WE ELECT THEM TO REPRESENT "US"

Our Elected Officials Deflected the Issue

On February 18 of 2020 I appeared before the Wayne County Commission and expressed concerns I had with the behavior of Garkane Energy Cooperative administrative personnel. I petitioned the commissioners to use their influence and legal resources to pressure Garkane management to terminate their policy of commandeering coop member unclaimed property. Mr. Stanley Wood told me the commission could not give me an answer without consulting the county attorney. On 3/02/2020, in the regularly scheduled commission meeting with county attorney Olsen present, I continued making my case for having the Wayne County Commission assist me in resolving this issue. I pointed out that when the Garkane Board and CEO could have devised and implemented simple policy that would guarantee the return of margins to members and eliminate unclaimed property, they crafted and lobbied legislation that transferred unclaimed property ownership to their selves. I made it very clear that this transfer was, in my opinion, a betrayal of fiduciary responsibility, and that the state action, H.B. 266, was unconstitutional.
    Since every household and business in Wayne County, as well as all 14,000 members in the entire Garkane service area, was detrimentally affected by this property ownership transfer, I considered it to be a legitimate all-county issue. I requested an executive session to cover sensitive material and Mr. Wood deferred to attorney Olsen. Mr. Olsen ruled that everything would be dealt with in open session.
    I received no definitive answer in that meeting respecting the validity of my concerns or the Commission’s disposition relative to my request. I was scheduled to make another presentation in the following regular Wayne County Commission meeting where I expected to receive an answer to my request for assistance. In the interim, I wrote attorney Olsen giving him a heads-up as to the substance of my third presentation and asked that he be prepared to advise the commission concerning the validity of my concerns. When I arrived at the courthouse, prepared to make my third presentation I was told by the clerk, Ryan Torgerson, that I had been scrubbed from the agenda− that the commission would not hear my presentation. I was told by the clerk that Commissioner Wood had called him and ordered that I be taken off the agenda.
I had sought the advice of more than one attorney as to the validity of my findings before I petitioned commissioners for their assistance and was on track to get the opinion of the Wayne County Attorney, the one the people of Wayne County pay to serve them; but, I was denied another public hearing before the commission and an attorney opinion. (I supposed this was because the county attorney was the commissioner’s attorney first, and OUR commissioners did not want a county attorney opinion announced in a public meeting. If the county attorney verified my concerns in a public meeting and commissioners failed to act, they would be condemned by the majority of Garkane members. If the attorney verified my concerns and the commission did act on my request, the commissioners would be condemned by cronies and kin.)
If the county attorney believed my accusations were unfounded and/or false, an announced attorney opinion to that effect would be an easy “out” for the commissioners. They could then deny my request and “dismiss” me with legitimate cause. But, that did not happen. I accepted the commissioner’s action to suppress my voice as evidence attorney Olsen’s report to the commission verified my accusations.
    On 3/18/2020 I responded to a polite knock at my door. When I opened it, there stood a Wayne County law officer with a communication from the county attorney, Mr. Olsen. The communication was brief; it said: “Garkane Energy is a public utility that is regulated by the Utah Department of Commerce. I have enclosed detailed instructions for you regarding the procedure to file a complaint. If you have any further questions regarding this matter please direct them to the Division.” Well, my “question regarding this matter” was whether the Wayne County Commission would help me settle this complaint with Garkane management.       The communication from attorney Olsen was not a direct answer to my request but appeared to be a follow-up to my being scrubbed from the agenda of the previous commission meeting, relieving the Wayne County Commissioners of the responsibility of ruling on an issue they considered too hot to handle. It was clear they didn’t want any more to do with me or this issue in an open meeting. Well, so much for “all things will be handled in open meeting.”
What do you suppose the county attorney told the county commissioners? Well, we don’t know do we; and, the commissioners are not likely to tell us either.
    Some things we do know. When the Department of Commerce notified Garkane administrators of my “complaint,” Neal Brown, Garkane Manager of Marketing and Public Relations, responded by citing HB255 as Garkane administrative authority to retain and use unclaimed property. In that response, he reminded the Dept. of Commerce and Public Service Commission that they had no authority to rule on the legality of Utah legislation. Neal Brown no doubt reminded them of this on the advice of an attorney. As it turned out, this notice was in fact true. The “complaint” was eventually dismissed because neither The Department of Commerce nor PSC had authority to rule on the legality of Utah legislation.
     Now, my point here is this: If Garkane’s attorney knew the Department of Commerce had no authority to rule on my complaint, what are the chances that the Wayne County attorney knew this also? The Department of Commerce attempted to redirect the subject of my complaint and drug their dismissal notification out for seven months before telling me they had no authority to rule on the legality or illegality of state legislation. (Did the Wayne County attorney send me on a wild goose chase to remove pressure from the commissioners, perhaps wear me down, and drag this “matter” out until this old man dies? I believe Wayne County Commissioners Stanley Wood, Dennis Blackburn and Roger Brian used their position privilege to dodge a sensitive issue, hindering my efforts to change Garkane policy, and protecting current and former Garkane administrators from being brought to account. I believe their actions served cronies, kin and their selves rather than Garkane members.)
    To me, the actions of the county commissioners and attorney verified my findings respecting Garkane director and CEO behavior. If the Wayne County attorney thought my concerns were not valid, he would have said so in regular commission meeting and the commissioners would have been off the hook. However, if the county attorney verified my accusations in an open commission meeting, commissioners would be expected to take up the issue. Rather than assist me in demanding honest governance, they chose to dismiss and silence me, protecting kin and cronies. So; to avoid a two-edged sword, I was denied another audience before the commission and sent on a dead-end mission.
    To try placing this issue before the county commissioners again would likely be futile. Even though the confiscation of Garkane member property is a violation of cooperative member trust, commissioners refuse to act. (There has been so much energy expended by current Garkane administrators and former ground-floor players in trying to silence and discredit me, that there should be no question there is something administrators wish to keep hidden.)
    Garkane administrators are not returning all margins to members as nonprofit status requires; but, are retaining and using money collected in a compelled power charge for purposes other than to pay down power costs. It is illegal for cooperative administrators to gift member property.
    Even though Garkane administrative practice ignores federal and state law, repudiates fiduciary duty, raises the cost of power to all coop members and affects all county residents, the issue appeared to be too hot for commissioners to handle. They chose to flee from giving me an up or down answer to my request for help, and gave us no justification for dismissing the issue and cancelling my voice. I get no help from Garkane directors in general or my regional Garkane director, Chad Williams; and, I get no help from the Wayne County Commissioners Stanley Wood, Dennis Blackburn or Roger Brian.
    (There may have been a member or two of the 1995 Garkane Board of Directors that didn’t really recognize the seriousness of seeking and implementing legislation, HB255, transferring member property ownership to their selves; but, enough administrators were looking for a way to commandeer member property that they DID petition legislators for help.)
    If the accusations I have made respecting Garkane management behavior had no merit, I believe the county attorney would have said so and advised the Commission to deny my request on those grounds. That did not happen. Instead, the attorney assisted the Commission in “dismissing” me and removing the issue from public scrutiny. I was dismissed and my voice was cancelled!
    My experience dealing with this Garkane management issue has an ugly history. Where are our “public servants?” Where are our caring “citizens?” I am not personally willing to tacitly allow unworthy public “servants” to prey on society unchecked. I have never owned a pair of “rose colored glasses.”
    CEO McClendon tries to use the Department of Commerce’s dismissal of my “complaint” to justify the gifting of member property and discredit me. My next article will address the dismissal of my “complaint” by the Department of Commerce. That dismissal should have been instantaneous; but, was drug out for seven months. Why?