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Brazos Valley | I too serve on a board that had some nefarious actions done by the board that was about to lose the majority. They changed the criteria to be a board member, they created an application to be on the board without publicly stating as much, they put a bylaw on the ballot that changed how members can vote and worded it as such that people voted opposite of how they thought they were, and they still lost.
I’m part of Click B that took the majority last election when myself and two other won our districts. We have 6/9 seats. The remaining 3 of click A are up for reelection this fall and 2 of the 3 didn’t even submit the applications that they required last year even though all three of them wanted to run again.
My advice to you is to study the bylaws and the articles of incorporation. If your team now has the majority you can undo almost anything the previous board did but my caution to you would be to be very transparent with the members and make darn sure it’s what the members would want. You represent the members. The risk of undoing previous boards policies could be a yo-yo effect every time the board flips which leads to nothing ever getting done.
Our GM made the comment last meeting that this year will be the first year in his 30 years of working at the coop that our work plan will be 100% by years end. We are making the decisions to provide the funding to replace wires, poles, transformers, air switches, etc to improve the reliability of our service. It still baffles me that we had a board that refused to fund critical infrastructure updates because we didn’t have the cash. One thing I’ve learned since going to training and studying financials is there is no way for a coop of our size to cashflow the necessary repairs and upgrades without borrowing money.
It’s been very gratifying to see the results of our efforts; employees are happier and are doing more work now that they are receiving the funding and tools needed to do their jobs well, reliability is improving and we’ve been able to hold prices steady all while doing more. I had a lineman that I don’t know tell me at the grocery store to keep up the good work and he appreciated all this new board has done for the crews.
Lastly, do not be afraid to vote no to something. Abstaining from a vote might as well be a yes. Also don’t be afraid to ask hard questions and don’t settle until you’ve got the answers.
Good luck,
Caleb
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Robert's rules?
