Final rounds of Cobb EMC board member elections combined to March 31

By Janel Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The last two rounds of Cobb EMC board member elections will be combined into one election on March 31 in a cost-saving effort that was approved by a Cobb County judge Thursday.

The new election date will have no impact on candidates who were already set to run in the board elections originally set for February and May.

Each election can cost about $250,000, EMC spokesman Sam Kelly said.

The elections are the result of a 2007 suit some EMC members filed against the electric co-op, saying it had set up a for-profit company, Cobb Energy, to siphon off Cobb EMC's assets and wrongly enrich then-CEO Dwight Brown and other executives of the utility. Brown was later indicted on charges of racketeering, theft and witness intimidation.

EMC members involved in the suit began pushing for the last installments to be combined after elections were held in November for the first four of 10 board seats.

“In addition to the money saved, this saves people from having to come back and vote twice," said Butch Thompson, one of the original plaintiffs in the suit. "I think some people are tired of having to come out and vote each time.”

Buoyed by the possibility of implementing changes in the company, more than 3,600 member-customers came out in September for an annual membership meeting to cast ballots on two measures. Previous meetings had yielded only a few hundred members. But a month later, participation dropped off and only 2,471 of the co-op’s more than 170,000 members came out to vote for candidates in the first round of board member elections.

Just two incumbent board members are running for re-election on March 31, when the remaining six board seats will be on the ballot. The candidate qualifying deadline is March 2. EMC reform groups plan to once again support a slate of new candidates for the seats.

Like the November election, the March 31 elections will be held at Piedmont Baptist Church in Marietta and will include a candidate forum and public comment period.

Thompson is hoping members hold off presenting new business at the meeting to give all new board members time to work on initiatives before the next annual meeting.