E. Williams in voting for termination.

“All I’m saying guys, honestly, is, ‘Shame on you.’ … What’s the difference between what y’all just did and what the Bennie and Bud Show used to do,” said cooperative member Eric Stratton, referring to Fuelberg and longtime PEC board chair W.W. “Bud” Burnett, a former Hays County judge who is not facing criminal charges.

Before the meeting, State Senator Troy Fraser and State Representative Patrick Rose issued a joint statement expressing concern at the time of the termination.

“The two outgoing directors were part of the legacy board that created the problems at PEC in the first place. They should not have been part of any decision that impacts the future of PEC,” Rose and Fraser said.

Landaker said the cooperative needs a new general manager to ensure it remains solvent amid changing technology and legislation on energy competition.

“Our task is to take steps to make sure we are not gobbled up by a giant Wall Street public utility interest,” Landaker said. “For 70 years, we have enjoyed a protective fence around our market. Our customers are captive. They have no choice in electric providers [but] an energy technology revolution is at our doorstep. Change is coming and it is coming faster than many of us are moving. The wolf is on his way to our door and our challenge is to get our financial house in order now.”

Landaker referenced the troubled Austin Energy, which is facing steep budget shortfalls and years of consecutive rate increases; Garza led the city-owned utility between 2002 and 2008 as general manager.

“Because they overspent and deferred critical decisions for years, they will have to raise consumer rates 6.5 percent in 2012 with more to come. PEC must not make the same mistakes. We cannot overspend and we cannot defer critical decisions,” Landaker said.

Speaking after Landaker, Garza made what seem to be glancing references to his disagreements with the board. He said board members encouraged him to fire three to five managers left over from the Fuelberg administration “just to show some blood” to which he replied, “I am not in the firing business. I am in the education and motivation and accountability for actions business.”

Garza continued, “The work of reform is not done at PEC and I regret that I may not have an opportunity to continue to lead it. But I am proud of what has been achieved here. Mostly, I am confident in the people who work here. I am confident that they will continue to do what they do best, provide outstanding service to our members.”

But Garza said he accepted his fate, in a comment that was not part of his prepared written address: “It is best for the membership that I step down. I know I am disappointing you but that truly is best.”