CMEEC to name board officers
Utility co-op will also discuss two finalists for CEO position
Norwich — Electing a new slate of officers and potentially hiring a new CEO will be among the issues to be taken up by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative board of directors, decisions that would remove those who participated in the controversial trips to the Kentucky Derby from board leadership positions.
The CMEEC board reviewed a draft slate of officers recommended by the Governance Committee on Thursday and forwarded the list to the annual meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 21. The board also met behind closed doors Thursday to discuss the two finalist candidates for the CEO position, a replacement for former CEO Drew Rankin, who was fired in May following a board investigation into actions that led to federal criminal indictments on Nov. 8, 2018, against him and four other CMEEC officials in connection with the Kentucky Derby trips held from 2013 to 2016.
Kevin Barber, general manager of the Third Taxing District in Norwalk, a CMEEC board member for the past four years, would be the incoming board chairman, with Groton Utilities Commission member Jeffrey Godley as vice president. CMEEC municipal representative and former Groton Town Manager Mark Oefinger would be secretary and Norwich Public Utilities General Manager Chris LaRose is listed as incoming treasurer.
The CMEEC board received criticism from within and outside a year ago in November after it voted just two weeks after the indictments were handed down to appoint three board officers — Chairman Kenneth Sullivan, Vice Chairman Ron Gaudet and Secretary Louis Demicco — who had attended one or more Kentucky Derby trips. None of the board officers were named in the indictments.
If approved at the Nov. 21 meeting, the new slate of officers would start their terms Jan. 1.
“I think it will be an interesting challenge,” Barber said Thursday, “and we’ll keep CMEEC moving forward. They’re all very capable candidates to lead CMEEC, and they represent multiple communities.”
Sullivan, Gaudet and Demicco will remain on the CMEEC board, along with board member Richard Throwe, who also attended the trips.
Rankin was fired May 9 following an internal board investigation into his actions related to the Kentucky Derby trips and other alleged inappropriate spending, including expensive golf and lunch outings in the local region. The CMEEC board in June appointed itself as the executive search committee for a new CEO, and board Chairman
Sullivan said Thursday the board has narrowed the search to two finalists.
Sullivan said the board hopes to decide on a candidate within a few weeks, possibly prior to the annual meeting.
Rankin is challenging his termination through an arbitration process that is ongoing. The CMEEC board met in executive session Oct. 8 to discuss that process.
CMEEC also is paying the legal costs for the five indicted former officials and has filed a federal civil suit challenging its insurance company’s denial of coverage under the board’s indemnification policy.
CMEEC interim CEO and Chief Financial Officer Michael Lane said for calendar year 2019, the legal costs total roughly $1.2 million thus far. The costs were not part of the 2019 budget approved last November, and Lane said the costs are being accounted for as “receivable from our insurance company and are not flowing through as member cost.”
CMEEC is a cooperative of six municipal utilities, providing wholesale electricity to members Groton Utilities, Norwich Public Utilities, Bozrah Light & Power, Jewett City Department of Public Utilities and the Third Taxing District and South Norwalk Electric and Water, both in Norwalk.