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GVEC Dennis, David R - July 22, 1987

Interview with David R. Dennis

Interviewer: Karen Yancy

Transcriber: Karen Yancy

Date of Interview: July 22, 1987

Location: Mr. Dennis’s Office, Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority, Schertz, TX

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Begin Tape 1, Side 1

Karen Yancy: This is Karen Yancy. Today is July 22, 1987, and I’m conducting an oral interview with Mr. David R. Dennis, director of Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative [GVEC] at Gonzales, Texas.

Why did you become a director?

David R. Dennis: I was asked by the former director of District Eight and was told that he was planning on retiring, and he knew I was a long-time resident of that district, and he asked me if I would be interested in it. I had never really given any thought, but I considered it and decided to run for the office.

Yancy: What experience did you bring to the board of directors?

Dennis: Well, I work for a utility district, and even though we don’t handle electricity business, we do handle waste water business and some of the functions parallel, such as providing the right service to the community at the right time and understanding bonded debtness along with long-range planning.

Yancy: How many years have you served as a director?

Dennis: I’m starting my fourth year, second term.

Yancy: What are your responsibilities as a director?

Dennis: Well, my main responsibility is to serve the people of District Eight, and to do that, I try to gain as much knowledge about GVEC as I can by staying current with what we’re doing and trying to make educated decisions.

Yancy: I know you get a stipend, but what kind of personal satisfaction do you get as a representative of the co-op members?

Dennis: I believe that we have a good electric cooperative, and we provide a good service at the most reasonable price that we can. That’s the best we can do. I guess that’s what satisfies me.

Yancy: Do co-op members contact you about policy changes or any other changes—concerns that they have?

Dennis: I’ve been contacted a few times. It’s usually when someone’s power was out or a bill—maybe the way a delinquent bill was handled or something like that.

Yancy: Do they contact you very often?

Dennis: I think I’ve only been contacted a half dozen times since I’ve been on the board. It’s always been, I really don’t want to say a complaint, but possibly a concern.

Yancy: What are the aspirations of the board?

Dennis: Here, again, I think it ties back to doing your job for all the members and trying to stay current; aware of what we’re doing and making good education decisions, providing a good service that’s still at a reasonable price.

Yancy: Other co-ops tend to have very argumentative board meetings, but GVEC doesn’t. In your opinion, why doesn’t GVEC experience these problems? Is it the relationship with the management?

Dennis: Well, I think we have very good management; our general manager is a strong leader that lays things out well. We all have a lot of confidence in him. I’m not saying we just rubber stamp things because there are times when we have differences of opinion. I think we have a board that is well aware of what their charge is, and they try to stay informed. I think that sometimes you have conflict because of a lack of knowing. I know I had more difficulty when I first came onto the board because I was new and it was hard for me to understand all the issues that a company the size of GVEC deals with, and the longer I’ve been on the board, the more I’ve learned. I think maybe that’s why we don’t have the problems some co-ops have.

Yancy: GVEC has a good consumer relationship. To what do you contribute this good will?

Dennis: Well, are you talking about the sale of electricity or are you talking about member services because we really—

Yancy: You have general overall a good relationship with your members—

Dennis: Well, it’s because, again, I think we provide a service at a competitive price. If our rate was much higher than surrounding communities, other co-ops, right here are CPS, then I think we wouldn’t have that easy-going smooth rapport with our members. The Review does a lot to educate and inform the members.

Yancy: In talking with GVEC employees, the Co-op seems to be one big happy “family.” How do you feel about that term as describing GVEC?

Dennis: Well, I think that it starts at the top with the general manager and works its way down through the department heads. There is a genuine concern for the employees. You don’t want a lot of turnover because it’s a dangerous business they’re in. You want people that are well-trained and equipped, and we the board try to provide that, and the employees appreciate it by doing the best they can. We’ve got great employees, and there’s not a lot of turnover.

Yancy: What do you see as the future of GVEC?

Dennis: Well, I think the future of GVEC is to try to maintain the superior record of innovative service that is as low in price as we can make it. There are certainly other service avenues to investigate. The possibilities of working with some water companies to provide reasonable financing to them because our business is directly tied to the amount of development that occurs in the rural areas. Water is very important to the growth of an area. People in the eighties are accustomed to having everything provided to them, as opposed to the fifties and sixties when it was great to have the new things, and they appreciated them. Now everybody expects them, and that means we have to work a little harder to keep people satisfied, and I think we will have to strive to maintain the level of service that we now have.

Yancy: That’s all the questions I have do you have anything else you would like to add?

Dennis: I really don’t have anything else to add.

End of interview