THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310278
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUXTON LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
Hatteras Island residents who demanded an open meeting with directors of the Cape Hatteras Electric Membership Cooperative said Monday that they are ``extremely upset and disappointed'' with the way the power company has set up the session.
Scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the public meeting will take place in the Cape Hatteras School auditorium. Interim power company manager James Sherfey will moderate. After formal presentations from engineers, public relations consultants and other utility officials, residents will be permitted to ask questions.
People who are not employed by the power company will be allowed to speak for only five minutes each.
``We feel like we called this meeting. We'd like for it to be run the way we planned it, with the residents and their concerns in mind,'' said Frisco resident Richard Jones, a member of the Concerned Citizens for Responsible Utilities Committee.
``We wanted people to pose their questions to one of our representatives, Jack Leatherwood,'' Jones said. ``We wanted him to be the moderator, and ask questions from the audience to the board of directors.
``Now, Sherfey gets to moderate, so the Cape Hatteras Electric officials will control the whole thing,'' Jones said. ``That really puts the ball in their court instead of ours. It makes it their meeting instead of the members' meeting.
``But no matter how they set it up, we're going to be heard.''
During the December meeting of the Cape Hatteras Electric Membership Cooperative's board of directors, Jones and his committee gave power company officials petitions signed by more than 500 island residents. The petitions demanded that directors schedule a special membership meeting so that residents could discuss the co-op's operation and spending policies. Normally, only one full membership meeting is held each year.
The petitions were submitted nearly two months after former utility manager John A. Echols released documents showing that Cape Hatteras Electric officials had paid their Virginia accounting firm more than $430,000 over the past year. This month, an outside audit firm released a preliminary report showing that the accounting firm, Johnson and Dooley of Danville, had overcharged the power company by more than $100,000 since November 1993.
Cape Hatteras Electric directors unanimously voted to fire the accountants, who had kept the utility's books for more than 15 years.
Last week, the co-op filed a lawsuit against the former accounting firm, requesting at least $200,000 in compensatory damages, $500,000 in punitive damages and attorney fees.
Cape Hatteras Electric serves all Hatteras Island residents; it employs about 20 people full time. The nonprofit, tax-exempt co-op is owned by its 3,825 customers.
Echols resigned Oct. 18, after less than four months on the job. He said the directors were meddling in daily operations too much, and he criticized what he said were improper spending practices.
Sherfey, formerly of Florida, became the electric company's interim director two weeks ago. He was unavailable for comment Monday. He will be at Wednesday night's meeting, co-op employees said.
``Mr. Sherfey and I put the tentative agenda for the meeting together this morning. But he had to go out of town,'' said Cape Hatteras Electric Assistant Manager Claudine Williams. ``The meeting will be open to everyone. But members will have first priority for seats. We have to have at least 50 people present for a quorum.''
According to tentative plans, the meeting will open with a prayer, pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. Power company employees then will give a report on how many members are present, and how many signatures they confirmed on the petitions. Then, the manager will give a prepared statement, the engineer will update power company customers on the new 115-volt transmission line, public relations officials will explain results of a recent membership survey, and, finally, residents will be allowed to ask questions.
``Even though that committee asked for this meeting, the board of directors are the ones who called it,'' Williams said. ``It's really their meeting to run.
``We're just holding this as a regular business meeting. We'll run it like any other,'' Williams said. ``All according to our bylaws.''
Members of the committee that requested the meeting said that wasn't what they had in mind. They had hoped for an open opportunity for residents to address the directors whom they had elected. They did not want to have to sit through official reports or presentations.
``What they've scheduled isn't what we wanted at all,'' Jones said. ``And limiting everyone to five minutes to speak isn't exactly very open.''
Committee member Bob Gaul, who said he represents more than 300 members of the Avon Property Owners Association, agreed. ``We hope the board fully understands the depth of concern this community has about the co-op operations,'' Gaul said.
``We feel that if it weren't for our petition, this meeting wouldn't have happened. It's not a regular meeting. It's our meeting,'' said Gaul. ``A lot of people in this community want to know how their power company could pay so much money to an accounting firm in one year and no one ever caught it. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of questions from the floor.''
Last week, co-op officials asked residents to submit questions in writing before Wednesday's meeting. As of Monday afternoon, Williams said, only two people had turned in questions. Two others had asked to speak at the meeting.
Everyone will be given an opportunity to ask questions or to speak after the business portion of the meeting is finished, said co-op public relations coordinator Kevin Gaydosh.
``We keep hearing that the community has all of these questions for the co-op. But we've only gotten a couple so far,'' Gaydosh said. ``We thought we would've received a lot more by now.
``But maybe some of the actions the board of directors have taken in the past two weeks have answered some of the members' concerns.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
OPEN MEETING
The Cape Hatteras Electric Membership Cooperative will hold a
special, open meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Cape Hatteras
School auditorium in Buxton.
All members and the public are invited. Power company officials
will present reports first. Then they will accept questions or
comments from the audience. Speakers will be limited to five minutes
each. Co-op members are asked to sign in before the meeting. Doors
will open at 6:30 p.m.
If you want to submit a question before the meeting, drop it by the
offices of Cape Hatteras Electric on Lightplant Road in Buxton or
send a fax to (919) 995-4088. For more information, call the co-op
offices during business hours, (919) 995-5616.
by CNB