The Utilities District of Western Indiana rural electric cooperative is moving to increase transparency and increase confidence among its members in the wake of an internal audit and an FBI investigation.
"We had three really good guys on the board and they were demolished," says UDWI board president Ron Thompson. "It was an eye awakening experience seeing the election. Our members obviously think we're not doing a good job. So at the first meeting, we decided we needed an independent audit to look at everything."
The board has been interviewing potential auditing firms and last night voted to hire Blue & Co. Two auditors from the company will meet with UDWI staff and counsel this week to start their work.
"If they find things," Thompson says, "They said it was like looking at a spider web: if you find something you follow your trail."
Blue & Co. will likely begin the audit next week and is expected to complete it by the end of June.
'We Are Trying To Be More Transparent'
Members who attended Monday's meeting had questions about the timeline of the audit and the FBI investigation.
Thompson says the board didn't have any knowledge that the FBI was launching its own investigation until after the board had already decided to hire an outside auditor.
"We're listening to our members and trying to do what's right. We're making a lot of changes."
"They're [FBI] coming in and they're looking for something and it will be different than what we're looking for," he says.
In the interim period, the board is trying to reassure members that the electric co-op is listening to their concerns.
"We're listening to our members and trying to do what's right," Thompson says. "We're making a lot of changes."
Monday was the first time the media has been permitted to attend and report on a board meeting. The Board approved a motion that will allow media to continue to cover meetings in the future.
"We wanted the newspaper to be here. We wanted WTIU to be here. We are trying to be more transparent," says newly-elected board member John Royal. "Everyone sitting here is promoting transparency here."
In response to member concerns, the board also decided to loosen its restrictions on the process ratepayers need to go through if they want to attend a meeting.
Rather than a week, members now just have to give 24 hours' notice if they want to attend a meeting and they don't need to file a written request and wait for approval from the CEO.
Check-Writing Authority Changes
In an effort to "make a clean start," the board voted Monday to change who has the authority to write checks for the co-op.
The board approved a motion to deny access to three people: Manager of Financial Services Matt Miller, CEO Brian Sparks and Manager of Operations and Engineering Shane Smith. The Board granted new check writing authority to Board President Ron Thompson, newly-elected Board Treasurer Todd Carpenter, and interim co-CEO Mike Chapman.
Charitable Donations On Hold
The board also approved a motion to table all charitable donations that come from corporate funding until a committee can review UDWI's giving policies and establish a standard.
At this time last year the board reported UDWI had donated about $62,000 from its general fund to various charities and causes.
"We as a board have decided we are going to stop all donations until maybe we can figure out what our members want," Thompson says.
In the meantime, the board is requesting that all donation requests get pushed to the Operation Roundup program. That's the program where members decide to "round up" their utility bill to the next highest dollar and the extra cents go into a fund and the money is distributed to community organizations. Â About half of the co-op's 19,000 members participate in the program.
Board of Directors Compensation
Some attendees questioned why the board wasn't acting more quickly to reduce its own compensation. Tax returns show the UDWI board is among the highest paid in the state.
Board members say they haven't had an official conversation about it yet and with the FBI investigation and the audit it needs to be put on the backburner for the time being.
"I feel like I'm part of a board making some really tough decisions," Todd Carpenter says. "It a very unique situation and we can't figure them all out in 10 hours a month. We are getting there. You probably don't' have a clue how far we've made it and I really want you guys to realize that."
