Rescue HILCO!

A brief summary:

• HILCO members have asked the board to voluntarily follow the Open Meetings Act, to not give themselves raises in fees/expenses without a vote of the membership and to not change the voting boundaries without a vote of the membership.  The vote of the membership is already required to change the articles of incorporation so it is "not a stretch" to ask for these considerations.
   

• Holcim just left HILCO, effective 1-1-08.  This loss of Holcim means a $30,000,000 reduction in annual revenue (was at $60,000,000) and a loss of operating margins (profits) and capital patronage of approximately $2,000,000 annually.  That means the almost 20,000 HILCO members will lose the potential for that equity for every year.  Loans will be more difficult to obtain (HILCO is over $50,000,000 in debt now and borrows an additional $7-$10,000,000 each year).  The interest on the debt is going to be terrible.  Rates were raised last year and that will become a regular process in the future.
   

• It's hard to have someone run against an incumbent when they change the boundaries at will, and they appoint someone to fill positions rather than hold elections as board members leave the board.
   

• The Board of Directors wasted $294 of YOUR money for a newspaper ad to call us liars.
   

• Former CEO Jerry Lemons reported the HILCO board offered him $160,000 to sign an agreement that he would leave HILCO and not say anything "bad" about them.  What does it tell you when an offer like that is made?

We members have been ignored for too long.  It's time to ask our state representatives for help.

Rescue HILCO -- Take our Co-op Back!