Petition circulated to recall Grady EMC board
Two members of Grady EMC have launched a petition this week to recall all of the board of directors of the EMC, with the exception of newly elected director Ronald Sellars.
Steve Reynolds and Mitch Suber, both residents of Decatur County, are seeking a minimum of 10 percent of the EMC membership to sign a petition to recall the sitting directors. The recall action is being conducted in accordance with the bylaws of the Grady EMC, the two men say.
According to the petition recall document, once the approximately 1,320 signatures are collected, submitted to the EMC and the memberships of those signing the petition are verified a special member meeting is to be scheduled by the board for members to hear and act on the charge for cause. If one or more directors is recalled at the special member meeting then their successors would be elected.
The special meeting would be held in conjunction with the next annual member meeting, unless the annual meeting is held sooner than 40 days after the filing of the petition.
The charge for cause stipulates, “Pursuant to Section 4.08 of the Grady EMC Bylaws, the undersigned Grady EMC member(s) do(es) hereby charge Board Members Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, Dewey Brock, Jr., James Lewis, and Earl Stuckey for cause and requests their removal from the Board.
The Grady EMC Board of Directors owes the membership the fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith. The above-named members of the Board violated their fiduciary duties by approving unethical acts of self-dealing, allowing the mismanagement of member-owned resources, placing unlawful restrictions members’ access to EMC records, and abusing the civil process to silence a member who publicly criticized board actions; all to the detriment of the membership.
The following acts support the aforementioned charge for cause:
• In 2000, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, and Dewey Brock, Jr. approved the purchase of 25,000 shares of United National Bank stock at the behest of then-CEO Tommy Rosser, who held a personal interest in the bank.
• In 2004, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, and Dewey Brock, Jr. authorized the sale of the bank stock to Tommy Rosser, and agreed to finance the purchase through a promissory note.
• Tommy Rosser did not make payments according to the terms of the promissory note. Instead of declaring Tommy Rosser in default and enforcing the note, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, and Dewey Brock, Jr. cut the interest rate by more than half and issued annual bonuses to Tommy Rosser in amounts nearly equivalent to his balance on the note.
• In 2005, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, and Dewey Brock, Jr. approved the purchase of over 300 acres of real estate at a price of over $4,500 per acre. The land included eight lots in a residential subdivision. Nothing productive was done with the land until a small portion was used for solar power generation in 2017.
• In 2014, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, and Dewey Brock, Jr. approved a records inspection policy that places restrictions on member access to information beyond what is permitted by the Georgia EMC Act to prevent or discourage members from obtaining information concerning the EMC’s operation.
• In 2017, Lamar Carlton, Robert Lee, Dewey Brock, James Lewis, and Earl Stuckey approved the filing of an abusive claim for injunctive relief in the name of Grady EMC against Gordon Clyatt, a Grady EMC member in good standing. The suit was brought to prevent Clyatt from informing members about the details of the self-interested transactions and mismanagement of member-owned resources described in the preceding paragraphs.”
Reynolds and Suber announced this week that petitions are available at locations in Grady, Thomas and Decatur counites for EMC members to sign. Members can also download a form, beginning Wednesday, Aug. 2, from takebackourgradyemc.com.
EMC members interested in signing the recall petition may do so at Davis Shoe Repair, 226 W. Jackson St, Thomasville; Deep South Guns and Pawn, 427 Second Ave. S.E., Cairo; or Deep South Guns and Pawn, 1119 E. Shotwell St., Bainbridge.
