|
Continental Divide Electric Cooperative's roots can be traced back to Aug. 23, 1945 and a meeting held in the Grants High School gymnasium to organize a Rural Electric Association (REA) cooperative.
At this meeting, nine committee members were selected from various locations within the proposed REA project to organize and incorporate. The committee is considered the co-op's first board of trustees.
Committee members were Peter T. Mocho, Golden P. Roundey, Mrs.Tom Elkins, Barton Davis, Bernard Vanderwagen, Homer C. Jones, Dean Kirk, Eddie Freas and Don Smouse.
Below is a timeline of the co-op's early years following that meeting and the events which have helped shape Continental Divide Electric.
– Continental Divide Electric Cooperative, Inc. incorporated under the existing state and federal laws and issued a certificate of incorporation.
– The co-op's first office opened at 601 W. Coal Ave. in downtown Gallup.
– Lon Adams hired as Continental Divide's first manager, and the co-op's received its first loan approval to construct electric facilities in the Ramah and Zuni areas.
– CDEC purchased Inland Utilities in Grants (500 W. Santa Fe Ave.) with approximately 1,200 consumers and 290 miles of line. The co-op also obtained Inland's generation facilities and created its own power until September 1954 when the last generator was retired. A 115-KV transmission line from Plains Electric Generation Plant in Algodones was built and it began providing our power.
– Lon Adams retired and Maurice D. Kaderli became manager. A new office building and yard also were completed at the co-op's present location, 200 E. High St.
– Continental Divide extended the 115-KV transmission line to Gallup , since the co-op had been buying power from the City of Gallup to serve its consumers to the west. At that time, Continental Divide owned about 125 miles of transmission lines and 1,500 miles of distribution lines.
– Continental Divide's service area stretched west to Canoncito, about 45 miles east of Grants and as far east as Navajo, Ariz. It spanned south to the Ramah-Zuni area and north to about 18 miles south of Shiprock.
– Plains Electric G&T purchased the co-op's transmission facilities.
– Fred A. Lackey replaced Maurice Kaderli as manager, following Kaderli's retirement.
– Continental Divide was name the fastest growing electric cooperative in the nation. That growth continued into the early 1980s in step with the uranium mining boom.
2000 – Plains Electric, which consisted of Continental Divide and 11 other New Mexico co-ops, merged with Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, making Tri-State the owner and operator of the 250-megawatt Plains Escalante Generating Station in Prewitt.
2001 – Richard A. Shirley succeeds Lackey as general manager.
– Continental Divide divests of its Arizona service area and consumers to the Navajo Nation government and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.
December 2003 – Continental Divide's 15-year franchise agreement with the City of Grants expires. Continental Divide continues to pay the 2-percent franchise fee stipulated in the agreement.
– Continental Divide achieves its first annual meeting quorum since 1995. Nearly 900 members registered and voted. By-laws required registration of 501 members; 862 showed up at Grants High School. An overwhelming majority (795-36) voted to expand to newer accounts the co-op's distribution of capital credits.
– Continental Divide and the City of Grants strike a deal on a new 15-year franchise agreement to provide electricity to residents within city limits. The Grants city council voted 3-1 in favor of the deal with councilor Robert Michael Ulibarri casting the lone vote against adoption. The agreement raises the franchise fee to 3.5-percent and contains a clause requiring a year's notice by the city or co-op to end the contract.
– CDEC fails to achieve a quorum of 506 members to hold its annual business meeting and elections in three district. Only 480 members registered.
– Continental Divide Electric Co-op's Education Foundation surpasses the $1 million mark in total scholarships awarded to service-area students pursuing higher education.
– Nicole Vacit, a third-grader at Dowa Yalanne Elementary School in Zuni wins the annual statewide safety poster coloring contest. Vacit is the co-op's first and only statewide winner. Her poster was selected from among 13 other second, third and fourth grade winners representing co-ops throughout New Mexico. For her effort, Vacit is awarded a trip to Washington, D.C. with her parents.
– CDEC completes a $2.1 million system investment that included a new substation in the Ramah area and upgrades to the existing one in Zuni.
– Continental Divide is unable to achieve an annual meeting quorum for the second straight year. Only 462 members registered; 506 were needed.
– David Miller replaces longtime Gallup district manager John Baumgartner, who retired earlier in the year.
– CDEC completes a $2.5 million system investment that includes a new substation in the San Fidel area.
– CDEC members and consumers send more than 1,000 petitions urging New Mexico congressional lawmakers to be mindful of cost, capacity and research when it comes to future energy policy.
– CDEC participates in its first Holiday of Lights parade, decking the halls, rather the rails, of its bucket truck to haul Santa Claus to Fire & Ice Park in Grants.
– Continental Divide Electric Co-op achieves its first annual meeting quorum in three years, registering the 503 members needed. Even though three CDEC directors up for re-election ran unopposed, the co-op members voted in favor of a bylaw change to allow all active accountholders membership. Previously, only those who had paid a $5 membership fee were eligible to receive benefits, including college scholarships, the ability to run for, or elect trustees to the co-op’s governing board and the ability to vote on bylaw changes
– CDEC hand-delivers 700 letters from its members to the Albuquerque offices of Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, urging them to keep impending climate change legislation fair, affordable and achievable.
– Continental Divide Electric releases results of its first membership mail-in survey. Using a 10-point scale where 1 meant very dissatisfied and 10 meant very satisfied, scores averaged an "8." About 500 surveys were received, representing nearly 3 percent of the co-op's roughly 16,500 members.
|
