EDITORIAL
No matter what is being said about Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s general manager Juan Garza, you have to say that he worked through some incredibly horrific problems at the nation’s largest co-op.
The PEC board of directors fired Garza on Monday in a 5-2 vote, with little transparency of the process and little information about why. Two members of the board, Patrick Cox and Kathryn Scanlon, voted against the firing.
Board President Larry Landaker told the press that he felt there was a difference in philosophy between Garza and the board.
Still, to fire a man just days before the vote at the annual meeting puts two new directors on the board. Just seems wrong. Two of the “old guard”, who were on the board when all of the shenanigans were going on with alleged payouts and mismanagement, are stepping down. Two new voices will be on the board.
But their voices certainly won’t be heard in time when it comes to the firing of Juan Garza.
Garza brought a lot of change to PEC, trying to build trust among employees while much needed management corrections were implemented. Necessary management and fiscal improvements were brought to light by the 2008 Navigant, Inc. audit, and it appeared that Garza was implementing a lot of new policies.
Maybe he just didn’t make them fast enough to satisfy most of the board of directors.
It took decades to get the cooperative in the disgusting place it was in. There were accusations of fraud, a membership lawsuit, dropping employee morale, management practices in place that didn’t allow any transparency, elections held whereby members could barely have their voices heard.
Garza, on the other hand, held the position for a little more than two years. He made a lot of improvements during that time.
The next general manager needs to grab this bull and get it under control.
PEC certainly doesn’t need any more accusations of wrong-doing.
It needs a strong leader who will satisfy the board, bring about even more fiscal checks and balances, build employee morale, and have the staying power to hold the reins during these tumultuous times.
