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It has a smart new logo and now the Wake
Forest electric department has a new
name, Wake Forest Power.
“As we strive to continue
the delivery of reliable electricity and
superior customer service, we recognize
the importance of having a consistent
image throughout our community,” Town
Manager Mark Williams said.
The announcement coincides
with Public Power Week Oct. 1 through 7,
which honors the 2,000-plus nonprofit
electric utilities nationwide which
provide power to 43 million people.
The department under its new
name will continue to be an enterprise
operated by the town with a separate
budget and 22, soon to be 25, employees.
Wake Forest Power is headed
by Director of Public Works Mike Barton,
who also oversees streets and
sanitation. John Thrift is the assistant
director. Wake Forest Power is
headquartered at the town’s operations
center on Friendship Chapel Road.
Barton said the department
does not have a personnel grade for
people with no electric experience. The
town requires at least three years of
experience for the beginning grade of
technician I, and Barton said they have
no problem finding applicants.
The power line crew
supervisors are Scott Abbott, Tim
Browning, Ed Denton, Buddy Hamilton and
Harry Lemmond.
Abbott, who is being
promoted to supervisor effective Oct. 1,
will head the new maintenance crew of
three people which Barton is about to
hire.
Marshall Bean and Lonnie
Mahoney are electric power line
technicians with a grade of III, and
Jason Shambley is a senior power line
technician.
Tim Blomberg, Tony Brogden,
Chad Champion, Chris Terrell and Jeremy
Vargo are power line technicians at
grade II. Jeremiah Swann is a power line
technician I.
Jim Skillman is the system
meter supervisor, and Curtis Gay is a
meter technician.
Betty Clark-Pearce is the
office assistant.
The tree-trimming division
is headed by Robert Riley, the
supervisor. Rob Edwards is a technician
I and David Elliott is a technician II.
Champion has just completed
the ElectriCities Lineman Career
Development Program, which gives linemen
an opportunity to increase their skills
and knowledge and become more
proficient. They learn to install,
repair and maintain electric system and,
in the more advanced levels, gain
supervisory experience and knowledge of
complex electric operations.
Wake Forest Power also held
its annual pole top and bucket rescue
re-certification exercises last Friday.
The re-certification drills, mandated by
OSHA, require linemen to show how they
would lower an injured worker from a
pole or bucket.
Because of the growth of the
town and the service area delineations
already in place when the growth began,
some areas in the Wake Forest town
limits are not served by Wake Forest
Power but by Progress Energy and Wake
Electric Membership Corporation. |
