Cobb EMC campaign financing dispute remains unresolved

By Janel Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dates for an initial Cobb EMC membership meeting and three rounds of board elections are set, but a Cobb County judge could not determine whether company resources should be limited to promote its slate of candidates.

Also unresolved is whether the energy co-operative’s distant members in the Pataula District, located in far southwest Georgia more than 160 miles away from the Marietta-based company, should be allowed to vote remotely in future elections.

Both issues are worthy of future discussion, but cannot be addressed at a membership meeting next month, said Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster in an order released Monday afternoon.

Schuster’s order is the latest in ongoing legal proceedings involving a 2007 lawsuit by members of the EMC, which serves about 190,000 customers, and provisions of a resultant 2008 settlement agreement.

The order finalizes dates for three rounds of elections for the 10-member board on Nov. 12, Feb. 18 and May 12. Members serve for three years on a staggered schedule. EMC elections had not been held since the legal action began. Cobb EMC was also ordered to provide by Monday the plaintiffs with names, physical addresses and email addresses of existing members to be used only in connection with the meeting and elections.

Before elections begin, an initial membership meeting, required by the 2008 settlement agreement, will be held on Sept. 17 at a Marietta church. At that meeting members will vote on whether to amend the company’s bylaws to allow mail-in ballots in future board member elections and to prevent future board members from being paid retirement benefits.

The EMC wanted the Pataula remote voting added to the meeting agenda. The suing plaintiffs requested the campaign limits also be added to the September agenda, but both issues fall outside the scope of the initial meeting, Schuster said.

For now, Pataula members will have to make the journey to cast votes in person and the EMC board is not limited in using company finances to promote its preferred candidates.

Several candidates have announced their campaigns to unseat the current 10 board members, who have all decided to run for reelection.